House Republicans had a bad day: Most of them voted against a sweeping funding bill. One threatened to overthrow Speaker Johnson. Another Republican resigned early. And Santos caused turmoil in N.Y.
Most of them voted against a sweeping funding bill. One threatened to overthrow Speaker Johnson. Another Republican resigned early. And Santos caused turmoil in a N.Y. race.
Friday began with House conservatives holding a press conference to trash the $1.2 trillion spending bill their leaders negotiated with Democrats, sparking some fears about its prospects.
It squeaked through — requiring 67% of the House, it ended up winning 68% — but a majority of Republicans voted against it.
It was just the first headache of the day for House Republicans as they adjourned for a two-week recess, offering a distillation of the infighting and disenchantment that continues to plague the party 15 months into its narrow majority. Things were about to get worse.
Moments later, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shocked her colleagues by filing a motion to overthrow Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., blasting his stewardship of the chamber and threatening renewed turmoil at the helm of her party.
I really wish the Republicans would hurry the fuck up with the whole “tearing themselves apart and sinking their collective viability as a political party” thing.
The American public has a very short memory. It needs to slow burn until October, then flare up like a motherfucker. Then we see a sweep by the democrats.
Unfortunately, picking and choosing who gets to participate in democracy isn’t democracy.
That's not necessarily true- direct democracy isn't the same a representative democracy, for example. Also, a very strong case can be made that the US functionally isn't a democracy, since one political party wields outsized amounts of power compared to "the will of the people." A "true" democracy wouldn't allow a President who lost the popular vote, or require a party to get 60%+ of the popular vote to get barely 50% members in Congress.
And yes, I realize the idea that requiring voters to be informed on issues and government opens the door to suppression of voters for illegitimate reasons. I don't know what would be a more ideal solution, but I do know that this
We’re stuck with morons among us.
is a big chunk of the problem. A functioning government requires an invested and educated populace, and too many Americans aren't.
It is less about being on the fence versus being motivated to actually go vote. Most people are like "whatever", and "my vote doesn't matter anyhow" and "if I vote, I'm going to get jury duty". If the politicians can't get people to vote, they lose.
There is more than the presidency. Flipping the house and keeping the Senate are almost as important as winning the presidency. The ideal October special is a house that’s in chaos, together with Trump throwing tantrums because of legal issues.
I keep thinking this, I think political reform is necessary to fulfil this (well obviously) because as it stands, a replacement for the Republican party imo can only look like how we've seen it mutate with trump.. and I don't think that will be politically healthy.
Ranked choice voting comes to mind, but some people having built their entire worldview out of some sports game Dems v Repubs, it'll be hard to bolster cosiderations for such a restructuring