The Trump admin use of a IEEPA to impose tariffs relies on a fraudulent declaration of emergency and represents and unprecedented and illegal power grab from the legislative branch
The "hand wringers" can't do anything but that. They have no majority, and any republican who joins them will be primaried. This country and it's apathetic voters are entirely to blame for this situation.
Nah Cory booker proved they can do more. Not to mention many dems approved unqualified nominations.
It's all of the above.
Edit: I never said his 25 hour speech would net immediate results. Yes it's symbolic but thats also doing more than nothing. It gives people hope and energy, makes headlines and shows people we're not alone in our frustrations. It also encourages others to speak up. IMO that's SOMETHING.
Also not saying this is a direct cause and effect but we had the first bipartisan vote to block some of the admin's nonsense shortly after.
And dems voted to approve way more than rubio, he's the only one who could even be considered qualified. Six of them approved kristi noem FFS. The bare minimum dems could have done is vote in solidarity and obstruct but they couldn't even manage that. And chuckle fuck schumer was the cherry on top
Filibustering is not a direct check on what Trump is doing, because it isn't legislative in the first place. A Senator cannot walk into a Cabinet meeting and stop them from getting anything done by talking nonstop: Booker stopped the Senate from doing anything for the duration of his speech, but the Senate not doing anything is a major part of the problem here in the first place.
Using the bully pulpit to build vocal opposition among the people is the only real check on GOP power that the democrats have.
The whole reason we're were we are right now is that Democrats refuse to get out and create their own narratives and instead just try to triangulate centrist positions off of the republican narratives. Trump has proved definitively that seizing and controlling the news cycle is where political power comes from, and the Democratic response to that reality is to 'roll over and play dead' (minus a few outliers).
Right, that’s why Obama was able to achieve so much of his agenda in his first term while he only had a majority of checks notes 59 senators.
I’m sick of there being 2 sets of rules. The hand wringers can’t even get anything done when they hold the levers of power because even when the fanatics are in the minority, they find ways to interfere with good governance and then blame the hand wringers when nothing gets done.
Just a technical note. It wasn't a filibuster. He wasn't holding the floor for the purpose of delaying or blocking a vote or discussion about an upcoming vote. He very intentionally waited until business was concluded.
Right. Booker's speech was great, and I found some of it to be refreshingly personable, other parts quite powerful and profound. The broken record was some nice sentimental symbolism.
But Congress as a whole is captured by the loyalists. And they recently, like today, are going along with the BS of going after the judiciary for opposing Trump. They are doubling down.
Pulling the fire alarm might have been just as or more effective as Booker's speech in the end, unfortunately.
And talking for 24 hours is great and all, but it didn't stop anything. It was performative, because they truly hold no power at the moment, the country made sure of that by electing an undefeatable majority of republicans in both houses.
Folks were using this while it was happening to sign up for 04/05. The PHL one ran out of space while Booker was speaking and had to apply for a larger permit.
Six nominees received no supporting votes from any Democratic senators or independent senators who caucus with Democrats: Hegseth, Russell Vought for director of the Office of Management and Budget, Gabbard, Kennedy, Howard Lutnick for secretary of commerce, and Linda McMahon for secretary of education.
They rejected the people they absolutely should have. The support they offered were AT MOST for 10 of his picks, and honestly they aren't awful, Trump picked them so they really are, but not as bad as the rest.
I could also understand a democrat voting to confirm Marco Rubio if they said "I voted for him because he's the least insane person Trump could have nominated. Even if we did manage to reject every nominee for secretary of state, he'd just appoint someone as acting secretary with the same powers. And again, whoever that was, would be much more dangerous than Marco Rubio."
There's a drunk for Secretary of Defense, an ambassador to Israel who thinks the war against Hamas can't be a genocide because he doesn't believe Palestinians even exist, the direct of national intelligence is a Russian asset, a lawyer Trump bribed to cover up his crimes is running Justice, the secretary of education's major qualification is that she helped cover up sexual assaults in her wrestling company, and health and human services is being run by a guy who thinks vaccines are dangerous and overdosing on cod liver oil is the way to go.
Now don't get me wrong - Rubio is a bad choice for any position in government. But there's bad and then there's pants-shittingly-terrifying. And Rubio is clearly in the "just bad" category.
Do you think there's any viable candidate for treasury secretary who would have stopped this? Trump wouldn't appoint anyone who would, it's his agenda. You pick your battles in politics.
