Sheldon Whitehouse Profile picture
U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, the Ocean State. Ranking Member @EPWcmte
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Feb 19 9 tweets 2 min read
There always was Trump/Russia. There still is Trump/Russia.

The early actions of the Trump administration signal the continuing force of Trump/Russia.

Feel free to add to the list, but here’s my list.

Note: It’s only been a month. 1.  Russia’s apologist Tulsi Gabbard is selected and confirmed as Director of National Intelligence, the person who controls what gets to the president from our intelligence services. Her appointment is cheered in Russia’s state-controlled media.
Feb 14 6 tweets 1 min read
As we land in Munich, the stable geniuses of the Trump administration are in full disarray. Maybe we’ll use troops against Russia, says one. Maybe we’ll get Ukraine to concede to Russia sovereign territory that Russia invaded, says another.
Feb 3 4 tweets 1 min read
If you’re a big polluter, and you can destroy the government that protects people from your pollution, that’s a win for you.

And if you paid to get Trump in, you see it as the political reward you’re due. If you’re a giant corporation, and you can destroy the government that taxes you, and also cause your employees to cling to you like a raft in the storm you created, that’s a win for you. And if you paid to get Trump in, you can see it as your political reward.
Jan 25 9 tweets 2 min read
We’re voting on Hegseth and here’s what we know. The only Democrat to see his FBI background investigation said it was “inadequate.” The Republican chair said he got “three briefings” from the FBI. That’s all we know. Everything else is secret. “Three briefings” likely means there were supplemental background investigations after the original standard “full field” background investigation, which would also be consistent with recent allegations and the background investigation schedule.
Jan 20 5 tweets 1 min read
This was no normal inauguration of an American president. President Trump gave a cadre of billionaires seats of honor on the dais, and he is handing them the power of the federal government to loot the hardworking people who pay their taxes and keep this country running.
Jan 18 7 tweets 2 min read
Once again, we are telling a story leaving out the true democracy-destroying villain.🧵

One good man’s age was a sideshow to the real story. Yes, the President’s age was a factor, and his spectacular debate failure, and his soft promise to serve one term.
theatlantic.com/politics/archi… But the real failure was not identifying the corrupt oligarchy sooner, and making it the villain early on in his democracy narrative.

Three big things got way too little attention, until his terrific-but-too-late final presidential address.
Jan 9 4 tweets 1 min read
We will be watching to see whether the collapse of a trembling home insurance market accelerates after this added shock.

We had multiple hearings in @SenateBudget on this danger, which fossil-fuel-funded Republicans of course refused to take seriously.
bloomberg.com/features/2024-… Here’s how it works: climate change makes risk unpredictable; risk makes insurance unaffordable or unavailable; no insurance makes mortgages unavailable; without mortgages property values crash; cascading like 2008 into general economy.
Jan 8 19 tweets 3 min read
Let’s look at the recent refusal of the Judicial Conference to “refer” Clarence Thomas to the AG for a “willfulness” determination about his multiple and repeated disclosure violations. A referral could lead to fines, and even “false statement” charges. Where does the referral requirement come from? It is federal law, from a statute passed many years ago by Congress and signed into law by the President, and never until now challenged by the Judicial Conference. Image
Jan 6 12 tweets 2 min read
Oh, boy! The WSJ PolluterPage isn’t interested in accountability for its favorite SCOTUS justices.

Let’s review some of the “phantom” disclosure violations the WSJ PolluterPage doesn’t think anyone should know about. 🧵 1. “Another” $25K to Thomas’s spouse, from Court-fixer Leonard Leo. Not reported.

If this was “another,” how many other payments were there? Were any services rendered, or was it a gift for his benefit? If for his benefit, should’ve been disclosed.
Dec 23, 2024 5 tweets 1 min read
Maybe Think Of It This Way: The anti-vaxxers are fond of saying that they don’t want to forbid or do away with vaccines like polio and smallpox; that they’ll still be available. That misleads from the actual point.

