Schumer has worked his ass off to rebalance the federal judiciary in Biden’s time in office (particularly his hard won efforts to get KBJ on SCOTUS). I’m pretty sure he, Pelosi and Jeffries are brainstorming delay tactics now.
Gotten us nowhere, indeed…Like that SCOTUS appointment they blocked at the end of Obama’s term (“there isnt enough time for hearings“) only to have the Reeps fast-track it a few months later.
For people looking to help at the grass-roots level, I recommend joining Indivisible.org. They (literally) wrote the book on how to resist the first Trump presidency and announced last night that they'll be releasing their Trump 2.0 plan later this year.
If you have time, it'll be well worth joining their Zoom next Wed. night where they talk through their plan. Last night more than 8,000 attendees were on the call. People are fired up! https://mobilize.us/s/ucvTTL
Sadly for me, I have to circumvent mobilize.us security with a VPN to simulate my location in the US in order to participate in any events or actions on their platform. I'm completely blocked otherwise. I am a US citizen who lives outside the US as an immigrant to my new home country (and yes, I voted from abroad, totally blue!). I don't feel comfortable using the VPN to get in: I still remember the voting rights organization Acorn, which was highly effective until the Bush-Cheney administration took it apart over "irregularities". Besides, if I can get in with a VPN, so can any bad actor from outside the US. I very sadly backed out of ballot cure efforts this election because of this issue, when organizers were rightly focused on th effort and didn't have the means to address the technical concern about the VPN. I will find other ways to support the fight from here. Democrats Abroad is already working on what we can do!
My husband and I were among those 8000 attendees. We both felt SO much better afterwards! I really needed to hear that democracy didn’t die overnight, we still have something to fight for, people are already brainstorming how to implement the Opposition (as Simon Rosenberg instructed us to frame it), and there will be things us regular folk can do. And we signed up for next week’s call.
(For anyone who missed it and is interested, the recording can be found on Indivisible’s channel YouTube.)
Yesterday felt like all was lost. Thankfully, the clouds are already parting. We are not helpless nor powerless. I was thankful for that reminder from Indivisible and all my Substack heroes (Jay included 🙂).
I agree. There was a lot to learn on the Indivisible Zoom from earlier this week. The biggest message to me was: When we come together and join forces, nothing can stop us. WE have power.
Sorry but very little there except the typical hitting one up for money.
The last IMO thing needed is for a bunch of people with no REAL plan to suck the anger and money from those that truly care.
We have brain infestation in this country and talking about, howling at the moon and donating money does nothing except helping some people feel a little better.
There is only one thing to do which the Dems are too scarcity cats to do. Do not turn over the keys while all the Russian interference investigated and Trump trials completed.
Dems will not do what needs to be done and neither will groups asking you for your money without providing anything of substance.
LOVE this! Thank you, Jay! Hope the folks to whom this addressed pay attention and take action. Dem politicians need to be a lot more proactive in ways they haven’t been before.
These are all great ideas, if only Dems will follow through, although past experience doesn't make me as hopeful as I'd like to be.
The greatest danger and my biggest fear is that Trump will not be fit to continue as President for long and JD Vance will take over. Or others will issue the orders in Trump's name and the distraction techniques will no longer be relevant.
Delay tactics could still work, no matter who is in the Oval Office. For Vance, I think we could distract him with couch deliveries for weeks and months. A new sofa every day.
Vance has been the plan all along. Look at his associations with P2025 and how deep those associations go You should be frightened at that prospect. Not only does he lack any experience governing, he has no foreign policy experience, and his only other claim to fame prior to this boondoggle is he wrote a novel about his highly questionable family.
For all of Trump's smirks lately, there is something sad knowing that he's about to be taken out. Liz Truss's lettuce will have lasted longer. That's what troubles me -- the aggressive move to implement P2025, well, and then there is RFK, Jr. in charge of health. Brain worm, dog eating, dead bear cub hauling around in his car, former heroin addict, vaccine denying, serial adulterist lunatic that his own family disavows.
As an Ohioan, I wish somebody could explain to me how this many crackpots this state has managed to produce. Vance, Ramaswamy, Traficant, Householder, Moreno -- and that is not even going into the current state administration. DeWine, LaRose -- I could scream.
You give me hope! I am concerned about Social Security & Medicare; you know any cuts to talks about privatization are not going to be popular with his base. Hopefully any move in that direction could be broadcasted broadly to stir up the populace.
