As a striking Fox News poll suggests the GOP midterm position is deteriorating, a voting rights expert walks us through what Trump is really gearing up to attempt this fall—and how to defeat it.
Donald Trump exploded at Senate GOP leader John Thune during a Wednesday rally, demanding that Republicans pass voter suppression legislation immediately. This prompted an angry response from Thune, which in turn triggered MAGA rage in response. It’s no accident that this comes amid new polls showing the GOP midterm position deteriorating, including in a major Fox News survey. Trump thinks voter suppression can save the party. This is all coming to a head because the House just passed something, and the pressure on the Senate is getting brutal.
This whole situation has gotten weird and complex
DSA guy here, and sorry y’all, you can’t sit out this election. You have to go with the blue line vote, even if it stinks to high heaven. We HAVE primaried some quality candidates and we still have a way to go. But if blue loses this one, we’re irreversibly cooked. Get your passports ready if it comes to that. Anyone who even whiffs the slightest of “leftist” will become a target for the government.
We can continue to restructure things inside the party to push towards true leftism in the coming years. That requires the ability to actually vote without suppression or intereference.
You’re shouting into the void. Non-voters only support mythical unicorn candidates they agree with on 100% of all issues.
They do that because there has been a relentless propaganda onslaught telling them to do it.
You DSA jobbers talk like it cost money to vote “even if it stinks”.
It’s electoral politics, get over yourselves.
Also, vote 3rd party, vote green or socialist party of America
None of those parties have the potential traction that DSA has right now, they’re actually putting significant pressure on the democrats right now.
The socialist party of America hasn’t been anywhere in the consciousness of the public recently.
The current state of third party politics only serve to get the GOP candidates, including Trump, elected in battleground states.
Until the system is fractured and we truly have more than two parties, this is what we get. And I choose the lesser evil over increasing fascism.
Bruh I’m trollin, you think anyone who actually follows politics year round votes 3rd party? lol
Greens are MAGA plants led by Putin lackey. Shut up.
Remember everyone outside of every single thing said and done. The talks of revolution and violence people try to bring up for Americans to engage in (I agree with civil disobedience but an all out civil war is unrealistic and unhealthy for everyday citizens)
If voting didn’t work. THEY WOULD NOT TRY SO HARD TO ATTACK IT.
I think he will eventually rape a tween on live TV to distract from the trump-epstein files. He’s that stupid. /s
Trumps name is in the files more than Epsteins name… they’re the Trump files.
VOTE. It’s either this rapist PoS, or democracy. Do not think you can sit out and others will assure victory— we need every vote to defeat this fascist cancer.
We have no choice but to vote, but let’s face it, the GOP have no business winning a single fucking election. They’ve spent decades trying to thwart democracy in the name of corpofascism. The deck is stacked against us since they have control of fucking everything. It will be interesting if they willingly give the power away in November.
That’s nice. So the choice is surrender or fight. Which side are you on?
I think fight is the only choice we have. I will be voting to stop this nonsense, but I have the feeling that voting is not all that needs to be done.
Literally betraying the country that gave him everything he has (along with his rich parents).
Dude is pure transactional in his life, doesn’t care about anything but what makes him money.
He’s not transactional with Putin or Netanyahu. I wonder why that is.
And his being transactional doesn’t mean he’s not also stupid. It just means he’s greedy and vain.
Berman: Yeah, they’re basically paying states to do voter suppression. That’s the simplest way I can explain what the House is doing.
Yeah, I think it’s a pretty big stretch that A, it would get past the parliamentarian, and B, there’s enough votes for it. Because Trump keeps talking about getting rid of the filibuster. But the fact is, there isn’t even a simple majority for the SAVE America Act at this point. You have Murkowski announced she’s against it, Tillis announced he’s against it in its current form going into effect before the midterms.
I would not rely on Murkowski or Tillis. It’s true that it doesn’t have clear support, let’s not forget how easily Republicans fall in line and how many corporate Democrats are still in power only by the lack of elections in their seats so far. I’m timidly hopeful that this won’t pass but let’s not forget which timeline we’re living in.
It may not get past the parliamentarian though. This passing would be really bad, but the republicans are counting on their base which is at 36%. Good Space Guy in Seattle sometimes gets that much and has never won.
The parliamentarian simply advises the Majority Leader, all of their rulings only constrain the Senate because the Leader lets it happen. Trent Lott fired the Parliamentarian in 2001 because Lott was angry about his rulings (although Lott didn’t go as far as to ignore those rulings…)
Yeah, exactly… The parliamentarian is relevant to democracy, not to fascism. They will ignore whatever they need to to remain in power.
They just listened to the parliamentarian and trump tried to fire her, but couldn’t. I think you have your facts wrong.
The Senate literally makes it’s own rules, and chooses how to organize itself. The rules are so convoluted that the Senate established its own office, the Parliamentarian, to advise on those rules. This is a non-partisan office that serves the Senate as a whole. They get no actual vote, but their decisions affects how work in the Senate progresses. (In particular, they are the ones who make decisions on these “reconciliation” bills that provide a way around the filibuster.
Trump can’t fire her, because she works for the Senate Leadership. The Majority Leader can fire her, but won’t (at least so far), because once the rules start breaking down, it’s impossible to get anything done in the Senate. Republicans could just dispense with the rules to give the majority more power, but they are terrified of what Democrats would do with that power if they ever gained the majority afterwards.
So, if we ever do get to the point that Republicans fire the Parliamentarian, or further restrict the filibuster, it will be because Republicans are counting on never having to give up control of the Senate again.
Yes, they resisted for now. But respectfully, I think believing in some magical power of the parliamentarian epitomizes institutional thinking, and ignores asymmetric problems in fighting fascism. A democratic institution has to resist every fascist attempt at takeover to survive; a fascist attempt to take over only has to succeed once. And the parliamentarian is an incredibly weak link in our institutional chain, while other stronger links like an independent DOJ and Supreme Court, have already fallen.
Thune didn’t fire her yet because he is an old-school Republican trying to maintain traditional GOP power structures. But think back: in 2020, even the House was not overwhelmingly MAGA, with traditionalists holding power, and the Senate was barely Ted Cruz. By 2024, the House was overwhelmingly MAGA, and the Senate had plenty of MAGA. The Senate GOP now thinks they retain independence but fears the bad polls, and shows how afraid they are by still hiding behind Thune who is the lighting rod for Trump. And Trump will keep pushing, endorsing opponents, and sic-ing MAGA’s base on resisting senators. He’s a narcissistic sociopath and will never accept, “no.”
Eventually Trump will push hard enough and the Senate will be weak enough to elect a Mike Johnson figure who is as completely broken and spineless. We have to hold out until 2028 before the GOP loses the Senate, most likely. Then they will do what Trump does via his other captured institutions - break the law and let others fight about it in court while he wields and consolidates power. A parliamentarian isn’t even a speedbump at that point.
not forget how easily Republicans fall in line
Their belief in hierarchy is core. Drives everything else. They’re bad people.
Wait, that’s illegal
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