"With a decisive electoral win and a national commitment to oversight, we could ensure that we never again cede power to those who see government as a vehicle for personal revenge, pecuniary gain, or full-scale assault on pluralistic democracy."
Fingers crossed.
All the reasons America used to be great are on the line.
It's OK to be uncomfortable with finding out that you were lied to, recognizing the truth, and then committing to being more discerning in the future. That's what makes our human species successful.
Voting is a right every American Citizen has. MAGA supporters have every right to express their opinions and cast their votes as they see fit, as do you and I. I am probably misinterpreting your comment but that would employ the same strategy Trump is using, keep the voters out of the polls by intimidation , threats or act of Congress and complicity by the Supreme Court.
Your expressed attitude toward voter suppression is admirable. But I do believe you've taken David Solomon's comment too literally. The reality of 2026 is that there is a cohort of voters who DEEPLY identify as Trump Supporters / MAGA. At this point pollsters and social scientists recognize that there is NO WAY to convince these voters to vote for any one but Trump or a Trump-endorsed candidate. These voters are motivated by either irrational fear (manufactured by Trump & his media echo chamber (Fox etc) or by anger stemming from their personal situation. (Read yesterday how Thomas Massie (KY-R) said this group doesn't vote on policy or ideology. "They'll just vote for the most outrageous candidate. The one who will most shock the liberals.") BUT pollsters have found that among these MAGA-Republican voters there IS a substantial number who have found it IMPOSSIBLE to avoid the FACT that Trump has failed on his promises. They are feeling the PAIN caused by Trump's actions. These voters have indicated that they simply CANNOT vote for a Democrat so they will stay home for the midterms. And to this I say, "Yes, let them stay home."
Everyone HAS the right to vote. The responsibilities are commonly ignored. Every citizen has the responsibility to learn the facts and to choose whom to vote based on those facts. Every citizen has the responsibility to vote for a candidate who has a chance of winning AND will be most likely to keep our democracy safe. In 2016 and 2024, so many people either didn't vote or voted 3rd party that a corrupt, liar, rapist, lawsuit creator, and an abuser of women & children was elected because 2 smart, hardworking, empathetic, strong women with policies that would help everyone were just not good enough. For too long, we have allowed the GOP to make irrelevant statements without challenge. For too long, we have accepted words of hate and lies and done NOTHING about them. We ignored that our news reporters had stopped using facts & evidence and relied on opinions and beliefs. We went to work, we took care of our families, and pretended we were not losing our democracy, that generations to come were going to pay the price. We had the people of Minneapolis and the people who live near Delaney House who have shown true courage in pushing back. And we get 9M out of 200M in the streets to protest once in a while. Funny, that the Albanians and the South Koreans didn't make that choice when they were angered by their government. They didn't pretend that the situation was going to end. In the US, even knowing the names of child rapists, does not rise to the need for anyone to stand up. Too many Americans, especially white people, are self-absorbed and unwilling to consider even the fact that we have concentration camps in the US where men women and children are being treated cruelly and illegally.
I would push back on the responsibility of every citizen to vote for the candidate that has a chance of winning and be the most likely to keep our democracy safe. The right to vote applies to every citizen regardless of why they support a candidate.. It would be nice if that candidate was a democracy supporter, but it, unfortunately, is not a requirement. I agree with your observations after this statement. Democracy requires courage and the courage to acknowledge an individuals rights even though they may scream at the top of their lungs ideas that would make our blood boil.
Please don't say Congress. There is NOTHING the Dems can do unless a few GOP join them. The majority of Dem MOC have NOT been the reason that bad rules or laws have been passed for a very long time. It WOULD be correct to say that the GOP MOC have done nothing for the people of this nation. And, in fact, have aided and abetted the people in this administration every day of its existence.
The President is a desperate man in a high stakes “game” for his political survival and continuation of his grift. He and his co-conspirators in the National Republican Party will pull out all the stops to retain power. A “blue wave” should not be assumed. The probability of real election shenanigans is high.
