#Byron Donald

[currentlyjournal]

Great episode.

[leupagus]

Tuesday's House Budget Vote and what you may not have heard about

I'm reposting this from a reblog of a really great post about the work that Representatives Mullin and Pettersen did in voting against the GOP budget on February 25th, because I don't want to detract from that message.

Instead, I want to talk about the larger implications of H. Con. Res. 14 itself, and why the Democrats risked so much (in Mullin's and Pettersen's cases, actual harm) in order to show up for this vote.

The vote in question is starting the first of quite a few votes for the upcoming GOP budget; it's not a done deal by any means, this was just the vote to get it started, so to speak. But it was still a very, very, VERY important vote, because not only would failure be catastrophic, but so would a win that just barely squeaked by.

And this one squeaked like a fucking mouse in Murray's Cheese Shop.

Speaker Johnson has been waffling on putting this to a vote because there were several outspoken GOP members who talked a big game about opposing it. Usually this doesn't matter, since most bills get some bipartisanship, but at present the House is in GOP hands with only a three-member margin of error, with two seats vacant (note: those two vacancies are FL 1 and 6, which are holding their special elections on April 1 — lol — and which are EXTREMELY unlikely to flip but hey miracles happen! Donate or phonebank if you'd like!). And Democratic representatives have been voting in a bloc against...well pretty much everything the GOP's been pushing through since Trump took office. Not only that, but this budget is legit unpopular with a number of Republicans, so much so that Johnson pulled the vote at first on Tuesday because he knew it would fail if the GOP members who'd threatened to vote against it actually went through with it. What he needed was to either convince them all to fall in line, or resort to cheating.

So he did both!

He and Trump strongarmed all but one of the GOP holdouts into voting yes (Congressman Massie is in many ways a turd in a toilet, and his reasons for voting no were bad, but he did stick to his guns, I'll give him that). Reports of Trump actually screaming at one of the (female, naturally) GOP holdouts are...well, unsurprising, but that's how panicked they were about getting this bill started. Usually the Whip does this work, but Tom Emmer's been laughably bad at it and so they had to get Trump to actually do some work. Which is itself sort of astonishing. But even then, they weren't sure they could get it done.

Which leads us to part two of Johnson's plan: blatant cheating. During Pelosi's last session as Speaker, she allowed for proxy voting in light of COVID and, you know, the general state of things, but the second the GOP got back the gavel they nixed it right in the bud. This puts the Dems at a disadvantage right now because at least three of them are out for medical reasons — Mullin and Pettersen, as well as Congressman Raúl Grijalva who's fighting cancer at present. (He was the only Democrat who couldn't get to the floor for this vote, fwiw, and anyone who insists he should've can suck my left tit.)

So Johnson adjourned the House for the evening, sending everyone home, but told the GOP members to stay and then tried to rush through the vote before the Dems realized what was happening. His hope was that enough Dems would be caught flat-footed/not see the recall notice/be asleep watching Taskmaster (whoops that was me) by the time they got the message to get back to the floor. That way he could lose the holdouts but still pass the budget onto the next phase.

However! While Nancy Pelosi no longer rules the Democratic caucus with her iron fist and fabulous coats, my man Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries learned quite a lot from her (and is pretty fucking genius himself). Not only did he and the other House leadership expect this kind of chicanery from Johnson, they had planned on it.

Because here's the thing: Mullin and Pettersen didn't get on a plane at the last minute on Tuesday; they'd gotten to DC on Monday, without telling anyone they were in town. They actually hid from the GOP members all day Tuesday in order to lull Johnson into thinking he had more of a margin than he did; if the GOP holdouts really had voted against the budget, then it would've failed. Which would have been a biiiiiiig problem for Johnson and Trump.

As it is, it's still a biiiiiiig problem for Johnson and Trump, because now they know just how razor-thin their margin is. More importantly, they also now know that the Dems will fuck with them just as much (if not more) as they will fuck with Dems. Congress (and the USA in general) has operated for years on the assumption that Democrats operate in good faith, while taking it for granted that of course the GOP ratfuck as much as humanly possible.

This moment is a chilling one for the GOP; they can't assume anymore that Dems will play fair or fight clean. Which seems like a very small thing in the larger picture right now, I know, and I also know that people would love for their Democratic representatives and senators to be more vocal and angry in public ways. I get that!

