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Either Al Green or Anthony Weiner. I watched an old speech of him defending a bill to fund medical care for the first responders of 9/11, and he spoke with such fire and passion. He put House Republicans on blast for sitting on their hands and hiding behind procedure before voting “no”. While we don’t need people with his character flaws (he sent unsolicited dick pics to someone who may or may not have been a minor, I’ve read conflicting reports), we definitely need people with that kind of fire.
But it won’t. Hakeem Jefferies will have his members wear, “How will this lower the cost of eggs?” t-shirts as they’re obediently led in front of firing squads.
No way! That would be too divisive for Jefferies. Wouldn’t want to offend the shooters.
Dems are completely paralyzed and need a complete overhaul they need more Al Green and less Nancy Pelosi. People like AOC are the future and their movement is being denied by the geriatric institutional Dems, people want tangible progressive policies that are denied to them by both Democrats and Republicans.
Shoulda smacked a Republican with his pimp cane. But I’ll take give him some grace because he’s the only Democrat that did anything besides those bitch ass signs
A better look would have been Al Greene beating someone with that cane.
Look, I’m the last one to tone police anyone, but maybe don’t go all Preston Brooks.
Counterpoint: John Brown did nothing wrong.
Perhaps the orange reptile babbling at the mic and his evil little right hand “man”.
Fuck all democrats who voted to censure him.
They voted to censure Rep Tlaib for asking that the US stop helping to bomb her family members.
Democrats are fascists with a BLM sticker and a rainbow flag, and they’re busy scraping off the rainbow flag.
Democrats are fascists with a BLM sticker and a rainbow flag, and they’re busy scraping off the rainbow flag.
A lot of them are like that, but not enough aren’t.
Which is why we need to get dirty money out of Dem primaries, regardless of what Nancy Pelosi says.
To paraphrase Kendrick:
Few solid Dems left, but it’s not enough
Pelosi is dirty money. Get that hag out and it’ll clean up the Dems more than anything
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Nice Kendrick reference
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We need to do away with the party, but unfortunately building a new broad front would take years.
Strongly disagree. Look at how effective the Tea Party was at changing the entire GOP. We just need people to be as outraged by what’s currently happening as the Tea Party was about having a black president.
We could just walk in and take over the green party.
Nah, the PSL is a far better party.
With worse infrastructure. The entire point of stealing a party is to use what they’ve built.
Worse infrastructure is laughable, their entire party infrastructure makes it so that bad faith actors don’t undermine their goals, and honestly, I might join them.
In the topic of stealing a party, The Green Party isn’t worth stealing.
2 - absolutely but with the time we have we have to pressure them to change and build a groundswell in the faint hope that there’s enough of us and enough of a vote left in 2026 to make some changes at the primary level
The party is a dictatorship where the chair has final say on almost everything and zero accountability to anyone.
Luckily we got a decent chair now.
We 100% need to change how that’s set up, but the party just took his biggest step left in 30 years.
Ken Martin doesn’t push progressive policy per say, but he gives voters want they want, and they want progressive policy from charismatic candidates. Just not standing in the way of voters would have beat trump last election.
We don’t need a whole lot more from the party.
Unfortunately, their chair isn’t good at all.
He has stated that the Democrats would take money from “good billionaires”
There is no such thing.
LMAO.
The fact that one comment during an interview, during the campaign where he had to get elected by the voting members of the DNC is the only thing out of decades of politics that people can latch onto to call this guy a neoliberal just makes me all the more confident.
Saying “no, there are no good billionaires” in response to that question would have prevented him from ever becoming chair…
Like, bro gave a bullshit wiffle waffle answer to a gotcha question, and that’s seriously the worst anyone can say about him?
Like, just the fact that’s all the dirt that can be dug up over his long history with the party is enough for me to say he’s the furthest left chair in decades.
My favorites example tho is when he camped out overnight with pro-Gaza protestors who were protesting the DNC so he could ensure their right to protest was protected and police wouldn’t hassle them.
The fact that one comment during an interview, during the campaign where he had to get elected by the voting members of the DNC is the only thing out of decades of politics that people can latch onto to call this guy a neoliberal just makes me all the more confident.
Then he dug a hole he needs to get himself out of.
Ah yes, the “solidarity with pro-Gaza protesters”
Then he goes and does this.
Luckily we got a decent chair now.
That remains to be seen.
They always take those left steps when they are not in a position of power to do anything with it. Then quickly shift back to the right when they are.
That’s not how the chair works, Ken Martin has it four years unless he steps down, it’s figuratively and literally his party.
In four years if what he does gets a Dem elected, that Dem is almost guaranteed to pick Ken if he wants to keep it, and the vote after is largely performative. (Side note, Obama’s fuckup was refusing to pick someone).
If Ken doesn’t want it, that president will still pick someone.
So we have someone who won’t fight a progressive candidate, and then a progressive candidate that will pick the next chair if they win.
Seriously, there’s a shit ton of reasons to be optimistic.
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Here are the droids you’re looking for:
Rep. Ami Bera of California
Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii
Rep. Jim Costa of California
Rep. Laura Gillen of New York
Rep. James Himes of Connecticut
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania
Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio
Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington
Primary ALL OF THEM!
Primary ALL OF THEM!
I’m not holding my breath for Fresno CA voting for someone more progressive than Costa. I’m kind of surprised that the Dems are actually holding on to that seat.
Same with WA’s Glusenkamp Perez. Pretty rural north of Portland there.
their phone should not be silent for even a moment until they make a public apology and promise to go better. which will never happen so their phones should be ringing out busy until the heat death of the universe. fucking capitulator pieces of shit.
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And I thought Moskowitz was cool 😔
If I were in that room, I would have proudly walked out along with Rep. Al Green. I feel like history is going to remember the people sitting on the sidelines in silence or waving their tiny signs around when only one man had the courage to stand up and shout down the president in defiance, and history will not be kind to them.
What Green did is basically the bare minimum I expect out of an opposition party. I mean, come on people, Serbia just pulled this shit and you’re telling me 10 Democrats crossed party lines to censure a guy who called the lying fascist authoritarian a liar to his face? Show me that you have enough backbone to fight these assholes. I’m tired of waiting for Dem leadership to get their shit together and start seriously disrupting government just as ferociously as Republicans would if the roles were reversed.
It’s even better if you do it one-at-a-time. If each person occupies 3 minutes, you can disrespect Mr. Orange for an hour or two easily enough.
What did this accomplish?
Sometimes you have use your fists to keep democracy alive.
Showing the voters just how much they really care about their health, well-being, and survival, ten Democrats went so far as to vote with the Republicans to censure Green: Rep. Ami Bera of California, Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii, Rep. Jim Costa of California, Rep. Laura Gillen of New York, Rep. James Himes of Connecticut, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Suozzi.
Any Democrat condemning Green’s protest or voting to censure him should know no peace. Their constituents should be ceaselessly demanding to know what they are doing to protect health care for the poor, working class, disabled, and elderly — and why their elected officials thought it was a good use of their time to condemn their colleague who was standing up for exactly such policies.
I couldn’t agree more.
My - now daily - calls to my senators and rep now sound a lot like this:
Did the congress(man) hold up a sad little sign? Like am edge lord middle schooler? Because they need to get off their ass and be more like representative Al Green. Stop normalizing Trump’s BS OR acting civilized. Resist. Do fucking something.
Seems like we’re developing a list of dems who are actually worth their salt. Primary the rest.
I’m hopeful to see them push back, still worried, but hopeful.
I was dissappinted to see most of the Dems sitting in silence, with tiny protestation signs as if they were at an auction.
C’mon, make some noise, get in trouble, but do something!
