Thune’s literal job description is centered on his being able to rally and unify the Republican Senate body around the agenda of the president. He is incapable of doing that. He is a lousy leader.
Mitch McConnell, louse that he tragically turned out to be, was a master at it. The Republican Senate today has become a herd of wild cats under Thune’s so-called “leadership”.
And where are the confirmations of Trump’s nominees, still in limbo, now held up for over 15 months? Grassley, with his sudden devotion to Blue slips using them as his excuse. Thune, were he an actual Leader, could stop that in its tracks, to say nothing of his deliberate refusal to allow a recess longer than 3 days to afford the President the ability to get his nominees.
No. Senate rules, Senate schmules. There is a deliberate and concerted effort by Senate Republicans, being at least encouraged by if not entirely led by Thune to stonewall the presidents agenda. No matter the consequences to their constituents or the country itself.
Shame on all of them, starting with Thune on down.
Lincoln began to reluctantly concern himself with slavery no later than 1854 with a House Divided Speech in his 3d decade of Public Life.
However you are very correct about something;
Lincoln’s cause for decades was improving the lot of the Common Man. Infrastructure of canals, railroads, technical schools for agriculture and other scientific education with public funding by Bonds and other government instruments. Lincoln was a Henry Clay Whig. Lincoln very reluctantly was drawn into anti slavery by the Southern Oligarchs machinations to spread slavery to the new territories acquired from the Mexican war. Free Labor as we see now isn’t competitive with slave labor. Lincoln was in many ways what we would now call a Labor Leader (not at that time) and the core of the Republican Party was free labor and Free Soil (farming) and abolitionism quite fringe.
Economic matters had been aggravated by President Jackson’s hard money policy which played unintentionally into the hands of Oligarchy in particular in the South-85% of Southern Whites were cash and land poor - and further aggravated by mass immigration which is always destabilizing.
Extremists on both sides drove the slavery issue to the front and then secession, war. Lincoln was from accounts not interested in war (Sherman was quite critical of his initial impression) and even more reluctant to embrace Abolition.
We may add Lincoln’s actual Life’s work of building railroads and technical colleges for the common man continued throughout the war. His 2d VP Andrew Johnson finally got his Homestead Act of 40 acres for a filing fee passed in 1862 after nearly a decade languishing, blocked by Democrats. The war at the time began in many ways as a common laborer or farmer vs Oligarchy conflict, it was also championed as Preserve The Union- for obvious geographic reasons.
So very true, the real man is far more interesting than the martyred Saint.
Just what DOES Congress do with their time? They talk a lot but don't seem to walk that walk. I am just a regular John Q. Public American who wants Congress to work FOR the people instead of themselves.
If PRO is synonymous with Progress, then CON is synonymous with congress. It seems they are against everything. It’s
so unfortunate that the GOP doesn’t work as hard keeping republicans in power as the demon rats are working to win back control. If they do win back control in the midterms, we will lose everything. What with the muslim and foreign takeover of this country everything Trump and others have worked for will be for naught.
Point taken. But it seems to me that this is rationalizing inertia; even if it takes 27 votes to boot Thune and they MAY not be there right now is no excuse for not sending him a strong message of disapproval. His bull-headedness, especially in light of Carville’s recent declaration of war on Republicans, is a pretty clear confession that Thune is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
The fact is that if there was enough of a push by voters, this would already be a done deal. Instead of suggesting an impossible scenario of a handful of Senators, the focus should be on talking about the work the DOJ and Harmeet Dhillon has done to expose the inaccuracies of the voter rolls. Even democrat voters want accurate rolls. Dead people voting hurts everyone. The Trump administration has done so much to help Americans that using the short time left to sell the positive aspects to moderate Democrats is a rational strategy. There are Democrats who understand their constituents want fair elections. Reasoning with them is a better use of time.
The main problem is very early in Alex' article. The number of votes ANY MAGA senator would receive for the leadership position. Rick Scott is no Donald Trump, yet he received only 11 votes and the other two nominees for the position? Thune and Cornyn?? Republican voters bitch about the crappy jobs done by republican congressmen and senators yet continue to elect the same shit reps to office.
We have the government we have earned.