🧵 Many vaccines — polio, measles, DPT, rubella, chickenpox, mumps — are required for all children attending school. The reason is that vaccines work not just by increasing individual disease resistance, but by suppressing the underlying communicable disease.
Dec 20, 2024 7 tweets 1 min read
And on the debt limit, dots are not hard to connect. The debt limit is what Republicans constantly use to extort concessions that they can’t win with votes. Democrats (yours truly particularly) want to be rid of it: “a bear trap in the bedroom.” But Republicans always WANT the debt limit, to use for political extortion (“nice little economy you got here . . . .”). So what’s up with this strange (for them) new Republican desire to get rid of it? Hint: it’s not about the debt limit.
Dec 18, 2024 8 tweets 2 min read
Maybe Think About It This Way: Republicans dismiss allegations against Trump’s flawed nominees because the allegations are “anonymous.” But they’re actually not. People have spoken to these witnesses. They exist. What they are is private. People who have been assaulted or harassed by nominees have come forward, even received settlements, spoken to press, and offered to make themselves available to Republican senators.
Dec 17, 2024 18 tweets 3 min read
Good to see Bob Brulle’s excellent work recognized here — and the dark-money corruption and lies propagated by the fossil fuel industry through its armada of phony front groups.

It's worse than this article exposes, so Maybe Think About It This Way:

🧵

truthout.org/articles/milli… The story begins years ago, after the god-awful Citizens United decision came down from the Supreme Court’s FedSoc cohort.
Dec 15, 2024 8 tweets 2 min read
Maybe Think About It This Way:  Is our problem that the far right has declared war on normal America, and set up a war machine to accomplish that goal, and Democrats aren’t even set up to detect and defend against that war machine? Thought experiment: What if Churchill had been a Democrat in those darkest hours? Surely Churchill-the-Democrat would have gone out and commiserated with Londoners whose homes had been blown up by buzz bombs. As he did.
Dec 11, 2024 6 tweets 1 min read
What does Doggie (“DOGE”) do? Maybe think of it this way: you have to watch a couple of precocious toddlers for the day. They need activities, but you don’t want them near stoves, cars, electrical equipment, or anything operational. So you put them in a playpen with lots of shiny, squeaky toys and a few playmates to keep them occupied. That’s what Doggie does. It keeps a couple of overactive billionaires occupied, far away from any decisions.
Nov 22, 2024 6 tweets 1 min read
Trump DOD nominee Hegseth says about rape allegation: “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared.”

That’s not how it works. 🧵 Failing to charge a case does not “completely clear” the subject. Obvious example: subjects not charged criminally are often afterwards found liable civilly for the assault.
Nov 12, 2024 7 tweets 1 min read
What is the evidence that it would be prudent to prepare in this administration for a tsunami of plunder and corruption?

🧵 1. Look no further than Trump’s own character, and his conviction “beyond a reasonable doubt” of multiple felony fraud charges.
Nov 7, 2024 5 tweets 1 min read
When the grieving is done, it’s time for watchdog mode.

Trump is a felon, a liar and a cheat; that won’t change.

The creepy billionaires who put him there will be coming for plunder. It’s a safe bet that epic corruption will stain the Trump years. The plunder of America will be through fat contracts, special interest favors, massive tax cuts, and license to pollute for free. To pull off their plunder, they will try to break America’s democratic institutions.
Oct 11, 2024 6 tweets 1 min read
If you wanted to build a corporate oligarchy out of our “republic, if you can keep it,” (Ben Franklin) here’s what you’d do:

🧵 1.   Allow unlimited corporate money to influence politics, and let the big special interest donors hide from citizens that they’re the true source of that money.
Oct 8, 2024 8 tweets 2 min read
In 2018, I pledged to Christine Blasey Ford that I’d keep digging until we got to the bottom of the Trump White House’s shameful confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh.

I did, and today we have some updates. 🧵

washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/… My report shows that the supplemental background investigation was a sham, controlled by the Trump White House, for political cover to Senate Republicans to put Judge Kavanaugh on track to confirmation.

whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/upl…
Sep 25, 2024 15 tweets 2 min read
There are several conclusions you can draw from this sorry Supreme Court episode.

🧵 One is what laughably fake and disposable doctrines textualism and originalism are. Trump v. United States was manufactured out of thin air; nothing textualist or originalist about it — doctrines of convenience.