You have hit upon a very important point. The desire to get elected and to retain "power" is of primary focus, not just of Republicans but of a large majority of all politicians. The reason for this, in my opinion, is a lack of professional and personal integrity among the office holders. This is fixable but it will take time and effort t see it through. Good warning on the "blue wave". Voters beware and be courageous.
Yes! In the 2024 presidential election, 33% of eligible voters chose Trump, 33% chose Harris, and 33% didn’t vote. (Google it to verify.) Trump is constantly losing support among Republicans and unaffiliated, as Jennifer Rubin shows us. There’s hope!
And what rejoicing there will be when “our long, national nightmare” is over! Horns honking, dancing in the streets, fireworks exploding! 1776 all over again when we rid ourselves of this faux-king president!
But remember that more people did NOT vote for Trump (79,018,200 according to the numbers you provide) than did. Among votes cast more people did NOT support him or his agenda (Project 2025, etc.) than did.
EVERYONE, needs to vote for the democrat capable of winning in your state or district. A progressive will NOT win in a GOP leaning area or in a wealthy moderate dem area. AND BEWARE OF THE FAKE DEM PROGRESSIVES/DEM SOCIALISTS WHO THE GOP IS SUPPORTING. THE GOP figures that citizens will see they are weak candidates and vote for the Republican candidate.
Reasonable observations. What I think happens is that people who don't like any of the candidates vote for the one they hate the least. I think this is what happened in 2024.
I would be okay with that, but it's not true. Had the people who didn't vote or who voted for a 3rd party candidate had voted for Harris, we would not be here. Either she would be in office having won the vote or the little game thiel/musk played would have been far more obvious. This could have led to an immediate investigation.
Your conclusion is probably true but there are probably as many of the non-voters who would have voted for Trump as Harris or a third Party candidate so I am not sure what the actual outcome would have been.
These interchanges are what our country is all about and how we learn from each other's ideas and opinions. Keep it going!
Another key is to prevent Trump declaring national emergency to call off elnyection, or when Repbulicans lose deny the election result on comunist taking over.
Ms. Rubin. The Mainstream Media must be rueing the day they lost you to Substack. You are one of the finest journalists of our times. Thank you for your excellently penned articles - the ones that ground us in truth and point to a path forward.
Unfortunately, Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post has no need for a journalist like Jennifer. These days, they would much rather curry favor with the administration.
Agree. There were the days, several years ago, that I disagreed with Ms. Rubin regularly. Since then, she has become less conservative, and I dare say, the scales dropped from her eyes. I respect her very much for being willing to change and adapt and to admit the reasons her opinions have changed. She’s written about it over the years. Now she’s such a strong, clear, logical voice for what is right, the moral right. I agree—she’s a valuable asset and someone who is really making a difference. (Along with Mr. Eisen, of course.) Share, restack, support!
Something that popped up this weekend: We all know how cowed and compliant most of the "legacy" media outlets based in the USA have been, apparently terrified of being sued rather than protecting their own reporters from harm. Well, the BBC, which has absolutely nothing to lose, has decided the ludicrous 10 billion dollar suit lodged against them is going to continue. And they are demanding all kinds of documents in the discovery phase, which earlier in June the Felon and his minions refused to release. Well, discovery is a mechanism that will use the justice system to compel them to do so. And they are demanding a bunch of stuff, none of it things the Felon wants to have revealed. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because I doubt that Andy Burnham, a shoe-in to replace Starmer, is no friend to the Orange Menace.
It's so heartening. The BBC's discovery requests are basic, really - what's brilliant is their decision to fight where so many U.S. institutions and corporations simply caved. They are merely doing what everyone should've done. I doubt they'll ever get that information, though - Trump will dismiss the suit to avoid the truth coming out.
We also must do something about the Roberts court. There is nothing "supreme" about a court where some members are corrupt. We need a Supreme Court that follows the rule of law, not bend them to bow to one man.
Assuming that could be passed by Congress—unlikely given the filibuster and the de facto 60 vote requirement in the Senate, it will take quite a bit of time (years?). We’ll need something that works far more quickly to neutralize the malign effect of this corrupt body.