I believe Trump to be the final flash in the pan, there to show us what we could have had, had we cared enough to earn it. We knew what had to be done but were afraid to be called the names we were and are called anyway. If we (the right) were actually what we are accused of being, leftists would not still be wasting our oxygen.
Within the current rules is there any means for a small number of senators to force the so-called talking filibuster or a true recess that would enable the president to make recess appointments?
Thune needs to be a leader and work the floor to get the votes, not just say it can’t be done or it’s too hard or not enough time. He needs to work the time and make it work. He needs to lead!! If he held a vote and these back-stabbers had to publicly vote NO, they can be held responsible by their constituents. Get SAVE in the floor for a vote and a record for constituents to hold them accountable.
More like a DIRC. He is what open primaries get us. It's an actual plan that democrats pretend to be and run as republicans and their friends and the uninformed vote them in.
This seems like an important article, to me. Most of it had not occurred to me and, upon reflection, seems true. Still, much of this struggles seems like a fight over the remote control: it's never really only about the remote control.
Neither Thune, nor his opposition, is communicating effectively with other Senators or voters. Until they can, they can not effect real change. This has become the Republicrat/both party norm.
The TDS DNC base still hates Trump and will turn out to effectively end his presidency. A demoralized Republican/MAGA base will not. They need more "promises made and promises kept." They need more Swamp draining and more "lock(-ing) her up." They need less federal spending. They need more winning. Otherwise, this election seems irrelevant.
Earn trust or concede to an infinite authoritarian swamp that treat civil liberties and peace as gifts handed down from Olympus.
Thune’s literal job description is centered on his being able to rally and unify the Republican Senate body around the agenda of the president. He is incapable of doing that. He is a lousy leader.
Mitch McConnell, louse that he tragically turned out to be, was a master at it. The Republican Senate today has become a herd of wild cats under Thune’s so-called “leadership”.
And where are the confirmations of Trump’s nominees, still in limbo, now held up for over 15 months? Grassley, with his sudden devotion to Blue slips using them as his excuse. Thune, were he an actual Leader, could stop that in its tracks, to say nothing of his deliberate refusal to allow a recess longer than 3 days to afford the President the ability to get his nominees.
No. Senate rules, Senate schmules. There is a deliberate and concerted effort by Senate Republicans, being at least encouraged by if not entirely led by Thune to stonewall the presidents agenda. No matter the consequences to their constituents or the country itself.
Shame on all of them, starting with Thune on down.
THIS! 100% on 🎯
I doubt if much trust exists between the base and the Senators. I have none. We need to remove the RINOs and get real Republicans in office.
The singular real Republican was Abraham Lincoln and the Democratic Party handled him in their customary fashion.
The Republican Party rose and fell with Lincoln.
Lincoln did not even concern himself with slavery until two years into the Civil War. He’s not quite the hero that everyone thinks.
Lincoln began to reluctantly concern himself with slavery no later than 1854 with a House Divided Speech in his 3d decade of Public Life.
However you are very correct about something;
Lincoln’s cause for decades was improving the lot of the Common Man. Infrastructure of canals, railroads, technical schools for agriculture and other scientific education with public funding by Bonds and other government instruments. Lincoln was a Henry Clay Whig. Lincoln very reluctantly was drawn into anti slavery by the Southern Oligarchs machinations to spread slavery to the new territories acquired from the Mexican war. Free Labor as we see now isn’t competitive with slave labor. Lincoln was in many ways what we would now call a Labor Leader (not at that time) and the core of the Republican Party was free labor and Free Soil (farming) and abolitionism quite fringe.
Economic matters had been aggravated by President Jackson’s hard money policy which played unintentionally into the hands of Oligarchy in particular in the South-85% of Southern Whites were cash and land poor - and further aggravated by mass immigration which is always destabilizing.
Extremists on both sides drove the slavery issue to the front and then secession, war. Lincoln was from accounts not interested in war (Sherman was quite critical of his initial impression) and even more reluctant to embrace Abolition.
We may add Lincoln’s actual Life’s work of building railroads and technical colleges for the common man continued throughout the war. His 2d VP Andrew Johnson finally got his Homestead Act of 40 acres for a filing fee passed in 1862 after nearly a decade languishing, blocked by Democrats. The war at the time began in many ways as a common laborer or farmer vs Oligarchy conflict, it was also championed as Preserve The Union- for obvious geographic reasons.
