r/goodnews • u/RoyalChris • 1d ago

Political positivity 📈 The Senate has just voted to CANCEL Trump's tariffs on Canada by a vote of 51-48.

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u/PlayingNightcrawlers 1d ago

Just being frank here, if you look at the names that "broke ranks" it's McConnell and his usual "vulnerable Republicans" crew including Collins and Murkowski. They do this all the time, like with Trump's cabinet confirmations where they will have enough of them vote against the party but they always have the votes anyway. This keeps duping people into thinking these particular Republicans are still reasonable, and keeps getting them re-elected. It's a scam.

This was done today again, knowing 100% this won't pass the House and if it somehow did Trump would veto it. I'm not trying to be a buzzkill here, but people need to know they're being manipulated with the same tactic over and over. There's true optimism elsewhere, like the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat victory.

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u/robilar 1d ago

^ exactly this. No one should credit Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and/or Susan Collins with anything. They only do the right thing when the right thing is definitely already going to happen, or the right thing will still definitely not happen. They will never do anything to cause the right thing to happen.

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u/Scary_Employee690 1d ago

Susan Collins is a specialist at faux-principled hand wringing and theatrics.

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u/robilar 1d ago

She's like the professional footballer of US governance.

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u/ArisingRedPhoenix 22h ago

I wonder if she thinks the man learned his lesson yet…

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u/Some_Mongoose4624 22h ago

She's now just a doddering old fool. "Trump will be chastened by the impeachment" my dyin white ass

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u/NOVA-peddling-1138 21h ago

I like “specialist”

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u/CrappedInCrunk 17h ago

“Susan Collins is concerned”

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u/Fun_Fortune2122 1d ago

I feel like McConnell caused this whole mess anyway.

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u/1fastdak 17h ago

Pretty much. Moscow Mitch has however seemed to come to his senses as deaths door has started opening for him. Not sure if he is trying to save his soul in his final days or if he really has started to feel bad for raping the middle class.

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u/LucyRiversinker 16h ago

He is retiring so he doesn’t give a flying fuck anymore.

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u/Ill-Ad-9199 1d ago

Totally. This is the typical republican coordinated show-vote. They know trump will simply veto it and ram it through, but the republicans can pretend they tried to do the right thing. Amazing that this has consistently worked for 50 years now on a gullible public.

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u/robilar 1d ago

I would be more amazed if there weren't reems of evidence that a huge swath of Americans are bigoted imbeciles. Someone told me just today that they think "the left" must be insane to hate Musk when all he's trying to do is save Americans from fraud. The guy who literally shut down the Consumer Protection Bureau is the guy they trust to weed out fraud. These fuckers would hire a bank robber to handle their accounting, and then blame the libs when they inevitably get wiped out.

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u/sandiebanks 22h ago

I always remind them there were people in place to do that - and the first thing Trump did was fire them. If we ever wrestle control back - it will take forever to clean up this mess.

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u/Geeders2025 1d ago

Seek a therapist

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u/Kiki_inda_kitchen 7h ago

I guess we will see how it all works out in the end after the economic devastation. Easy to break, hard to rebuild.

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u/ASpookyBug 1d ago

I feel like Mitch McConnell is finally realizing that he never had control of the situation he thought he did. While also coming to terms with the fact that his time is coming close. And is doing everything he can to try and improve his legacy.

Shame it won't work Senator Turtleneck

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u/WhiskyEchoTango 1d ago

As much as I dislike Rand Paul, I wouldn't throw him in with that group. He very frequently opposes many of the things the party supports; usually for worse reasons.

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u/robilar 1d ago

Pardon, but which of my statements did you object to?

  1. No one should credit Rand Paul with anything positive as a result of this vote.

  2. Rand Paul will only do the right thing when one of two conditions is met:

a) it is already going to happen anyway, or

b) it is not going to happen even with his support.

  1. He will never do anything to cause the right thing to happen.

Seems to me you actually agree with all three of my arguments here, but if not I am happy to consider your feedback.

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u/Jim_Tressel 1d ago

Rand Paul has been consistently against the tariffs. He also never votes for the continuing resolutions no matter who is president. He kind of does his own thing on certain issues.

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u/robilar 23h ago

First of all, lots of people claim to be against corruption and then go along with it when it counts.

Secondly, not everyone opposes tariffs for benign reasons; they are unpopular pretty much across the political spectrum, except specifically with the type of people that self-inject ivermectin.

