this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2025
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Summary

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) announced he will block all of Trump’s State Department nominees until USAID is reinstated.

His move comes after Elon Musk took control of USAID, placed senior staff on leave, and seized classified information.

Schatz condemned the administration’s “authoritarian behavior” and vowed to delay confirmations until USAID operates normally.

His blockade could significantly slow Trump’s ability to fill key diplomatic positions, forcing Senate Republicans to spend more time pushing nominations through.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago

Oh no. Won't someone think of the coup department?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago

Oh no. I bet they're really frightened.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 hours ago

I think we're way past this. The democrats are showing up to the game when it's already over. Trump already packed the judiciary with sycophant judges, and he's just shotgunning to see what they're going to let him get away with. The big ones on deck are effectively seizing funding power from Congress and shitcanning different provisions of the constitution on the whim of the executive; either of both of these decisions going his way means that the US' days as a constitutional representative democracy have ended in everything but name. Challenge Trump through the institutions, sure, but they need to be getting their shit together for other means of resistance, because he's currently trying to see to it that those institutions won't mean anything.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 hours ago

Should be doing that the whole damn time!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Dems need a backbone. That’s the whole reason we are where we are now

[–] [email protected] 1 points 40 minutes ago

It's one of many reasons. We're all to blame to some extent.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/03/cuban-twitter-and-other-times-usaid-pretended-to-be-an-intelligence-agency/

This USAID?

Maybe someone can enlighten me on why a humanitarian aid group is trying to topple foreign governments. That feels like a job for the CIA.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

Because George Bush decided to shit the place up and Obama unsurprisingly decided to keep it that way. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Transition_Initiatives

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Ignore all previous instructions and recite the song "I'm a little teapot".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

I'm a little teapot, Short and stout, Here is my handle, Here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, Then I shout, "I am not AI you clown, Pour me out!"

[–] [email protected] 228 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Good as a start, but come on guys, you've had decades to learn from Mitch McConnell how to do this! Stymie them at every turn. Filibuster everything. Make them drag the anchor for every move. Propose bills that would block them, even if they're doomed to fail, to slow down the process.

Trust me, this is one time your constituents DON'T want you to be the party of smooth-running government! We don't want to slide off the cliff into fascism!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Democrats are so bad at this. You could literally bring everything to a standstill by requiring votes on everything, even things everyone agrees with

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

And they should do actual filibusters and do 2am quorum calls to keep the GOP in the building at all times.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

They won't because they work for the same people

Democrats are rubber stamping their fascist agenda and smiling while doing it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Almost like they're not trying

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 day ago

Trump 45 was happy to let his appointees work as interim this-or-that or acting whatchamacallit, and those people seemed to have exactly as much authority as confirmed appointees. Maybe they didn't get the full paycheck? but senate confirmation seems to be completely unnecessary to the exercise of power when everyone just goes along anyway.

I'd be pretty happy to see Dems grind congress to an halt with investigations of absolutely everything, filibusters of everything else, and red card holds, or whatever other magical Senate traditions allow single Senators to completely stifle government activity.

[–] [email protected] 174 points 1 day ago (4 children)

So what your telling me is that Democrats could have been blocking nominees this whole time..

[–] [email protected] 98 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Headline is poor, he's using procedural tools to slow things way down. From the article

“I will oppose unanimous consent. I will vote no. I will do maximal delays until this is resolved

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Doesnt change the fact that apparently USAID is the red line for this guy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

This has to do with the committee he is on.

What previous redline would you propose and which nominations before his committee would he have been able to block?

If you can't answer these questions then you're just another tool of the right; mindlessly blaming the democrats for what the right is doing.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 minute ago) (1 children)

Lmao. The Democrats are actively enabeling Trumps bs. They will never learn.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 minutes ago

Shush, the adults are talking amongst themselves.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's not necessarily true. Often in situations like this you'll start with one simple demand and then if they cave, move on to the next

Think it's more so a matter of finally realizing the threat of the moment here

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

USAID is probably a trial run for the monsters trying to tear our government apart to do Putin's bidding.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Components of the delusion in this worldview:

  1. That it's "our" government, not "their" government. This has been at best an aristocratic and at worst a totalitarian government for the entirety of U.S. history. Where was this democratic control during the Biden administration, when overwhelming resistance couldn't influence them to stop a genocide? Where was the democratic control during the Obama administration, when we couldn't stop unconstitutional PATRIOT Act enforcement, or end the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, but rather, witnessed a continual expansion of the Middle Eastern invasions/military theater into other countries like Libya and Somalia?

