For decades, we've been wondering why Republicans win so much when their vision for the country is at odds with most Americans. The biggest issue is not left vs. right. It's organization! The right wing is organized and the Democratic Party is not!

The Democratic Party ought to be using this to (1) defeat the cuts, (2) win control of the House and maybe the Senate in 2026, and (3) PERMANENTLY expand the base of Democratic voters, especially in red states.

I love this idea! It's the flip side of Trump putting his name on stimulus checks -- and his name deserves to be on the tariffs a lot more. Their his obsession, which almost no one supports. Why shouldn't he be proud of them! But it needs to be labelled "Trump tax 30%" or whatever.

Democrats may not want to "go low", but they have to to save democracy. If your opponent can cheat and bully others into compliance, you need to be able to use similar levels of force. Or you'll lose it all.

When you buy stock in a company, you're placing a bet on its leadership. In these times, it takes a little mental effort to step back from whatever people do to get a handle on how deviant it is. Tesla's CEO is literally seriously mentally ill.

I hope anti-Tesla activists won't back off now that Musk has said he's going to "step back" from DOGE. The job needs to be finished. Musk needs to be destroyed economically to block his ambitions to rule the world -- and also as punishment for the extreme damage he has already caused.

Very brave, and incredibly well stated.

Before press came in — but while live feed was running on Bukele’s feed — Trump said to him: “home-growns are next. … You’re gonna need to build about 5 more places.” x.com/nayibbukele/...

If you own Tesla stock, you're going to lose a ton of money unless you can sell it to a "bigger fool". Tesla's P/E is 123 (share price divided by profit per share). Toyota's is 6.45. Other major car companies are similar. Tesla stock would be $13.23 per at current earnings w/ Toyota's P/E.

Maybe I agree with some Democrats that the party should focus on "kitchen table issues." But the term is lame. When talking about Medicaid cuts and a lot of the other DOGE/Trump damage, we could call them "matters of life and death". I guess you could discuss them at the kitchen table, though.

For decades the Democratic Party has been feigning helplessness when they don't want to do what their constituents support, or their campaign donors don't.

Most pro-democracy messaging is targeting progressives and the democratic base. The real problem is people who don't know what's going on. They aren't members of the Trump cult.

Following up on my earlier comments about "feigned helplessness" by Democrats, this politico article on Schumer's support for cloture on the continuing resolution mentions several times how he bravely "gave cover" to other Senators, who could vote against cloture while not triggering a shutdown.

After Elon's child geniuses program had a bug that declared this guy dead, it took him weeks to straighten it out because of under-staffing. "He called Social Security two or three times a day for two weeks, with each call put on hold and then eventually disconnected." It will get much worse.

It's important to be humble and realize that I don't know political strategy as well as Sen. Schumer. My best understanding says he did the wrong thing, but who knows? @ariellaelm.bsky.social @joshtpm.bsky.social

I just realized that "Elections have consequences" just means "the elected official just did something illegal or incredibly stupid." Maybe it sounds nicer, though.

Stock is at $250 now, target is $120. Time to sell!

I've been wondering why there's not more of a political firestorm in California about pending medicaid cuts. I just saw a post on threads where someone's mother didn't know that Medi-Cal was medicaid, and thought it was 100% paid for by the State of California. People will be surprised.

I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F. 18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it. We made this website to tell our story: 18f.org

The fig leaf is falling off. Trump is coming very close to stating outright that he works with Putin.

I remember reading a popular book on political psychology that talked about how Americans, particularly Southerners, have contempt for politicians that allow themselves to be bullied. I was taught by my Southern mom to stand up for myself and not take any sh*t.

I don' t see how U.S. democracy has a chance unless the Democratic Party starts planning to win elections by larger margins. As it stands, if we're very lucky, we'll win a tiny majority in the House or Senate in 2026, and the Presidency in 2028.

Democrats should be able to slaughter Republicans like this in the next election. The voters are Trump victims and he's claiming he can do nothing to help. Trump threatens to "primary" people, but that shouldn't be able to overcome the wave of voter rage that this will lead to.

With Trump's "flood the zone" tactics, it's difficult to know what to focus on. One really good goal would be to get Trump to throw Musk under the bus (or cybertruck) (or toss him into the woodchipper). Trump never takes responsibility. He finds scapegoats.

