NOT NORMAL -- Democrats need to shut down the Senate. Everything. Block / delay every damn thing.

[babylonsister]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/31/2300532/-NOT-NORMAL-Democrats-need-to-shut-down-the-Senate-Everything-Block-delay-every-damn-thing

NOT NORMAL — Democrats need to shut down the Senate. Everything. Block / delay every damn thing.
Friday, January 31, 2025 at 10:13:00p EST
JunglelandDan


Enough with the 20-30 Democrats voting for many of these cabinet nominees. Enough with the pleasantries to their Republican friends, pleading for them to find the “courage” to reject a drunkard, alleged rapist, white nationalist, supporter of war criminals, bigot and manifestly unqualified and unfit party scumbag. (Psssst, Democrats — they didn’t)

Last night on MSNBC, Senator Welch (D-VTJ said, among other things, something along the lines of, “my Republican colleagues, many of whom I deeply respect…” Really? What exactly do you respect about these sedition-supporting and enabling cowards, who have demonstrated repeatedly that they don’t take their jobs seriously, and that they don’t give a damn about little things like meeting basic standards for the most important jobs in government, retaining the senate’s constitutional role in appropriating funds, maintaining the independence of the DOJ and FBI, and their own integrity / self-respect? All because they don’t want to offend a treasonous convicted felon, coup leader, and walking sewage pile of a human being and possibly attract a primary challenge, which presumably, if they were any good, they would have a perfectly fine chance of winning anyway. What exactly about these chickenshit, profoundly unpatriotic hypocrites and liars do you respect, Senator Welch and fellow Democrats? Do tell.

But to continue ….Enough even with the fiery questions in these hearings the unanimous opposition to POS like Hegseth and, presumably folks like Patel and Kennedy and Gabbard. Better, but not sufficient. Not even close.


Not when the federal government is systematically and intentionally being destroyed from within. Employees terrorized and harasssed. Science and expertise being decapitated. This latest purge of the FBI screams for more than stern letters and wagging fingers.


I would also note that even if all this shit about the FBI turns out be more for show than anything else and at least in part a false alarm — and to be clear, I don’t think that’s the case— but for the sake of argument, even if it does, much of the damage will already have been done. The fear. The intimidation.


You can’t campaign on a message that Trump is a true threat to democracy, see in the first 11 days that if anything that was a grotesque understatement …… and then act like everything is fucking normal. News flash — it isn’t.


Shut the f-cking Senate down.


Block and / or delay everything you possibly can. Object to unanimous consent votes for everything, up to and including the naming of Post Offices. Place a hold on every single Trump nominee. Every single day. Every week. Press conferences every single day. Rallies in your states. Keep one senator in town to provide the objecting vote to unanimous consent, and rotate that senator out regularly. And rallies in neighboring red states, where yes, independents and democrats still live.


Allegedly you are leaders.

Start acting like it.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. Yes! Do it!

[ancianita]

52. Make calls. Read this last paragraph and "Allegedly you are leaders. Start acting like it."

https://www.senate.gov/general/resources/pdf/senators_phone_list.pdf

https://clerk.house.gov/member_info/TTD-119.pdf

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[yardwork]

3. Yes!

[mvd]

4. I agree

I know there’s traditionally a decorum in the Senste but that is out the window now. The Repuke party is now about Trump and his insane and unconstitutional agenda. Act like it.

[forgotmylogin]

44. One question: Is Trump even going to allow Congress to vote on anything?

If he can keep just making proclamations and EOs, what's he need Congress to chime in for?

[Arazi]

5. Yup. Schumer has to go

We need brawlers now - Elizabeth Warren would do fine

[superpatriotman]

16. At least make him push his glasses up!

It's very annoying those glasses halfway down his nose.

[BattleRow]

20. It his excuse for being so half glASSED

[Think. Again.]

6. Shut. It. Down.

[kacekwl]

7. I don't why they need

to be told. Absolutely.

[spanone]

8. Hopefully they will fill the Sunday morning talk shows...

Asking America if they voted for musk?

Exposing the racist-in-chief

Defending DEI?

[rso]

9. Senate

The problem is that if Thune feels pushed too hard, he may eliminate the filibuster altogether which would be be disastrous.

[msongs]

10. is chuck schumer still alive? nt

[Bluethroughu]

11. This is nuts, NONE OF THESE CABINET NOMS.

Are normal.

[58Sunliner]

12. Kick and Rec!!!!

[Evolve Dammit]

13. When 30 plus Dem Senators voted for Billionaire Oil and Gas Burgham for Interior, I was appalled. Norton was bad enough

[Ligyron]

14. Absolutely, it's what the GOP does.

And at least they know how to win elections.