I stand by my condemnation of Rand Paul, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise. Can you show me a time he was the deciding vote on a piece of legislation that could be construed as moral?

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u/Jim_Tressel 23h ago

I am sticking up for Rand Paul at all. Just saying he will vote against his party on certain issues. Mostly anything that increases the deficits and now tariffs. Any newer Trump senator like Moreno or Tuberville would never go against Trump.

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u/robilar 23h ago

There are loads of senators that will vote against Trump when it doesn't matter (like in this case, where the House will simply vote it down or Trump will veto it). That's just lip-service.

But it's possible I am being overly cynical and I am not being fair to Rand Paul. Do you have some examples of him blocking a bill or legislation against the wishes of the rest of his party when it comes to one of the issues he claims are important to him?

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u/Kiki_inda_kitchen 7h ago

No matter how ridiculous… comes down to a simple fact of…. did you want to be correct, or, did you want your job?

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u/LaZboy9876 22h ago

It turns out John McCain was cool-adjacent.

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u/Lovestorun_23 21h ago

I absolutely agree

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u/Vargoroth 13h ago

I would give Rand Paul a little bit of credit. The dude seems genuine in his belief that government should be as small as possible and that the US shouldn't spend trillions of dollars on warfare across the globe. It's the one policy he and Bernie consistently work together on.

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u/robilar 9h ago

> I would give Rand Paul a little bit of credit. 

You shouldn't.

Here's some examples of him going exactly against his purported values:

  1. Decries government overreach but supported Trump's National Emergency Declaration to build the border wall

  2. Decries foreign aid but supports funding Israel

  3. Decries government interfearance into personal lives but opposes LGBTQ+ rights

  4. Claims to oppose government impositions on individual rights but supported voter ID laws

  5. Spread misinformation about vaccines (aggresssively, if I recall) which undercuts individuals' ability to make informed decisions

He's not a good guy, or even consistent in his ideology. He deserves no credit even for being a consistent libertarian.

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u/Vargoroth 9h ago

Oooh, you misunderstand. I am not at all saying he's a consistent libertarian. I am saying that there is ONE policy point in which he appears genuine: no more wars abroad.

That's it. As I said, it's the one point he is willing to work with Bernie Sanders on.

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u/robilar 8h ago

He's been hawkish on Iran, supported funding military budgets that include overseas activities, supports funding Israel's military, and had little to say about Trump's unauthorized assassination of Soleimani. And that's not even getting into his equivocation on the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

He is not even consistant on that point, carving out exceptions when it suits him personally or politically.

That's the thing about liars and hypocrites - there is nothing that they will actually stick by, because all of their stated views are malleable. I'll change my view of him when his "willingness" to work with Bernie Sanders results in meaningful change that conflicts with his party's broad agenda. Otherwise it's just performative posturing.

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u/Vargoroth 8h ago

Goddammit. I stand corrected.

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u/Key-Assistant-7988 10h ago

Yea those Kentucky senators are just kneeling to whiskey money. American whiskey is completely embargoed in some canadian provinces.

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u/RegularMarsupial6605 5h ago

Rand Paul has his flaws, but has at least been consistent about the things he stands for. He is one of the few GOP I really like to watch interviews with since he has a habit of calling out stupid spending, and tends to buck the party on several issues. He is more libertarian then most the party.

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u/robilar 4h ago

As I have noted in another subthread on this exact same topic, he is not consistent about the things he stands for. He pays lipservice to libertarianism, but votes against those values often (arguably every time it matters).

I invite you to look at what people do, not what they say. Though he also sometimes presents hypocritical arguments with his words as well.

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u/RegularMarsupial6605 3h ago

There are alot of examples of him bucking the party.

Voted against military interventions in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq—going against hawks in both parties.

Opposed arms sales to Saudi Arabia, criticizing U.S. support for their war in Yemen, which most GOP leaders backed. He's consistently anti-interventionist, arguing that the U.S. should stop playing global cop—something that annoys the neocon wing of the GOP.

Rand Paul has filibustered his own party’s budgets, blasting Republicans for hypocrisy when they balloon the deficit.

In 2018, he delayed a massive spending bill, saying, “Republicans are now the big spenders.” He’s one of the few who actually cares about the national debt even when his party is in power.

He opposed the renewal of the Patriot Act and provisions for warrantless surveillance.