So very true, the real man is far more interesting than the martyred Saint.
Just what DOES Congress do with their time? They talk a lot but don't seem to walk that walk. I am just a regular John Q. Public American who wants Congress to work FOR the people instead of themselves.
Time? They Collect payoffs, this has been known for decades.
I think it’s never easy when you get down to the brass tacks of it all. Everyone is an expert but few are actually in the ring.
Thank you Alexander for taking an excellent shot at this!
If PRO is synonymous with Progress, then CON is synonymous with congress. It seems they are against everything. It’s
so unfortunate that the GOP doesn’t work as hard keeping republicans in power as the demon rats are working to win back control. If they do win back control in the midterms, we will lose everything. What with the muslim and foreign takeover of this country everything Trump and others have worked for will be for naught.
Point taken. But it seems to me that this is rationalizing inertia; even if it takes 27 votes to boot Thune and they MAY not be there right now is no excuse for not sending him a strong message of disapproval. His bull-headedness, especially in light of Carville’s recent declaration of war on Republicans, is a pretty clear confession that Thune is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
The fact is that if there was enough of a push by voters, this would already be a done deal. Instead of suggesting an impossible scenario of a handful of Senators, the focus should be on talking about the work the DOJ and Harmeet Dhillon has done to expose the inaccuracies of the voter rolls. Even democrat voters want accurate rolls. Dead people voting hurts everyone. The Trump administration has done so much to help Americans that using the short time left to sell the positive aspects to moderate Democrats is a rational strategy. There are Democrats who understand their constituents want fair elections. Reasoning with them is a better use of time.
Why is Thune blocking recess appointments...?
The main problem is very early in Alex' article. The number of votes ANY MAGA senator would receive for the leadership position. Rick Scott is no Donald Trump, yet he received only 11 votes and the other two nominees for the position? Thune and Cornyn?? Republican voters bitch about the crappy jobs done by republican congressmen and senators yet continue to elect the same shit reps to office.
We have the government we have earned.
I believe Trump to be the final flash in the pan, there to show us what we could have had, had we cared enough to earn it. We knew what had to be done but were afraid to be called the names we were and are called anyway. If we (the right) were actually what we are accused of being, leftists would not still be wasting our oxygen.
💯
Thank you. Excellent piece.
Wow. What a great explanation! Thankyou for that!
Within the current rules is there any means for a small number of senators to force the so-called talking filibuster or a true recess that would enable the president to make recess appointments?
Thune needs to be a leader and work the floor to get the votes, not just say it can’t be done or it’s too hard or not enough time. He needs to work the time and make it work. He needs to lead!! If he held a vote and these back-stabbers had to publicly vote NO, they can be held responsible by their constituents. Get SAVE in the floor for a vote and a record for constituents to hold them accountable.
He's a RINO, expect nothing from him.
More like a DIRC. He is what open primaries get us. It's an actual plan that democrats pretend to be and run as republicans and their friends and the uninformed vote them in.
One of the commissioners in our small did exactly that. Ran as a D and lost. Four years later, ran as an R and won.
This seems like an important article, to me. Most of it had not occurred to me and, upon reflection, seems true. Still, much of this struggles seems like a fight over the remote control: it's never really only about the remote control.
Neither Thune, nor his opposition, is communicating effectively with other Senators or voters. Until they can, they can not effect real change. This has become the Republicrat/both party norm.
The TDS DNC base still hates Trump and will turn out to effectively end his presidency. A demoralized Republican/MAGA base will not. They need more "promises made and promises kept." They need more Swamp draining and more "lock(-ing) her up." They need less federal spending. They need more winning. Otherwise, this election seems irrelevant.
Earn trust or concede to an infinite authoritarian swamp that treat civil liberties and peace as gifts handed down from Olympus.
Get rid of THUNE TODAY!!!
We still have the Supreme Court to rule on racial redistricting. Which will happen first—SCOTUS’ decision, or Thune deciding to do his job?
I understand it only takes 26??!!!???!!