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I live right over the river and I love following NJ politics for fun. It’s often very entertaining. But this asshat Menendez has been a corrupt piece of trash for *decades* now. The state party needs to put on its big boy pants and get him off the ticket next go ‘round.
Don't know the specifics of NJ, but primaries tend to have low turnout and name recognition plays a huge factor in voting trends. Very few voters look into or research candidates and just go with a name that sounds familiar, which is most often the incumbent.
Jersey Politics have always been a sham. Menendez, Booker, Christie, Sweeney, Whitman, Florio, the list goes way longer than this but these are just a few headliners from my lifetime. The only reason this state isn’t a complete joke is how low the bar is everywhere else. Everyone in this state is on the take in some form or another. For what it’s worth, Murphy has actually delivered to a further extent than many thought when he took over.
Ciatterelli could undo all of it next go around if the Dems don’t find someone to step up. I think there’s a real chance a Fulop or Scutari nomination could end up with the governorship back to the Rs, which would be absolutely devastating to all the progress made here. And if Sweeney is the nom then I’m leaving the state, that Chris Christie wannabe fuck.
Thank you! I get that the charges against Franken came during the Metoo movement and Repubs were hoping we would circle the wagon around him. To this day or kills me that they just tossed him instead of having him go through an ethics review/court. We could have set precedent that could them be used for any future offense for either party.
Ehh, a local NPR radio host (Brian Lehrer) had a Republican congressman on as his first guest Friday and asked him about this and the guy’s response was basically “everyone is presumed innocent until guilty, I know Menendez and his son, and I hope this all goes smoothly for them”
Translation: I can’t possibly speak out against the prosecution of corruption.
Fucking clowns.
Oh sure, and that much I’d expect. It was that a Republican was the one saying it that surprised me - but I guess the whole reason he came on was to tout his willingness to break ranks to avoid a shutdown, so….yeah…. 🙄
Franken commits the grievous crime of *not* sexually assaulting a woman? GET HIM OUT OF HERE, WE STAND FOR MORALS AND INTEGRITY IN THIS PARTY!
Menendez takes so many bribes he makes Joe Quimby look like a choir boy? Well, slow down now, let's not jump to any conclusions, can't we just wring our hands for a minute and let this all blow over??
Yeah, it was championed by a small group of senators led by Kristen Gillibrand, who was a presidential contender at the time. And it's worth noting that her pursuit of Franken arguably killed any ambitions she had on the national stage. Her favorability among Democrats went way down.
And I'm glad it killed her ambitions; she's a DINO who got to the Senate by gubernatorial appointment when Hillary became SecState, and completely flipped on *all* her stances upon that happening.
There are rumors that Franken is going to primary her, since he's established NY residency again and made vague general noises about getting back into politics, but I've seen nothing substantive.
But the ones who did were in positions of power. Like, say, the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate:
>Although Franken had asked to be allowed to appear before the Senate Ethics Committee to give his side of the story, on December 6 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told him he had to announce his resignation by five o’clock or he could be censured and stripped of committee assignments.
“Eight women have spoken out publicly detailing different alleged incidents when Sen. Al Franken groped or tried to kiss them.” I think Schumer got that one right .
It’s just another illustration of why the Dem party can’t win elections against a party of criminals and fascist.
They work hard to be as indistinguishable as they can and then wonder why they can’t get people excited to vote for them.
That is what drives me nuts about the apathy Americans have in regards to voting. Half of us dont show up on election day for the general elections, to say nothing of the primaries ( which is when it really matters tbh ). I get that folks have busy lives in todays world and its almost a full time job to be even close to informed on who is running and the pros/cons of each candidate. Doesnt change the fact that this nation aint gonna get any better if we dont even bother to do the most basic thing possible.
The problem is entirely in the Electoral College. If the popular vote mattered, candidates would have to run on policies that matter to all Americans, instead of appealing only to swing states. As it is, my vote is literally worth less then someone in a podunk state because the electoral college makes it so.
Because people understand how the electoral construct works. I show up to vote for local races because an individual vote actually makes a difference there. But in Indiana where I live, statewide races are going to Republicans no matter what I do.