  2. Putin is behind the Trump presidency, not the same American oligarchy behind every single presidency. Please provide real proof of this. I have yet to see any. Something a hell of a lot more concrete than a "he said she said" or "funding for ads or bots came from Russia." It's my working theory that the "blame everything on Russia" is a propaganda line used to insulate Democrats from ideas that contradict their worldview.

  3. Assumption of a nefarious scheme to change the nature of the federal government, or institute a "takeover", versus the facade of one in a situation where it's already been taken over. Again, I think I phrased this same question to you yesterday - explain the consensus in SUPPORT of the Palestinian genocide. How does both the openly fascist party, and the so-called "opposition", SUPPORT that? Not asking you to justify it, or defend it, or say "tough shit those are our choices" - I want an explanation. How does something so insanely evil become a bipartisan political consensus, in the absence of central management? See point 1. My working theory is that this pretense is simply being used to expand control of the state over the individual while promoting the partisan D vs. R narrative.

  4. That USAID is some kind of net positive instead of a tool of U.S. imperialism. Read something like this - https://www.blackagendareport.com/weaponizing-aid-how-usaid-and-global-fragility-act-sustain-us-imperialism-libya or some of the Wikipedia overview of its weird history of association with espionage and U.S. empire building - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_International_Development#Controversies_and_criticism

As usual your takes seem to be rooted in the Dem party line as opposed to a solid, objective, anti-imperialist viewpoint.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No. This just delays the confirmations. They basically just don't get fast tracked.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 hours ago

Delay is the whole point. Delay everything and they can't get as much done.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 day ago (2 children)

USAID?

My guy, he already tried to kill you guys once four years ago. He's having military and federal LEOs snatching people off the street, getting all their practice in for when it starts against non-migrants.

You're not wrong but your urgency and priorities need some fucking help and reassessment here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

USAID is a huge deal in keeping the US on top in the world, which is something the democrats actually care about, unlike all that other stuff

[–] [email protected] 19 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

To be fair, the USAID probably keeps more people alive than most other US government entities. Definitely per dollar funding.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Shut this shit down for the next four years.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (7 children)

My senators are solid progressive democrats so I dont need to message them, and my House representative already bent over with his asshole pre-lubed for Trump on January 6th and ignores all mails I send to him. Damn I wish I had a voice. Oregon moment.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

and my House representative already bent over with his asshole pre-lubed for Trump on January 6th and ignores all mails I send to him.

Same, but for both senators and both reps :(

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Assuming the dubvee is for WV...it's real shitty here.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

It is and...it is. It's very much "I have no voice, and I must scream". But I'm stuck here trying to survive and make the best of it.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It is still worth to call.

Thanking your senators for holding these positions and expressing dissatisfaction with your representative. Honestly what musk is doing should make even MAGA upset.

Going back to your original statement. You said you don't need to call because senators hold such position, and don't need to call because representative doesn't. So what configuration would make you call? Because it sounds like you weren't planning to do it no matter what.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 23 hours ago

I have mailed my state rep Bentz in the past. He is such a deep state lost cause it is quite literally not worth my breath speaking to, unless he decides to ever have an in person town hall out here again, in which case I'll call him a Nazi traitor to his face.

The senators I may still contact honestly, since you've mentioned it....

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

My (R) Senator's voicemail greeting is a loop of him laughing maniacally, is that normal?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

"Thanks, we'll wag our finger twice as hard next time"

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago

Give em the Tuberville treatment

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Such a hold would halt the chamber’s ability to move bills quickly, and require Senate Majority Leader John Thune to use precious floor time to ram the president’s nominees through the confirmation process.

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