#anti matt gaetz

[mugiwara-lucy]

My friend has done readings that Trump will be acting way too arrogant, irrational and will be acting and going way too fast which will be met with BIG LOSSES which will set him off.......

I think.....it's starting....ESPECIALLY after this post from yesterday.....

But remember guys even though this may be a victory we have a LOT of work in the coming days....

[cjznark]

Release the Matt Gaetz report.

Pass it on.

[tomorrowusa]

Yale historian Timothy Snyder has written and spoken extensively about democracy over the past nine years. He tells MSNBC's Ali Velshi that Trump's nominees for cabinet positions represent a concerted attempt to disrupt the US government which would benefit America's enemies.

Dr. Snyder says that the likes of Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., Pete Hegseth, etc. are not just unqualified but they are "anti-qualified".

He has some excellent advice for all of us. Watch the above video twice and then share it with somebody.

BONUS LINK!: He used his Substack to detail just what Trump and his minders are up to.

Decapitation Strike Preserving America from Trump's Appointments

It is a mistake to think of these people as flawed.  It is not they will do a bad job in their assigned posts.  It is that they will do a good job using those assigned posts to destroy our country. However and by whomever this was organized, the intention of these appointments is clear: to create American horror.  Elected officials should see this for what it is. 

The United States is under direct institutional attack.

Imagine 9/11 when the four hijacked planes had taken off — but before three of the four hit their targets. We need four GOP senators who are willing to put loyalty to American democracy ahead of servility to Donald Trump. Getting four Senate Republicans to block Trump's appointments is the equivalent of taking out all four of the hijacked planes on 9/11.

If your state is represented in the Senate by one or two Republicans, the burden is on you to persuade them not to go along with Trump's anti-qualified nominees.

It's true that about half of Republican senators are zombified Trump cult members. Those like Cotton, Tuberville, Scott, and Johnson are a waste of time. But almost a third of the GOP Senate caucus may be persuadable – under the right circumstances. Two GOP senators, Collins of Maine and Murkowski of Alaska, have already expressed displeasure over the appointments. So we may need as few as two more.

This is your job right now. Get your GOP senator(s) to go on record on Trump's nominees. If they express even the slightest reservations about the nominees, get to work. Flattery and encouragement have a better success rate than threats and name calling. Appeal to patriotism. Even promise to make a small donation to their primary campaigns if they are challenged by MAGA hotheads in 2026.

The real struggle in the US now is between pro-democracy and anti-democracy forces. All other contentions must take a back seat to this.

[skellybonesandtrees]

REALLY? Matt Gaetz is the thing you wanna regret your vote for? REALLY? Trump the rapist was there the whole time. I have no words for how fucking stupid his voters are. No words.

[anti-encomiums]

Gaetz statement is hilarious.

I had and excellent meeting - fuuuuuck!

I appreciate their thoughtful feedback - they said no.

The incredible support of so many - but some of them have daughters.

The momentum was strong - but it was downhill.

A distraction... - there's only enough room for one convicted sex offender on the team.

The critical work of the trump/ Vance transition - from a democracy to a total shitting mess.

Needlessly protracted Washington scuffle - I might go to jail.

I'll be withdrawing my name - and adding it to a sex offenders register.

trump's DOJ must be in place on day 1 - he's giving the job to MTG who can't even count to 1.

I am fully committed - trump says he'll pardon me.

I will forever be honored - I'm going to work for Faux Newz.

He will save America - with trickle down (it's a common problem for elderly men).

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

Out Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) had some choice words for his former colleague, the disgraced Matt Gaetz, after the former Florida Republican congressman baselessly suggested that the Wisconsin school shooter was transgender. Gaetz was responding to a statement from President Joe Biden calling for Congress to enact gun safety laws in the wake of so many school shootings. Anti-LGBTQ+ hate influencer Chaya Raichik posted the statement and said Biden wanted “gun control.” “What about trans control instead?” Gaetz responded. Many on the right on social media – as often happens after school shootings now – have baselessly claimed that the shooter was transgender. She was not, there is no reason to believe that she was, and local police have asked people to stop saying that. This set off Pocan, who chairs the LGBTQ+ Congress Equality Caucus. The shooting in Madison occurred in his congressional district. “To all the idiots who claimed the shooter was trans with no information whatsoever to believe that, f**k off,” Pocan wrote. “Your ignorance speaks volumes. Your hate is consuming your brains (or what’s left of them).”