[Galraedia]

15. Any democrat who votes for Kash Patel, RFK Jr, and/or Tulsi Gabbard should be primaried out

This isn't negotiable. You are either okay with having extreme incompetence in positions of power or you're not. Weak democrats need to be removed like cancer.

[Emile]

17. Not according to Amy Klobuchar.

She thinks Americans want us to work together when we can and find common ground.

More centrist bs

[dchill]

21. Unfortunately, she really believes that.

[Alice Kramden]

18. I am emailing my Senators every day with a similar message

And every day I email my House Rep with a new reason to impeach Tr*mp.

[Attilatheblond]

62. CALL them. Just read staffers reporting they ignore emails and actual letters just get thrown in the trash.

Call their DC offices AND their offices in your state, district for congressional reps.

[Karasu]

19. This. The fascists are going scorched earth and have been since the day they took office. We NEED to do the same.

Last edited Sat Feb 1, 2025, 06:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Anything less than "whatever it takes" from the party is not going to suffice.

[coffeenap]

22. And add symbolism--

get giant prop locks and prop chains--call the cameras and the republican Senators--"lock" the doors to the chamber--make a goddam scene--we need inspiration!! Do it at Treasury, too! Do it (in reverse) at Social Security offices! Go on the roof where the flag is raised every day--"lock" it down.

[bluboid]

23. BRILLIANT! Do it! Do it ASAP & ongoing...

[JMCKUSICK]

24. This is exactly what is called for and further,

(I love Senator Elizabeth Warren passionately. I think she may be one of the 5 smartest people in Congress.)

Everyone in office needs to start talking like they're a fucking American and not a dispassionate Dr, Lawyer, College professor etc...
I don't need shit explained to me, I don't need to understand that this is bad. I need to feel like my Representatives are either treating this like a hair on fire presidency or not.
Get pissed off, strategize behind the scenes, but be VISIBLE, be LOUD,
Sorry for the all caps in advance.

EACH VOTE TO ADVANCE A NOMINATION, OR BILL IS A VOTE TO DESTROY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

That's the bottom line from my point of view.

Thanks for posting this.

[Kid Berwyn]

25. When Tuberville can give Marine generals heart attacks...

...because they have to work two full time jobs simultaneously, while Tommy holds up promotions as a minor member of the Senate minority party, it's the least we can do.

Oh. And it's about fucking time.

[Efilroft Sul]

26. Watching our party's lack of planning between the election loss and inauguration has convinced me of one thing.

The change we need is not going to come from the top. Our leadership's platitudes about finding common ground or telling us God is on His golden throne are not going to get us out of this mess. That's not leadership; that's concession, and concession is not becoming of any leader when this nation has descended into techbro fascism. Change must come from the grassroots up, from those of us who perceive the threat for what it is, or we are sunk. We must become the leaders in whatever way we can.

[stillcool]

27. I think change needs to come from the state

if there were an election held tomorrow Trump would still win. And Democrats would still be blamed, because red states like to purge voters and make it as hard as possible for people they don't like to vote. And people in red states are just fine with it. No more "United" States.

[halobeam]

46. Atm, we only reside in The States. Not United at all right now.

Gulf of America? Then, The States. One is BS, the other, truth.

[stillcool]

48. I certainly feel it, for me it's been fact

for a while. I'm not surprised at what is happening, maybe the way it's happening. Seems like we've been on this train for a long time, and we're just finally coming into the station. Brave New World.

[halobeam]

53. Yes perhaps the way it's happening.

[JCMach1]

28. Democrats have to stop playing to both sides

And an electioneering philosophy. They have to get it through their skulls there is only one side: democracy.

Obstruct
Deconstruct
Destruct

From everything we knew Trump should have been in Guantanamo after Jan6 as a traitor with his attempted coup. Instead, Biden's electioneering mindset thought of him as defeated by the system's guardrails. That was a fatal and critical mistake for our democracy. We can no longer expect the system to punish actual traitors and have to act accordingly.

[GoYouPackersGo]

29. Too bad almost all of them are fucking institutionalists.

Find common ground, keep our powder dry, blah blah blah, ad infinitum

[OneGrassRoot]

30. EVERY. DAMN. THING. NOW. n/t

[buzzycrumbhunger]

31. It's what the Repukes did to Obama...

… and who they’ve been ever since.

Why the Dems are incapable of rallying a counterattack is beyond me. How many of them fucking rolled over and voted for the orange shitgibbon’s heinous cabinet picks?!

