by liberal japonicus
As Jon Stewart labelled it, most of us have probably been gloat-scrolling, but the next question is what happens now. The media, in typical fashion, has pushed for a yes-no answer to ‘will you impeach the president’, trying to flatten what needs to be a multi-front strategy to a single question. I’m pretty sure no journalist was asking FDR ‘what are your plans for Adolf Hitler’ and at any rate, this seems a lot more like 1942 than 1945.
So I’ve got a bit of an allergy to all these people weighing in on what the Dems should do. I actually think that trying to pluck and pulp the lowest hanging fruit while slowly moving up the tree would be best. I know the Hagseth impeachment was put forward by Massie, and I wonder if in the new year, other republicans would be willing to put forward similar motions, but I’m heartened by the fact that the current Republican leadership is doing everything to try and stop it, which I hope will redound to them. I wonder if the Dems could simply refuse to pass any budget appropriations relating to defense while Hegseth is still secretary of Defense. Only the House can impeach, and I doubt there will be any house republicans who would do what Massie is doing, so I wonder how other impeachment attempts should be handled. Targeting Jared Kushner and Witkoff might be one avenue, or dragging Elon Musk and his minions to unpack the DOGE disaster might be another.
Targeted prosecutions and reinforced laws about stock-trading and congressional insider trading might be another place to start. Or bringing ICE to heel, which might have Miller overextend himself and wear out what has to be a pretty short leash.
However, if someone has a better idea, I’m all ears. My feeling is that if a thread can be found to pull on, it could unravel a lot.
Frankly, a terrible idea. The first to feel the pain would be the troops. Especially the lowest ranks, who have the least (if any) financial cushion. Not being paid isn’t a temporary inconvenience for them, it’s more like an existential disaster. If you want to split out pay for the troops from everything else, pay them but block other funds, it might be viable. But even then, I wouldn’t think it would be anything but a political disaster.
Dragging Musk, and all of the DOGE kiddies, in to testify? That could be very useful. The super-rich aren’t popular, and Musk doesn’t come off well because he’s become accustomed to being an arrogant ass all the time. And it would be enlightening to force the DOGE guys to testify about just what they did, how they picked their targets, etc.? Especially the ones who gutted (or tried to gut) agencies people depend on. (Have you tried to phone the IRS to sort out a problem lately. I’m not even getting put on hold for an hour. Just a recording saying “We’re super busy. Try calling back later. Or tomorrow.”)
When picking targets, recall that there are multiple committies for one part of the government or another. That means multiple hearings can be held in parallel, giving lots of possibilities for sound bytes. “Flood the zone” can work, even if you are flooding with something of substance.
But what’s critical is some savvy social media types to get the word out where people are already watching. A DOGE guy trashing the Social Security Administration is worth getting on the evening news, for the demographic who still watch that. But other groups have to be reached in other places.
Frankly, a terrible idea.
Really? Hegseth is asking for a $1.5 trillion defense budget, marking approximately a 40% increase over previous base levels. i would think some discussion about why 1) so much is needed and 2) what happened to the previous budget. Would be easy to get more details about Iran and Patriot use,
The impeachment vote has failed 211:204. The only GOPster voting for it was Massie who initiated it. Not really a surprise, unfortunately.
If you want to split out pay for the troops from everything else, pay them but block other funds, it might be viable.
Nope, the money would get redistributed by executive order and SCOTUS has essentially given His Orangeness the green light for such things (can’t remember the exact precedent but Congress tried something like this already, His Orangeness claimed that he could not be constrained that way and SCOTUS sided with him).
Btw, I wonder why Pentagon Pete has not yet complained about still having the effeminate job title of secretary (which – isolated – will be imagined primarily as a subordinate female office job by most people).
And ‘department’ also lacks the necessary glorious aura.
Any ideas? [Lord of War is no option, too British, same with Ministry.]
Broadcast MAGA Christian Republican Musk RFK psycho-empathic mass murder/genocide here and abroad to the public:
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:yo2lddpn2d4l7pdyx5ehz3ol?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fballoon-juice.com%252F
These murderous vermin, and their voters, are to African and other third world children and their parents what Mengele was to Jewish children.
Unvaccinated American MAHAMAGA children have been set loose like killer zombies on the American public.
If they can’t shoot us and our children in public schools, they’ll infect us, starve us, prosecute us.
It’s about time both sides do it.
War Czar!