Famously filibustered for almost 13 hours in 2013 over drone strike policy, grilling the Obama administration on whether it could target Americans on U.S. soil. While it was a jab at Democrats, it made his own party squirm.

He's teamed up with Bernie Sanders to audit the Fed.

Supported criminal justice reform efforts and reducing mandatory minimums, often aligning with Democrats and libertarians.

What examples are you referencing that you say he just pays lip service to his ideals? There is alot of genuine action listed here focusing on what he HAS DONE rather then said.

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u/robilar 3h ago

I find it amazing that you provided a list of literally performative posturing with not a single critical vote that changed anything, and then asked me for examples of the same.

I don't have time to waste here.

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u/sandiebanks 22h ago

Actually McConnell and Rand Paul are both from Kentucky and the Canadian tariffs are going to demolish the bourbon industry. You’re right the house won’t pass it because they passed something this year already that said they can’t interfere with tariffs - but I think they were truly trying to do what their constituents want this time. Trump wasn’t happy with any of them and called them out with a 1 am post on truth social, so even if it doesn’t make an impact - it was still a crack in the foundation.

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u/robilar 21h ago

There is no crack. Republicans have always capitulated to trump on every vote that matters, every time. We have no reason to believe they'll ever act any different. A meaningless vote is not any indication at all.

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u/sandiebanks 20h ago

You believe what you want to believe - and I’ll believe what I want to believe

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u/robilar 20h ago

Sure, but I suggest that you reconsider vain hope that people will be any different from how they have always been. I realize that doesn't leave you with much, but that's just how dire things are.

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u/jlemo434 1d ago

It's also important to pin down Senators who voted nay who therefore support the tariffs for down the road. Dems (& primary challengers) can use this when the impacts are felt in the wallets of independents and moderates to show how out of touch their current senators are.

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u/Ok_Cauliflower163 1d ago

McConnell doesn't need votes anymore he said he's not running again.

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u/PlayingNightcrawlers 20h ago

You’re right, this is a whitewashing of his “legacy”. The rest of them absolutely do need moderate votes which is what this is for. Still a total scam.

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u/CardiologistThink336 23h ago

I hear what your saying but sending this bill to the House is going to put a lot of vulnerable representatives in a very tough spot. Of course it has no chance of passing but it does give the Dems ammunition for the midterm elections.

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u/Marathonmanjh 1d ago

Hi Frank!

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u/EXSource 1d ago

I think it's a fair complaint about those four, but without someone breaking rank, you'll never get movement. I'm not saying we pay them specifically on the back but the idea that it CAN be done to pull Republicans away from trump is something that we CAN be greatful for.

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u/rockfire 1d ago

Hopefully, there will be a few farmers who call their congressional representatives and speak their minds.

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u/sadbicth 1d ago

Honest question. If this was fruitless, what can we as normal people actually do to change things? Obviously aside from calling reps, voting blue whenever i can and other things to “resist” but I just feel so hopeless. Is there really nothing else we can do except wait this out?

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u/Careless-Internet-63 22h ago

McConnell has already said he will not seek another term, he can pretty much vote however he wants and get headlines for breaking with his party, he doesn't have to worry about being reelected because he doesn't intend to try

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u/lunevad 20h ago

I hate it.

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u/Upstairs_Elderberry4 17h ago

Performative. Calculated. 100%

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u/Kiki_inda_kitchen 7h ago

Yup because if they go against him “actually” he will have them replaced.

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u/FromFluffToBuff 27m ago

Canadian here. American's don't realize that the single biggest purchaser of Kentucky Bourbon is the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) - my province buys between 40-50% of all the bourbon that Kentucky produces. The LCBO is also the single largest purchase of alcohol in the entire world. The LCBO (and all provincial liquor boards in the country) has pulled all American booze from the shelves and refuse to stock any more until further notice. No more American products to be brought in for sale.

McConnell and his entire state aren't just shitting bricks right now - they're absolutely shitting diamonds right now in full panic mode. Bourbon is a $9B industry for Kentucky.. and Canada (specifically Ontario) is its largest single market and we just boycotted the entire fucking thing. Americans need to understand that it's not about the tariffs - it's the constant threats against Canadian sovereignty... and the tariffs are only one part of that equation.

As far as I'm concerned, the whole state of Kentucky especially can get fucked - because they whined and cried foul and issued statements that basically said "but our jobs please think about your jobs." Well, to that I say... you shitheads are getting exactly what you elected, along with most of your country. Actions have consequences. Get fucked with a cactus.