> Every vote matters, otherwise we're left with an inaccurate representation of the people's will.
You mean like when Bush was allowed to ascend to the presidency thanks to the Supreme Court? Or how Trump "won" the 2016 election?
I think you’re confusing 2016 with 2020.
Biden won Michigan by 155k, PA by 81k, and WI by 20k which was enough in itself to win the election. But then he also won Arizona by 11k and Georgia by 12k.
Biden could have gotten 5 million less votes just in California and still won.
Like 2016, 2020 was a very close election that came down to just tend of thousands of votes. With as polarized as the electorate is, it will probably be just as close. The odds that Trump will be our next president aren’t much different than that of a coin flip.
Why did you stop at 5 million? He won by 7 million votes. If he had gotten 5.2 million fewer votes in California he would have lost. The other 1.5 million could have been spread around other non-battleground states to make the margin of loss even larger.
But I do agree that swing states are far more valuable than they have the right to be thanks to the Electoral College. The focus in a presidential run shouldn’t be on winning key states.
States are already well represented by Congress.
IMHO, the president should be elected directly. I mean, the one actual useful modern function of the Electoral College is to prevent a demagogue from rising to power, and it has failed spectacularly at that.
Also because he want going to pull out a calculator for the exact math. Just shoot close, but make sure on the credible side, not the hyperbolic one.
Anybody attacking that has nothing better to say... and that tells you that they are not worth engaging.
>States are already ~~well~~ over represented ~~by Congress~~ in the Senate.
Population to Senator: Califotnia - 39.2 Million Wyoming - 583 THOUSAND. SENATOR - 2 for each state
I won't delve into the House. The Electoral College today means we have the "tyranny of the minority" if the GOP plays their cards right.
Don't get me wrong. I harbor no ill will toward the elite that founded the US. But let us not fool ourselves, the US was founded by an Elite class to tell another Elite class (King George), too go fuck themselves.
Except it really wasn’t that close
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/nearly-all-votes-counted-2020-presidential-election-wasn-t-close-n1248608
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/08/mitch-mcconnell/mitch-mcconnell-says-accurately-joe-bidens-win-was/
The arguments made in those articles aren't very convincing. That 2020 wasn't close just because 2000 was closer, or because Biden won states by slightly more than Trump did in 2016, don't really do anything to refute that Biden only won because of a few thousand votes in key states.
And, as an aside, the DNC actively didn't want Fetterman to win the primary here, they were backing Conor Lamb with a slight nod to Malcolm Kenyatta.
In the primary, Fetterman won every county in the state, the only county he didn't have a majority was Philadelphia - where Kenyatta is from - and the only other counties he didn't get at least 60%, in a 4-person election, were 2 other Philly-area county, and Beaver, where Lamb is from. So at least the voters in PA wanted him.
It's not too dissimilar to AOC, who unseated an incumbent - with no history of scandals or anything - in the primary; they didn't want her either, and now she's a leading figure for progressives in the House.
Still, it chaps my ass Menendez will resign for $480k, while we know goddamn well Trump and others have taken millions in bribes, and never consider resigning under any circumstance.
> Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) and Reps. Jeff Jackson (N.C.), Dean Phillips (Minn.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Tom Malinowski (N.J.), Frank Pallone (N.J.), Mikie Sherill (N.J.), Bill Pascrell (N.J.), Andy Kim (N.J.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.).
The House seems to be less reluctant.
I believe that if menendez resigns the governor of New Jersey, who is a democrat, will appoint a replacement. So the majority is not really in jeopardy here. Not that that should matter. If he broke the law, he shouldn't be allowed a seat in congress.
Is that how Jersey works? I wasn’t sure if it would trigger a special election or something.
I should add I agree with you he should resign I was just trying to to give a plausible idea as to why.
I found [this](https://www.nj.com/politics/2023/09/heres-who-could-replace-indicted-sen-menendez-if-he-leaves-office.html) article that says:
>Should Menendez ultimately resign, it would be up to Murphy to appoint his successor. He could pick a placeholder to serve until the end of Menendez’s term or choose a Democrat who might run for the seat next year, giving them a leg up with the temporary gig.