Why would it take years? I agree about the difficulty in the vote, especially since it would open the possibility of endless fiddling each time there was a change in the congressional majority. But no constitutional amendment is needed, just a simple vote. The constitution says that there will be a Supreme Court, but says nothing of how it is to be constituted.
The Republicans have literally invested a quarter century in building this particular firewall. They’re not simply going to roll over and surrender their most valuable asset. Given the rules of the Senate as long as they hold at least 40 seats they could delay this sort of legislation indefinitely. We’d need to get rid of both the filibuster and the de facto 60 vote requirement for the passage of most legislation. The chances of that happening seem remote.
And time is running out for the DOJ to un-redact names of offenders and redact names of survivors of Epstein. I think the judge gave them until July 2nd so I'll be anxious to see what happens then,
You can go YouTube and see Jon Ossoff's campaign speech in Savannah last week. It was a barn burner. He is starting to talk about the twin crises of Corruption and Competence which tRump has visited on us. We all need to talk about these things. And, he even brought up amending the Constitution - we need more, much more of this kind of talk. This is a watershed year and we need to carpe diem and take our Nation back.
In the current climate where so many of the state legislatures are heavily MAGA infested, opening the Constitution to amendments might not be a sensible move. Voting the current congresscritters out who don't support it would be a better first move.
Would we need 3/4 of the states to ratify modification to a president's pardon power? But you are accurate on the difficulties in passing ANY amendment to our Constitution. It's a double edge sword, it's super difficult to make changes to our Constitution - but this cuts against rash and abrupt changes which therefore provides stability.
I wonder, though, if Congress could shed some light on the use of the pardon power; requiring immediate and ongoing financial disclosures, for instance.
The Democrats, were they in the majority, would probably love to institute investigations in these areas. We know that this iteration of Republicans will not.
I would be very concerned with a Constitutional Convention, but, one amendment at a time I think would be doable. Especially ones tackling corruption and big money in politics.
He and Mayor Pete seem to be the two major candidates who are talking (albeit vaguely) about building something better post-Trump rather than just trying to tape back together the broken pieces of what the Republicans have willfully destroyed. I’d like for one or both of them to get more specific, but I remember the old Mario Cuomo quote that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Seeing more concrete ideas would be very interesting, but might not be helpful in completing the initial task of getting elected.
Ossoff, Buttigieg and Talerico are saying what needs to be said without flinching - not lathering them in political language. AOC is capable of doing this too. Mamdani answers any question with facts about why his ideas work.
What I hear so far is certainly encouraging but it’s still necessarily vague. Getting people to vote for you doesn’t usually involve churning out detailed policy papers. However, given the extraordinary threat we face and the high barriers the fascists have erected to protect themselves there is a greater than usual need for us to sure that potential leaders have a pragmatic plan. Given how hard a lot of this is likely to be I want leaders who understand what they’re actually up against.
And now we have JD Vance saying that Watergate was nothing. Democrats, make sure to implicate JD Vance in the strongest terms as a voice propagating the lies and misinformation. Trump will be out of office soon, we have to tar Vance with the same brush.
"MAGA’s war on truth, namely its obsessive reliance on lies and conspiracies — no matter how outlandish — to maintain its grip on power, is breathing its last gasps."
I hope you may be correct in your assessment. Certainly where orange mussolini is concerned Americans may be turning their backs on his lies. I think it is important to recognize and understand that trump has been the vehicle for a fascist coup still being staged by the likes of vance, miller, vought, blanche, bessant, hegseth, the 6 maga operatives on the court, leonard leo, blanche, musk, thiel, and the doge boys creating a massive database of voters within the WH,and all the many now disbarred lawyers who pushed the first coup of J6. This crowd is still breathing. Its tentacles reach into all parts of government and society. Whatever happens in the midterms, and may they mark a huge and unmistakable repudiation of fascism, the fight facing this democracy will be long, requiring fortitude and courage to see clearly how our own national history of white supremacy and monied interests usually calling the shots and making the policies has brought us to yet another tragic time. Both parties have participated in what we're facing today. Defending the right to vote as well as the validity of outcomes will require huge coalitions of Americans. I don't think any of us committed to the structures of a democracy fully comprehend the nature of the forces currently driving us into fascist dictatorship. You have a glimpse in vance sanewashing nixon at the nixon library. IMO vance is even more of a danger to our democracy.
