Sarah Christopherson
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sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Sarah Christopherson
@sarahcgchris.bsky.social
2.9K followers 360 following 530 posts
Past: Congress 2005-2015. Current: tax lobbyist, but the poor kind
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sarahcgchris.bsky.social
From a 2014 post on Ottoman coin collecting.

And DAMN I not need that unexpected gut punch on this sleepy vacation morning. ottomanandturkishcoins.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/a...
[Sultan Abdul Hamid II] took a state [the Ottoman Empire] that was built on being a multi-religious, multi-national entity where anyone could have a home, one that had found its way to a highly functioning democratic mode of government, and destroyed all of that, replacing it with oppression, violence and terror due to the phantoms in his own diseased mind and his identity issues. In a very real way, Abdul Hamid II became a self-fulfilling prophecy and is the person most directly responsible for the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. His example of using a crisis to short-circuit a functioning parliamentary regime and establish a dictatorship would be used again almost six decades later by an even more frightening personality, Weimar Germany’s Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
November 28, 2025 at 2:07 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
The Left is mad at House Ds for voting yes on “Stalin was bad” but they’re OK with Mamdani signaling that all of this talk about fascism is just campaign rhetoric. Because they like Mamdani (I do too!)

But in the grand scheme, which is more harmful at the moment?
Whereas many of the greatest crimes in history were committed by socialist ideologues, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and Nicolás Maduro; Whereas tens of millions died in the Bolshevik Revolution, at least 10,000,000 people were sent to the gulags in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and millions more starved in the Terror-Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine; Whereas between 15,000,000 and 55,000,000 people starved to death in the wake of famine and devastation caused by the Great Leap Forward in China; Whereas the socialist experiment in Cambodia led to the killing fields in which over a million people were gruesomely murdered; Whereas up to 3,500,000 people have starved in North Korea, dividing a land of freedom from a land of destitution;
November 21, 2025 at 10:51 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
YES. Full stop.
At this moment in American politics, the practical effect of advising the coalition opposing Trump to run “pro-life Democrats” is to embrace an anti‑abortion regime built on surveillance, selective prosecution, interstate‑travel constraints, and a theory of personhood that invites the carceral state into pregnancy by criminalizing abortion as murder. There is a name for all of that: authoritarianism.
November 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 3:33 AM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Home Depot chic in the Lincoln bathroom. Who says Trump isn’t a man of the people?
November 10, 2025 at 7:18 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Especially when…
Erm, when he said $2,000 a person … Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later clarified on ABC’s “This Week” that the dividend could take the form of paying for “the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda,” and cited the future elimination of taxes on tips and overtime as an example, POLITICO’s David Cohen reports. That is quite the clarification.
November 10, 2025 at 1:39 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Who are these “informed observers”? Because this would be a truly horrible deal.

Option A won’t lower premiums if insurance companies think subsidies are gonna stop halfway thru the plan year.

Option B fucks over sm biz owners & other middle class ppl… you know, the people who vote.
“Informed observers tell me that the obvious compromise deal, which would allow each side to claim a partial victory, is either a shorter extension of the ACA subsidies for less than a year, or an extention with a partial cut at higher incomes. It remains to be seen whether both sides can get to yes.”
November 9, 2025 at 3:04 AM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
This bit of conventional wisdom is repeated everywhere as gospel truth, but if you dig a little deeper, the shutdown party often wins significant concessions below the radar.
Screen capture reads: Even if minority leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries recognize that shutdowns are political losers that never achieve their policy goals, they may judge
October 4, 2025 at 3:27 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
I know this (screen cap) is the conventional wisdom, but I’m not sure.

Rs didn’t repeal ACA in 2013…but they did thwart Dems on sequester by shifting the contours of the fight. Ditto Gingrich and others, losing on the marquee issue but winning on the quieter areas where the fight might have gone
Article text: Schumer's move to force a shutdown showdown is a risky one. Shutdowns almost always end when the party that wants to add items to a stopgap bill agrees to reopen the government. But taking a stand - even if it doesn't lead to significant concessions - gives Democrats an opportunity to take on Trump. Schumer tried to leverage a shutdown during Trump's first term in a failed effort in 2018 to enact protections for immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. Most other shutdowns have been provoked by Republicans seeking to extract health care, budget or border concessions from Democrats.
September 30, 2025 at 9:12 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
💯 this. It’s cumulative and iterative, and guys like Yglesias and Klein absolutely know it, but it suits them to pretend otherwise.
Screen capture reads: I think tons of headlines, framing choices, points of emphasis, uncritical repetition of lies, and presenting bad faith actors attacking democracy as good faith interlocutors practicing normal politics, across professional media for years, all adds up to an impact on vibes, which some voters weigh more than policy. That’s not the only factor, but it’s a relevant one.
September 17, 2025 at 6:50 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Business Insider got it. But I'm supposed to believe that Schumer et al didn't? Nah.
Business Insider article from March 14, 2025 reads: Senate Republicans led the passage of legislation that will avert a government shutdown. Nine Democrats voted to avoid a filibuster, despite strong objections from others in the party. Republicans can now focus on their sweeping border and tax cut legislation.
August 19, 2025 at 6:14 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
That's a weird reply that seems divorced from anything I said. Senate Dems could have voted against cloture on the hyper-partisan funding bill, forcing Rs to either shut down the govt or repeal the filibuster. 9 Dems chose to vote for the bill, greasing the wheels for later passage of the megabill
Senate Republicans led the passage of legislation that will avert a government shutdown. Nine Democrats voted to avoid a filibuster, despite strong objections from others in the party. Republicans can now focus on their sweeping border and tax cut legislation.
August 19, 2025 at 6:12 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Last skeet(? bleat?) about the @robflaherty.bsky.social Politico piece:

