Posted on 06/04/2024 12:09:53 PM PDT by Twotone
The House and Senate return to work Monday in a very different town from the one they left before the long Memorial Day weekend. Over the congressional recess, Democrats reached the Rubicon, convicting the Republican presidential nominee on multiple trumped-up felonies with the help of a Constitution-bending partisan judge and district attorney.
While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tweeted his passive expectation that it will all sort itself out in the appeals process, others are setting about the smart work of resisting. In a Friday letter, a group of senators promised to block, stop, and derail nearly all Democrat legislation and confirmations for the remainder of the year.
“We will not,” the letter reads:
1) allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare; 2) vote to confirm this administration's political or judicial appointees; and 3) allow expedited consideration and passage of Democrat legislation or authorities that are not directly relevant to the safety of the American people.
The initial letter was signed by Republican Senators Mike Lee (Utah), J.D. Vance (Ohio), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), and Marco Rubio (Fla.). By Friday evening, Republicans Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) had added their signatures.
The move is a welcome shift for a Congress that has largely continued about business as usual, buying the FBI a shiny new headquarters despite its spying on former President Donald Trump, reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act despite its use to ensnare Trump, and continuing to fund a Department of Justice long weaponized against conservatives big and small.
“After cheerleading the unprecedented politicization of our judicial system in a desperate attempt to save Joe Biden, congressional Democrats cannot come back to work on Monday expecting any bipartisan cooperation on their agenda,” Lee told Blaze News. “Actions have consequences.”
“Republicans," Vance told Blaze News, “simply cannot sit back and allow the weaponization of our justice system against our presidential nominee. We need to show the Democrats that there will be severe consequences for this grotesque abuse of power. If they think the normal spirit of bipartisanship can be maintained while their party leadership orchestrates a plan to throw Donald Trump in prison, they’ve got another thing coming.”
It’s a good start. When your constituents ask what you did when your party’s nominee was convicted in a kangaroo court, the answer can’t be, "Did you see the TV hit I did?” and “I held a hearing on it” simply won’t suffice.
Still, much will depend on how much hell the GOP is willing to raise. If the 10 senators commit to blocking all consents (for routine things as basic as setting up tomorrow’s schedule or allowing debate), they can shut down the U.S. Senate. Though there is good enough reason they should go that far, the pressure would be immense, and it’s unlikely they will.
More likely, they’ll block all political and judicial nominations by consent, forcing a vote (like Tuberville did, before he was betrayed by weak Republican colleagues).
To do anything beyond this, they’ll need the support of another 31 colleagues. With 41 united senators, you can stop appropriations. Then you’re talking business. While the original group of 10 should grow this week, it will take pressure to push other Republicans into supporting it. If Trump starts talking about it, the situation might change.
It’s no secret that Trump isn’t popular on Capitol Hill. When he was banned from Twitter in 2020, only a single Republican senator reached out to the company to protest. Most of the rest think of him as a blundering wrecking ball, inconvenient to the kind of uniparty spending D.C. prefers (colored by peripheral but meaningless TV fights).
That doesn’t mean they’ll say anything publicly against him. Republican voters back Trump to the hilt, so most know to keep their mouths shut. The Republican National Committee more than doubled its previous one-day fundraising haul, raising $52.8 million in the 24 hours after the conviction despite the fundraising portal crashing multiple times. All Trump’s lack of popularity in D.C. means is that few are eager to jump to the ramparts when he’s under attack.
State Republicans need not let D.C. have all the fun. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is just one of many hard-left prosecutors funded by George Soros and Co. What about those DAs in Republican-controlled states? Investigations and impeachments are in order. Time to clean house.
As with the culture wars, there can be no calling for a truce on this one. Democrats have crossed the northern border and are marching south. Republican politicians who continue to rubber-stamp so much as a postage stamp design are simply collaborating.
The Republican Party wants Biden to get a second term.
Yep. Our system is broken. There are no “sides.” They’re just a gradient or a spectrum of the same BS. And sadly most Americans are so disconnected that they don’t see it and think things will get better.
Praying for a sign from Heaven at this point...
Sit on their hands like they usually do, and give power to the RATS.
They’ll double their efforts.
But sadly, 2 x 0 = 0.
They’re still searching for a spine. Only one. They’ll share.
Nothing ...
No matter what they say, it’s a lie
Democrats are simply terrified.
Excellent article; thanks for posting it.
Politics is a business. The goal of business is growth and prosperity (for the business owners). The Democrats want power. The Republicans want money. Both political parties have been wildly successful. Eventually, the bubble will burst. It always does.
Ten Senators, assuming they keep their commitment can throw a monkey wrench into the Administration’s/Schumer’s plans for the next few months. This could be more than a strongly worded letter.
Prolly do what they do best.... bend over and spread em.
Mo, the pubbies just don’t want Trump to have a second term. If Trump were an establishment pubbie, they would support him with great (feigned) conviction!
No, they want Trump gone.
Trump destroyed the status quo. So much it might never go back to the way it was.
For the average GOP congress critter and staffer, Trump is the bigger threat. No upside to support him, suicide to oppose him.
You have to ask yourself, what happens when Trump wins?
Just what they always do. NOTHING.
Send out a cross Tweet. Then go back to sleep
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