Thank you Jen. The Justice and Accountability Mission has got to be a priority for any of us who care about life and the good of humanity. The Trump regime is mired in death dealing, and sadly that's no hyperbole.
Republicans reject science, wreck the economy, balloon the deficit & transfer wealth to the wealthiest.
Dems: an order of magnitude better than the Trump & Co packs of depraved sociopaths. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_i38-qjtbI Please, 86 47 & his capos with a Blue Tsunami. #VoteBlue!
You’re right about all that must be done to clear the decks, as you say. But if the MSM doesn’t help with the sweeping and mopping, the filth and residue of the Trumpmaga will continue to breed and spread again. Democracy needs a constant cleaning effort over years and decades and cleaning rotten wood isn’t going to work. Elections matter. Education matters.
And what could be done about the theft of personal data from social security, Medicare and Medicaid? Who has it? How can this possibly be restored and made secure?
I have worked in several elections. The accuracy of the count depends upon the voting system being used. Where I live, voting is recorded on a paper ballot with a bar code that matches the bar code on the authorization to vote which has the voter's individual data recorded, so it is possible to see whether any particular individual cast a ballot. The paper ballot is scanned by a tabulator which is not connected to the internet. Ballots are deposited by the machine into a locked chamber until the end of the day when they are collected and transported to the elections office for safeguarding. The thumb drive is kept in a locked chamber and only the chief election judge in the polling place has access to the drive. The drive is secured and delivered to the elections board after the polls have closed on election night. Daily checks are conducted during early voting. All absentee ballots are delivered to the elections board by the post office or by the voter who must show a photo ID when doing so. There really is no way to commit widespread fraud with the system. Can an individual cast a fraudulent ballot risking prosecution and loss of freedom? Sure, but the election problem in our country is lack of participation rather than fraudulent voting. Anyone who is denied the right to vote may cast a provisional ballot. If validly cast, the vote will be counted. Provisional voting may take many days to count since investigation is usually required. I have used machines with mechanical levers and curtains in the past and paper ballots that were all hand counted. I have voted in elections where many different kinds of systems that used data processing such as punch cards were used to record votes and the one described above is the most secure in my view. So, if the election is stolen it will not be done by cheating, it will be done by the use of thuggery and the use of force. It will be done openly and we will be dared to do something about it.
a predictable deflection that is all too common, people who seem opposed to MAGA rule than crap on the opposition as incompetent etc. Mary Pat will you do what you need to do? Like vote, talk up good candidates, etc. The national and state parties can only do so much.
The key will be getting people out to vote. The largest voter block , those who don't vote, need to be mobilized end encouraged to participate.
Keep MAGA home.
"With a decisive electoral win and a national commitment to oversight, we could ensure that we never again cede power to those who see government as a vehicle for personal revenge, pecuniary gain, or full-scale assault on pluralistic democracy."
Fingers crossed.
All the reasons America used to be great are on the line.
It's OK to be uncomfortable with finding out that you were lied to, recognizing the truth, and then committing to being more discerning in the future. That's what makes our human species successful.
Voting is a right every American Citizen has. MAGA supporters have every right to express their opinions and cast their votes as they see fit, as do you and I. I am probably misinterpreting your comment but that would employ the same strategy Trump is using, keep the voters out of the polls by intimidation , threats or act of Congress and complicity by the Supreme Court.