[GiqueCee]

32. Speaking of Senator Welch...

... he also said, on Vermont Public, as I was driving to work the day before the election, that "... sure, Trump is dangerous, but he's not a danger to democracy!"
I decided to let that ferment for a day or two, and now I'm in the process of composing a note to Senator Welch suggesting that, knowing Trump's past history, and since he's seen what Trump has done over the past couple weeks, that he might want to walk that one back a parsec or two. his credibility, and his chances of reelection demand it.
Peter and I are the same age, and, in a state as sparsely inhabited as Vermont, we might have occasion to run into each other, as we did from time to time. I was good friends with our district's state senator and representative when he was also in state politics. He knows who I am; he's invited me to join in conference calls about various issues, so my thoughts on the matter might carry a bit more weight than some of his other constituents. We'll see.
Having watched Trump's egotistical clown show for more than forty years, and having had friends in New York that had dealings with him, my first thought was, Oh shit, Peter, what has he got on you?
Trump ain't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he learned a lot from his mentor, the malicious and thoroughly evil Roy Marcus Cohn, best known for his days as lead counsel for Joseph McCarthy's HUAC witch hunt for communists back in the fifties. Cohn had dirt on everyone in Washington, and Trump has dirt on everyone with whom he had, or might yet have, business dealings. Those lessons are readily transferable to politics. Just look at Lindsey Graham's neck-snapping 180 following Trump's defeat of one of the most qualified candidates the Democrats ever had: Hillary Clinton.
People are not taking this anywhere near as seriously as they should. And suggestions that we should just chill are horrifically misguided. The past couple of weeks were just a warm-up. The proverbial substance is about to hit the fan with a resounding splat. Better duck.

[yellow dahlia]

34. And since the election there has been too much messaging that - it's all gonna be alright.

No it is not!

[GiqueCee]

35. They're humming lullabies to themselves...

... while clutching their pearls under the bed. Anyone with the brains of a potted plant knows that what you said is the goddamned truth.

[electric_blue68]

37. Ty for your personal political history, and effort. I have to email my -other- Senator, and my Rep whom I've haven't...

heard a peep from. (I should check his website)

Since I am a NYC'r: thus Schumer is my Senator; I feel obligated to speak up for my fellow Dems from all over the country.
I've been a political, and issues semi-activist for like 55 yrs; so it's nothing new, just more intense these days. (I would never call myself an activist)
Some calls, and e-mails. Emails bc as a very late riser I often miss the 4:45PM +/- closing "window", for at least leaving a message, if not germtyong a live staff person.
I will keep on, keeping on; at least something I can do.

Eta:
I've emailed about issues, but also adding- while we need good strategies; we need passion in defending our Constitution, and Country!

Truthfully, I'd rather be making more art, doing crafts, and relaxing!
But at least what modest amount I'm doing is partly long time habitual, not having to gather the focus/energy to start from scratch.

[AllaN01Bear]

33. start writing . i see what you did there with a space 1999 reference

this abinormalo i dont recognize things anymore.

[MichMan]

36. What if it's things their constituents need?

FEMA funding for wildfires, FAA upgrades, SNAP benefits, Medicaid, Infrastructure?

Just block all of it? Doesn't seem very wise

[electric_blue68]

38. Yeah, I wonder anout that!

[babylonsister]

43. I think the clown and his car are trying to block

everything you mentioned. I also wonder who these constituents trust. It's going to get pretty awful.

[boonecreek]

39. Filibuster the fuck out of everything,

the way the Republicans did when Obama was President.

[Dem4life1234]

51. Sickens ne because he was a decent president who gave a fuck about Americans

[Jmb 4 Harris-Walz]

40. What makes a quorum in the house and senate?

Minnesota democrats in the State House have been boycotting assembling together to prevent a quorum.

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-legislature-power-struggle-republicans-democrats-7db12f51ad0e47d49f4c50f56cb1e5c4

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — House Democrats boycotted the opening day of Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session Tuesday in an effort to stop Republicans from exploiting a temporary one-seat majority to remove one of their members. But GOP representatives forged ahead anyway and named their leader as speaker in a move that Democrats vowed to challenge in court.

There was applause as Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon entered the chamber to convene the proceedings in accordance with state law. But the Democratic side of the House chamber was empty and only Republicans replied “present” as a clerk took the roll.

Simon announced they had not reached the 68 members needed for a quorum, declared the chamber adjourned and left.

But Republicans stayed in their seats, saying that with 67 members present they had a quorum. They then voted to elect their top member, former Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, as speaker, a move that Democrats immediately denounced as an “unlawful sham with no legal authority.”

https://apnews.com/article/state-legislatures-walkouts-minnesota-be1dfe85e97112ff3311c76e066cabad

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democrats in the Minnesota House who have boycotted daily sessions are using tactics that lawmakers around the country have tried at least two dozen times before to thwart their opponents. It’s not even a first for the state.