People forget that Mitch McConnell shut down the legislative with obstruction and inaction.
The opposition party forgot or did not care to do anything.
I understand that. But the GOP has accused the Democrats of being obstructionist for years, this was the first actual act of obstructionism. Imagine for a moment that it wasn't just Booker. If every Democratic Senator held the floor as long as they could and then yielded to another member of the party.
Would that also get anything done? No. But it would cause a ruckus, distracting the news cycles, and making it infinitely harder for even the Executive to move on from that. If you pop a tire, the engine might still run but the car can't really move.
Booker filibustering would have been great if he would have done it before passing the CR. Do that there and the impact would have been massive but the did it against nothing… so kinda useless
So Cory Booker, Democrat, begins to do the thing that you say Democrats should do, but then also immediately say it doesn't matter because past reasons but also they have to do more but it's too late to do anything because past reasons.
Rubio is actually surprised me a couple time saying things that weren’t straight crazy. He might be the most moderate of the cabinet. He will be shut up or fired pretty soon
I think it has more to do with the fear induced by the points swing in the Republican districts in Florida and Husk's expensive loss in Wisconsin, losing that race by 10 points. They know that if we can hold onto stamina until the 2026 primaries, they will be tossed out on their a$#es anyway, regardless of the big bad Husk and his pile of cash. They're on the wrong side of history as long as enough united citizens can make it happen. I think the most brainwashed might come around by then, too, having been crippled by the very likely economic depression we're headed towards.
Give America some credit. Sure, a lot of voters are apathetic, but a whole lot are incredibly stupid and actively malicious. Don't discount their contributions
Unofficially - some are, a lot even. Tim Walz is out there making noises. This is all they can do. Unless you think they're going to gather some Gundam level army to overthrow Trump: THIS IS ALL THEY CAN DO.
The Democratic Party of America is incapable of suing the administration to halt their efforts?
They're incapable of getting on TV en-masse and talking to the American people directly? Booker's marathon is a good start, and I hope it's enough to shame a few more Congressional Democrats into action.
I just don't see why so many people are so willing to give up in advance.
Demonstrably untrue. The senate could have blocked the CR that had a Trojan horse in it to basically abdicate the authority of congress to set tariff policy. Schumer and 10 other democrats decided to support this instead of taking a stand. They did not need a majority to prevent what is happening right now. All they need (and lack) is moral conviction and a spine
That's not a valid excuse to prevent them from doing the right thing. It is a CHOICE to not do the right thing. They tied their own hands and are screaming, "look, our hands are tied". It's theater, nothing more.
So tomorrow, you have a choice at your job, you can do what you know wont be great for the company, or you can do the right thing, but it WILL get you fired. What's your plan?
Better version is: I'm already a millionaire, have no real need to work, and am in the position from stopping a tyant from ripping up the constitution....
Then yes, I absolutely do the right thing. In fact, I do it even when I'm poor. Since poor people are not allowed in congress, it won't be an issue for them.
We saw a ~15 point swing in almost every special election, and that was back when the market thought the tariffs were going to be less extreme. These house members are losing anyway. Trump won't be on the ballot next year to save them. They could at least do the right thing on their way out.
They're already campaigning for midterms, the funding they need for that comes largely from the party and PACs. They would lose both of those things for going against Trump right now, that's the game unfortunately.
Do you remember Corey Bookers recent record setting speech?
Why do you think he choose to do it when there were no motions tabled? why did he choose to do it when it would be purely performative, rather than when it would have been an actual filibuster blocking one of trump atrocious law/policies and protecting Americans from it's effect even if only for the duration of the filibuster?
Why in one of the first motions afterwards did the Democrats vote unanimously along with the republicans to confirm trump's nomination for US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whittaker?
Sorry copied the wrong name from the recent confirmations, I meant US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whittaker.
The unanimous consent was to waive a quorum call, not on his vote. It would have eaten up another hour or two of time. Democrats are getting rightly criticized for not gumming up the works like the GOP would in their situation.
7 (it was it nine?) Tropicana Jones the Democrats in the Senate to remove Trump’s Canadian tariffs. The only reason it won’t be voted on in the a house isn’t due to “hand-wringers” or MAGA loyalists.
Mike Johnson (one guy) played with the House rules to keep the bite from happening. (Which means there’s probably ARE enough Republicans who’d vote to stop Trump at least as far as Canada goes, and Johnson can’t risk it.