Your expressed attitude toward voter suppression is admirable. But I do believe you've taken David Solomon's comment too literally. The reality of 2026 is that there is a cohort of voters who DEEPLY identify as Trump Supporters / MAGA. At this point pollsters and social scientists recognize that there is NO WAY to convince these voters to vote for any one but Trump or a Trump-endorsed candidate. These voters are motivated by either irrational fear (manufactured by Trump & his media echo chamber (Fox etc) or by anger stemming from their personal situation. (Read yesterday how Thomas Massie (KY-R) said this group doesn't vote on policy or ideology. "They'll just vote for the most outrageous candidate. The one who will most shock the liberals.") BUT pollsters have found that among these MAGA-Republican voters there IS a substantial number who have found it IMPOSSIBLE to avoid the FACT that Trump has failed on his promises. They are feeling the PAIN caused by Trump's actions. These voters have indicated that they simply CANNOT vote for a Democrat so they will stay home for the midterms. And to this I say, "Yes, let them stay home."
If they want to stay away, that is their right. Thank you for your comment. I appreciate your input.
War is hell. Make them apatheic again.
Everyone HAS the right to vote. The responsibilities are commonly ignored. Every citizen has the responsibility to learn the facts and to choose whom to vote based on those facts. Every citizen has the responsibility to vote for a candidate who has a chance of winning AND will be most likely to keep our democracy safe. In 2016 and 2024, so many people either didn't vote or voted 3rd party that a corrupt, liar, rapist, lawsuit creator, and an abuser of women & children was elected because 2 smart, hardworking, empathetic, strong women with policies that would help everyone were just not good enough. For too long, we have allowed the GOP to make irrelevant statements without challenge. For too long, we have accepted words of hate and lies and done NOTHING about them. We ignored that our news reporters had stopped using facts & evidence and relied on opinions and beliefs. We went to work, we took care of our families, and pretended we were not losing our democracy, that generations to come were going to pay the price. We had the people of Minneapolis and the people who live near Delaney House who have shown true courage in pushing back. And we get 9M out of 200M in the streets to protest once in a while. Funny, that the Albanians and the South Koreans didn't make that choice when they were angered by their government. They didn't pretend that the situation was going to end. In the US, even knowing the names of child rapists, does not rise to the need for anyone to stand up. Too many Americans, especially white people, are self-absorbed and unwilling to consider even the fact that we have concentration camps in the US where men women and children are being treated cruelly and illegally.
I would push back on the responsibility of every citizen to vote for the candidate that has a chance of winning and be the most likely to keep our democracy safe. The right to vote applies to every citizen regardless of why they support a candidate.. It would be nice if that candidate was a democracy supporter, but it, unfortunately, is not a requirement. I agree with your observations after this statement. Democracy requires courage and the courage to acknowledge an individuals rights even though they may scream at the top of their lungs ideas that would make our blood boil.
And we continue to do nothing.
Congress continues to do nothing. Fix that organization and we likely fix the problem. Good comment.
Please don't say Congress. There is NOTHING the Dems can do unless a few GOP join them. The majority of Dem MOC have NOT been the reason that bad rules or laws have been passed for a very long time. It WOULD be correct to say that the GOP MOC have done nothing for the people of this nation. And, in fact, have aided and abetted the people in this administration every day of its existence.
Congress can do more when Democrats outnumber Republicans.
Keep ICE the hell away from election polls. Keep mail in voting. Never stop letting people know how inept the republicans are.... at evrything
I agree. Just enforce the laws that are on the books.
The President is a desperate man in a high stakes “game” for his political survival and continuation of his grift. He and his co-conspirators in the National Republican Party will pull out all the stops to retain power. A “blue wave” should not be assumed. The probability of real election shenanigans is high.
You have hit upon a very important point. The desire to get elected and to retain "power" is of primary focus, not just of Republicans but of a large majority of all politicians. The reason for this, in my opinion, is a lack of professional and personal integrity among the office holders. This is fixable but it will take time and effort t see it through. Good warning on the "blue wave". Voters beware and be courageous.
Yes! In the 2024 presidential election, 33% of eligible voters chose Trump, 33% chose Harris, and 33% didn’t vote. (Google it to verify.) Trump is constantly losing support among Republicans and unaffiliated, as Jennifer Rubin shows us. There’s hope!
And what rejoicing there will be when “our long, national nightmare” is over! Horns honking, dancing in the streets, fireworks exploding! 1776 all over again when we rid ourselves of this faux-king president!
