Qutzupalotl
Qutzupalotl's JournalThune plans to suspend oversight of ICE for 3 years
Senate Republicans Have a Plan to Suspend Congressional Oversight of ICE for Trump’s Whole Term talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/senate-...
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) 2026-04-23T14:44:21.809Z
….
Do not let Thune’s description fool you. The plan hatched by Senate and House Republicans, backed by President Trump, to ram a bad if not pestilential bill through by wielding the mighty budget process is a virtual coup. That budget reconciliation, which is not intended to be used for several years of controversial appropriating, allows the Senate to pass legislation with a simple, 51-vote majority. Republicans will be able to pass what they want without any Democratic support, and with few opportunities for Democratic opposition. The process brooks little scrutiny or challenge. It strikes like lightning and steamrolls over democracy’s opposition.
The DHS reconciliation bill, Republican leadership has said, will go far beyond the expected year’s funding for ICE. As a result, it will cloak ICE from congressional reform for three years — not one, but three, explicitly for Trump’s whole term — armoring officers against any future attempts, by, say, a Democratic House after January, to deal with its abuses. The legislation, as described, would swell two immigration police machines, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to a combined size more than double that of any other federal police force. It would launch a massive, cruel empire of detention and deportation to catch and imprison hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of almost entirely innocuous and helpless people. If congressional Democrats — and hopefully a few Republicans — are going to do their best to wage a battle against this, then, given the forced pace of the budget process, there is no time to lose.
….
Trump’s allies have fueled debate about whether Trump would send ICE agents to the polls during the next election. Recently the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, discussed doing so. He told the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 28 that he couldn’t understand why anyone would disagree with a president deploying federal agents to the polls. That is a subject beyond this article, but whatever Trump’s political calculations, just thinking about the practical realities, with this bill, Trump will have enough masked and armed ICE agents and overtime pay for all the unwelcome deployments he wants.
More:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/senate-republicans-have-a-plan-to-suspend-congressional-oversight-of-ice-for-trumps-whole-term
One way to press the issue is to pound the theme, RESIGN.
Of course he won't, because he has no shame. That's not the point.
The call to resign galvanizes our side. A good old-fashioned shaming reminds people of what decency and respect used to look like. Good people everywhere will be encouraged to join in hounding him out. His supporters will lose their desire to speak when the numbers overwhelm. That is the point.
Nothing *else* happened
meaning he was not convicted by the Senate and removed. But impeachment itself is important for history and posterity's sake; it's a protest by Congress to say this is unconstitutional conduct. That lays down a marker for future presidents, and it is important in and of itself.
This was the first president impeached twice. The second one peeled off members of his own party. That's why Johnson won't bring it up again, unless he is forced: there is a real danger of the tipping point being reached as the conduct becomes more lawless and conditions more dire.
The questions of should he or will he be impeached are two different ones. No doubt he deserves it. Things would need to get even worse before a Republican majority brings it up. The question of Senate removal by two-thirds is another, much higher bar. And whether it is politically advantageous for us is yet another question, which I believe is much less important for the country, but worth considering.
Ironically, it might take something not explicitly unconstitutional but politically untenable to prod the Republicans to dump him: explicit evidence of child rape. That's because Republicans love power more than the country or Constitution, sadly.
Consider donating through oath.vote
https://app.oath.vote/set?p=top-issuesThey don't spam unnecessarily and don't sell your info to related groups.
The site is set up to highlight close races in need of a little push, but you can search for individual races if you prefer.
Hat tip to former DUer brooklynite for this valuable tip.
Coping strategy.
They can't deal with the fact that they are unpopular, so they manufacture and repeat these excuses. Their followers who hear it can't deal either, so they latch on to any theory that preserves their image of a persecuted majority, regardless of how implausible.
Here is something you can do.
Make all your future donations at oath.vote.
https://app.oath.vote/set?p=top-issues
They don't spam unnecessarily and don't sell your info to related groups.
The site is set up to highlight close races in need of a little push, but you can search for individual races if you prefer.
Hat tip to former DUer brooklynite for this valuable tip.
Boy, am I glad I read that.
I'm going to study it again more carefully. It makes sense that our allies, especially Raskin, would not abandon the fight for our democracy but would work away from the cameras to build consensus.
I think the fact that the only reasonable ones were retiring old members and new ones, which coincidentally means they either weren't around during the email hacks of 2016, or are retiring and don't care, is significant, It makes me believe even more in the kompromat theory, that Russia hacked both parties' emails, but only released the one so they could threaten the other — carrot and stick — into doing Putin's bidding. That's their MO.
Multiple election offices report receiving mailed ballots misdirected from other states
….
In Louisiana, state election officials said some 40 to 50 ballots destined for 10 other states ended up being delivered to local election offices, mostly in Orleans Parish. Deputy Secretary of State Joel Watson Jr. said the Secretary of State’s Office had “extraordinary frustration” for the Postal Service’s continued “inconsistencies” and “lack of accountability.”
Dozens of mail ballots from inside the state also were delivered to the wrong local election office, Watson said.
“There were many instances where our staff had to physically take these ballots and drive them to another parish to get them there on time to make sure those votes count,” Watson said. “We had to use time and resources in the hours and days immediately preceding the biggest election we hold to make sure these ballots were delivered to the right places.”
https://apnews.com/article/7c942c832398d55843fbc20898d85385
A free press is in the Bill of Rights,
but he calls the free press “the enemy of the people” and “lugenpresse.” Check.
He has no authority over the Legislative branch, yet is demanding that the next Senate majority leader relinquish their advise-and-consent power to allow recess appointments, which he will abuse. That's a hell of an overreach. Check.
He wants to deport illegal AND legal immigrants of a certain skin pigment. Check.
He wants to increase immigration from countries like Norway that are majority white. Check.
The Constitution limits the power of the president. At every opportunity, he seeks to remove restraints on his power. He has called for suspending the Constitution, despite swearing to defend it. Check.
He says he wants to be a dictator on day one. Did you miss that?
Yes. Fascists want the population afraid, confused, fearful.
We don't have to give them any of that.
A Stoic philosopher put it this way: “The one who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.” In other words, pre-crisis anxiety is useless and even counterproductive.
We should reach out to friends and neighbors, form or join like-minded groups, and resist when and where we can. But until such crises are upon us, worry and anxiety do not help. Calm and clear thinking about what is happening will show us what we need to do in the moment. Rational planning for eventualities is helpful, but keep in mind that not all their plans will begin, and even fewer will succeed.
Profile Information
Member since: 2002Number of posts: 15,860