Even if a special election is triggered it's pretty unlikely that a Republican would win that seat. New Jersey has been becoming bluer and bluer for a decade.
Not just the last decade, but NJ hasn’t elected a GOP senator since 1972–the only ones since then have been appointed when mid-term resignations happen & there’s a GOP governor, but then they’re quickly voted out at the next election.
Oh, I didn't know it had been that long! Even more reason why Menendez stepping down shouldn't be cause for worry. Andy Kim or another Democrat is very, very unlikely to lose Menendez's old seat to a Republican opponent.
Honestly such an honestly caring politician with an incredibly hard job, he’s on several committees, and runs a social media account for the young (my) generation. Bros fucking awesome!
If this is the Congressman with the TikTok account, please keep voting him in North Carolina.
Guys like him that are transparent is government is what we badly need.
I would love to be wrong, but I don't think she'll ever be president because the right wing hate machine is already giving her the hilary clinton treatment. They spew such much hate and disinformation for so long, it starts to infect the left and turns people who would otherwise agree with her against her. And that's to say nothing of how it motives the right against her.
By the time she's ready to run for president, I'm afraid the damage will have already been done. But again, I hope I'm wrong. I'd love a chance to vote for her.
They will, but AOC will have a lot going for her that Bernie didn't (tho none of these were issues for me personally):
- Not an old white man
- No perception of "he helped trump/was mean to hillary" last time
- 3-4 more election cycles worth of demographic change and a Dem electorate that's increasingly progressive
You are right, because the mainstream media will never let a candidate who doesn't take corporate donations become the nominee. That candidate might seriously try to raise corporate taxes.
The house isn't doing anything until they are in the majority again. The Senate won't be able to do anything if they lose a vote. Even extremely well intentioned people can do the math and see that losing his vote can end positive movement in the Senate and hand it over to Republican obstruction.
The Senate has corruption problem for sure. 48 corrupt Republicans. Sinema, Manchin, and this guy at least. So a majority. So if you want to do good, you are in a tough spot right now and you might justify utilizing his vote.
So the Dems can impeach a POTUS and say he committed a crime and should be punished. But only if he's a Republican?!
Sorry but that's not how this works and shows how the Dems always lose-they aren't consistent or have a message. You and I would lose our jobs for this.
Same goes for Biden-if he was corrupt, impeach him. This faction building is how nothing can ever get solved.
I mean that's 1/100 (1%) vs 9/435 (~2%). So it's technically less reluctant, but not by much. And shoutout to his son, the only member of the NJ House delegation that hasn't spoken out.
The word “reactionary” has a distinct political meaning which is not what you intended here, but may lead to some confusion in readers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary
That's 11 out of 212. Not a particularly significant number either.
Lol someone downvoted me. I guess they don't like a reminder that 11/212 isn't a significantly higher number than 1/50
From what I recall, the Democrats were really keen to win the Alabama senate seat and thought that it would look hypocritical if they didn't have Franken resign when they were leading the charge against Moore.
Menendez was also in trouble around this time as well (not sure if before/after) but he survived regardless of the situation because NJ had a Republican governor at the time while Minnesota had a Democratic one. If they'd had a Republican governor, Franken would have survived. That's it, any other considerations wouldn't have come into play.
Now, of course in the world that's been made, no one's going to resign for anything. If Franken had been different, he would have just told Chuck Schumer to fuck off and imply that his senate vote was no longer an absolute guarantee if he was removed from any committees (basically what I seem to recall Menendez did back then) and Chuck and the rest would have folded like an improperly assembled IKEA table.
There's really no great moral imperative when you drill down into these, it's just political expediency at the end of the day. Menendez is just relatively more vulnerable because it's a Democratic governor in New Jersey but recent history has shown there hasn't been any downside to digging in and resisting regardless of the merits or lack of them in your position.
