Sen Murphy: I don't think enough Dems are sounding the red alert on this govt efficiency racket

[Dennis Donovan]

Greg Sargent
‪@gregsargent.bsky.social‬
Important from Sen Chris Murphy: He says Dems are not functioning as an effective opposition to Trump's accelerating authoritarianism right now, and that this is dangerously complacent.

I pushed him on this, and we had a long exchange. In these four screen caps:

newrepublic.com/article/1895...




December 19, 2024 at 7:18 AM

I agree with the Senator

Important from Sen Chris Murphy: He says Dems are not functioning as an effective opposition to Trump's accelerating authoritarianism right now, and that this is dangerously complacent.

I pushed him on this, and we had a long exchange. In these four screen caps:

newrepublic.com/article/1895...

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T12:17:59.052Z

[Dennis Donovan]

1. I especially agree with this:

A, it’s not a department. B, it’s being run by two billionaires, people who have no idea how important basic government services like Medicaid, Social Security, veterans benefits are to regular people. But there are a lot of Democrats openly saying, I want to work with them, I want to sit down with this group. That gives the appearance that this is something other than either just a TV show or an effort by the billionaire class to privatize government to benefit themselves, which would be par for the course because all Donald Trump has shown us is that he wants to monetize his power for the benefit of himself and his friends.

Any cooperation with this incoming band of criminals will only lend credibility to what they are trying to achieve.

[gab13by13]

2. Thank you for this thread

Democrats need to be seeking out microphones, bluntly saying how Musk/Trump are going to destroy our great country.

Democrats need to be fighting to get on Trump's enemy list.

It wasn't about age at all for me when I backed AOC to get a leadership position, it was about picking a fighter.

Democrats need to tell the American people exactly what a government shutdown will do, force the MSM to cover it.

Now the MSM is muddying the water. the WSJ headline that Musk draws first blood with the spending bill. Democrats explain what the "blood" will be.

[Magoo48]

14. Yes indeed to all of the above.

The fighters in our party must push their way forward, our way forward. I’d like to see them assemble in groups on the capital steps as well as around our nation. They need to clue us in on their plans for creative resistance. They must encourage our organizers and lay out plans for grassroots participation. Please speak out, please act. Or, step out of the way.

[Nanjeanne]

3. I love how Murphy is stepping up and out. It's like he has finally seen that the same old tactics

and messaging don’t work and he’s been unleashed. He’s my Senator and I’ve always liked him but wished he’d be bolder and he appears he is now. Like this

Only if voters believe that Democrats are actually serious about reforming government. This was one of the problems in 2024 and the election that we just went through. We were so obsessed with the threat to democracy. That was arguably the tent pole of the Harris campaign. That's why Liz Cheney was campaigning with her despite their disagreements on foreign policy and economics.

People came to believe the Democrats were endorsing not just democracy, but the current version of democracy, which is not working for anybody. So the only way that we are credible in attacking Trump's attempts to deconstruct democracy is to make it clear that we want to reform democracy. Not in marginal ways. Like get private money completely out of politics through a constitutional amendment if it's necessary; close the revolving door in and out of government, make sure nobody can trade on their influence to make money; actually make government more efficient and faster, like build a permanent road in six months instead of six years. We've got to attack the existing version of democracy. Get back to where we used to be 20 years ago when we were an aggressive democracy reform party because our critiques of Donald
Trump will land flat if people thinkthat we're just defending the existing system.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[dutch777]

5. We have to speak out but be succinct and get it on MSM AND the blogosphere

If we always have to talk about the fine points and minutia we lose the audience in today's zero attention span world. Cutting Medicare will kill people. Keep it simple and short or we, and they, lose.

[Fla Dem]

6. Good on Sen Murphy. What I want to know is what is Pres Biden and his strategic staff doing?

Are they meeting with Sen Murphy or Schumer or Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries? This needs to be a team effort. They have to begin to plan how the Democrats in Congress are going to push back effectively against an Elon Musk/ Trump take over. Now is not the time to be complacent, polite or subservient. American Democracy is at stake.

[Hotler]

7. Maybe those that side up to the fascist should be voted out. If there's an election in two years.

It's our time to be the side of "fuck you". Just like when Obama was elected. Our sides lack of fight isn't sitting well with me. Not after the failure of Garland and the DOJ.

[Ray Bruns]

8. I'm not too worried about it. At some point, Elon Musk will think he's in charge

and Trump will bump his ass to the curb so fast, his head will spin.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. And maybe, just maybe everybody is calmly waiting on the sidelines, waiting for tRUMP to screw up big time. It's a

given knowing him and how off the wall tRUMP is w/ his thoughts running all over the place. And muskrat, he's the same way, only worse. Something is bound to screw up. Just patiently wait in the background and it'll come.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. Murphy needs to narrow

The message down to a two sentence sound bite.

Too much puts one on defense. Opens yourself up to unnecessary picking apart by the M$M.

Never apologize and never explain.

[turbinetree]

11. Call it what it is a RACKET Scam................

[LiberalArkie]

12. It hope this doesn't get deleted for saying that there is a problem in Democratic Party leadership.

[Johonny]

13. Never stop your enemy in the middle of a mistake

They can't even pass a stop gapped funding bill without Lord Elon fucking it up. Forget long range policy, let's see how they get through this week.

[jalan48]

15. Normalizing Trump and promoting the status quo is the easier path for some.

[intheflow]

16. We were an aggressive reform party 20 years ago?

Is that why we rolled over for Bush v. Gore? Is that why so many us our representatives enthusiastically voted for the USA PATRIOT Act? Is that why 81 Democrats ignored the evidence that 9/11 wasn't done by Saddam Hussein and Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction and voted to invade Iraq? This is some revisionist bullshit right here.

[CrispyQ]

17. "...get private money completely out of politics..."

Yes! This!

[Passages]

18. President Musk.

Link to tweet

[Meowmee]

19. Yes agree

This attempt to loot us needs to be attacked with full force.

[snot]

20. I recently saw an article about privatizing the USPS...

complaining that it has 650,000 employees. So I looked up some info and found that the UPS has 500,000 employees – and they don't deliver to every single address in the US 6 days a week. How is privatization going to improve on what the USPS is doing?

It's not. As in health insurance and other essential services, privatization is simply a wealth extraction license.