But this move on Tuesday night? Is actually going to have far bigger consequences than any meme or viral video or clever soundbite from a politician. Democrats are no longer playing by the rules that the GOP's ignored for years (if not decades); they're playing by the GOP's own rules, and they just might win.

[bootleg-nessie]

My dog got eated by an immigrant because of Sleepy Joe Byron’s LIBRAL COMMIE border policies >:(

[ireton]

Congressman Answers Whether He Has Any Money For Zelensky.

Republican Congressman from Florida Byron Donalds after Zelensky’s speech at the UN in an interview:

Reporter: “What would you say to Zelensky? He will soon ask Congress for money to stop the war in Ukraine.”

BD: “I would say that firstly, the House of Representatives no longer has money for Ukraine. It’s gone... Moreover, we have a deficit of $2 trillion, so the money that we gave to Ukraine, we ourselves borrowed from our future.

These are the facts.

Secondly, he chose not the best time to arrive, given the internal situation [Biden impeachment]

Thirdly, the whole story with Ukraine is a mistake of the Biden administration. If we had a commander-in-chief who would not sleep at world forums, the situation in Ukraine, and in the world, would be much better."

The voice of the Republican, conservative opposition. And the race factor does not play here.

[odinsblog]

Qwhite interesting. Where did all of those “black jobs” that Trump promised disappear to?

[sbrown82]

All that damn shucking and jiving …and them yt folks STILL ain’t invite you to the big house! 🤣🤡

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Villarreal at LGBTQ Nation:

When Christian Nationalist Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) visited George Washington University (GW) yesterday to complain about a pro-Palestinian encampment there, students repeatedly shouted “Beetlejuice!” at her. The jeer referenced the time she was kicked out of a theatre during a performance of Beetlejuice: The Musical after she was caught vaping, groping her date, and flipping off an usher — and it’s not the first time critics have used the incident to mock her. Boebert toured the university’s Washington D.C. campus on Wednesday to view the encampment alongside other House Republicans, including Reps. Byron Donalds (FL), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), and James Comer (KY). Students from GW and other D.C. area colleges and universities established the encampment last week. During the visit, Boebert tried to tear down a Palestinian flag hanging from a statue. She told others to remove the flag, because the statue is federal property. Addressing a group at GW, Boebert referred to the encampment, saying, “If [GW doesn’t] want to do something to address this? Well, then kiss your federal funding goodbye,” Business Insider reported. During Boebert’s speech, students began yelling “Beetlejuice!” and sang “The Imperial March” from the science-fiction film series Star Wars, the University’s student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, reported. The films’ marching tune is associated with Darth Vader, a genocidal dictator.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) went to George Washington University (GWU) on Wednesday with a few other Republican Congresspersons to oppose the Gaza Solidarity Encampments on campus.

While there, Boebert was there to antagonize the pro-Palestinian supporters, and students rightly shouted her down with "Free Palestine" and "Beetlejuice" chants. She later threatened to defund GWU.

[whitesinhistory]

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A post shared by I Dissent 🇵🇸🔻🍉 (@katie.blue.is.the.feeling)

So the Republicans are trying to shut down the government to damage their own states so that they make the Democrats look bad before the election… Is that the game plan they’re going with?

Here is the full list of Republicans who voted against the stopgap bill to prevent a government shutdown in September 2024:

Indiana: James R. Baird, Jim Banks, Rudy Yakym III, Victoria Spartz

Ohio: Troy Balderson, Warren Davidson, Jim Jordan, Max L. Miller

Florida: Aaron Bean, Gus M. Bilirakis, Kat Cammack, Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Bill Posey, Michael Waltz, Daniel Webster

Texas: Michael Cloud, Tony Gonzales, Lance Gooden, Morgan Luttrell, Nathaniel Moran, Chip Roy, Keith Self, Randy Weber Sr., Beth Van Duyne, Roger Williams

Arizona: Andy Biggs, Elijah Crane, Paul A. Gosar, Debbie Lesko, David Schweikert

North Carolina: Dan Bishop

Colorado: Lauren Boebert

Illinois: Mike Bost, Mary E. Miller, Darin LaHood

Oklahoma: Josh Brecheen

Tennessee: Tim Burchett, John W. Rose, Andrew Ogles

Missouri: Eric Burlison

Georgia: Andrew S. Clyde, Mike Collins, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Richard McCormick

Utah: John R. Curtis

South Carolina: Jeff Duncan, Russell Fry, Nancy Mace, Ralph Norman, William R. Timmons IV

Kansas: Ron Estes, Tracey Mann

Mississippi: Mike Ezell, Michael Guest, Trent Kelly

Iowa: Randy Feenstra

Minnesota: Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach

Idaho: Russ Fulcher

Virginia: Bob Good, H. Morgan Griffith

Wyoming: Harriet M. Hageman

Maryland: Andy Harris

Louisiana: Clay Higgins

Pennsylvania: John Joyce, Scott Perry

West Virginia: Alexander X. Mooney

California: Tom McClintock

Kentucky: Thomas Massie

Montana: Matthew M. Rosendale Sr.

New York: Claudia Tenney

Wisconsin: Thomas P. Tiffany, Derrick Van Orden

New Jersey: Jefferson Van Drew

Alabama: Barry Moore, Gary J. Palmer

Arkansas: Bruce Westerman

Why is this important to me? I would have been out of a job. Government contractors would rather cut you and rehire you for less pay or benefits. Also, if I miss 1 or 2 paychecks I will be homeless.

[nodynasty4us]

Who will Trump pick as his VP candidate? (Part 2)

Who do you think Donald Trump will pick as his running mate in 2024? This does not mean who you would prefer--just who you think is most likely.

I've divided the possibilities into 4 polls because Tumblr only allows 12 choices per poll. Here are the current or former members of the House of Representatives. You can also vote in the other polls for senators, governors, and non-politicians.

After these polls close, I'll post a final round consisting of the top choices.

(Mark Meadows and Mike Pompeo both served in the House of Representatives before they were called into the Trump administration.)

Tumblr does not allow political posts like this to be Blazed. So to increase participation, please reblog if US politics is a topic that you post about.

[scenesandscreens]

Swarm, Season One (2023)

Directed by Donald Glover, Adamma Ebo, Ibra Ake & Stephen Glover

[thebonesofhoudini]

Blacks for Trump got played like a Saxophone!

Silly coons. MAGA is for White people only!

That's what happens when you carry water for a white supremacist.

They leave you with nothing to drink. 🤣

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

The hits keep coming🤦‍♂️

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

In recent days, several high-profile Republican political figures have traveled to the Manhattan Criminal Court, where Donald Trump is on trial. Outside the courthouse, they addressed the media and attacked key witnesses, the jury, and even the judge's daughter.  The comments by Trump's Republican allies are nearly identical to attacks that Trump has made previously in interviews and social media posts. But Judge Juan Merchan has ruled that, in so doing, Trump violated the gag order he imposed to preserve the integrity of the trial. Merchan has already fined Trump for violating the gag order 10 times and has warned that future violations could result in incarceration.

Merchan's order prohibits Trump from "directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses." The order also prohibits Trump from directing others to attack the jury, the court staff, or family members. Asked on Tuesday if he directed the Republicans to speak about the trial on his behalf, Trump described them as his "surrogates" and praised them for "speaking very beautifully." Trump has also entered the courthouse flanked by his surrogates, effectively giving them his imprimatur. If Trump directed his surrogates to speak, their comments could constitute criminal contempt of the gag order by Trump.  Trump’s attorneys challenged the legitimacy of the gag order, but the New York Supreme Court rejected his argument on Tuesday. A five-judge panel found that Judge Merchan appropriately balanced "the competing considerations of [Trump's] First Amendment rights to free expression and the effective functioning of the judicial, prosecutorial, and defense processes."

The red tie brigade

On Monday, Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) addressed the media in front of the courthouse. On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R), Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (R), and Congressman Cory Mills (R-FL) did the same. Tuesday's group, in an apparent show of solidarity, wore Trump's signature blue suit and red tie. 

[...] Prosecutors could have difficulty, however, proving that these comments were given at Trump's direction. None of the Republican officials are subject to Merchan's order, so the only conduct at issue would be whatever direction Trump provided, if any, behind the scenes.  Trump's acolytes are making a tough task a bit easier. Tuberville, in an appearance on Newsmax, admitted that he traveled to New York to help Trump "overcome this gag order." Turberville said that he and other Trump supporters were there to "represent" Trump and speak "for President Trump." Similarly, Vance acknowledged that he came to Manhattan specifically to say what Trump “is prevented from saying."

In recent days, Trump sycophants such as J.D. Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Doug Burgum have traveled to Manhattan to show solidarity for criminal defendant Donald Trump, where the People of New York v. Trump case is being tried.

See Also:

Dean Obeidallah: Trump must be held in Contempt for directing MAGA allies to violate Gag Order!