For the Record:
2024 Election
Eligible voters: 244,666,890
Registered voters: 173,854,000
Total votes cast: 156,302,318
Trump: 77,284,118 votes (49.8%)
Harris: 74,999,166 votes (48.3%)
Did not vote: 89,500,000
But remember that more people did NOT vote for Trump (79,018,200 according to the numbers you provide) than did. Among votes cast more people did NOT support him or his agenda (Project 2025, etc.) than did.
Good comment
EVERYONE, needs to vote for the democrat capable of winning in your state or district. A progressive will NOT win in a GOP leaning area or in a wealthy moderate dem area. AND BEWARE OF THE FAKE DEM PROGRESSIVES/DEM SOCIALISTS WHO THE GOP IS SUPPORTING. THE GOP figures that citizens will see they are weak candidates and vote for the Republican candidate.
Reasonable observations. What I think happens is that people who don't like any of the candidates vote for the one they hate the least. I think this is what happened in 2024.
I would be okay with that, but it's not true. Had the people who didn't vote or who voted for a 3rd party candidate had voted for Harris, we would not be here. Either she would be in office having won the vote or the little game thiel/musk played would have been far more obvious. This could have led to an immediate investigation.
Your conclusion is probably true but there are probably as many of the non-voters who would have voted for Trump as Harris or a third Party candidate so I am not sure what the actual outcome would have been.
These interchanges are what our country is all about and how we learn from each other's ideas and opinions. Keep it going!
Another key is to prevent Trump declaring national emergency to call off elnyection, or when Repbulicans lose deny the election result on comunist taking over.
One or the other will be attempted. The states attorney's General need to be prepared as do their election commissions. Good comment
Ms. Rubin. The Mainstream Media must be rueing the day they lost you to Substack. You are one of the finest journalists of our times. Thank you for your excellently penned articles - the ones that ground us in truth and point to a path forward.
Unfortunately, Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post has no need for a journalist like Jennifer. These days, they would much rather curry favor with the administration.
Agree. And, Ms. Rubin, you should be a consultant to the DNC.
Agree. There were the days, several years ago, that I disagreed with Ms. Rubin regularly. Since then, she has become less conservative, and I dare say, the scales dropped from her eyes. I respect her very much for being willing to change and adapt and to admit the reasons her opinions have changed. She’s written about it over the years. Now she’s such a strong, clear, logical voice for what is right, the moral right. I agree—she’s a valuable asset and someone who is really making a difference. (Along with Mr. Eisen, of course.) Share, restack, support!
Something that popped up this weekend: We all know how cowed and compliant most of the "legacy" media outlets based in the USA have been, apparently terrified of being sued rather than protecting their own reporters from harm. Well, the BBC, which has absolutely nothing to lose, has decided the ludicrous 10 billion dollar suit lodged against them is going to continue. And they are demanding all kinds of documents in the discovery phase, which earlier in June the Felon and his minions refused to release. Well, discovery is a mechanism that will use the justice system to compel them to do so. And they are demanding a bunch of stuff, none of it things the Felon wants to have revealed. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because I doubt that Andy Burnham, a shoe-in to replace Starmer, is no friend to the Orange Menace.
Outstanding! I hope the BBC chokes them in discovery.
It's so heartening. The BBC's discovery requests are basic, really - what's brilliant is their decision to fight where so many U.S. institutions and corporations simply caved. They are merely doing what everyone should've done. I doubt they'll ever get that information, though - Trump will dismiss the suit to avoid the truth coming out.
Great!
We also must do something about the Roberts court. There is nothing "supreme" about a court where some members are corrupt. We need a Supreme Court that follows the rule of law, not bend them to bow to one man.
expand the court
Assuming that could be passed by Congress—unlikely given the filibuster and the de facto 60 vote requirement in the Senate, it will take quite a bit of time (years?). We’ll need something that works far more quickly to neutralize the malign effect of this corrupt body.
Why would it take years? I agree about the difficulty in the vote, especially since it would open the possibility of endless fiddling each time there was a change in the congressional majority. But no constitutional amendment is needed, just a simple vote. The constitution says that there will be a Supreme Court, but says nothing of how it is to be constituted.