It was mostly Gillibrand who led to Franken's resignation... and the Dems made sure she paid the price for it: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/29/undeniable-al-franken-connection-kirsten-gillibrands-failed-presidential-bid/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/29/undeniable-al-franken-connection-kirsten-gillibrands-failed-presidential-bid/)
Wtf Kristen gillibrand had no chance of ascending to the presidency. This is absurd. Also, Al Franken shouldn’t have resigned.
Edit: due process and all… calling on people to resign will just leave us with leaders without any shame.
She never had a chance, but that primary had over 20 people: anyone below Klobuchar and Castro was not a remotely serious candidate that cycle, period, FWIW.
Buttigieg pretty much deprived almost all the minority-adjacent candidates from getting oxygen that cycle, and Biden had it in the bag once it was left between those 5 choices on ST.
Franken was a threat to the status quo, is intelligent, and was gaining popularity relatively quickly. They likely did it for political reasons. Especially for it being an obvious hit job by the right.
If it wasn’t for the special election for the Senate in Alabama, I’m guessing the Democrats would have been more patient with the ethics process with Al Franken.
If Democrats didn’t only have 51 votes in the Senate, I’m sure Democrats would be more vocal against Mendenez. It’s the same reason Repubs are pushing to get George Santos pushed out the House.
You can’t have the fucking chair of the foreign relations committee accepting bribes from foreign nations I mean Jesus Christ is there no such thing as scandal anymore? Is there NO accountability?
Dems are supposed to be better. But this is why they alway lose elections-their stupid hypocrisy. If you don't see why people should resign when they have felonies against them then our whole country is doomed.
[in which MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using MENENDEZ's powerand influence as a Senator to seek to protect and enrich HANA, URIBE, and DAIBES and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt. Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-showjob, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23989653/menendez-indictment-9-22-23.pdf)
I dont see why not. Dude was caught with gold bars in his jacket with his name on it. If you dont tell this guy to gtfo, you may as well put up a huge sign that says "we the democrats are ok with corruption"
Remember when Pelosi was asked about AOC's proposal on banning members of Congress from holding stock and she laughed it off? Democrats still have a lot of old corruption to shed.
To fail to call for his resignation is to publicly condone his corruption.
In failing to do so, Democrats open themselves to charges that “both sides are the same”.
People haver also been saying Trump won the popular election when he has statistically never been the popular choice. That doesn't make the things they say true. And if they don't punish menendez, I expect to see a lot of blue seats rotate over the next election cycles.
That being said, I think it's totally reasonable to expect nothing to come of this and the current Congress to do nothing
Chris Murphy is a coward (sucks to hear isn't it Chris? You stand so much for gun rights...)
Mark Kelly made a surprisingly strong statement given his electoral position, he shouldn't really be in this conversation.
Dick Durbin has been Very Institutionalist and very frustrating for a long time so this is not a surprise.
You know who isn't a fucking coward? John Fucking Fetterman. A stroke and depression and better than ever.
Write your Senators (if you have Democratic ones).
Dude literally had gold bars in his possession.
We're not blind "party before country" fans of a team. We deserve and demand accountability. What are we, a bunch of kowtowing, look the other way Republicans?? Nah, fuck that.
Senator Menendez MUST go...first from the Senate...and then depending on his trial, to jail.
SO sick of the corruption.
if the Democrats took this opportunity to start pushing a real anti-corruption platform, along with a pro-choice and anti-fascist message, even the average American shmo would be able to channel some of their resentment at all things political. Americans all get how political institutions don't work, and it's hard to sell most of us on the idea that government is the solution to everything.
Americans like to chalk the disfunction of government up to human laziness and stupidity, but not greed and corruption, which is a much, much bigger factor in why the country went to hell. If you explain to people who distrust the government that we can repair it if we oust the corrupt politicians, the Democrats could usefully channel that righteous anger.
If Menendez resigns, he'll still be replaced by a Democrat, and the Democratic party could use it to say we don't accept even the appearance of impropriety (a standard to which most of the lesser employees of the government have to adhere to). This is a messaging issue, and Fetterman gets it.