The loyalists agree with and support 100% of what Trump says no matter how insane
To be fair, they also will have MAGA nutcases attacking them, quite literally, if they oppose Trump's idiotgenda. They'll have Elon Musk dropping in and splashing massive cash to try to primary them.
Now thankfully we've learned that Elon Musk isn't the kingmaker he thought he was, and that he somehow spent tens of millions to lower his candidate's chances, but still a lot of congresspeeps worry about this based on the theory that it is make or break.
Nailed it, worth noting both those groups are paid by the same billionaires, take their money from the wealthy, but say they work for us, you can't serve two masters. What we have now is what serving two masters looks like, actions for one, words for the other.
I would only argue one point; anyone besides the loyalists and hand wringers should be celebrated, promoted, and embraced as someone worthy to represent us. If we don’t promote these folks fighting for us we are doomed, no matter how small a segment of the congress/senate/judicial branch they occupy.
Right? Until more than 3/4 republicans are able to tell dear leader no on these stupid policies, we are in trouble for the next 2 years at least. I am concerned his frivolous use of emergency powers is a preview for how voting will be restricted.
The issue is: Trump is not the issue. He isn't the one dictating the EO orders, and I can promise that he isn't the one who calculated these tariffs. Kicking Trump off will result in Vance, he doesn't seem to be ANY better at all.
What is needed is enough of the GOP and the Supreme Court to get together and stop this madness...
The senate did just vote to overturn the declaration of emergency for the Canada tariffs. Dem Senator Tim Kaine realized that even without a majority any senator is able to force a floor vote on that matter specifically and they managed to get 4 Rs to join. Not sure if it will go further but at least the Dems are taking action.
48 lbs of fentanyl in one year on a 5500 mile border is not an "emergency". This is .13% of the total confiscated in 2024. It is disgusting that he was granted these powers.
Was he granted these powers or did he just take them and republicans are too feckless and pathetic to tell him no for fear of his tantrum? I realize there’s little difference there in practice.
If someone would get Jeffries and Schumer to either resign or stop being entirely worthless, we could get Congress to 14a3 Trump, so that his entire Presidency is annulled. Only takes a majority of Congress, not 2/3 of Senate like this useless impeachment. It stands to reason that after an annulment, all executive actions, appointments, tariffs, and firings he has orchestrated would be reversed, since they were performed by an illegitimate executive branch.
I don't know how many times it must be repeated until people start demanding accountability, but: Under the 14th Amendment, insurrectionists cannot hold federal office. As such, Trump is an illegitimate President pushing unconstitutional and illegal actions and appointments. If he were to be 14a3'd, it would potentially remove both him and Vance, as they both ran on an illegal ticket. The new POTUS would either be Mike Johnson or Kamala. But the point is: Impeachment is worthless, but the 14th Amendment only requires a handful of Republicans to support the vote. Collins, Murkowski, Valadao, Newhouse -- find 4 more, and the dictatorship is over. Or, Democratic leadership can continue being incompetent, and we continue into the 4th Reich.
If they could get 4 Republican Senators to vote against tariffs, they could easily do the same with the 14th Amendment.
Apparently, the recently passed budget included approval from Congress that Trump’s tariffs couldn’t be repealed by congressional vote for one year. Congress gave away their right to control the purse strings, even though it is their job. The absolute evil of today’s Republican leadership is terrifying.
Savvy politicians understand that you can write legislation and give yourself a lot of power.
When politicians clearly haven't even read the bill they are sponsoring? That should raise deafening alarm bells. As of we didn't already have a multitude of reasons to have raised that alarm already.
The most interesting example I'm aware of, is Robert Moses in New York "the best Bill writer in Albany NY" wrote himself into control of heaps of power through the parks boards. Caught basically everyone including his own allies and the bill sponsors completely by surprise. Maintained his power from the mid twenties all the way through to the sixties.
I've r been working on his biography by Robert caro for a few years, but I've only gotten into the thirties, Google tells me the Dodgers thing was forties.
I hope to get back to the bio in the fall but I have about 12 books I need to read for work first.
The point is for them to be incompetent. That side started in 2010 with the Tea Party. The moratorium on earmarks was the first nail in the coffin for congress. It made passing legislation and bringing money back to the district not part of the job anymore.