Gaetz resigned from the House of Representatives last month just days before the House Ethics Committee was scheduled to release the findings from its investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use – which included accusations of child sex trafficking – against Gaetz. Since he quit the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said that the committee will not release its report. Gaetz was announced as the nominee for attorney general for the next administration, but he withdrew from the nomination process, saying that his nomination had become a “distraction” to the incoming administration.

Happy to see Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) tell Pedo Gaetz to “fuck off” for pushing the “trans shooter” hoax.

[gandercallsforaid]

Matt Gaetz from Florida? Slappy the Dummy from Goosebumps?

Ever see them in the same room?

[onbreakreadlastpost]

Scottish firm invests in AI weapons firm founded by US billionaire

[msclaritea]

[tomorrowusa]

Team Putin - Working for the Evil Empire

[pintadorartist]

The Senate Must Block Trump’s Cabinet Nominees

Here is an image of the President-Elect, Donald Trump's cabinet picks for his administration:

These picks are not only bad since most of these picks lack experience in these fields, but some actually have written parts of the Project 2025 guidebook, like Russel T. Vought for example.

And although the Republicans took the Senate, they still need Democrat cooperation to confirm these nominations.

Another factor to consider is that not all of the Republicans are on board with these nominations, an example being Matt Gaetz, who ended up withdrawing his bid for Attorney General after facing backlash from fellow Repubs amid allegations of sexual misconduct

So, I ask that you all Call, Email, and Fax your senators to tell them to reject these nominations.

For more info on the appointees, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4985802-trump-cabinet-nominees-second-term/

Here's where you'll find your Senator:

You can also call (202) 224-3121, where a switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

If you're nervous about talking with someone call after your senator's office is closed or test RESIST at 50409 to turn your text into an email or fax

Fax tool here:

Scripts;

If your Senator is a Democrat, use this script for calls, email, and fax:

"Hello [Senator name], my name is [Your name], and I urge you to reject Trump's cabinet picks. Instead of competent experts, Trump has picked his most loyal allies as Cabinet members to enforce his authoritarian agenda and disrupt the most essential services for everyday Americans. He's appointed self-serving people like anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services and former Fox News host and white nationalist Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

The Senate must reject these Cabinet nominees to protect working Americans from the dysfunction our federal agencies will face under the direction of these appointees. We're worth fighting for, and we deserve better. I urge you and the Senate to reject RFK Jr., Hegseth, and any other extremist Trump nominees who will seek to enact Trump's radical Project 2025 agenda."

If your Senator is a Republican, use this script instead:

"Hello [Senator name], my name is [Your name], and I urge you to reject Trump's cabinet picks. Instead of competent experts with experience, Trump has picked unqualified Cabinet members who will disrupt the most essential services for everyday Americans. He's appointed people who lack qualifications, like anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Fox News host and white nationalist Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.

The Senate must reject these Cabinet nominees to protect working Americans from the dysfunction our federal agencies will face under the direction of these appointees. We're worth fighting for, and we deserve better. I urge you and the Senate to reject RFK Jr., Hegseth, and any other unqualified Trump nominees who lack the expertise and qualifications for these roles"

Here are also some petitions to sign as well:

[themattress]

GAETZIZ!

Like many great artists I fear I will never be truly appreciated or understood.

[exyrpf]

Do I even want to know what happened in the last 24 hours 😭 I'm almost afraid to ask but I'm also insanely curious

You probably don't want to know but I'll tell you because you have no choice. This will be long and...awful. But there are sources so that's fun! Please keep in mind that this was all released within 24 hours on Thursday, September 20th, 2024 and that, unfortunately, I haven't mentioned everything.

But! The GOP was certainly having a wild one yesterday.

To start things off:

The first 'Big News' to break was about Mark Robinson.

For those saying 'who the fuck is Mark Robinson', he's the current (R) Lt. Gov of North Carolina that is running for Gov. Before yesterday, he was best known for openly hating LGBT+ and Jewish folks, being a Holocaust denier, being (forcefully) anti abortion, saying it was better when women couldn't vote, anti immigrant, hating the civil rights movement, etc, just being a hateful Evangelical nasty fascist. MAGA to his core. Trump has endorsed him, saying he should be cherished and calling him "MLK on steroids". (Robinson is Black).

So, yeah, that's bad enough right? Yesterday it got even worse. CNN released a report about some comments he made on a porn site forum 12 years ago, the most prominent being 'i'm a black NAZI'. He also commented that he wished slavery was legal and that he'd own a few, and called himself a 'perv' that used to 'peep' on women in public locker rooms when he was a teenager.