Thank you Jay! Democrats should employ every single tool the Republicans did to slow Biden down. We CANNOT let Republicans confirm so many judges, that has been such a disaster for us & is key to being able to slow his agenda.
How would we stop them? They already did most of the damage during his first term. SCOTUS is no longer functional, and almost all the judges out in red states are Republicans.
Could Biden, while he is still in office and has some leverage with Senate & dare I say House appoint more liberal judges for more "balance" and stop the reign in SCOTUS?
Jay these are great ideas, but putting them in social media gives our playbook to them. I’m not sure that’s the best course of action.
I’d like to see Biden take advantage of the presidential immunity act before inauguration. Arrest Trump for the very illegal act during his presidency of causing the insurrection. It would probably blow this country up but we’re already blown up, right?!
Yes - they're fully aware he'll be out golfing or watching TV and that works in their favor. He is their media stunt clown and nothing more, and even after they remove our rights and tear down all our public institutions, all they have to do is blame the Democrats on Fox and their voting base won't ever know the difference. That is how far gone and brainwashed these people are. They literally know nothing of Republican policy, and will stay in denial even after it hurts them personally. Just blame the other side, rinse, repeat.
I know Jack Smith is retracting his charges, which makes me angry, but I have been wondering if there is still time somehow to use all that information Smith has gathered before asshat takes office. What he did is unconstitutional and forbids him to hold office- why can't it be used in some kind of "emergency" situation?? If ever there was an emergency situation this is it
I don't recall if it was Marcy Wheeler (Emptywheel) or Alison Gilll (Mueller She Wrote) who pointed out Smith can claim (some technicality involving Garland) and send his evidence to congress to be entered into the official record.
yea but it's not enough. Nobody cares about that. I guess all we can hope for is more impeachment, more investigation over Russian involvement in the election. But it will have to wait until after midterms when we can hopefully take back congress
So Smith, and our entire dept of justice, has folded to them. To me, that means it's over. SCOTUS made him king and they will continue to replace every judge in the country with loyalists/Federalist Society. I no longer believe we have a functional judicial system.
What choice did they have? DOJ will not prosecute a sitting president, game over. This was Trump's plan all along -- hence the endless delays.. The only cases left are in the state courts. where the Feds have no jurisdiction.
Here's to E. Jean Carroll standing up and demanding her money - that case was bot state and civil.
The issue first and foremost was the spineless asshole Republicans that refused to impeach him in Jan 2021. They knew what he did was unconstitutional and he should have been banned from ever taking office again, they KNEW it. Hell some of them helped him. But party over country. If they had done their jobs we would not be in this postition.
Do Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, among others, get these ideas sent to them? You are brilliant-and rather than storming the Capital, these are Constitutional possibilities to slow the murder of democracy. Thank you!!!!!!
I don't care if the tactics are unorthodox or petty or obstructionist. It's time for Democtats to meet these fascists with the same tactics they used. It's long past time to take off the glives and get our hands dirty. Just need to stay on the legal side of things, although that doesn't seem to bother the other side.
That's cool. It's too little too late. I am all about the democrats doing what the GOP has been doing for years. But while we are at it, start growing the echo chamber of outreach and propaganda that the GOP has been working on for 50 years. It does not matter if they do all of this, if next election (if we actually have them moving on) they still have not spread their message. There are people who think the Dems are responsible for Roe being overturned. They also think the Dems are the ones who screw up the economy. Why? Because, they are told what to think by the massive GOP echo chamber they have built. If you want support from the general populace, you got to change how you message to them. This shit, ain't working.
Bingo! Thank you. I live in one of THE bluest states and when I finally got out of my blue eco-bubble two weeks ago and actually TALKED to the average Joe and Jane neighbor and service worker, I began to realize Harris was in trouble.
Legit question, I’m Canadian and our system is different, but do Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation?Like could Senate democrats keep Bobby McBrainworms away from HHS etc?
Can they function as ‘acting’ though? It seems like he had a lot of ‘acting’ positions his last term and they still did the job…. Just trying to understand this nuance.
I always appreciate your thoughtful commentary. This time seems so very different. We cannot assume normalcy. 45/47 and his minions are committed to corrupting and decimating all institutions traditionally chartered with the responsibilities of upholding the rule of law and acting as a check and balance. So, what do we do when the courts do not uphold the rule of law? How do we influence, change or avoid enactment of legislation: coalitions? Not sure there will be a stomach for coalitions in view of the promised retribution.