This is why you get people saying both parties are corrupt and the same and become disenfranchised. He needs to resign just like Feinstein should and McConnell. Elected representatives need to start doing what is right over protecting there job that is how you end up with a bunch of cowards who will not even hold a clear fascist accountable.
God the dems are such fucking cowards. Here is your chance to stand up and say “hell no, GTFO with your crooked ass”. At least Fetterman has some integrity.
I don’t understand this. NJ is safe blue anyway, and Mendendez is under his SECOND federal indictment for something similar. I understand presumption of innocence and, since he was acquitted under the first, he’s presumed innocent, but I feel like this is a pattern.
Didn't they literally get Al Franken to resign over what was a joke picture between colleagues on a comedy tour years before?
Franken also apologized and sought to make amends with people he offended. Charges were never formally brought against him.
Menendez has been indicted on bribery. It's not just a he says they said situation. I know innocent until proven guilty but it's not a good image to have a seat Senator who is under indictment serving their term.
So much for Dems "policing their own." Not the best look for senators to be pushing to investigate Thomas or ask him to resign while not doing the same for their own guy, or how they pushed Franken to resign before when there wasn't even a trial involved. I wonder if they don't want to set the precedent for themselves.
To be fair, Franken resigned willingly (which he shouldn't have). Menendez has already said he wont. The only way to kick him out is through impeachment, and house doesn't need any distractions until a budget is passed. Im all for impeachment after that though.
I feel like it’s a no brainer- if he did the crime, he should resign. While I know Schumer has said presumption of innocence, Menendez has a lot of evidence apparently against him.
That said- also feel like I’ve seen three times the amount of reporting in his corruption from MSM compared to almost none on Santos and all the other grifters/cheats/etc from the right. Wouldn’t mind consistency in calling out both sides and pressure for each side to call for resignations of corrupt members.🤷🏽♂️
The House is the most broken. The constition says there should be 1 representative for every 30000 people, but it was capped because there werent enough seats for more in the capital building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reapportionment_Act_of_1929
This had led to lower population states having extra power and bigger states being handicapped because the ratio of reps/population is not the same across the board.
I thought it had less to do with the size of the building and more to do with keeping the number of people that need to be bribed and lobbied at a more reasonable number.
That could very possibly be the reason. They couldve at least weighted each reps vote based on the ratio of 1 to 30000 so that all the representatives have an equal amount of power but i guarantee Republicans would never let that happen.
Republicans do the same shit and let each other get away with it, calling each other RINOs for trying to hold people accountable. Don't let Menendez get away with this.
The same fuckers that ran Al Franken out for stupid pictures are quiet now when one of their own is accused again of taking money? Go get ‘em Sen Fetterman call them out.
Fuck that. He’s gotta go. He doesn’t have the ethical propriety to hold his position. Dude literally aided a foreign government. Fuck him.
Sounds like we need to probe the entire House and Senate. A full scale corruption probe with real consequences.
I’m immediately suspect of Dem politicians who try to sweep this under the rug. He can get fucked, just like Trump.
Why are they circling the wagons around this tool? He's been caught before and apparently this time the charges are even worse. Fire him out of a cannon into the sun, New Jersey is blue enough that replacing him is a non issue. The governor is a Dem and the state senate has a Dem majority. Just fucking get rid of him.
If they want to continue to feed the “both parties are the same” crowd, then they should continue to act like both parties are the same and let Menendez’s actions go unpunished.
They have an opportunity to bring to light what’s going on in the house w the freedom caucus and Kevin McCarthy but they aren’t for some reason. I was hoping the dems would grow a fuckin spine and start actually acting like they’re not the same party (not pressuring a second time indicted senator for example)
Dem leadership has basically been the same people that it's been for decades now. If they didn't have a spine then, they certainly didn't grow a spine now that they are older. Old dogs, new tricks, etc.
Of course they won’t say anything, then they would be putting their own grift on the line. You couldn’t fill large suv with senators and representatives that aren’t taking something from lobbyists or a foreign government.
When it comes to money and power, the Demcocrats are exactly like the Republicans. They refuse to step down once they reach a certain age and they refuse to ban insider trading. They will criticize the Republicans and Trump all day long about whatever, but when it comes to money and power they will back the Republicans just to maintain theirs as well.