Also the tale as old as time that I'm sure you could guess when I mentioned 'GOP' 'loudly transphobic' and 'porn site scandal' - trans porn was a favourite of his. Because of course.

Also of course - the GOP hasn't taken him off the ticket, and he will continue to be the nominee for governor in North Carolina!

Read the article, there's more about him and the situation in general. Mind the warnings.

-

Now on to our favourite worm brained bear eating anti vaxxer conspiracy theorist, Robert F. Kennedy Junior! I'm putting this under a read more now.

The first thing to drop about him yesterday was the news of an investigation after he allegedly cut off the head of a dead whale and took it home 20 years ago. Now I bet you're thinking, wow that's bad! Unfortunately for RFK Jr yesterday got worse. It was then revealed that he (70) was having an affair with right wing journalist Olivia Nuzzi (31) after New York Magazine suspended her.

Everything I learn about RFK Jr I learn against my own will.

-

Saying goodbye to RFK for now, let's move on to Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida! This Matt Gaetz, with the botox if you didn't recognise him.

Scary lookin, right?

This isn't a completely new story (here's an article about how he alledgedly paid for sex with a minor) but new court filings were released yesterday alledging that he attended a drug-fueled sex party in 2017 with the 17-year-old girl at the center of the alleged sex trafficking scandal.

Sure is great to have such trustworthy men representing this country!

OKAY, on to the next.

-

This wasn't really breaking news because this is just Trump being Trump but he gave a speech at an ANTI ANTISEMITISM EVENT where he preemptively blamed the Jews for being the reason he'll lose this election, telling them they need to get their head checked if they vote for Harris (that's pretty much part of his stump speech by now though) and saying he'll reinstate his Muslim ban. White fascist blaming Jews? Wow, I did Nazi that coming.

-

I genuinely could go on, I really truly could.

Oh! Kamala Harris went on Oprah and it was really nice and not at all insane and she talked to the family of the first known victim of Trump's abortion ban and it was very touching. Trump's official social media then posted a clip of her talking about her gun and saying 'If somebody breaks into my house, they're getting shot' like it was a snatch when in reality Republicans in the comments are saying 'actually, this would make me vote for her'. Thanks, Trump Team for the free advertising!

Misc:

Chris Rufo (known racist and anti immigration right wing activist) got revealed to have an illegal immigrant wife, and then got revealed to be a user of Ashley Madison (database where people go to cheat on their partners)(Robinson was also on Ashley Madison).

Jasmine Crockett during her thing and ripping white republicans to shreds. (idk this was just fun to me)

Actually Republicans and Project 2025 got ripped to shreds and shut down in general by multiple Congress members.

GOP is on the brink of causing a government shutdown, because of COURSE they are.

Cards Against Humanity sues SpaceX over “invasion” of land on US/Mexico border.

Anyway there's actually MORE believe it or not but I can't remember if it happened yesterday. Thank you for reading, I'm always open to discussing current events. I don't think it's a well known fact that I'm into politics because I don't talk about it on tumblr because people are kinda stupid. Anyway!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Keith Edwards at No Lies Detected:

Since Election Day, I’ve felt an eerie quiet fall over America.  Liberals are showing little of the defiant energy that marked their preparation for Trump’s presidency after his shock 2016 win. Americans are reporting exhaustion and coping by hopping onto planes or into unreality. Stories of Americans deciding to flee abroad have become common, an ironic turn for the greatest hub of migration in human history. Some billionaires are even telling themselves that maybe Trump won’t be so bad. Checking out surely is easier.  In the closing days of World War II, people on the ruined streets of eastern Europe hailed passing Soviet tanks as their deliverers from decades of war, dictatorship, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. As it became clear that they had merely traded one totalitarian dictator for another, people coped not only by retreating inward, but even by giving themselves over to the regime mind, body, and soul. During the Soviet occupation of Poland, anti-communist writer and poet Czesław Miłosz likened the phenomenon to a patient taking a pill in his book The Captive Mind:

[Despite [the intellectual’s] resistance and despair, the crisis approaches. It can come in the middle of the night, at his breakfast table, or on the street. It comes with a metallic click as of engaged gears. But there is no other way. That much is clear. There is no other salvation on the face of the earth. This revelation lasts a second; but from that second on, the patient begins to recover. For the first time in a long while, he eats with relish, his movements take on vigor, his color returns. He sits down and writes a "positive" article, marveling at the ease with which he writes it. In the last analysis, there was no reason for raising such a fuss. Everything is in order. He is past the "crisis." ]

