Nobody Said It'd Be Easy

Jean Shaheen joins Tina Smith in the list of Democratic Senators from relatively safe seats that aren’t running in 2026. Shaheen voted to confirm roughly half of Trump’s appointees, putting her in the group of the top 5 Democrats who have voted for Trump nominees. She isn’t on Josh Marshall’s tally of Senators’ positions the CR. Smith, who only voted for two Trump appointees, has not committed to a position per Josh’s tally.

I get that it’s an uncomfortable time to be an elected Democrat. Rank and file Dems are mad, and there’s a lot of talk of primarying Dems. Hakeem Jeffries was able to hold his party together, almost, to vote en bloc against the CR (Jared Golden being the exception). Most of what we’re seeing from the Senate is the sounds of silence. (When even fairly even-keeled Norm Ornstein pushing you to do something, you’re really not doing anything.)

I guess AOC is now the Senate Whip, because she’s urging Democrats to call their Senators and tell them to vote no on cloture and no on the bill. (The “clever” move would be to vote yes for cloture, knowing there are enough votes for the bill to pass, and then no on the bill. That’s if you want to be the Democratic Susan Collins.)

If this is all too much for any elected Democrat, they are welcome, invited and encouraged to quit, and quit now, as far as I’m concerned. As long as their state has a provision that the interim appointee be of the same party, or a quick special election provision, why not replace someone who’s afraid to do the job with someone who might just take a “hard” vote or two? Perhaps that person wouldn’t have as many idiot consultants whispering in their ear, telling them that a stupid justification like the one Jared Golden puked out yesterday will make a difference. Golden actually had the gall to say that “elections have consequences". If that’s the case, why didn’t his constituents just vote for a Republican instead? They would have gotten the same “consequence” — a vote for a poison pill CR. (Note that Golden took that vote after it was announced that the USDA was holding funding for the University of Maine pending an almost certainly spurious Title IX review.)

And I’m not forgetting the Republicans, cowards to the last one. Jamelle Bouie makes a great point about them (and some Dems, I’m sure):

So I guess what I’m left with is disgust aimed everywhere. I don’t know if it’s more worthwhile to call your Senator or just get out and protest at a Tesla dealership. At least the latter is probably going to do something to harm our unelected King. (This is a funny website if you need a chuckle.)