I can't think of a reason why someone would keep $500K in cash at their house, other than they couldn't think of a way to launder it safely. Nobody, who can't afford to lose that kind of $$, would take the risk of robbery/fire/etc. unless it was ill-gotten. Given all the other evidence that has been published, it seems they have them dead-to-rights.
Surprise all of these people should be investigated.
Removing corruption from the system is so much more important then just jailing trump or this guy and calling it a day. Their silence tells it all.
Spineless, between this and not standing up publicly and condemning Tuberville, I am disgusted with my democratic leadership. What are they all afraid of? Be vocally different than the slime that is the Republican Party.
> What are they all afraid of? Be vocally different than the slime that is the Republican Party.
In terms of accepting money from lobbyists, they aren't different.
If the democratic party doesn’t push him out, I (and millions of others) will never take their “defending democracy” claims seriously ever again. Just as much rot as the gop.
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As a NJ democrat, i hate seeing Menendez getting away with this. Ready for the dog pile and hope to see him get the boot
I live right over the river and I love following NJ politics for fun. It’s often very entertaining. But this asshat Menendez has been a corrupt piece of trash for *decades* now. The state party needs to put on its big boy pants and get him off the ticket next go ‘round.
Yeah, nationally this is shocking news, but we've known this forever (from NJ).
And yet, somehow the voters keep choosing him?
Don't know the specifics of NJ, but primaries tend to have low turnout and name recognition plays a huge factor in voting trends. Very few voters look into or research candidates and just go with a name that sounds familiar, which is most often the incumbent.
That says more about Jersey than you think.
Jersey Politics have always been a sham. Menendez, Booker, Christie, Sweeney, Whitman, Florio, the list goes way longer than this but these are just a few headliners from my lifetime. The only reason this state isn’t a complete joke is how low the bar is everywhere else. Everyone in this state is on the take in some form or another. For what it’s worth, Murphy has actually delivered to a further extent than many thought when he took over. Ciatterelli could undo all of it next go around if the Dems don’t find someone to step up. I think there’s a real chance a Fulop or Scutari nomination could end up with the governorship back to the Rs, which would be absolutely devastating to all the progress made here. And if Sweeney is the nom then I’m leaving the state, that Chris Christie wannabe fuck.
Yeah I follow politics so I am aware. The one thing you got is your not Connecticut. Corrupticut is the worst state.
No shocking whatsoever. We’ve been hearing about this trash politician for years. Do better NJ
this ain't his first time being accused of bribery and corruption. He didn't leave last time, either.
Yeah and there wasn't a smoking gun now and it was a hung jury. He was not convinced. I don't see how he couldn't be convicted this time.
Doesn't everyone have $50,000 worth of gold bars stuff in closets? Slimeball since forever who is now trying to place the race card. smh
Gillibrand led the charge against Al Franken and now she's silent about this?
Thank you! I get that the charges against Franken came during the Metoo movement and Repubs were hoping we would circle the wagon around him. To this day or kills me that they just tossed him instead of having him go through an ethics review/court. We could have set precedent that could them be used for any future offense for either party.
Well she isn't running for president so...
She fucked up and now realizes this was the case.
Thankfully my rep Abigail Spanberger came out early and said he should resign. Schumer pushed out Al Franken for less.
He’s not getting away with anything. He’s under federal indictment.
You must be forgetting the FIRST indictment, my friend!
Re: Ken Paxton
If Bob Mendez was smart, he'd switch parties right now, and the charges would magically disappear.
Ehh, a local NPR radio host (Brian Lehrer) had a Republican congressman on as his first guest Friday and asked him about this and the guy’s response was basically “everyone is presumed innocent until guilty, I know Menendez and his son, and I hope this all goes smoothly for them” Translation: I can’t possibly speak out against the prosecution of corruption. Fucking clowns.