Miłosz fancifully called it the “pill of Murti-Bing” after a character from a then-current science fiction novel. But as we can see today, liberal public figures are taking the pill, they are “writing the positive article.” Taunting conservatives as they deluded themselves about Trump – from my own friends and family to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal – was a common experience after his first victory; looking on as liberals lie to themselves after his second is a new and bewildering one. This is exactly the wrong time to check out.  Not only does it amount to “obeying in advance,” it emboldens would-be autocrats to proceed with their plans. As if aware of their guilty consciences, history’s dictators have always been profoundly afraid of the people they seek to oppress, especially before they solidified their grip on power. Even the most cunning of them won’t make a play for absolute power without a hand so strong and the opposition’s so weak that victory is assured: It took Vladimir Putin twenty years fully to establish personal rule in Russia, and only then when fear of a global pandemic kept people confined inside.

Fortunately for us, our country is not the Russia of the 2010s, which had only a short experience of democracy and even shorter experience of democratic institutions. Unfortunately for us, Donald Trump was seemingly designed in a lab to overwhelm our capacity for outrage and benumb us to his ever more brazen violations of our norms and laws. As Tom Nichols has written, Trump is counting on this. His firehose strategy of obnoxious cabinet nominations is a small taste of his planned war of attrition on the American psyche. 

Trump will not be invincible in his second term. The good guys scored a major victory in forcing accused sex-pest Matt Gaetz to withdraw before his nomination even came before the Senate for a vote. This has the double effect of taking this (hatefully coiffed) piece off the board, but it exposes the next most vulnerable picks – say, the increasingly tragicomic Pete Hegseth or the cartoonishly villainous Kash Patel – to media, public, and ultimately Senate scrutiny. It seems likely others will share Gaetz’s fate.

Keith Edwards has a perfect article in his Substack that liberals should not check out of the political process, because fighting Donald Trump and Trumpism is importing.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Overkill. http://Newsday.com/matt :: Matt Davies

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 13, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Nov 14, 2024

Republican senators today elected John Thune of South Dakota to be the next Senate majority leader. Trump and MAGA Republicans had put a great deal of pressure on the senators to back Florida senator Rick Scott, but he marshaled fewer votes than either Thune or John Cornyn of Texas, both of whom were seen as establishment figures in the mold of the Republican senators’ current leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Scott lost on the first vote. The fact that the vote was secret likely helped Thune’s candidacy. Senators could vote without fear of retaliation. 

The rift between the pre-2016 leaders of the Republican Party and the MAGA Republicans is still obvious, and Trump’s reliance on Elon Musk and his stated goal of deconstructing the American government could make it wider. 

Republican establishment leaders have always wanted to dismantle the New Deal state that began under Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and continued under Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower and presidents of both parties until 1981. But they have never wanted to dismantle the rule of law on which the United States is founded or the international rules-based order on which foreign trade depends. Aside from moral and intellectual principles, the rule of law is the foundation on which the security of property rests: there is a reason that foreign oligarchs park their money in democracies. And it is the international rules-based order that protects the freedom of the seas on which the movement of container ships, for example, depends.

Trump has made it clear that his goal for a second term is to toss overboard the rule of law and the international rules-based order, instead turning the U.S. government into a vehicle for his own revenge and forging individual alliances with autocratic rulers like Russian president Vladimir Putin. 

He has begun moving to  put into power individuals whose qualifications are their willingness to do as Trump demands, like New York representative Elise Stefanik, whom he has tapped to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, or Florida senator Marco Rubio, who Trump said today would be his nominee for secretary of state. 

Alongside his choice of loyalists who will do as he says, Trump has also tapped people who will push his war on his cultural enemies forward, like anti-immigrant ideologue Stephen Miller, who will become his deputy chief of staff and a homeland security advisor. Today, Trump added to that list by saying he plans to nominate Florida representative Matt Gaetz, who has been an attack dog for Trump, to become attorney general.

Trump’s statement tapping Gaetz for attorney general came after Senate Republicans rejected Scott, and appears to be a deliberate challenge to Republican senators that they get in line. In his announcement, Trump highlighted that Gaetz had played “a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax.” 

But establishment Republican leaders understand that some of our core institutions cannot survive MAGA’s desire to turn the government into a vehicle for culture war vengeance. 