Things our Representatives can do to fight back, delay and obstruct Trump’s fascist agenda:
For Senate Democrats:
Weaponizing Quorum Calls: No Majority, No Business
Most of the time, Senators are not on the Senate floor. But technically, the Senate is not allowed to conduct official business unless a majority of senators (51 if all seats are filled) are present. That’s called a quorum, and it’s the foundation of Senate procedure. If a quorum isn’t present, the Senate grinds to a halt. The friendly thing to do is to NOT ask if there is a quorum - that’s how MOST business moves forward in the Senate. But Senate Democrats can use their power in the minority to call for a quorum and cause massive disruptions by constantly demanding quorum calls and even walking out to deny Republicans the ability to govern.
Blocking Unanimous Consent: Every Action Must Take the Maximum Time
Unanimous consent is the grease that keeps the Senate moving. Normally, the Senate runs on handshake deals—routine matters like scheduling votes, moving bills forward, or skipping over procedural steps all happen only if no senator objects. That’s called unanimous consent (UC)—and if even one Democrat objects, it forces the Senate to go through long, time-consuming processes to get anything done.
For House Democrats
https://indivisible.org/resource/explainer-how-house-democrats-can-delay-and-defy-trump-musk-coup
1. Procedural Hardball to Slow Down the Coup
Force roll call votes on everything—Republicans must go on record for every bad decision. Use motions to recommit to force Republicans to take difficult votes. File privileged resolutions to demand immediate consideration of issues Republicans want to avoid. Leverage parliamentary inquiries and points of order to disrupt floor proceedings and expose GOP dysfunction.2. Show Up and Fight in Committees
Put Republicans on the record about their harmful policies. Force votes when GOP members are absent to either force something through or force every Republican member to be in their seats the entire time. Make motions to subpoena officials and demand transparency. Expose MAGA extremism in real-time.3. Investigate and Expose MAGA Sabotage
Demand hearings on Trump’s and Vought’s plans to override federal spending. If Republicans refuse to hold real oversight hearings, Democrats must take matters into their own hands. That means holding shadow hearings—bringing in experts, impacted communities, and whistleblowers to expose how MAGA elites are trying to loot the government and rig the system for billionaires. These hearings should be public, media-driven, and designed to put pressure on Republicans to defend their corruption in the light of day. Publicize findings to show voters exactly how MAGA elites are trying to loot the government, and while Republicans are covering for the Trump-Musk coup, Democrats are fighting to stop it.4. Take the Fight to the Public
Host Town Halls: Update voters on how Democrats are fighting back. Adopt GOP Districts: Hold town halls in Republican-held areas to expose GOP sabotage and talk directly to their constituents. Engage Online: Mobilize voters with digital content that names names and pulls no punches.Their biggest problem is they are not willing to meet them at their level. You gotta go low like them . Its the only thing they understand. Go fight them in the mud!
Get in trouble for what?
Imagine if they all walked out and the GOP majority just started passing votes with nobody to vote against it. Right now, if every Dem is present and voting, the GOP can only miss 1 vote.
I think listening to your opponents speeches can sometimes be helpful in resisting their actions. After all, he’s been telling us what his plans are since before the election and most people didn’t believe him.
Why did you change the topic, my friend? We’re talking about walking out of Mr. Orange’s speech, my friend.
Everyone agrees that the Democrats should be there for every vote. That’s not a point of contention.
Mr. Orange’s speech was in the congressional building during an active session. Al got removed during the speech for getting into a yelling match. That singular action put the DNC at 1 less vote in the house.
True, but Green can still vote. But this whole yelling thing isn’t gonna change anything.
They aren’t running votes at the SotU and they can watch his speech in their office perfectly fine, they don’t need to participate in the performance to know what he’s up to.
Alright but as I mentioned in my first sentence: they need to be there during a vote.
Sure, but that’s not relevant at all to this post topic which is about a specific current event and not in any way suggesting storming out of votes.
This specific current event happened in the chamber of congress while congress was in session. They could hold a vote at any moment.
Not during a joint session. The house and senate were not themselves in session.
On the day of the joint session, 03/04, there were no less than 80 actions taken in congress and no less than 3 votes which passed in the House of Representatives LINK HERE. If you have evidence of a specific law preventing votes during a joint session, and specifying how long a joint session lasts at minimum, please present it.
