We need a massive overhaul of the supreme court. That, and creating recall procedures for unfaithful lawmakers, should be our top priorities going forward.
A reconstituted and new DOJ totally outside the Executive Branch would be good, too. Same for the inspectors General. IMHO they should be stand-alone separate from the other three (Which need substantial rewriting and circumscription) under a heavily amended Constitution.
We are clearly over-due on updates and clarifications. Our Founding Fathers certainly couldn't imagine corruption, cruelty and plain evilness of this level.
Of course they did. That's the POINT of the Declaration of Independence!
But they clearly did not imagine the voters would actively choose someone that would behave as Trump does. Or that he'd have active support from BOTH other branches of our government.
"Our Founding Fathers certainly couldn't imagine corruption, cruelty and plain evilness of this level."
They understood human nature, which is why they designed the federal government the way they did with three separate branches, checks and balances, etc.. They also designed the federal government to be much smaller and less important to the average voter than it currently is. We fought the Revolution, in part, to break away from a far-off powerful central government, but here we are all over again.
"We need a massive overhaul of the supreme court."
We need a massive overhaul of both major political parties. If you believe that our institutions need reforming, I suggest we start with term limits for members of Congress.
I agree. In truth, what first needs to happen is a massive awakening of American's civic engagement to the point where our elected representatives have no choice but to actually serve them.
Agreed, but I think most of the voting public only cares if there is a (D) or an (R) behind a candidate's name. We need to outlaw Congressional district gerrymandering based on anything, including political ideology.
False equivalence alert. Sure some change in the Democratic party needs to happen. However, the Republican party needs to be destroyed and consigned to the dustbin of history, right next to their previous incarnation, the Know Nothing Party.
"Sure some change in the Democratic party needs to happen."
Allegedly, DNC Chair Ken Martin has the official "autopsy" on what happened during the 2024 campaign but it hasn't been released. And you're not mentioning what changes you think need to occur. What appears to be happening is that the Dems are almost totally relying on Trump's falling poll numbers to convince people to "vote Blue" this fall. They're not addressing what they are FOR or what policies they have changed from the last election.
It's likely that the Dems will retake the House and possibly the Senate this fall, but if they spend the next two years needlessly impeaching Trump they may be rejected again in 2028.
As for "destroying" the Republicans, that needs to happen internally.
Also - one of the first things we need to do is get rid of the Electoral College. All other elections in this nation are by popular vote, even those run by rank choice. Except for our most important election, that of president of the United States. We need to elect our presidents by popular vote. If we had that in 2016, we would not have had trump 1.0.
If and when Democrats regain legislative control of Congress they must be prepared to immediately pass legislation to reform the system that allowed the most corrupt administration in history to take office. Pass Supreme Court ethics requirements, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, a nationwide requirement for states to use independent commissions for redistricting, get dark money out of politics…the list is long. Just as Project 2025 hit the ground running, Dems must do the same.
But, without a substantial rewrite of the Constitution, another would-be strong man will just come along and ignore facts, ethical norms, laws, the Constitution...
Maybe. But history is a great informant. As long as there is a free press, we will be informed. All of our greatest American heroes & heroines have deserved our admiration.
Jason, the lack of action by the Biden Administration on a host of important legal matters can be directly attributed to AG Merrick Garland. Granted, Mr. Garland is honorable and decent but his temperament was better suited to being a justice on the SCOTUS, an Obama nomination blocked by Mitch "The Turtle" McConnell, by the way. He lollygagged for 2 years before he appointed Jack Smith to investigate Drumpf in 2022 to avoid the appearance of political motivation. With the 2024 election of the lunatic man-child, Mr. Smith's investigation was shut down and he is now in the crosshairs of the putrid DOI (aka Department of Injustice) simply for having the audacity to investigate the illegal actions of the doddering, demented dangerous fool in the WH.
Yes, that is all true, although it is hardly the only reason. Garland didn't stop Biden from pushing harder to expand the Court or to enforce any number of other laws or push any number of other initiatives.
More to the point, who appointed Garland? Who didn't push him much harder or replace him after he 'lollygagged for 2 years' as you correctly put it?
The appointment and non-replacement of Garland was certainly one of Biden's biggest mistakes, but not the only one. Not to say that Biden didn't do some good work those first couple of years...but he had many opportunities he failed to take, often due to his own living-in-the-past view that he could reach across the aisle and (in his words) that the GOP would have an 'epiphany' and permanently reject Trump. This was beyond naive, and we are all paying for it now.
You are so right about Biden's institutionalist leanings and naivete about reaching across the aisle to get things done when in reality, the MAGAts were ready with the axe to chop his arm off.
I will be forever grateful that the American people elected Biden in 2020. At least that gave the country a 4-year break from the madness that came before.