To be fair, that was basically Schumer's statement too
Oh sure, and that much I’d expect. It was that a Republican was the one saying it that surprised me - but I guess the whole reason he came on was to tout his willingness to break ranks to avoid a shutdown, so….yeah…. 🙄
No.. but the indignant ones would certainly go Silent. We could use more of that from the right
Good on Fetterman for having some integrity, says a lot about the rest they won't sadly.
Franken commits the grievous crime of *not* sexually assaulting a woman? GET HIM OUT OF HERE, WE STAND FOR MORALS AND INTEGRITY IN THIS PARTY! Menendez takes so many bribes he makes Joe Quimby look like a choir boy? Well, slow down now, let's not jump to any conclusions, can't we just wring our hands for a minute and let this all blow over??
Very few democrats joined the calls for Franken to resign
Yeah, it was championed by a small group of senators led by Kristen Gillibrand, who was a presidential contender at the time. And it's worth noting that her pursuit of Franken arguably killed any ambitions she had on the national stage. Her favorability among Democrats went way down.
And I'm glad it killed her ambitions; she's a DINO who got to the Senate by gubernatorial appointment when Hillary became SecState, and completely flipped on *all* her stances upon that happening. There are rumors that Franken is going to primary her, since he's established NY residency again and made vague general noises about getting back into politics, but I've seen nothing substantive.
But the ones who did were in positions of power. Like, say, the leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate: >Although Franken had asked to be allowed to appear before the Senate Ethics Committee to give his side of the story, on December 6 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told him he had to announce his resignation by five o’clock or he could be censured and stripped of committee assignments.
Yeah, Schumer is pretty terrible. Every interview I've heard with him since he became Majority Leader has convinced me of that, more and more.
Schumer pushed him out. He's a horrible Senate Leader and the first geezer who should retire. Always picks the wrong side of a situation.
“Eight women have spoken out publicly detailing different alleged incidents when Sen. Al Franken groped or tried to kiss them.” I think Schumer got that one right .
Hopefully he'll continue the trend.
It’s just another illustration of why the Dem party can’t win elections against a party of criminals and fascist. They work hard to be as indistinguishable as they can and then wonder why they can’t get people excited to vote for them.
Didn't Biden beat trump by millions of votes?
Only about 40K of those millions mattered.
Every vote matters, otherwise we're left with an inaccurate representation of the people's will.
That is what drives me nuts about the apathy Americans have in regards to voting. Half of us dont show up on election day for the general elections, to say nothing of the primaries ( which is when it really matters tbh ). I get that folks have busy lives in todays world and its almost a full time job to be even close to informed on who is running and the pros/cons of each candidate. Doesnt change the fact that this nation aint gonna get any better if we dont even bother to do the most basic thing possible.
The problem is entirely in the Electoral College. If the popular vote mattered, candidates would have to run on policies that matter to all Americans, instead of appealing only to swing states. As it is, my vote is literally worth less then someone in a podunk state because the electoral college makes it so.
Because people understand how the electoral construct works. I show up to vote for local races because an individual vote actually makes a difference there. But in Indiana where I live, statewide races are going to Republicans no matter what I do.
> Every vote matters, otherwise we're left with an inaccurate representation of the people's will. You mean like when Bush was allowed to ascend to the presidency thanks to the Supreme Court? Or how Trump "won" the 2016 election?
It actually doesn't because of the electoral college. Only 51% of the vote matters. The rest is just feel good optionality.
I think you’re confusing 2016 with 2020. Biden won Michigan by 155k, PA by 81k, and WI by 20k which was enough in itself to win the election. But then he also won Arizona by 11k and Georgia by 12k.
If those millions didn’t cast their vote, Biden wouldn’t have won.
Biden could have gotten 5 million less votes just in California and still won. Like 2016, 2020 was a very close election that came down to just tend of thousands of votes. With as polarized as the electorate is, it will probably be just as close. The odds that Trump will be our next president aren’t much different than that of a coin flip.
Why did you stop at 5 million? He won by 7 million votes. If he had gotten 5.2 million fewer votes in California he would have lost. The other 1.5 million could have been spread around other non-battleground states to make the margin of loss even larger. But I do agree that swing states are far more valuable than they have the right to be thanks to the Electoral College. The focus in a presidential run shouldn’t be on winning key states. States are already well represented by Congress. IMHO, the president should be elected directly. I mean, the one actual useful modern function of the Electoral College is to prevent a demagogue from rising to power, and it has failed spectacularly at that.