I'm old. Someday, I'll probably find out I'm dying of something for which recently fired NIH researchers were feverishly working on treating or curing. I'll have to console myself by thinking of all leaders who will also be suffering and dying unnecessarily because of the NIH cuts they promoted.

My car wasn't working great. Even though I don't know much about cars, I'm smart. So I ripped out all the parts that whose function I didn't understand, and carried them off to the dump. I'll learn which ones were necessary when I try to drive it again. What is the problem???

Much of Musk's wealth is from Tesla stock, which is absurdly inflated. Every new Tesla that sells is another nail in the coffin of U.S. democracy. Plus, the cars are unsafe. Musk is firing the people in the government who oversee safety.

What possible rationale can there be for this? Scientifically, the hypothesis that best fits the administration's actions is that their goal is to destroy the U.S. Any of us could die because of this move.

Plenty of voters understand that their lives would be much worse, or lost, if they did not have these drugs.

Trump’s tariffs are now causing gas prices to rise nationwide, according to a spokesman for the American Automobile Association.

Here's one example of the good work that NIH does. I hope he gets some questions from the press about this.

I haven't heard anyone point out this bullshit: You don't need to "pause" programs in order to audit, reform, or even eliminate them. A contract is a contract. And Trump, and certainly not Musk, don't have the legal authority to stop Congressionally appropriated payments.

I've read that Elon Musk's approach is to minimize costs by cutting things excessively, then adding them back when he finds out that he needs them. For example, if people starve because you shut down USAID, you say, "Oops, that's a lot of bodies. Better start that up again."

There must be a lot of non-Harris voters who are getting screwed by this. Is there a way to let them know why? #trumpharm

If I could ask everyone for a HUGE favor today. Please use 5calls to contact your representatives. Ask them to support the NIH and NSF and work to reverse the decision to cap their funding. These cuts will devastate research institutions and jeopardize scientific progress. 5calls.org/issue/nih-ns...

Call your R reps. If you have a regional accent, make the most of it. Tell them you didn't vote for CANCER and ask them what the hell they're gonna do to stop Musk and Trump. reps.fyi

The world's richest man is taking food and medicine from the world's poorest children www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/o...

I don't know whether the founder of this group has really changed his mind about Trump, but it is clear that he is feeling heat from members of his community about the whole Gaza redevelopment idea. Trump has alienated some voters in swing states. apnews.com/article/arab... @irontuna.bsky.social

What do we learn? Trump didn't have a clear strategy. He didn't have a goal to get concessions. He threatened the tariffs, then saw the harm they would do (the stock market was the early indicator), and backed off. Everyone knew it would be a disaster except him. Expect more of this.

As I understand it, people fought for this for YEARS after it was thwarted by lobbying from tax prep companies. It will affect millions of Americans and will not be a popular move. #trumpharm

More disillusioned Trump voters. If we're trying to save democracy, let's capitalize their reality check. Trump is going to disappoint a lot of his voters (and non-voters). If these people change their vote (or vote at all), it could save the U.S. #trumpharm

I love this idea. It's a great way to get word out about what's happening, to people who might otherwise not know or understand.

Citizens who were born of immigrant parents are likely to resent the proposed unconstitutional nullification of birthright citizenship. That would include many who did not vote against Trump in the last election (i.e., Trump voters and non-voters), esp. in these states. Do they know? #trumpharm

Negotiate for something Biden already did. Maybe the threat against Taiwan is to get them to build a $50 billion chip fab in the U.S. (which they are already doing).

I think I understand a little better what's happening. Trump is playing "chicken" with foreign leaders (for non-Americans: cars drive towards each other, and the first driver who changes course to avoid a collision loses). At the last minute, he claims victory because of a meaningless concession.

The CFPB protects Americans from getting screwed by financial institutions. Some of those Americans were not Harris voters. Can we find specifics of actions that were halted that affect voters in red states? #trumpharm

USAID employees overseas are being put in danger by disabled security app. #trumpharm

Customers of Irving Energy are warned that their rates for propane and fuel oil will go up if tariffs are imposed. (but why 10%? I thought the tariff was 25% for Canada?) #trumpharm

Keep this and play this over and over when Elon's idiocy blows up in his face.

Our best hope at this point is that Trump's and Musk's actions hurt Republican voters badly enough that Senators and Representatives start to fear for their jobs. They can help restore order. Or, if we survive long enough and Democrats manage to get it halfway together, lose power in 2026.