Minnesota Democrats are trying to prevent Republicans from taking advantage of a temporary one-seat majority caused by a vacancy in a Democratic-leaning seat, and the chamber is expected to return to 67-67 after a special election. Democrats asked the state Supreme Court to intervene, and the court sided with them Friday, ruling that the Minnesota Constitution requires 68 members present for the House to conduct business, meaning at least one Democrat has to show up. The Senate is temporarily tied at 33, also because of a vacancy in a Democratic district.

In 1857, the issue was Republicans’ desire to move the Minnesota Territory’s capital from St. Paul to a new city, St. Peter, about 75 miles (121 kilometers) away. A Democratic lawmaker took physical possession of the bill and hid in a local hotel until it was too late to act on the measure.

[MichMan]

41. 51, but less is OK unless someone objects

The Constitution states that “a Majority of each [House] shall constitute a quorum to do
business.” The Senate presumes that it is complying with this requirement and that a quorum is
always present unless and until the absence of a quorum is suggested or demonstrated. This
presumption allows the Senate to conduct its business on the floor with fewer than 51 Senators
present until a Senator “suggests the absence of a quorum.”

Except when the Senate has invoked cloture, the presiding officer may not count to determine if a
quorum is present. When the absence of a quorum is suggested, therefore, the presiding officer
directs the Clerk to call the roll. The Senate cannot resume its business until a majority of
Senators respond to the quorum call or unless, by unanimous consent, “further proceedings under
the quorum call are dispensed with” before the last Senator’s name has been called. If a quorum
fails to respond, the Senate may adjourn or take steps necessary to secure the attendance of
enough Senators to constitute a quorum. It usually takes the latter course by agreeing to a motion
that instructs the Sergeant at Arms to request the attendance of absent Senators.

More often than not, however, quorum calls are unrelated to attendance on the floor. Senators
“suggest the absence of a quorum” to suspend the Senate’s formal floor proceedings temporarily.
There are many purposes for such quorum calls. For example, they can be used to permit informal
discussions that are intended to resolve a policy disagreement or procedural problem, or to allow
a Senator to reach the floor in order to make a speech or begin consideration of a bill. When a
quorum call is provoked for such a purpose, it is usually ended by unanimous consent before the
call of the roll has been completed.



https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/96-452

[MichMan]

42. House is similar

The Constitution requires that a quorum, defined as a majority of the House, be present on the
floor when the House transacts business. The House, however, always presumes that a quorum is
present unless and until its absence is demonstrated conclusively. The rules of the House strictly
limit the occasions on which a Representative may make a point of order that a quorum is not
present. In current practice, Members usually make such a point of order only when a vote is
taking place. If a majority of the Members fails to respond to a quorum call or participate in an
electronically recorded vote conducted in the House, the House must adjourn or take steps
necessary to secure the attendance of enough Members to constitute a quorum.


https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/98-988

[Bird Lady]

45. These assholes are still trying to hang on to

Their golden ticket. Otherwise they would actually have to work, unless they have stolen enough to not worry.
Bernie is the only one with any balls the rest are just geldings and serve no purpose.

[JanMichael]

47. It's a special club and we aren't in it.

[valleyrogue]

49. The pressure needs to be put on the GOP to remove Trump and all the rest of them who are in line.

Fine and dandy to tell Democrats what to do, but the GOP is where the problem IS.

It will be that or people will make it known, and it won't be pretty.

[Dem4life1234]

50. They really need to do that

Too many morons voted Rethug, more should have voted Dem increase our power in Congress.

[Frasier Balzov]

54. Debt limit might get maxxed out and seize up the works.

[SheltieLover]

55. Absofuckingloutely!

[lark]

56. Town halls everywhere!

Get the message out.

[angry.donkey]

58. Agree 1000%

I’ve been screaming this at the top of my lungs since Bipartisanship Biden got elected.

And now Ken Martin and his “good billionaires” are at the helm of this Titanic.

I’ve been angry at the Democratic Party before. Very angry. But this is something else.
I am enraged.
I am incensed.
I am livid.
I am sick to death of our leaders’ perpetual embrace of the status quo.
We need a new party.

[GP6971]

61. Welcome to DU.

[uponit7771]

59. ***GET INTO GOOD TROUBLE RIGHT HOT DAMN NOW !!!***

[dlilafae]

60. Although I agree 100%

The Dems lost their opportunity to save our Democracy long ago.