OMFG YESSSS. Epstein IS a kitchen table economic issue. The whole sordid thing's a visceral, understandable proofpoint for how the ultra-rich no longer play by the same rules as the rest of us

www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Article screen capture reads: We’ve also seen that this kind of thinking can work when Democrats do it. Last year, both the Democratic presidential campaign and the broader progressive movement took Project 2025 from a viral curiosity and turned it into one of the Trump campaign’s worst negatives. And right now, the party is effectively seizing on the Jeffrey Epstein saga, despite some initial hemming and hawing. Until recently, I ran into no shortage of people in D.C. who said Democrats should move on from the so-called Epstein files to “economic issues” — not recognizing that Epstein is an economic issue. It’s about elites doing terrible things and protecting themselves, a metanarrative that appeals to Americans’ sense that the system isn’t working for them. Social media messaging is as much about implication as it is the blunt statement of fact.
August 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
For me, this is THE reason we have gone backwards over the last 8 years. Our party/outside funders have not invested long-term in shaping the media ecosystem (and have sometimes killed the progressive media outlets we had!). And so we're getting killed out there.
Article screen capture: "Too often, left philanthropy focuses on two-year time horizons on projects that we can “prove” lead to electoral outcomes. What’s really necessary isn’t an effort to influence a specific election, but a long-term war plan aimed at shifting the cultural environment around us. If our party’s awakening to new media ends up with Democrats running “influencer campaigns” that are just a paid-media line item, we’re losing. This is about funding, underwriting and providing stability to the profitable media entities that can push our perspectives in the places where voters are actually learning about the world. Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly and Charlie Kirk didn’t get there on their own. They were invested in."
August 8, 2025 at 5:32 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Since we often use shorthand—eg “need 60 votes to pass a CR”—it’s easy to lose sight of the reality: Senate Dems don’t actually have the power to shut down govt, bc Rs could kill the filibuster

Instead, Ds are *protecting the device that hobbles their own power* when they’re in the majority
Politico article: Democrats on Capitol Hill are furious with the Trump administration and their Republican counterparts for undercutting government funding negotiations, but they aren't showing a unified strategy for forcing the GOP to change course 10 weeks out from a shutdown deadline. In the House, Republicans are ignoring Democratic priorities in government funding bills, moving forward with deep spending cuts and conservative policy riders — including to restrict abortions, block enforcement of a slew of gun regulations and snuff out federal hiring efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. In the Senate, Democrats have more leverage, where 60 votes will be needed to move forward and GOP leaders are already advancing funding bills with buy-in from across the aisle. But so far Democrats are stopping short of flashing the most powerful tool they have to ensure the end result is to their liking: threatening a shutdown come Oct. 1 if they don’t get their way. Democrats can shame administration officials who are openly dismissing the need for bipartisanship in funding talks — and the Republicans backing them up. Yet Democrats have little power to ensure they get to shape whatever legislation Congress passes to keep federal cash flowing beyond September, or stop President Donald Trump from freezing, canceling and now clawing back funding Congress already approved. “To be blunt, I don't think there's one tactic or approach that is going to solve this from any individual Democrat,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a top appropriator, said in an interview. “The Republicans have to decide whether they want to be totally lobotomized or not.” The dynamic underscores the bind that Democrats could find themselves in once again, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took intense heat from across his party for helping pave the way for passage of Republicans’ government funding extension in March. And despite pressure to play hardball, Democrats at this moment a…
July 25, 2025 at 8:00 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Not accurate to say Jeffries’ could’ve stopped the rescissions bill. The 45-day deadline is about privilege in the Senate, not related to the House. Once it passed the Senate, Johnson could’ve brought it to the floor anytime. But unlike this episode, Schumer really can block the CR and won’t.
July 25, 2025 at 7:39 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
I am one oversized margarita-in-a-can into this beach day and I am ready to price check how much it would cost to rent a plane trailing “Trump killed Epstein“ along the Jersey shore.
95% kidding
Picture depicts advertisement plane flying over the ocean
July 23, 2025 at 6:12 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
I’m joking but… instead of the affair seen ‘round the world, it’s rightwing propaganda being algorithmically fed to us and gobbled up by global audiences who are receptive to it for all of the other reasons mentioned
TikTok comment section includes people from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Russia commenting on the Coldplay concert affair
July 23, 2025 at 1:04 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
Screen capture from Google Dictionary shows the definition for a pyrrhic victory
July 17, 2025 at 2:32 AM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
After the bill's been read—great!—Senate Dems could, you know, force real votes during vote-a-rama on real legislative ideas to fix our broken tax code