Just get up in the morning. Take one step at a time. Take one day at a time. Do what you can. Do your best. That’s all you can do. Plan for the future, but don’t worry about things that may never happen. Trying to do that will drive you nuts. Take care.
Dems have been playing "nice" for so many years I've lost count. IT'S TIME to get dirty in the way the GOP has, and have gotten themselves SCOTUS appointee's and blocked every good thing Dems want to put in place. Time to play hard ball and FINALLY give the GOP a taste of their own medicine.
Democrats using Republican tactics against them is a sweet idea.
Do Democrats have the guts to do it?
Playing nicely by the rules has gotten them NOWHERE.
We watched Trump slow-walk and stall everything, now it's payback time.
Considered this like the work of the French underground.
YES!
Vive la Résistance française!
Not just trump-but McConnell, McCarthy. Johnson, and others!!! It’s time to fight back!!!!
Dems need to find the guts to do it. It's time to take this to the next level, look where nice has landed us
I'll bet Chuck Schumer's up for it!
Schumer has worked his ass off to rebalance the federal judiciary in Biden’s time in office (particularly his hard won efforts to get KBJ on SCOTUS). I’m pretty sure he, Pelosi and Jeffries are brainstorming delay tactics now.
like Wednesday Morning I bet
I hope, but he is kind of a weasel, in the best Merrick Garland tradition.
They have to be very, very tricky about it all. But they know they have to do it.
We need to stop playing nice.
Gotten us nowhere, indeed…Like that SCOTUS appointment they blocked at the end of Obama’s term (“there isnt enough time for hearings“) only to have the Reeps fast-track it a few months later.
For people looking to help at the grass-roots level, I recommend joining Indivisible.org. They (literally) wrote the book on how to resist the first Trump presidency and announced last night that they'll be releasing their Trump 2.0 plan later this year.
Ok I'm signed up!
If you have time, it'll be well worth joining their Zoom next Wed. night where they talk through their plan. Last night more than 8,000 attendees were on the call. People are fired up! https://mobilize.us/s/ucvTTL
Sadly for me, I have to circumvent mobilize.us security with a VPN to simulate my location in the US in order to participate in any events or actions on their platform. I'm completely blocked otherwise. I am a US citizen who lives outside the US as an immigrant to my new home country (and yes, I voted from abroad, totally blue!). I don't feel comfortable using the VPN to get in: I still remember the voting rights organization Acorn, which was highly effective until the Bush-Cheney administration took it apart over "irregularities". Besides, if I can get in with a VPN, so can any bad actor from outside the US. I very sadly backed out of ballot cure efforts this election because of this issue, when organizers were rightly focused on th effort and didn't have the means to address the technical concern about the VPN. I will find other ways to support the fight from here. Democrats Abroad is already working on what we can do!
My husband and I were among those 8000 attendees. We both felt SO much better afterwards! I really needed to hear that democracy didn’t die overnight, we still have something to fight for, people are already brainstorming how to implement the Opposition (as Simon Rosenberg instructed us to frame it), and there will be things us regular folk can do. And we signed up for next week’s call.
(For anyone who missed it and is interested, the recording can be found on Indivisible’s channel YouTube.)
Yesterday felt like all was lost. Thankfully, the clouds are already parting. We are not helpless nor powerless. I was thankful for that reminder from Indivisible and all my Substack heroes (Jay included 🙂).
I agree. There was a lot to learn on the Indivisible Zoom from earlier this week. The biggest message to me was: When we come together and join forces, nothing can stop us. WE have power.
Done and done. Thank you so much!
Signed up, thanks!
Signed up too, thanks!
There’s one tonight. https://mobilize.us/s/aiKSXr/o
Me too!
Sorry but very little there except the typical hitting one up for money.
The last IMO thing needed is for a bunch of people with no REAL plan to suck the anger and money from those that truly care.
We have brain infestation in this country and talking about, howling at the moon and donating money does nothing except helping some people feel a little better.
There is only one thing to do which the Dems are too scarcity cats to do. Do not turn over the keys while all the Russian interference investigated and Trump trials completed.
Dems will not do what needs to be done and neither will groups asking you for your money without providing anything of substance.