On the other side of the coin Biden's greatest blunder was his ill-fated decision to run for reelection. After wisely dropping out after the disastrous debate performance, that gave Kamala Harris the unenviable task of creating a presidential campaign out of thin air. Under the circumstances, I think she did about as good as one could expect. Of course, it didn't help that 78 million voters fell for the lies being told by the carnival barker with the orange face who is now on a mission to put our experiment in representative democracy into the rear view mirror.
Sorry but can i repeat how utterly ridiculous, not to mention a total admission of the Party's ineptitude, is is to say that the Dems were 'too busy' to protect democracy for two years? What a comment.
Wow. Republicans worked tirelessly for at least 30 years to undermine democracy in favor of money-based oligarchy. They PUBLISHED the plan to finish the job (the plan they are sticking to with great fidelity now). Left leaning voters refused to vote for a Black Woman, quibbled over which genocide was worse, stayed home in a snit because there wasn't a clear-cut choice, sold out for b.s. promises that *each* specific group that isn't treated fairly would get *their* turn to be on top, wouldn't vote for a Black Woman (I know I already said that) and the elected Dems failed to write and pass robust laws and amend the constitution (remember the Equal Rights Amendment?) in two years so all this is their fault. Wow.
Also, I have spent way too much time with Contrarian readers who seem to think supporting and enabling genocide is some simple policy dispute, and who blame a small number of understandably outraged voters (instead of, say, the white voters that have voted majority Republican in every presidential election for the past several decades)... I'll just quote Ta-Nehisi Coates, who said:
“We are at a moment right now where people are asking themselves why can’t the Democratic Party defend this assault on democracy . . . and I would submit to you that if you can’t draw the line at genocide, you probably can’t draw the line at democracy.”
Gotta say it's also always funny to read comments like this on Jennifer Rubin's page, who did more to tear down Obama and the Dems for many years before her 'conversion' than practically any other pundit out there.. You should read her comments from back then about Obama's nuclear deal if you want a laugh.
There are a number of assumptions and misleading statements here, but even more curiously is that you actually say the 'Republicans worked tirelessly for at least 30 years' and they 'PUBLISHED the plan to finish the job'..as if this isn't a further and much more damning indictment of the Democratic Party's failure...you say it as some sort of excuse, which is frankly just bizarre.
You aren't wrong about that...which is all the more reason why the lack of urgency from Biden and the Dem Party when they had the chance is all the more galling.
I am past tired of hearing 'moderates' blame 'Left Leaning voters' who have continuously supported the Democratic Party even as its leaders and 'moderate' supporters spit in their face over and over. There are two many instances of the DNC undermining progressive candidates to even list in one comment.
Just to be clear, I am not a "moderate" nor do I agree with (short form, I guess) the DNC. As a voter who voted what is now called "blue" for more than 50 years, I am tired of being blamed for this. When I read this level of distain for Democratic elected officials and then when I hear people who are most harmed by the present regime say that they are clear there is no distinction between the parties and therefore, they don't vote, I cringe. Yes the DNC has done harm to the cause of democracy and until people get elected, it's hard to tell if they will turn out to be sellouts. I have more faith in Democratic voters to be able to influence the people they elected, more faith that elected Democrats will listen to their constituency, than I do that trashing "democrats" to each other will move the needle. BTW lots of good thinking in this whole discussion.
The fact that they didn't always have 'the necessary votes' is part of the problem. A leader gets the votes. I am so tired of hearing 'but, Joe Manchin' as an excuse for letting fascists take over the country.
The Dems had a majority in the House and , with the two independents that caucus with Dems (one of those is more a real Democrat' than most Democrats) and the tiebreaking vote, the Dems had the Senate too.
The bigger issue is, Dems stick to decorum and politeness while the GOP just takes power and uses it. There were lots of things in Biden's control he did not do, and many ways he could have used the bully pulpit that he didn't do.
Some of his biggest costly errors were mentioned above..his inexcusable decision to nominate, then stand by Merrick Garland while he did nothing for two years...his decision to enable and fully support Israel's genocide with funds and political cover...and most of all, his terrible decision to run again, when he said early on he would not.
He was against expanding SCOTUS until the last five minutes of his term. HE should have rallied hard for the John Lewis Act, and held any Dem who didn't support it fully accountable..so many more...The GOP fights while the Dems bring little signs to the SOTU. IT's enough already.
I agree with you, but the major problem Democrats have is that they keep holding on to all these old fogies who are perfectly happy with sitting in their do-nothing jobs and they keep letting the "leadership" do nothing. The same goes for the do-nothing DNC and the do-not-enough DCCC.
Until the Democrats get rid of those old fogies and allow young fighters to replace them, nothing is going to change. I am old myself so I know how easy it would be to live with the status quo, but I cannot accept that attitude. It drives me absolutely up a tree, but again, nothing will change with this live and let live attitude. Please support David Hogg's "Leaders we Deserve" and any other organization looking to change this.
Also, AOC is very smart and proves to keep up with everything. She should have been given a leadership position some time ago,but what did the old fogies do, when they had a chance to elevate her? They elected another old fogy who had cancer and promptly died a few months later. They had a chance to correct their mistake then, but didn't do it then either. Shame on them.
There was no way in hell that court expansion or other reforms would have passed. The Democrats never had enough of a majority to get such reforms passed.
In fact, Democrats haven't had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate since the Carter administration. And that's on voters.
right, let's just wait for conditions to be favorable to save democracy and for the GOP to play nice...because it wasn't obvious what Trump and the GOP would do.
I mean, seriously? I can't even believe people are responding like this.
You don't appear to understand how Congress works. Do you REALLY think, in the middle of recovering from a pandemic, the country wanted a brawl with the GOP over....what?
Yes, again, we should wait for a more convenient time to govern and to stop fascism from taking over the country.
Over..what? Are you kidding? Over..maybe putting guardrails and protections in place to stop exactly what happened, since it was plan as day Trump would not just vanish?
yup..water pistol to a gunfight...then blame the 'left' and any non white person who didn't vote for Dems, while white people have voted GOP for every president since... LBJ!
Who can forget the immortal words of Joe Biden when he said, “If you have a problem figuring out if you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black."
Yes we all need to fight Trump and his cabal everywhere ..but we also need to push the Dems a whole lot harder and stop making excuses for their failures...how did Schumer and Jeffries remain minority leaders after the 2024 debacle anyway?
How did the current Oval Office Occupant win two elections? He is the vilest, most vulgar, most corrupt, most deceitful person ever to run for US public office. He should have been a pushover. Even with a degree of vote-rigging and voter suppression he should have lost. Even given a degree of misogyny he should not have been able to win. What was wrong with and in the Democratic Party that such a creature managed to win? Democratic leaders and some voters have never wanted to address this honestly.
omg so true. how?? any one thing he has done out of literally hundreds of actions would have ended a political career in past eras.. its amazing, not in a good way...this IRS 'settlement' now? just one of so many things that is just unbelievable..
I read these daily posts here and think the same thing constantly...how many times can they get it wrong? How many times do we do the same thing again? Like Gov Spanberger just telling people to go vote again after their votes were just thrown in the trash hours before her comment...or how the DNC has hid their 'autopsy' from the public... or how every Democratic insider and reporter has written some sort of tell all since then to claim they were skeptical all along... How many times to we vote for the same people and expect a different result?
Trump 1.0 was bad enough, I suppose you could claim a sliver of plausible deniability (especially when people like Jennifer Rubin was saying at first he was too liberal) ... but Trump 2.0? even with the economy, even with the clown show of a campaign?
Very good, but it started before that, when corporations became the same as individuals under the Citizens United decision, opening the door to untrackable donations and dark money. Campaign finance reform is a must, as is addressing the length and expense of campaigns.
Money in politics, as damaging as that is, isn't the worst of it. National governments hardly seem to matter anymore. It's the multinational corporations that now determine laws and economies.
Yes, but how is it not the multinational corporations that shower the members of government with money? It's payment for favorable legislation, which is rarely for the benefit of the individual voters.
Special interest groups whoever they might be should be no more influential than the individual voter. Every vote should count equally.
“Eight in ten legal experts report that federal officials fail to comply with court orders somewhat or very often, and nearly nine in ten say political appointees in the Trump DOJ mislead federal judges somewhat or very often.”
I think they’re trying to avoid the direct constitutional crisis of invoking rule 11 and then having to deputize their own Marshall service to go arrest people as the DOJ would certainly not do so.
"“We work each day to earn the public’s trust by following the facts and the law wherever they may lead, without prejudice or improper influence.” "
Feh! That sounds like something we would get from a corporate PR department than from anything relating to justice. Good advice would be to clean up the department's act. The last paragraph of this article is most definitely true. A major housecleaning effort is going to have to demonstrate to everyone that there is a seriousness in returning to truth and trust.
Trump, with the aid of the department of justice (caps intentionally omitted) just stole $1.7B from us. There's money for this, but none to make food and healthcare available for those in need. The public outcry should be deafening, and this crook should be impeached.
The shocking thing to me is how little we can do to correct this in a timely way. Having to wait for the next election seems like the kind of delay in justice that will prevent justice. How can officers of the court regularly lie to the court? They should all be disbarred now! I guess the lesson here is that living in a civilized, law-abiding society requires a lot of unenforced obedience to laws and customs from the citizens at all levels. So if you elect a bunch of criminals and put them in charge, there is nothing to prevent a rapid descent into lawless chaos. We are living in a Lord of the Flies world now.
No lollygagging this time, we have to hit the ground running and clean house, top to bottom. Enact laws to prevent such abject corruption from ever being allowed again, no matter who is in power.
What about the judges appointed under Trump? Cannon in Florida? I believe that the only correction must start with immediately adding 4 seats to the Supreme Court. Other ideas are worthy, such as term limits, but with that slow incrementalism the needed restoration of lawfulness will bog down. And then, something must be done about the Cannon type judges.
And for that, we need more than a razor-thin majority in Congress. Voters need to realize that if they want real change, they have to absolutely keep Republicans out office. All office. They complain that Democrats "don't do anything," but they rarely have the power!
Nor do they have the propaganda outlets of Fox and X, so even when they do good things, as Biden surely did, they don't get credit, as the criticism is amplified instead.
Thousands of clean energy jobs created by Biden - eliminated by Trump. Do we hear about that? Well, we do if we read the foreign press:
"Three dollars of clean energy investment were abandoned for every one dollar announced in 2025, according to an analysis by the E2 thinktank. The record number of factory closures and project reversals eliminated 38,031 clean energy manufacturing jobs – more than in the previous three years combined."
Trump says no thank you to $10 Billion from his DOJ; Just set up a ~$2 Billion slush fund for my convicted fraudsters & violent insurrectionists. Gym Jordan: America's not America if you have a Justice Dept that is political. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGORP-lgIUM
Trump & Co project corruption & fraud everywhere while promoting/pardoning hate groups, starting wars of choice & trashing economies. The Golden Age?
Resist the authoritarianism of the MAGA gangsters & grifters! VoteBlue!
Donny's administration is, and has been, a crime in progress since his swearing in (the first time), but the truth doesn't matter in MAGA World. Until the courts can issue a warrant for his arrest (which they can't) or he dies the Trump Crime Wave will continue. Congress could stop him, but they are actively aiding and abetting his crimes. His popularity may be under 40% but that doesn't matter either. The MAGA Cult is still with him and they control the MAGA Senators that keep him in office. Unless the MAGA Disease is removed from Congress the crimes will continue. VOTE FOR ANY CANDIDATE THAT DOESN'T SUPPORT TRUMP.
Any American lawyer or legislator who supports this slush fund, an utter travesty of American justice, ought immediately to be either disbarred or impeached.
What did we do to deserve this? Why can’t people recognize an obvious idiot when they see one? And…..if they can…..why do they vote for one? Was P.T. Barnum right?!
The tRump coalition has tasted real power. They will not evaporate after tRump leaves office. They will oppose all efforts to repair the damage and continue to seek power. They will attempt to distort voting such that each time they win the Presidency, they have control of all parts of the government: House, Senate, SCOTUS, and Presidency. The rot cannot be fully healed until SCOTUS is addressed. Judicial appointments need to be non-political. The appointment process is key. Does anyone have a workable solution? It would help if SCOTUS began having term limits via rotations from the Appellate courts, say one justice every 2 years but offset from the Congressional election cycle by a year.
We need a massive overhaul of the supreme court. That, and creating recall procedures for unfaithful lawmakers, should be our top priorities going forward.
A reconstituted and new DOJ totally outside the Executive Branch would be good, too. Same for the inspectors General. IMHO they should be stand-alone separate from the other three (Which need substantial rewriting and circumscription) under a heavily amended Constitution.
So right - a heavily amended Constitution.
We are clearly over-due on updates and clarifications. Our Founding Fathers certainly couldn't imagine corruption, cruelty and plain evilness of this level.
Of course they did. That's the POINT of the Declaration of Independence!
But they clearly did not imagine the voters would actively choose someone that would behave as Trump does. Or that he'd have active support from BOTH other branches of our government.
The Founding Fathers didn't think they needed to stipulate a convicted felon can't be President.
"Our Founding Fathers certainly couldn't imagine corruption, cruelty and plain evilness of this level."
They understood human nature, which is why they designed the federal government the way they did with three separate branches, checks and balances, etc.. They also designed the federal government to be much smaller and less important to the average voter than it currently is. We fought the Revolution, in part, to break away from a far-off powerful central government, but here we are all over again.
Yes, here we are. In spite of the "guardrails" that weren't enough but should have been.
Too many individuals from both sides of the political aisle are more interested in power than the Constitution, and it shows.
And the federal bench. Anyone who can be should be criminally charged so the punishments come closer to matching the crimes.
"We need a massive overhaul of the supreme court."
We need a massive overhaul of both major political parties. If you believe that our institutions need reforming, I suggest we start with term limits for members of Congress.
I agree. In truth, what first needs to happen is a massive awakening of American's civic engagement to the point where our elected representatives have no choice but to actually serve them.
Agreed, but I think most of the voting public only cares if there is a (D) or an (R) behind a candidate's name. We need to outlaw Congressional district gerrymandering based on anything, including political ideology.
False equivalence alert. Sure some change in the Democratic party needs to happen. However, the Republican party needs to be destroyed and consigned to the dustbin of history, right next to their previous incarnation, the Know Nothing Party.
"Sure some change in the Democratic party needs to happen."
Allegedly, DNC Chair Ken Martin has the official "autopsy" on what happened during the 2024 campaign but it hasn't been released. And you're not mentioning what changes you think need to occur. What appears to be happening is that the Dems are almost totally relying on Trump's falling poll numbers to convince people to "vote Blue" this fall. They're not addressing what they are FOR or what policies they have changed from the last election.
It's likely that the Dems will retake the House and possibly the Senate this fall, but if they spend the next two years needlessly impeaching Trump they may be rejected again in 2028.
As for "destroying" the Republicans, that needs to happen internally.
Also - one of the first things we need to do is get rid of the Electoral College. All other elections in this nation are by popular vote, even those run by rank choice. Except for our most important election, that of president of the United States. We need to elect our presidents by popular vote. If we had that in 2016, we would not have had trump 1.0.
Jasmine Crockett would make a formidable AG!
And if we can clone her, for many other top jobs....😀
So would Raskin.
Very much agree. He would also be great at running all the impeachments and cleaning house.
Wow! what a great suggestion!
This idea brought a smile. Thanks, I needed that.
If and when Democrats regain legislative control of Congress they must be prepared to immediately pass legislation to reform the system that allowed the most corrupt administration in history to take office. Pass Supreme Court ethics requirements, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, a nationwide requirement for states to use independent commissions for redistricting, get dark money out of politics…the list is long. Just as Project 2025 hit the ground running, Dems must do the same.
But, without a substantial rewrite of the Constitution, another would-be strong man will just come along and ignore facts, ethical norms, laws, the Constitution...
Clearly, DJT and his minions have written the playbook for the future!
Not just statutes, the Constitution needs revision and big sharp teeth!
Razor sharp teeth!
Maybe. But history is a great informant. As long as there is a free press, we will be informed. All of our greatest American heroes & heroines have deserved our admiration.
It's too bad they didn't do this when Dems controlled the White House, the Senate and the House for Biden's first two years.
Democrats were busy fixing Trump's recession and disastrous mishandling of Covid.
Oh really? so busy to not do anything at all to stop this sort of corruption that would obviously continue?
If Dems were 'too busy' for two entire years...how will they not be 'too busy' with whatever wreckage we will be in by 2028?
That explanation describes exactly the sort of feckless weakness that pervades the Democratic Party.
Jason, the lack of action by the Biden Administration on a host of important legal matters can be directly attributed to AG Merrick Garland. Granted, Mr. Garland is honorable and decent but his temperament was better suited to being a justice on the SCOTUS, an Obama nomination blocked by Mitch "The Turtle" McConnell, by the way. He lollygagged for 2 years before he appointed Jack Smith to investigate Drumpf in 2022 to avoid the appearance of political motivation. With the 2024 election of the lunatic man-child, Mr. Smith's investigation was shut down and he is now in the crosshairs of the putrid DOI (aka Department of Injustice) simply for having the audacity to investigate the illegal actions of the doddering, demented dangerous fool in the WH.
Yes, that is all true, although it is hardly the only reason. Garland didn't stop Biden from pushing harder to expand the Court or to enforce any number of other laws or push any number of other initiatives.
More to the point, who appointed Garland? Who didn't push him much harder or replace him after he 'lollygagged for 2 years' as you correctly put it?
The appointment and non-replacement of Garland was certainly one of Biden's biggest mistakes, but not the only one. Not to say that Biden didn't do some good work those first couple of years...but he had many opportunities he failed to take, often due to his own living-in-the-past view that he could reach across the aisle and (in his words) that the GOP would have an 'epiphany' and permanently reject Trump. This was beyond naive, and we are all paying for it now.
You are so right about Biden's institutionalist leanings and naivete about reaching across the aisle to get things done when in reality, the MAGAts were ready with the axe to chop his arm off.
I will be forever grateful that the American people elected Biden in 2020. At least that gave the country a 4-year break from the madness that came before.
On the other side of the coin Biden's greatest blunder was his ill-fated decision to run for reelection. After wisely dropping out after the disastrous debate performance, that gave Kamala Harris the unenviable task of creating a presidential campaign out of thin air. Under the circumstances, I think she did about as good as one could expect. Of course, it didn't help that 78 million voters fell for the lies being told by the carnival barker with the orange face who is now on a mission to put our experiment in representative democracy into the rear view mirror.
Jason,well said. "If" we have another chance of fixing the democratic system to guarantee continuity we must do it. It would be the last chance.
That chance may have already passed...I am trying to be hopeful. It's hard.
If Dems keep playing hackysack while the GOP plays hardball, the outlook isn't great.
Sorry but can i repeat how utterly ridiculous, not to mention a total admission of the Party's ineptitude, is is to say that the Dems were 'too busy' to protect democracy for two years? What a comment.
Wow. Republicans worked tirelessly for at least 30 years to undermine democracy in favor of money-based oligarchy. They PUBLISHED the plan to finish the job (the plan they are sticking to with great fidelity now). Left leaning voters refused to vote for a Black Woman, quibbled over which genocide was worse, stayed home in a snit because there wasn't a clear-cut choice, sold out for b.s. promises that *each* specific group that isn't treated fairly would get *their* turn to be on top, wouldn't vote for a Black Woman (I know I already said that) and the elected Dems failed to write and pass robust laws and amend the constitution (remember the Equal Rights Amendment?) in two years so all this is their fault. Wow.
Also, I have spent way too much time with Contrarian readers who seem to think supporting and enabling genocide is some simple policy dispute, and who blame a small number of understandably outraged voters (instead of, say, the white voters that have voted majority Republican in every presidential election for the past several decades)... I'll just quote Ta-Nehisi Coates, who said:
“We are at a moment right now where people are asking themselves why can’t the Democratic Party defend this assault on democracy . . . and I would submit to you that if you can’t draw the line at genocide, you probably can’t draw the line at democracy.”
Gotta say it's also always funny to read comments like this on Jennifer Rubin's page, who did more to tear down Obama and the Dems for many years before her 'conversion' than practically any other pundit out there.. You should read her comments from back then about Obama's nuclear deal if you want a laugh.
There are a number of assumptions and misleading statements here, but even more curiously is that you actually say the 'Republicans worked tirelessly for at least 30 years' and they 'PUBLISHED the plan to finish the job'..as if this isn't a further and much more damning indictment of the Democratic Party's failure...you say it as some sort of excuse, which is frankly just bizarre.
You aren't wrong about that...which is all the more reason why the lack of urgency from Biden and the Dem Party when they had the chance is all the more galling.
I am past tired of hearing 'moderates' blame 'Left Leaning voters' who have continuously supported the Democratic Party even as its leaders and 'moderate' supporters spit in their face over and over. There are two many instances of the DNC undermining progressive candidates to even list in one comment.
Just to be clear, I am not a "moderate" nor do I agree with (short form, I guess) the DNC. As a voter who voted what is now called "blue" for more than 50 years, I am tired of being blamed for this. When I read this level of distain for Democratic elected officials and then when I hear people who are most harmed by the present regime say that they are clear there is no distinction between the parties and therefore, they don't vote, I cringe. Yes the DNC has done harm to the cause of democracy and until people get elected, it's hard to tell if they will turn out to be sellouts. I have more faith in Democratic voters to be able to influence the people they elected, more faith that elected Democrats will listen to their constituency, than I do that trashing "democrats" to each other will move the needle. BTW lots of good thinking in this whole discussion.
Democrats never had the necessary votes in the Senate to tackle the most important changes needed, even during Biden's first two years.
The fact that they didn't always have 'the necessary votes' is part of the problem. A leader gets the votes. I am so tired of hearing 'but, Joe Manchin' as an excuse for letting fascists take over the country.
The Dems had a majority in the House and , with the two independents that caucus with Dems (one of those is more a real Democrat' than most Democrats) and the tiebreaking vote, the Dems had the Senate too.
The bigger issue is, Dems stick to decorum and politeness while the GOP just takes power and uses it. There were lots of things in Biden's control he did not do, and many ways he could have used the bully pulpit that he didn't do.
Some of his biggest costly errors were mentioned above..his inexcusable decision to nominate, then stand by Merrick Garland while he did nothing for two years...his decision to enable and fully support Israel's genocide with funds and political cover...and most of all, his terrible decision to run again, when he said early on he would not.
He was against expanding SCOTUS until the last five minutes of his term. HE should have rallied hard for the John Lewis Act, and held any Dem who didn't support it fully accountable..so many more...The GOP fights while the Dems bring little signs to the SOTU. IT's enough already.
I agree with you, but the major problem Democrats have is that they keep holding on to all these old fogies who are perfectly happy with sitting in their do-nothing jobs and they keep letting the "leadership" do nothing. The same goes for the do-nothing DNC and the do-not-enough DCCC.
Until the Democrats get rid of those old fogies and allow young fighters to replace them, nothing is going to change. I am old myself so I know how easy it would be to live with the status quo, but I cannot accept that attitude. It drives me absolutely up a tree, but again, nothing will change with this live and let live attitude. Please support David Hogg's "Leaders we Deserve" and any other organization looking to change this.