The Republicans have literally invested a quarter century in building this particular firewall. They’re not simply going to roll over and surrender their most valuable asset. Given the rules of the Senate as long as they hold at least 40 seats they could delay this sort of legislation indefinitely. We’d need to get rid of both the filibuster and the de facto 60 vote requirement for the passage of most legislation. The chances of that happening seem remote.
must start somewhere
Starting’s probably less of a concern than finishing.
And time is running out for the DOJ to un-redact names of offenders and redact names of survivors of Epstein. I think the judge gave them until July 2nd so I'll be anxious to see what happens then,
That's just the Katie Pfang case. What about New Mexico? UK? France? et al?
And who did what to Bubba?
Will we figure out what is right and what is wrong before July 2?
You can go YouTube and see Jon Ossoff's campaign speech in Savannah last week. It was a barn burner. He is starting to talk about the twin crises of Corruption and Competence which tRump has visited on us. We all need to talk about these things. And, he even brought up amending the Constitution - we need more, much more of this kind of talk. This is a watershed year and we need to carpe diem and take our Nation back.
In the current climate where so many of the state legislatures are heavily MAGA infested, opening the Constitution to amendments might not be a sensible move. Voting the current congresscritters out who don't support it would be a better first move.
Would we need 3/4 of the states to ratify modification to a president's pardon power? But you are accurate on the difficulties in passing ANY amendment to our Constitution. It's a double edge sword, it's super difficult to make changes to our Constitution - but this cuts against rash and abrupt changes which therefore provides stability.
To your question, congress cannot modify/remove a president's pardon power. It is set by the Constitution (Article II).
But it could be removed with an amendment.
Yes it could and would be a slow and daunting process considering the makeup of state legislatures and the current congressional atmosphere.
But we may be in a generational moment where even some republicans can vote to circumscribe the president.
I wonder, though, if Congress could shed some light on the use of the pardon power; requiring immediate and ongoing financial disclosures, for instance.
The Democrats, were they in the majority, would probably love to institute investigations in these areas. We know that this iteration of Republicans will not.
I would be very concerned with a Constitutional Convention, but, one amendment at a time I think would be doable. Especially ones tackling corruption and big money in politics.
He and Mayor Pete seem to be the two major candidates who are talking (albeit vaguely) about building something better post-Trump rather than just trying to tape back together the broken pieces of what the Republicans have willfully destroyed. I’d like for one or both of them to get more specific, but I remember the old Mario Cuomo quote that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Seeing more concrete ideas would be very interesting, but might not be helpful in completing the initial task of getting elected.
Ossoff, Buttigieg and Talerico are saying what needs to be said without flinching - not lathering them in political language. AOC is capable of doing this too. Mamdani answers any question with facts about why his ideas work.
He's compelling speaker. Always good to watch and listen to him.
What I hear so far is certainly encouraging but it’s still necessarily vague. Getting people to vote for you doesn’t usually involve churning out detailed policy papers. However, given the extraordinary threat we face and the high barriers the fascists have erected to protect themselves there is a greater than usual need for us to sure that potential leaders have a pragmatic plan. Given how hard a lot of this is likely to be I want leaders who understand what they’re actually up against.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT6av30-WEg
Trump only lies when he’s talking. The trouble is he never shuts up!
Watch, if his lips are moving, things are being said that are not truthful nor grounded in any fact-based reality.
And now we have JD Vance saying that Watergate was nothing. Democrats, make sure to implicate JD Vance in the strongest terms as a voice propagating the lies and misinformation. Trump will be out of office soon, we have to tar Vance with the same brush.
Trump, his oligarchs and their tame Republican Party will work hard to disrupt our elections. We will need to get out the vote in spite of this.
"MAGA’s war on truth, namely its obsessive reliance on lies and conspiracies — no matter how outlandish — to maintain its grip on power, is breathing its last gasps."