Gaetz is a deeply problematic pick for AG. A report from the House Ethics Committee investigating allegations of drug use and sex with a minor was due to be released in days. Although he was reelected just last week, Gaetz resigned immediately after Trump said he would nominate him, thus short-circuiting the release of the report. Last year, Republican senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told CNN that “we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor, that all of us had walked away, of the girls that he had slept with. He would brag about how he would crush [erectile dysfunction] medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night." 

While South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham said he would be willing to agree to the appointment, other Republican senators drew a line. “I was shocked by the announcement —that shows why the advise and consent process is so important,” Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said. “I’m sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing.” Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was blunt: “I don’t think he’s a serious candidate.”

If the idea of putting Gaetz in charge of the country’s laws alarmed Republicans concerned about domestic affairs, Trump’s pick of the inexperienced and extremist Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth to take over the Department of Defense was a clarion call for anyone concerned about perpetuating the global strength of the U.S. The secretary of defense oversees a budget of more than $800 billion and about 1.3 million active-duty troops, with another 1.4 million in the National Guard and employed in Reserves and civilian positions.

The secretary of defense also has access to the nuclear command-and-control procedure. Over his nomination, too, Republican senators expressed concern.

While Trump is claiming a mandate to do as he wishes with the government, Republicans interested in their own political future are likely noting that he actually won the election by a smaller margin than President Joe Biden won in 2020, despite a global rejection of incumbents this year. And he won not by picking up large numbers of new voters—it appears he lost voters—but because Democratic voters of color dropped out, perhaps reflecting the new voter suppression laws put into place since 2021.

Then, too, Trump remains old and mentally slipping, and he is increasingly isolated as people fight over the power he has brought within their grasp. Today his wife, Melania, declined the traditional invitation from First Lady Jill Biden for tea at the White House and suggested she will not be returning to the presidential mansion with her husband. It is not clear either that Trump will be able to control the scrabbling for power over the party by those he has brought into the executive branch, or that he has much to offer elected Republicans who no longer need his voters, suggesting that Congress could reassert its power.  

Falling into line behind Trump at this point is not necessarily a good move for a Republican interested in a future political career. 

Today the Republicans are projected to take control of the House of Representatives, giving the party control of the House, the Senate, and the presidency, as well as the Supreme Court. But as the downballot races last week show, MAGA policies remain unpopular, and the Republican margin in the House will be small. In the last Congress, MAGA loyalists were unable to get the votes they needed from other Republicans to impose Trump’s culture war policies, creating gridlock and a deeply divided Republican conference. 

The gulf between Trump’s promises to slash the government and voters’ actual support for government programs is not going to make the Republicans’ job easier. Conservative pundit George Will wrote today that “the world’s richest person is about to receive a free public education,” suggesting Elon Musk, who has emerged as the shadow president, will find his plans to cut the government difficult to enact as elected officials reject cuts to programs their constituents like. 

Musk’s vow to cut “at least” $2 trillion from federal spending, Will notes, will run up against reality in a hurry. Of the $6.75 trillion fiscal 2024 spending, debt service makes up 13.1%; defense—which Trump wants to increase—is 12.9%. Entitlements, primarily Social Security and Medicare, account for 34.6%, and while the Republican Study Group has called for cuts to them, Trump said during the campaign, at least, that they would not be cut. 

So Musk has said he would cut about 30% of the total budget from about 40% of it. Will points out that Trump is hardly the first president to vow dramatic cuts. Notably, Ronald Reagan appointed J. Peter Grace, an entrepreneur, to make government “more responsive to the wishes of the people” after voters had elected Reagan on a platform of cutting government. Grace’s commission made 2,478 recommendations but quickly found that every lawmaker liked cuts to someone else’s district but not their own.  

Will notes that a possible outcome of the Trump chaos might be to check the modern movement toward executive power, inducing Congress to recapture some of the power it has ceded to the president in order to restore the stability businessmen prefer.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was himself a wealthy man, and in the 1930s he tried to explain to angry critics on the right that his efforts to address the nation’s inequalities were not an attack on American capitalism, but rather an attempt to save it from the communism or fascism that would destroy the rule of law. 

“I want to save our system, the capitalistic system,” FDR wrote to a friend in 1935. “[T]o save it is to give some heed to world thought of today.” 

The protections of the system FDR ushered in—the banking and equities regulation that killed crony finance, for example—are now under attack by the very sort of movement he warned against. Whether today’s lawmakers are as willing as their predecessors were to stand against that movement remains unclear, especially as Trump tries to bring lawmakers to heel, but Thune’s victory in the Senate today and the widespread Republican outrage over Trump’s appointment of Gaetz and Hegseth are hopeful signs. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON