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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 6m

No. They are historically unpopular and nothing is “moving rapidly” towards their positions.

How he lies.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21m

Mike Johnson: "Do we have headwinds from the mainstream and legacy media who parrot Chuck Schumer's talking points every day? Of course. But the American people are not stupid and they understand what's going on here. The polling we've seeing is moving the needle rapidly in our direction."

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3h

Translation: If Dems vote for the CR, Thune will allow a vote on extending ACA subsidies then Mike Johnson will kill that in the House.

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 2h

Uh…that’s the criteria? The lack of self-awareness here is truly remarkable. That’s exactly where Trump was convicted, ya? He shows no signs of recognizing his hypocrisy.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2h

UN Ambassador Mike Waltz claims Maduro is an "illegitimate leader," citing the fact he was "convicted in the Southern District of New York."

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 5h

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 5h

He lives in a delusional fantasy world. When do we remove the mad king?

The Daily Beast @thedailybeast.bsky.social · 5h

Trump ramped up his crusade to win a Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday, claiming that he had halted a nonexistent “nuclear” war between Iran and Pakistan.

Trump, 79, Invents Another War in His Relentless Nobel Crusade

The president claims he stopped an Iran-Pakistan “nuclear” showdown that never existed.

trib.al

Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 5h

There are other options to swear her in, it doesn’t have to be the speaker. Nor does Congress need to be in session, I think. Why not just go around Johnson?

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 5h

And when does congress DO something about it? They have the power, but the GOP is totally submissive to Trump. This needs to change. We won’t survive this.

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 5h

And when does congress DO something about it? They have the power, but the GOP is totally submissive to Trump. This needs to change. We won’t survive this.

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 22h

Trump and Vought are now breaking both sides of spending law. They’re illegally not spending where the law requires them to spend, and they’re illegally spending where they don’t have the money to spend.

What we have is an appropriations king.

Spending “deals” are meaningless under that setup.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 15h

Again, it is a full-blown federal felony crime for anyone in the White House or Executive Office of the President to order tax investigations into anyone.

And it's not just a crime to DO it, it's even a federal crime for an employee not to REPORT such an order to the Treasury Inspector General.

26 U.S. Code § 7217 - Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations
U.S. Code
Notes
prev | next
(a)Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.

(b)Reporting requirement
Any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service receiving any request prohibited by subsection (a) shall report the receipt of such request to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

(c)Exceptions
Subsection (a) shall not apply to any written request made—
(1)to an applicable person by or on behalf of the taxpayer and forwarded by such applicable person to the Internal Revenue Service;
(2)by an applicable person for disclosure of return or return information under section 6103 if such request is made in accordance with the requirements of such section; or
(3)by the Secretary of the Treasury as a consequence of the implementation of a change in tax policy.
(d)Penalty
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

(e)Applicable person
For purposes of this section, the term “applicable person” means—
(1)the President, the Vice President, any employee of the executive office of the President, and any employee of the executive office of the Vice President; and
(2)any individual (other than the Attorney General of the United States) serving in a position specified in section 5312 of title 5, United States Code.

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Spooky Back From the Dead Lazarus @jlazarus.bsky.social · 14h

Great 🧵; this is the main point. If the President can spend money on whatever he wants without congressionally mandated appropriations we don't have separation of powers, or even really a constitutional republic (at least under the terms of our constitution). We just don't.

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 23h

So just how bad is this? I got a text from an appropriator friend saying "The Republic has fallen. Pack it in."

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 18h

Feels quaint, almost cliché, to say this about a Trump action, but just for the record:

This is all illegal, the President can't simply disregard the laws passed and agencies created by Congress, and both Vought & Trump would be impeached if the Constitution or the rule of law mattered to the GOP.

Reuters @reuters.com · 23h

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers

White House budget director Russell Vought said he wants to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to do so within the next two to three months.

reut.rs

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 14h

The entire Republican Party strategy for achieving what are comprehensively & wildly unpopular policy objectives now consists entirely of bypassing Article I of the Constitution through wildly illegal abuses of both Article II and Article III.

Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 17h

Whatever you think about CFPB, it was created by Congress (as part of the Dodd-Frank Act) and can only be abolished by Congress, not by the President acting as a dictator.

Reuters @reuters.com · 23h

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 7h

Smart people surround themselves with people who are smarter than they are, because they understand that they don’t know everything.

Stupid people cannot admit that they don’t know everything, and therefore hire people who are dumber than themselves who will do what they are told no matter what

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 7h

Oh, bullshit. It DOES reflect his views. He’s just performatively denying it because he got caught.

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Noah Rosenblum @narosenblum.bsky.social · 18h

Demagogic president seizes money to pay standing army, arrogating to himself legislative power, while his cronies keep Congress out of session is honestly more or less exactly how the Founders thought this would end

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 23h

Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.

It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.

Long thread.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/10/national-security-presidential-memorandum-nspm-8/

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StephenB💙StandsWithUkraine🇺🇦 @steveyb22.bsky.social · 15h

This is what they do, every damn time!

“Don’t you think it’s wrong for these prominent young Republicans to be texting White Supremacist hate messages?”

(R) “How dare you, the American people want real solutions to real problems, let’s talk about that”

Deflect, Deny, Re-direct. Never own anything

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 10h

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 18h

The Trump admin is apparently finalizing plans for two days of events under the pretext of the 250th anniversary of the Marines. Sources close to MTN describe the closure as part of a “vanity parade” that may involve Navy warships shooting live missiles into Camp Pendleton as a “show of force.”

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westvillagecrank.bsky.social @westvillagecrank.bsky.social · 23h

Jeffries: "We're pissed that the president just handed 40 billion to a right wing dictator, but can't stand providing health care for Americans."

WHY CAN'T HE SPEAK THAT WAY?

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21h

last i checked these young republicans were like 25 years old. but this is a classic case of infantilization to diminish the significance of the offense. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’

The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes."

www.yahoo.com

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 21h

"Why doesn't Chicago want us to zip-tie more naked children in the middle of the night and shove them, screaming, into vans? So ungrateful for refusing our kind, helpful offer to help!"

Pamela Jo Bondi

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 23h

They’re trying way too hard to make Charlie Kirk into some sort of deified GOP martyr. It is so delusional that even diehards aren’t quite swallowing it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23h

Brooke Rollins: "Charlie Kirk is in a way the modern day Thomas Jefferson."

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Phoukaco @phoukaco.bsky.social · 23h

Many of these people are his peers—they are in their thirties or even later. Trying to paint them as kids making bad jokes is just making up lies.

He thinks what they said is fine. He supports it. He agrees with it. This gross defense of the indefensible is really disgusting.