I think the consensus among analysts was that the Dems totally fucked up allowing the current 16-10 split, so if the current maps are only slightly better, I assume they “fucked up,” again.
The current House margin is super narrow, we can’t be leaving seats on the table right now.
Florida (a Trump +3 state) has 20 R and 8 D.
North Carolina (a Trump +1 state) just got redistricted and will probably have 10 R and 4 D.
New York is a Biden +23 state. If the best they can do is 20 D and 6 R, they either don’t care or aren’t trying hard enough.
GOP: Gerrymanders, courts throw out maps, gerrymanders again, too late to do anything before the election so the maps get used, courts throw them out and order a new one for next time, but too late to do anything about this one. Courts wag finger at GOP. GOP does it again. Rinse and repeat.
Dems: We aren’t allowed to be partisan in redistricting! We CAN’T gerrymander, courts would throw it out!
Yep
She’s been there 5 years now so she understands how things work. That knowledge means she can start to be effective internally.
I think there’s oftentimes this obsession of only doing things that have guaranteed success. It sets us up for failure every single time.
There are moments where you only want to bring a bill to the floor if it has the votes. We can see the dysfunction of the House Republican Caucus to know that there’s a time and place for that.
But we can’t just tell people why it’s important for us to have majorities. We have to show them why. And I think particularly when we have a majority in any institution, whether it’s the House or the Senate, we have to be as aggressive as possible because we are now at a stage of political polarization where your swing Republican to Democrat voter—they exist, they’re important—but we’re increasingly relying on base races. And the more disaffected your base, the more political risk you incur. In addition to the persuadable voters to go from Republican to Democrat, it’s to go from couch to voting booth. And if they don’t see us trying, why should they try for us?
Yeah, this punch line is the core of it and what a lot of us on these forums have been saying for years.
BB: So let’s imagine for a second that the House Democrats had a majority or that you were over in the Senate where they do have a majority. You had one of these gavels.
What are like the top three or the top few issues you’d like to see investigated aggressively? In the spirit of your question to Michael Cohen, who would you want to question, and what would you want to ask them?
AOC: We need to go after the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court. And through the Supreme Court, we explore the entire network of issues that are most important to everyday Americans: The influence of dark money in creating a government that works against the American people, the majority of the American people. The erosion of abortion rights and reproductive freedom in the United States. The actual institution of the Supreme Court itself, and the complete lack of ethical or legal standards that they are subject to, and shedding light on it.
I think it’s one of the most important things that we can do and it’s one of the biggest missed opportunities that we’ve had, but it’s not too late. I think that that, in and of itself, even if you just did one, that could fundamentally transform the landscape. The Supreme Court is a political institution and Chief Justice Roberts may not like to hear that, but he works with them and he knows.
It’s a political institution that responds to pressure. And absent pressure, they are going to do more of what we saw this week, which is enabling and risking our entire democracy at the behest of Donald Trump and Leonard Leo and the entire network that installed them there. And we have to fight back. We need to show people what they vote for. And we need to conduct this oversight, not in a year, not in five years. We need to start right now.
AOC:
Like, come on, are the gloves off or not? And if they’re off, they need to be off for everybody. If they’re on, then stop texting people that you need them to give $5 or the world’s burning down.
There are ~35 weeks until the election. Dems should be using that Senate majority EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Easy game plan here, three pronged: legislative, investigative, and executive. Coordinate timing with the Biden campaign for message unity.
Legislative: Restore the talking filibuster. You want to block a bill? Well, someone on your side needs to get off their fat ass and start yapping. Now it’s going to be a series of populist bills that the GOP has to block. Let Ted Cruz read Dr. Suess to block a bill codifying Roe. Let Chuck Grassley talk about “pidgins” to block a middle class tax cut. Let Lindsey Graham read South Carolina lowcountry recipe books to block a $20,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers.
Ro Khanna and someone else just proposed a great bill in the House - it’s a $5,000 tax credit to spend money at small businesses on made in the USA goods for middle class and lower households. Who opposes that? It’s good for the economy, good for small business, good for manufacturing, and a tax cut in an election year! Put it on the floor of the Senate. Make the GOP block it.
Then do hearings, issue subpoenas or point to an empty chair and rant about how the Republican SCOTUS justices think they’re above the law. Do hearings with experts on drug prices, on reproductive rights, on the benefits of middle class tax cuts or lengthening paid family and medical leave. Rant and rave and make the media cover it.
Last but not least, executive. Let Biden issue EO’s to fix problems, and make the GOP sue and make SCOTUS strike it down. Hold a week of hearings on abortion rights - let rape victims testify, women who almost died from not being able to have a medically necessary abortion, doctors, etc. Then the next week, put a bill codifying Roe up and make the GOP filibuster it. Make those fat fucks stand up there 24/7 Mon-Fri to block it. Then the following Monday, Biden issues an executive order: abortion is now legal everywhere. Make the GOP sue, make SCOTUS strike it down.
Do shit like that on every issue and make it very clear: Democrats want X, Republicans want Y. Democrats fight for X, Republicans block it.
This isn’t rocket science, you don’t have to be a genius here. It’s simple. It’s like the GOP repealing Obamacare hundreds of times, Trump issuing EOs that got blocked, etc. Democrats don’t do it because they’re the Washington Generals: professional losers who are taking a bag to throw the game.
God AOC is simultaneously so inspiring and enraging. She reminds you that there are people who get it but also that those people are being systematically and deliberately kept out of power by geriatric rich fucks.
These people are just awful. How stupid do you have to be to think harassing and berating AOC is going to in any way help you achieve anything.
https://x.com/yashar/status/1764832823377289506?s=46&t=XGja5BtSraUljl_WWUrIUg
Yeah I mean obviously they feel they doing right thing but at some point have step back and not harass one your best ally.
Also interesting they all wearing such serious Covid masks in 2024, I’m treading deep into Elon Musk territory but that’s gotta be a political statement not an actual evaluation of COVID situation.
I still wear a KN95 into stores and most public places, would wear it on a plane, etc. Stopped wearing it at the poker table because it costs me too much money.
My case of COVID definitely did not leave my thinking it was “just a flu,” and long COVID still scares me. The fewer times I can catch it, the better.
I suspect you’ve given it a lot more thought than they have. Really that was more of a side point and voiced out of general disrespect of the decision making by anyone who is going to be harassing AOC like that and shoving phones in her face to try to score points on their social media or whatever
I also don’t know why people think “it’s just the flu” makes it seem less bad. The flu is really fucking bad and kills a ton of people each year! I don’t want the flu either!
The flu kicks my ass every time I get it. In 2018 it led to pneumonia and I nearly needed to be hospitalized. Wasn’t right for months after that. The problem with “it’s just the flu” is definitely that people do not take the flu seriously enough, as far as I’m concerned.
Great points, and I suspect that there is a “long flu” and “long cold” and we just don’t really know it. The risk of it is probably lower than long COVID, maybe in the 0.25% to 0.75% range would be my wild guess.
Probably gets grouped into chronic fatigue and/or stuff we think is a stand alone condition.
There is long everything and we have known that “forever”. Historically we have named the conditions based on what specifically happened to an organ and not by what specific virus caused it.
That makes sense as you wouldn’t really expect it to impact management years down the road if someone bundle branch block was caused by adenovirus or Coxsackie virus as the damage is done and virus long gone. Also historically it’s been hard to know precisely what virus someone has which obviously changing now
I don’t think the vast majority of people know that, but it makes sense.