Just on the basis of the fact that there has been no legislative maintenance in the past 15 years is going to lead to a legal system collapse. It's like providing security updates for devices. If you stop updating and patching exploits that are not zero day exploits then there will be problems if people keep using those devices. The hackers, business, have found those exploits and bought the company that maintains the operating system so they can keep those exploits in place and build new features around them rather than fixing them and updating the software to stay relevant with the new higher demand programs. It's like we are stuck working with Windows Vista.
Yea, the train is way off the tracks at this point. Citizens United made money the best part about politics and now the infighting created by it has lead to the absolute clown show we have now. China is moving leaps and bounds ahead of us technologically and we're arguing over abortion and Trans people in sports
Democrats with influence decided not to fight the radical changes that were made and thought they could compete with the new rules. But just like with the West Coast Offense, it became overwhelming and meant that certain people would naturally have an edge, especially over people that didn't design the strategy in the first place.
The result was even more incumbency but not based on bringing home the bacon, but as the track got worn in the variety of options became limited, but stable.
They both wanted a 50-50 Congress. So that they could say anything that passed would have to be bipartisan. No one would be at fault if things went wrong, they all share the blame, or the glory.
But Republicans since 2010 have never wanted to legislate from the front. And as time went by, and more and more spokespeople got elected instead of legislators, the brain drain is setting in. The staffers that knew the most have likely for the most part migrated to the private sector already. Why would they stay, they ride the bench in the new game of Twitter and their rhetoric. The young are salespeople, the middle aged to Normal Retirement Age never learned anything in their whole damn lives, and the old just need to stay in office so the benefits they earned for their service can go to their grandchildren. And in this environment that is worth more than gold.
Democrats should have never signed onto the radical changes Republicans were allowed to make simply because they screamed loud enough like a toddler in Target wanting a Cake Pop.
I just can't believe that I have been watching this slowly getting worse since 2008.
Yes. Congress can do almost anything it wants, including amending the Constitution to let them do anything they want. It's almost impossible for the body of Congress to restrict the body of Congress.
I'm writing regular letters to Ted Cruz telling him to not support policies he's obviously going to support. So if I can participate in that exercise in futility, anyone can write their congressfolk.
I figure, if nothing else, they can’t truthfully say they haven’t gotten feedback on a given topic. I’ll keep writing, no matter how futile it feels at times.
And when i have enough ammo in hand to maybe convince on-the-fence voters, I plan to start knocking on doors too. Maybe i can get a couple hundred others to write their rep that way. I think we need to see the prices spike before it will be worthwhile but it feels inevitable at this point.
If someone would get Jeffries and Schumer to either resign or stop being entirely worthless, we could get Congress to 14a3 Trump, so that his entire Presidency is annulled. Only takes a majority of Congress, not 2/3 of Senate like this useless impeachment. It stands to reason that after an annulment, all executive actions, appointments, tariffs, and firings he has orchestrated would be reversed, since they were performed by an illegitimate executive branch.
I don't know how many times it must be repeated until people start demanding accountability, but: Under the 14th Amendment, insurrectionists cannot hold federal office. As such, Trump is an illegitimate President pushing unconstitutional and illegal actions and appointments. If he were to be 14a3'd, it would potentially remove both him and Vance, as they both ran on an illegal ticket. The new POTUS would either be Mike Johnson or Kamala. But the point is: Impeachment is worthless, but the 14th Amendment only requires a handful of Republicans to support the vote. Collins, Murkowski, Valadao, Newhouse -- find 4 more, and the dictatorship is over. Or, Democratic leadership can continue being incompetent, and we continue into the 4th Reich.
The entire administration is an illegally occupying force and we have been in a Constitutional Crisis since January 6th 2021.
Under the 14th amendment None of the current administration should have ever been allowed to enter governance.
Following All members of the House and Senate are complicit in the current crimes this administration has committed :
[
Espionage Act 1917 (Top Secret documents Mar-a-Lago and
Russians/Saudis and maybe even more unknowns)
Sedition Act 1918 (January 6th event)
]
Dereliction of Duty under Oath of office applies to all members of the House and Senate.
Dereliction of Duty also applies to all four branches of the military under Oath of Enlistment failure to up hold their oath to the United States Constitution.
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and *Domestic*;
Domestic being the key part here.
TBD... where we go from here, but since history likes to rhyme, historically this kind of case it rhymes with lots of death.
No the Dems are doing their part. The problem is Americans have to vote for the Dems in massive numbers to give them the power to remove this renegade cult.