LOVE this! Thank you, Jay! Hope the folks to whom this addressed pay attention and take action. Dem politicians need to be a lot more proactive in ways they haven’t been before.
The AG of California has been preparing since Roe was overturned. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/06/california-girds-for-war-with-trump-00187779
Thanks for that link. Protecting America from Trump! Yay.
Excellent first take, Jay. In fact, it looks pretty polished to my critical eye. Now the work of enlisting all the participants begins.
These are all great ideas, if only Dems will follow through, although past experience doesn't make me as hopeful as I'd like to be.
The greatest danger and my biggest fear is that Trump will not be fit to continue as President for long and JD Vance will take over. Or others will issue the orders in Trump's name and the distraction techniques will no longer be relevant.
JD Vince is a very real and scary prospect
AMEN! Having daughters and an immigrant wife and he wants to take away THEIR rights? I’m in Ohio and he’s a worthless vermin. Terrifying.
Yes, he is!
Delay tactics could still work, no matter who is in the Oval Office. For Vance, I think we could distract him with couch deliveries for weeks and months. A new sofa every day.
🤣
I had that exact same thought! I wish I had the money to pull it off because that would be EPIC!
I think Trump will be lucky to last 6 months
I agree
How about a Scaramucci or Liz Truss's lettuce?
I give him a year at the outside, and that's with everyone around him propping him up despite his visible deterioration.
But then it’s vermin, tho! Or jughead after that!
BEAUTIFUL if not even to inauguration!!
Vance has been the plan all along. Look at his associations with P2025 and how deep those associations go You should be frightened at that prospect. Not only does he lack any experience governing, he has no foreign policy experience, and his only other claim to fame prior to this boondoggle is he wrote a novel about his highly questionable family.
For all of Trump's smirks lately, there is something sad knowing that he's about to be taken out. Liz Truss's lettuce will have lasted longer. That's what troubles me -- the aggressive move to implement P2025, well, and then there is RFK, Jr. in charge of health. Brain worm, dog eating, dead bear cub hauling around in his car, former heroin addict, vaccine denying, serial adulterist lunatic that his own family disavows.
As an Ohioan, I wish somebody could explain to me how this many crackpots this state has managed to produce. Vance, Ramaswamy, Traficant, Householder, Moreno -- and that is not even going into the current state administration. DeWine, LaRose -- I could scream.
Yeah, well, we have Boebert. Gah!
Hard to believe California produced Stephen Miller, but we have to own that snake.
I agree about Vance.
I’m much more concerned about him than Trump.
You give me hope! I am concerned about Social Security & Medicare; you know any cuts to talks about privatization are not going to be popular with his base. Hopefully any move in that direction could be broadcasted broadly to stir up the populace.
Thank you Jay! Democrats should employ every single tool the Republicans did to slow Biden down. We CANNOT let Republicans confirm so many judges, that has been such a disaster for us & is key to being able to slow his agenda.
How would we stop them? They already did most of the damage during his first term. SCOTUS is no longer functional, and almost all the judges out in red states are Republicans.
Could Biden, while he is still in office and has some leverage with Senate & dare I say House appoint more liberal judges for more "balance" and stop the reign in SCOTUS?
We can not. Sorry to be such a pessimist but it is probably true.
Jay these are great ideas, but putting them in social media gives our playbook to them. I’m not sure that’s the best course of action.
I’d like to see Biden take advantage of the presidential immunity act before inauguration. Arrest Trump for the very illegal act during his presidency of causing the insurrection. It would probably blow this country up but we’re already blown up, right?!
Even if Trump knew these he’s not capable of course correcting.
He’s not but what about the very evil crew of 140 of his staffers that wrote project 2025 and then foisted it off on heritage
Yes - they're fully aware he'll be out golfing or watching TV and that works in their favor. He is their media stunt clown and nothing more, and even after they remove our rights and tear down all our public institutions, all they have to do is blame the Democrats on Fox and their voting base won't ever know the difference. That is how far gone and brainwashed these people are. They literally know nothing of Republican policy, and will stay in denial even after it hurts them personally. Just blame the other side, rinse, repeat.