@couriernewsroom.bsky.social's 6 amdts are a great place to start www.instagram.com/p/DLaInv4Odcx/
@taxgreed.bsky.social @4taxfairness.bsky.social
Photo of Trump and Thune reads: These 6 amendments to Trump's tax bill could change everything. Senators are heading into a marathon voting session to make changes to Trump's billionaire-friendly 'big beautiful bill' - COURIER breaks down 6 key amendments https://www.instagram.com/p/DLaInv4Odcx/
June 28, 2025 at 8:42 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
When I read things like this, I hear @jamellebouie.net in my head asking why we pretend Republicans don’t have agency, like they aren’t human beings who respond to pressure. Maybe these attitudes are *why* Rs are able to get away with acting like the fire.
Bluesky posts reads: “why don’t you have the same anger for Republicans“ I do I just don’t think you can get fire to change direction by yelling at it while I have to assume firefighters are at least amenable to feedback
May 22, 2025 at 4:15 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
#accurate

www.semafor.com/article/05/1...
Screen capture of article reads: Did you ever think that you and Chip Roy would be on the same side of things? I’m generally more consistent. He’s on the same side until the two-minute warning of the big game. It’s part of a pattern now that I’ve seen since the advent of televising floor proceedings and all of that: If you can rail at the microphone, maybe people will forget how you really voted. Do you think Republicans fail to advance the bill? They all say they’re against it, and then they all fold. I always say, it’s in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, and Trump gets on the phone, and the arithmetic doesn’t have to work — he just says, ‘Do it.’ And they jump in line. So I don’t get excited when I hear them say, ‘We’re not going to do this.’
May 13, 2025 at 1:58 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
I appreciate confirmation of what we could see in real time: his Wednesday speech was a lie, he made House Dems do the heavy lifting then abandoned them, he had no fallback plan if House Republicans didn’t implode.
In the interview, Mr. Schumer said that his two-step on the spending measure — he came out in opposition on Wednesday, only to backtrack on Thursday and say he would allow it to move — was a negotiating tactic aimed at giving Democrats maximum leverage in their fight against the legislation. “Our job was to help Hakeem make sure the bill didn’t pass,” he said, referring to Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader. But House Republicans held together behind the temporary spending plan, pushing it through over Democratic opposition and putting the onus on Democrats in the Senate to either accept it or be blamed for a shutdown.
March 18, 2025 at 2:47 PM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice:

"Democrats gave away their power today instead of protecting their constituents by refusing to hand the President total control of our nation’s budget."
Joan F. Neal, NETWORK Interim Executive Director, said: "Since taking power on January 20, the Trump Administration has engaged in the unlawful and unconstitutional defunding of key federal programs and the firing of essential personnel. Democrats gave away their power today instead of protecting their constituents by refusing to hand the President total control of our nation’s budget."
March 15, 2025 at 1:09 AM
sarahcgchris.bsky.social
NWLC—like CAP—is about the most establishment-y org in its lane that Dems have.

NWLC Action Fund on CR Passage: "Shame on You"

“This was the moment for Senate Democrats to say ‘we hear you, and we have your backs’- but they did not deliver.”
NWLC Action Fund Reacts to Senate Moving Forward with Passage of House Republican Budget Washington, DC - Following the cloture vote in the Senate to move forward with the passage of the House Republicans’ continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government, Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, put out the below statement: “To all of the Republican and Democratic senators who voted to move forward with this continuing resolution - shame on you. "This temporary budget is a transparent power grab for Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and will disproportionately harm women and families. For nearly two months, people around the country have been in the courts, in town halls, and in the streets demanding – begging – that our elected officials take their pain, their financial insecurity, and their fear seriously. This was the moment for Senate Democrats to say ‘we hear you, and we have your backs’- but they did not deliver. Now a destructive, anti-family, pro-billionaire budget – the brainchild of Republicans – has passed, and millions will suffer. “We commend every member of Congress who stood with their constituents - rather than Trump and Musk - to vote no on this budget, and we are deeply disappointed that there wasn’t enough courage in this Congress to defend our communities and our democracy.” Earlier this week, Goss Graves participated in a press conference with other leaders in the nonprofit space, calling on Democrats to vote “NO” on this disastrous funding bill.
March 15, 2025 at 12:58 AM