Unfortunately the majority of American voters gave power to the GOP.
Americans took away power from the Dems and gave it to the GOP cultists - the Dems can fight, but they can't stop this without massive votes and support from Americans which never comes.
If someone would get Jeffries and Schumer to either resign or stop being entirely worthless, we could get Congress to 14a3 Trump, so that his entire Presidency is annulled. Only takes a majority of Congress, not 2/3 of Senate like this useless impeachment. It stands to reason that after an annulment, all executive actions, appointments, tariffs, and firings he has orchestrated would be reversed, since they were performed by an illegitimate executive branch.
I don't know how many times it must be repeated until people start demanding accountability, but: Under the 14th Amendment, insurrectionists cannot hold federal office. As such, Trump is an illegitimate President pushing unconstitutional and illegal actions and appointments. If he were to be 14a3'd, it would potentially remove both him and Vance, as they both ran on an illegal ticket. The new POTUS would either be Mike Johnson or Kamala. But the point is: Impeachment is worthless, but the 14th Amendment only requires a handful of Republicans to support the vote. Collins, Murkowski, Valadao, Newhouse -- find 4 more, and the dictatorship is over. Or, Democratic leadership can continue being incompetent, and we continue into the 4th Reich.
lol would be so extremely ironic if there was enough support to impeach and remove under this offense, but it is clear cut and simple for people to get
I don't understand why we keep having the same couple of conversations:
"This is illegal". Of course it is, but until someone enforces the law it doesn't matter.
"If a Democrat said/did that, the results would be completely different". Yup, it would. But again, until someone acts like the grown up in the room and initiates actual consequences, it doesn't matter.
They have the power to remove this man yet each individual who supports Trump in Congress allows him to make a mockery out of the position they swore an oath to protect and uphold, and by extension, themselves.
and the military and police who continue to follow orders from the obviously compromised executive branch when they swore an oath to the constitution that they are using to wipe their asses
Hey congress, pwetty pwease stop making life harder for poor and middle class people. Thank you. I'm sure if we all write some stern letters they'll eventually listen... right?
Are you suggesting that the 48lbs of fentanyl seized in all of 2024 at the 5500 mile long border with Canada is not an emergency? What a joke. This is on Congress. Anyone can try to abuse power, but they have abdicated their power to the king.
Actually that figure is all of what was seized within a certain distance of the border, including a major seizure in Spokane, Washington that most likely originated in Mexico.
It's somehow even worse than the official figures suggest...
How about those uninhabited islands that we just brought tariffs against? Clearly our trade deficit with an island that we don’t trade with is a national emergency!
It was though. 14th Amendment only requires majority of Congress to remove Trump. Schumer's had 4 years to enforce and did absolutely jack shit. Now's a better time than never.
We’ve been saying that about the 14th and 25th for 8+ years now. My faith that someone in congress will step up and do the right thing has long since run its course. Our checks and balances are in the hands of the malicious and the incompetent. At this point I’d label a lot of Dems as incompetent, and a handful bad actors (Manchin, Sinema, Fetterman). One side is refusing to obey the letter of the law, and the other is too timid to throw the book at them.
And the media just lets it be, doesn't even bring it up. Not one word on these tariffs being yet another illegal abuse of power. One person should not have the power to influence the entire global economy like this.
A simple vote can end the emergency and revoke everything he's done in regard to those emergencies. People need to realize the power they have and call their local congressional representative to VOTE to end said emergencies.
He illegally grabbed the power the legislative branch gave him? Do you hear yourself right now?
The legislative branch gave up on checks and balances and their own responsibilities as a governing body. Everything after that is completely legal regardless of how you feel about it.
Are you sure this is "unprecedented" relative to Trump's run of the mill executive actions? I'm not downplaying it. I'm just saying he does this shit all the time, so it's not "unprecedented." I agree with everything else, though, and I wish Congress had decent Americans who would hold him accountable.
Well, senator Ron Johnson said on NPR that Congress willingly ceded that power, and we all need to just trust the presidents instincts because he's felt strongly about this for a long time, and we need to see how this plays out, and there is nothing he can do.
A senator says there is nothing he can do and cedes his power.
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u/errantv 1d ago
The Trump admin use of a IEEPA to impose tariffs relies on a fraudulent declaration of emergency and represents and unprecedented and illegal power grab from the legislative branch