I hope you may be correct in your assessment. Certainly where orange mussolini is concerned Americans may be turning their backs on his lies. I think it is important to recognize and understand that trump has been the vehicle for a fascist coup still being staged by the likes of vance, miller, vought, blanche, bessant, hegseth, the 6 maga operatives on the court, leonard leo, blanche, musk, thiel, and the doge boys creating a massive database of voters within the WH,and all the many now disbarred lawyers who pushed the first coup of J6. This crowd is still breathing. Its tentacles reach into all parts of government and society. Whatever happens in the midterms, and may they mark a huge and unmistakable repudiation of fascism, the fight facing this democracy will be long, requiring fortitude and courage to see clearly how our own national history of white supremacy and monied interests usually calling the shots and making the policies has brought us to yet another tragic time. Both parties have participated in what we're facing today. Defending the right to vote as well as the validity of outcomes will require huge coalitions of Americans. I don't think any of us committed to the structures of a democracy fully comprehend the nature of the forces currently driving us into fascist dictatorship. You have a glimpse in vance sanewashing nixon at the nixon library. IMO vance is even more of a danger to our democracy.
Thank you Jen. The Justice and Accountability Mission has got to be a priority for any of us who care about life and the good of humanity. The Trump regime is mired in death dealing, and sadly that's no hyperbole.
Corruption on an epic scale: https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/corruption-for-make-benefit-glorious?r=aexlz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Republicans reject science, wreck the economy, balloon the deficit & transfer wealth to the wealthiest.
Dems: an order of magnitude better than the Trump & Co packs of depraved sociopaths. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_i38-qjtbI Please, 86 47 & his capos with a Blue Tsunami. #VoteBlue!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6ji9EFt9Lg
So many ways to showcase not right vs left but top vs bottom (read DJT and his minions)!
You’re right about all that must be done to clear the decks, as you say. But if the MSM doesn’t help with the sweeping and mopping, the filth and residue of the Trumpmaga will continue to breed and spread again. Democracy needs a constant cleaning effort over years and decades and cleaning rotten wood isn’t going to work. Elections matter. Education matters.
Mainstream media will not help, until the influence of large dark money donors is removed.
And what could be done about the theft of personal data from social security, Medicare and Medicaid? Who has it? How can this possibly be restored and made secure?
We have literally GIVEN our democracy away. We MUST start thinking.
We must start thinking soon.
And the case of the personal information from those agencies above, it was not given away – it was stolen by DOGE.
Yes, but can we overcome the cheating to come on Election Day and during the counting of ballots?
I have worked in several elections. The accuracy of the count depends upon the voting system being used. Where I live, voting is recorded on a paper ballot with a bar code that matches the bar code on the authorization to vote which has the voter's individual data recorded, so it is possible to see whether any particular individual cast a ballot. The paper ballot is scanned by a tabulator which is not connected to the internet. Ballots are deposited by the machine into a locked chamber until the end of the day when they are collected and transported to the elections office for safeguarding. The thumb drive is kept in a locked chamber and only the chief election judge in the polling place has access to the drive. The drive is secured and delivered to the elections board after the polls have closed on election night. Daily checks are conducted during early voting. All absentee ballots are delivered to the elections board by the post office or by the voter who must show a photo ID when doing so. There really is no way to commit widespread fraud with the system. Can an individual cast a fraudulent ballot risking prosecution and loss of freedom? Sure, but the election problem in our country is lack of participation rather than fraudulent voting. Anyone who is denied the right to vote may cast a provisional ballot. If validly cast, the vote will be counted. Provisional voting may take many days to count since investigation is usually required. I have used machines with mechanical levers and curtains in the past and paper ballots that were all hand counted. I have voted in elections where many different kinds of systems that used data processing such as punch cards were used to record votes and the one described above is the most secure in my view. So, if the election is stolen it will not be done by cheating, it will be done by the use of thuggery and the use of force. It will be done openly and we will be dared to do something about it.
But will the Dems do what they need to do?
a predictable deflection that is all too common, people who seem opposed to MAGA rule than crap on the opposition as incompetent etc. Mary Pat will you do what you need to do? Like vote, talk up good candidates, etc. The national and state parties can only do so much.
Sorry - it’s a valid question. Will Schumer and Jeffries hold people accountable? Doubt it.