On live TV, with Trump standing up there, you think the Speaker of the House is just going to call a snap vote in a chamber they already control and resolve it before the missing members could get back to the chamber? And that such an act would just be accepted as a clever procedural move to avoid the handful of objections in their majority caucus rather than a significant step toward the end of democracy?
If enough people left the room I expect it, yes. It’s certainly what I would do in their position (thank god I’m not them).
Lawmaker protests accomplish literally nothing except making people like you feel good. Legislatively and legally, Democrats are powerless, because YOU fuckers refused to vote for them. You say “do something” but this does NOTHING.
YOU should have done something at the fucking ballot box if you don’t like what’s happening.
You know you’re wrong. You know, as we all do, that even minority politicians have power to do a great many things.
No, they have the power to STOP a SMALL number of things, specifically bills in the legislature. Most of what Trump is doing is completely bypassing Congress.
Dems can only stop non budgetary bills by invoking the filibuster. Any reconciliation bill is going through regardless of what Dems want.
Trump has only done a bunch of illegal EOs. Which are being taken up in the courts, but he dosen’t care and is doing them anyways.
You’re on lemmy bro, people just want performative shit to make themselves feel good. Congress do not hold executive power, they’re literally just a vote.
What’s up with people forgetting how Republicans in Congress always manage to fuck Shit up immediately as soon as the Dems are the ones who need to do it?
Because the Dems agenda requires 60 votes due to filibusters. Mainly because Dems want to spend money on social services. Where as the GOP’s agenda just involves a bunch of cuts. That can all be done through reconciliation.
And the GOP has either had a majority in the senate or a tie for the last 10 years.
The “powerless” opposition party in Serbia btw:
What did this accomplish?
Visible support from government/establishment officials of the Serbian student anti-corruption protests. The students that the sitting Serbian government is trying to freeze and starve into submission.
Again, contrast that to what the US did to their students during the pro-Palestine university encampments.
We Americans need to open our fucking eyes, clapback tweets and watching leopards eating faces is just the new bread and circus. Holding up “fact checking signs” during a Trump speech will not save us.
So it accomplished nothing. Whatever they were voting on will continue without them.
… I don’t think you understand what’s going on in Serbia if you think there’s voting happening. Have a good day.
We’re discussing a different country currently, sorry
Apparently Americans can’t learn from other countries. American Exceptionalism truly is the best.
Murica bad
Yes. Yes it is.
Piss off tankie, everyone knows your bullshit
And then 10 of his “allies” voted with the fascists to censure him. I really hope they all get absolutely stomped in the next primary (assuming elections even occur and matter anymore).
yeah instead they got a former cia agent to represent the party who not only praised W but also dug the grave of Reagan just to gargle the remains of his balls on camera. they have no shame; they just want to be the republican party. “the moment something bad happened I knew I had to go around the world to kill as many brown babies as possible” go fuck yourself, cunt. who even elects this people.
Luckily the United States will be irrelevant soon. They’ve already lost all their trade leverage as well as their military allies (in exchange for one that’s been locked in a quagmire for three years in an operation that was only supposed to take three days) and their economy is in the process of collapsing. Neither Democrats nor Republicans will matter soon to anyone outside of the tiny fraction of the world’s population that lives in the territory that they control.
one can only hope
But THAT might Alienate REPUBLICAN VOTERS who will NEVER EVER EVER vote Democrat! And we DONT want to Alienate THEM!
The actual reason would be that Al can’t accomplish jack shit from outside of the congressional building where they escorted him. A lot of people don’t seem to realize pushing a pen around on paper is the most effective form of resistance legislators can do aside from joining a mob outside, and our opponents already tested to see the effectiveness of the mob.
What impeachment process? They don’t have the votes? You can’t convict the president without a 2/3 majority in the senate.
The dems are far too splintered. And their idea of fighting back is holding up little signs. Its like when those celebrities sang that shitty fucking song during covid. Completely clueless
