Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) delivered a threat to any Republican who might break rank on confirming Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as Donald Trump's next attorney general: MAGA will come for your job.“I don’t know, you’re finding all the swamp creatures coming out right now” to oppose Gaetz's nomination, T...
Summary
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) warned Republicans against opposing Donald Trump's nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as attorney general, stating that MAGA supporters would target their jobs if they break ranks.
Tuberville defended Trump’s right to choose his team, urging senators to “vote with President Trump.”
Gaetz, who recently resigned from Congress, is a divisive figure within the GOP, having faced FBI and House Ethics investigations over alleged misconduct.
Some Republicans are openly concerned about the nomination and are deliberating their next steps.
Tuberville himself wouldn't, but a lot of Republicans thought that was dumb as shit and was directly hurting military readiness. He does not have a good reputation in his own party thanks to that stunt. Tuberville's voters will still come out for him, but it takes more than that to get things done in Congress.
It's quite possible that more than a few Republicans will ignore Tuberville. The senate breakdown will be 47/53, so it doesn't take many to stop it.
And this is why they will fall in line. Tuberville's threat is very, very real.
Trump has long shown his power to make or break political careers in the GOP. No prominent member of the GOP has so much as criticized Trump and had their political careers remain intact. Liz Cheney is a prime example. Mitch fucking McConnell, who spent decades shaping the far right of the GOP and spent the past 10 years leading Trump's rise to power in the first place, is now being ostracized by some in his own party for not being MAGA enough. Adam Kinzinger, a former harsh critic of Trump, is now apparently trying to revive his political career by following the Kevin McCarthy playbook of sucking up to Trump..
They have both trifectas. They've got the White House/Congress/Supreme Court trifecta, along with the White House/HOR/Senate. It's their game. They get to play the game by their rules. And Trump has said that they're basically going to play Calvinball with the rules to get what they want. They have 53 seats in the Senate. If 51 of them decide that a simple majority can remove a member because they fucking say so, then that's the rule and there's nothing you or I can do about it.
This is the 2nd Trump administration. Get on board or get run over. Trump has far, FAR more power and influence than he had during his first adminstration. Get in his way and you will be purged. It's that simple.
And remember, all you people all over the other threads bitching and saying you couldn't vote for Harris because Liz Cheney showed up with her that one time....remember that you fucking voted for this.
Of course, you can always try to go the extralegal route, but you need a hell of a lot of heavily armed people willing to actually do that. Problem with that is that a good chunk of said people just got finished saying "Meh, nah."
This is the 2nd Trump administration. Get on board or get run over. Trump has *far, FAR* more power and influence than he had during his first adminstration.
Hoping you’re wrong and his mandate fades quickly and he becomes an ineffective lame duck as early into this upcoming term as possible.
On the Harris🤎Cheney issue, I think it's notable that the Harris turnout was actually quite large in many places, but the trump turnout was larger.
I can't remember what media I was doomfully consuming, but someone basically said Dems should not try to court Republicans to vote... because even if it works, they'll arrive at the polls and vote Republican.
I can’t remember what media I was doomfully consuming, but someone basically said Dems should not try to court Republicans to vote… because even if it works, they’ll arrive at the polls and vote Republican.
Now this is an interesting take on it that at least makes some more sense. I don't think we have any precedent to really go on; how many times do we really see someone from one party advocating for the other guy. It would be interesting to study how valid it actually is.
I'm not aligned with Kinzinger but I don't really see the kissass vibes. I think he remains as principled as ever but he is acknowledging the new conditions of the game.
The pension value can be up to 80% of the member's final salary, which is $174,000 per year. At an 80% rate, that's a pension benefit of $139,200. (The Speaker of the House has a salary of $223,500. The Senate President makes $193,400, as do the majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate.) All benefits are taxpayer-funded.
I don't think that's a necessarily bad thing. You don't want to pay politicians less money, when there is very little for anyone not rich or corrupt to run as it is.
In fact... I think we should raise all of their salaries to $200k a year, and implement a $10 national minimum wage. Each congress members salary is a multiple of 20 of the minimum wage in their state. So let's say your state has a $15 minimum wage, congratulations you make $250,000 rather than the base.
Whether you like it or not, you can't say members of the Republican party are not beholden to their voters. Can't say as much for the Democrats, which is why they keep losing.
They voted for better economy and we're dicking around making Gaetz AG. No, this is not for "the voters" it's to waste tax dollars persecuting Trump's political opponents