Also, AOC is very smart and proves to keep up with everything. She should have been given a leadership position some time ago,but what did the old fogies do, when they had a chance to elevate her? They elected another old fogy who had cancer and promptly died a few months later. They had a chance to correct their mistake then, but didn't do it then either. Shame on them.
There was no way in hell that court expansion or other reforms would have passed. The Democrats never had enough of a majority to get such reforms passed.
In fact, Democrats haven't had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate since the Carter administration. And that's on voters.
Ever heard of the pandemic and the filibuster???
right, let's just wait for conditions to be favorable to save democracy and for the GOP to play nice...because it wasn't obvious what Trump and the GOP would do.
I mean, seriously? I can't even believe people are responding like this.
You don't appear to understand how Congress works. Do you REALLY think, in the middle of recovering from a pandemic, the country wanted a brawl with the GOP over....what?
Yes, again, we should wait for a more convenient time to govern and to stop fascism from taking over the country.
Over..what? Are you kidding? Over..maybe putting guardrails and protections in place to stop exactly what happened, since it was plan as day Trump would not just vanish?
Or in Obama's first two years in office. The Dems just aren't as far-sighted as the GOP and their evil allies have been in recent years.
yup..water pistol to a gunfight...then blame the 'left' and any non white person who didn't vote for Dems, while white people have voted GOP for every president since... LBJ!
Who can forget the immortal words of Joe Biden when he said, “If you have a problem figuring out if you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black."
Yes we all need to fight Trump and his cabal everywhere ..but we also need to push the Dems a whole lot harder and stop making excuses for their failures...how did Schumer and Jeffries remain minority leaders after the 2024 debacle anyway?
How did the current Oval Office Occupant win two elections? He is the vilest, most vulgar, most corrupt, most deceitful person ever to run for US public office. He should have been a pushover. Even with a degree of vote-rigging and voter suppression he should have lost. Even given a degree of misogyny he should not have been able to win. What was wrong with and in the Democratic Party that such a creature managed to win? Democratic leaders and some voters have never wanted to address this honestly.
omg so true. how?? any one thing he has done out of literally hundreds of actions would have ended a political career in past eras.. its amazing, not in a good way...this IRS 'settlement' now? just one of so many things that is just unbelievable..
I read these daily posts here and think the same thing constantly...how many times can they get it wrong? How many times do we do the same thing again? Like Gov Spanberger just telling people to go vote again after their votes were just thrown in the trash hours before her comment...or how the DNC has hid their 'autopsy' from the public... or how every Democratic insider and reporter has written some sort of tell all since then to claim they were skeptical all along... How many times to we vote for the same people and expect a different result?
Trump 1.0 was bad enough, I suppose you could claim a sliver of plausible deniability (especially when people like Jennifer Rubin was saying at first he was too liberal) ... but Trump 2.0? even with the economy, even with the clown show of a campaign?
What do you suggest, son?
And when are you running for Congress?
He won because he promised people instant gratification and simple solutions to complex problems. We are living through Idiocracy.
That and the general electorate doesn't like women.
Not all white people vote Republican.
A majority of white voters have elected Republicans since LBJ.
Yes, Dems must likewise flood the zone, only instead of corruption, with acts that will bring back our Constitutional democracy!
If someone like the WH thief in chief takes office (G-d forbid) he, like the grifter would blow through any impediment.
One Nation Under Fraud,
Clearly Visible,
With Bribery and Corruption for All.
It started with the Immunity Ruling on July 1, 2024, in a 6-3, Supremely Fascist Court proclamation.
Very good, but it started before that, when corporations became the same as individuals under the Citizens United decision, opening the door to untrackable donations and dark money. Campaign finance reform is a must, as is addressing the length and expense of campaigns.
Money in politics, as damaging as that is, isn't the worst of it. National governments hardly seem to matter anymore. It's the multinational corporations that now determine laws and economies.
Yes, but how is it not the multinational corporations that shower the members of government with money? It's payment for favorable legislation, which is rarely for the benefit of the individual voters.
Special interest groups whoever they might be should be no more influential than the individual voter. Every vote should count equally.
May I use your spoof on my next protest sign? I would only add EXCEPT YOU. And your name in a corner.
Sure, but I'm uncomfortable using my name as the DOJ attack dogs are chasing everyone with an opinion not in line with DJT.
Sure, no name. Also, I may go with … “corruption for all (the rich).” Thanks.
Yes as that's a fact!
“Eight in ten legal experts report that federal officials fail to comply with court orders somewhat or very often, and nearly nine in ten say political appointees in the Trump DOJ mislead federal judges somewhat or very often.”
Whatever happened to Rule 11? Contempt power?
The exposure has to be astronomical!
I think they’re trying to avoid the direct constitutional crisis of invoking rule 11 and then having to deputize their own Marshall service to go arrest people as the DOJ would certainly not do so.
They can appotint any member of the bar to execute. Don't need to arrest. Garnish. Attach. Do this all the time.....
"“We work each day to earn the public’s trust by following the facts and the law wherever they may lead, without prejudice or improper influence.” "
Feh! That sounds like something we would get from a corporate PR department than from anything relating to justice. Good advice would be to clean up the department's act. The last paragraph of this article is most definitely true. A major housecleaning effort is going to have to demonstrate to everyone that there is a seriousness in returning to truth and trust.
Trump, with the aid of the department of justice (caps intentionally omitted) just stole $1.7B from us. There's money for this, but none to make food and healthcare available for those in need. The public outcry should be deafening, and this crook should be impeached.
The shocking thing to me is how little we can do to correct this in a timely way. Having to wait for the next election seems like the kind of delay in justice that will prevent justice. How can officers of the court regularly lie to the court? They should all be disbarred now! I guess the lesson here is that living in a civilized, law-abiding society requires a lot of unenforced obedience to laws and customs from the citizens at all levels. So if you elect a bunch of criminals and put them in charge, there is nothing to prevent a rapid descent into lawless chaos. We are living in a Lord of the Flies world now.
No lollygagging this time, we have to hit the ground running and clean house, top to bottom. Enact laws to prevent such abject corruption from ever being allowed again, no matter who is in power.
What about the judges appointed under Trump? Cannon in Florida? I believe that the only correction must start with immediately adding 4 seats to the Supreme Court. Other ideas are worthy, such as term limits, but with that slow incrementalism the needed restoration of lawfulness will bog down. And then, something must be done about the Cannon type judges.
And for that, we need more than a razor-thin majority in Congress. Voters need to realize that if they want real change, they have to absolutely keep Republicans out office. All office. They complain that Democrats "don't do anything," but they rarely have the power!
Nor do they have the propaganda outlets of Fox and X, so even when they do good things, as Biden surely did, they don't get credit, as the criticism is amplified instead.
Thousands of clean energy jobs created by Biden - eliminated by Trump. Do we hear about that? Well, we do if we read the foreign press:
"Three dollars of clean energy investment were abandoned for every one dollar announced in 2025, according to an analysis by the E2 thinktank. The record number of factory closures and project reversals eliminated 38,031 clean energy manufacturing jobs – more than in the previous three years combined."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/may/17/america-china-energy-oil-renewables
Trump says no thank you to $10 Billion from his DOJ; Just set up a ~$2 Billion slush fund for my convicted fraudsters & violent insurrectionists. Gym Jordan: America's not America if you have a Justice Dept that is political. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGORP-lgIUM
Trump & Co project corruption & fraud everywhere while promoting/pardoning hate groups, starting wars of choice & trashing economies. The Golden Age?
Resist the authoritarianism of the MAGA gangsters & grifters! VoteBlue!
Donny's administration is, and has been, a crime in progress since his swearing in (the first time), but the truth doesn't matter in MAGA World. Until the courts can issue a warrant for his arrest (which they can't) or he dies the Trump Crime Wave will continue. Congress could stop him, but they are actively aiding and abetting his crimes. His popularity may be under 40% but that doesn't matter either. The MAGA Cult is still with him and they control the MAGA Senators that keep him in office. Unless the MAGA Disease is removed from Congress the crimes will continue. VOTE FOR ANY CANDIDATE THAT DOESN'T SUPPORT TRUMP.
Any American lawyer or legislator who supports this slush fund, an utter travesty of American justice, ought immediately to be either disbarred or impeached.
“When Trump leaves office…”. 🙏🙏🙏
May it only happen!
...and soon, Justin. VERY soon.
What did we do to deserve this? Why can’t people recognize an obvious idiot when they see one? And…..if they can…..why do they vote for one? Was P.T. Barnum right?!
I like the idea that trust is merely taking a holiday, as damaging and hideous as the holiday. We must and will get that trust back.
I propose a Second American Revolution.
First American Revolution was to escape the oppression of the British Throne.
Second Revolution is to escape the oppression of the Trump MAGA Throne.
Fueled by the Power of our People.
Americans deserve better.
The tRump coalition has tasted real power. They will not evaporate after tRump leaves office. They will oppose all efforts to repair the damage and continue to seek power. They will attempt to distort voting such that each time they win the Presidency, they have control of all parts of the government: House, Senate, SCOTUS, and Presidency. The rot cannot be fully healed until SCOTUS is addressed. Judicial appointments need to be non-political. The appointment process is key. Does anyone have a workable solution? It would help if SCOTUS began having term limits via rotations from the Appellate courts, say one justice every 2 years but offset from the Congressional election cycle by a year.