I know Jack Smith is retracting his charges, which makes me angry, but I have been wondering if there is still time somehow to use all that information Smith has gathered before asshat takes office. What he did is unconstitutional and forbids him to hold office- why can't it be used in some kind of "emergency" situation?? If ever there was an emergency situation this is it
I don't recall if it was Marcy Wheeler (Emptywheel) or Alison Gilll (Mueller She Wrote) who pointed out Smith can claim (some technicality involving Garland) and send his evidence to congress to be entered into the official record.
At least that would be something.
yea but it's not enough. Nobody cares about that. I guess all we can hope for is more impeachment, more investigation over Russian involvement in the election. But it will have to wait until after midterms when we can hopefully take back congress
Won’t put him in jail or preventing him from pardoning himself if he can and all his butt buddies.
So disgusting that after what those people did they will be pardoned. Even more disgusting that he is off scott free!
So Smith, and our entire dept of justice, has folded to them. To me, that means it's over. SCOTUS made him king and they will continue to replace every judge in the country with loyalists/Federalist Society. I no longer believe we have a functional judicial system.
What choice did they have? DOJ will not prosecute a sitting president, game over. This was Trump's plan all along -- hence the endless delays.. The only cases left are in the state courts. where the Feds have no jurisdiction.
Here's to E. Jean Carroll standing up and demanding her money - that case was bot state and civil.
The issue first and foremost was the spineless asshole Republicans that refused to impeach him in Jan 2021. They knew what he did was unconstitutional and he should have been banned from ever taking office again, they KNEW it. Hell some of them helped him. But party over country. If they had done their jobs we would not be in this postition.
Exactly!!
Do Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, among others, get these ideas sent to them? You are brilliant-and rather than storming the Capital, these are Constitutional possibilities to slow the murder of democracy. Thank you!!!!!!
I don't care if the tactics are unorthodox or petty or obstructionist. It's time for Democtats to meet these fascists with the same tactics they used. It's long past time to take off the glives and get our hands dirty. Just need to stay on the legal side of things, although that doesn't seem to bother the other side.
That's cool. It's too little too late. I am all about the democrats doing what the GOP has been doing for years. But while we are at it, start growing the echo chamber of outreach and propaganda that the GOP has been working on for 50 years. It does not matter if they do all of this, if next election (if we actually have them moving on) they still have not spread their message. There are people who think the Dems are responsible for Roe being overturned. They also think the Dems are the ones who screw up the economy. Why? Because, they are told what to think by the massive GOP echo chamber they have built. If you want support from the general populace, you got to change how you message to them. This shit, ain't working.
Bingo! Thank you. I live in one of THE bluest states and when I finally got out of my blue eco-bubble two weeks ago and actually TALKED to the average Joe and Jane neighbor and service worker, I began to realize Harris was in trouble.
Legit question, I’m Canadian and our system is different, but do Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation?Like could Senate democrats keep Bobby McBrainworms away from HHS etc?
Yes they do
Can they function as ‘acting’ though? It seems like he had a lot of ‘acting’ positions his last term and they still did the job…. Just trying to understand this nuance.
But won’t a repukelican senate vote them through? I don’t see them breaking ranks but what do I know. I can only hope.
Bobby McBrainworms HAHAHAHA I haven't laughed since yesterday morning. Thanks for that
Credit to @Jeff Tiedrich for that:)
It is a scary thought. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are not dependable at all.
McBrainworms hahahaha!!! thank you.
I always appreciate your thoughtful commentary. This time seems so very different. We cannot assume normalcy. 45/47 and his minions are committed to corrupting and decimating all institutions traditionally chartered with the responsibilities of upholding the rule of law and acting as a check and balance. So, what do we do when the courts do not uphold the rule of law? How do we influence, change or avoid enactment of legislation: coalitions? Not sure there will be a stomach for coalitions in view of the promised retribution.
Just get up in the morning. Take one step at a time. Take one day at a time. Do what you can. Do your best. That’s all you can do. Plan for the future, but don’t worry about things that may never happen. Trying to do that will drive you nuts. Take care.
That is exactly what I wrote above. It will not work because they will dismantle the law and order right away.
These are great ideas, Jay. Will people who can put them into practice see them?
Share widely!
Exactly. Sounds like a plan but who is really gonna do it?
Dems have been playing "nice" for so many years I've lost count. IT'S TIME to get dirty in the way the GOP has, and have gotten themselves SCOTUS appointee's and blocked every good thing Dems want to put in place. Time to play hard ball and FINALLY give the GOP a taste of their own medicine.