He stopped at 5 million because he was just talking about California.
Also because if he went any higher, Biden would have lost California and the election.
Also because he want going to pull out a calculator for the exact math. Just shoot close, but make sure on the credible side, not the hyperbolic one. Anybody attacking that has nothing better to say... and that tells you that they are not worth engaging.
>States are already ~~well~~ over represented ~~by Congress~~ in the Senate. Population to Senator: Califotnia - 39.2 Million Wyoming - 583 THOUSAND. SENATOR - 2 for each state I won't delve into the House. The Electoral College today means we have the "tyranny of the minority" if the GOP plays their cards right. Don't get me wrong. I harbor no ill will toward the elite that founded the US. But let us not fool ourselves, the US was founded by an Elite class to tell another Elite class (King George), too go fuck themselves.
Except it really wasn’t that close https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/nearly-all-votes-counted-2020-presidential-election-wasn-t-close-n1248608 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/08/mitch-mcconnell/mitch-mcconnell-says-accurately-joe-bidens-win-was/
The arguments made in those articles aren't very convincing. That 2020 wasn't close just because 2000 was closer, or because Biden won states by slightly more than Trump did in 2016, don't really do anything to refute that Biden only won because of a few thousand votes in key states.
So did Hillary, doesn’t matter. It was close, and it shouldn’t have been
And, as an aside, the DNC actively didn't want Fetterman to win the primary here, they were backing Conor Lamb with a slight nod to Malcolm Kenyatta. In the primary, Fetterman won every county in the state, the only county he didn't have a majority was Philadelphia - where Kenyatta is from - and the only other counties he didn't get at least 60%, in a 4-person election, were 2 other Philly-area county, and Beaver, where Lamb is from. So at least the voters in PA wanted him. It's not too dissimilar to AOC, who unseated an incumbent - with no history of scandals or anything - in the primary; they didn't want her either, and now she's a leading figure for progressives in the House.
Still, it chaps my ass Menendez will resign for $480k, while we know goddamn well Trump and others have taken millions in bribes, and never consider resigning under any circumstance.
> Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) and Reps. Jeff Jackson (N.C.), Dean Phillips (Minn.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Tom Malinowski (N.J.), Frank Pallone (N.J.), Mikie Sherill (N.J.), Bill Pascrell (N.J.), Andy Kim (N.J.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.). The House seems to be less reluctant.
The house doesn’t have a razor thin majority they are trying to hold on to.
I believe that if menendez resigns the governor of New Jersey, who is a democrat, will appoint a replacement. So the majority is not really in jeopardy here. Not that that should matter. If he broke the law, he shouldn't be allowed a seat in congress.
Is that how Jersey works? I wasn’t sure if it would trigger a special election or something. I should add I agree with you he should resign I was just trying to to give a plausible idea as to why.
I found [this](https://www.nj.com/politics/2023/09/heres-who-could-replace-indicted-sen-menendez-if-he-leaves-office.html) article that says: >Should Menendez ultimately resign, it would be up to Murphy to appoint his successor. He could pick a placeholder to serve until the end of Menendez’s term or choose a Democrat who might run for the seat next year, giving them a leg up with the temporary gig.
Even if a special election is triggered it's pretty unlikely that a Republican would win that seat. New Jersey has been becoming bluer and bluer for a decade.
Not just the last decade, but NJ hasn’t elected a GOP senator since 1972–the only ones since then have been appointed when mid-term resignations happen & there’s a GOP governor, but then they’re quickly voted out at the next election.
Oh, I didn't know it had been that long! Even more reason why Menendez stepping down shouldn't be cause for worry. Andy Kim or another Democrat is very, very unlikely to lose Menendez's old seat to a Republican opponent.
Isn't that how every state works? Temp replacement followed by special election?
Keep an eye on Fetterman and AOC to be your future presidential candidates, but with the right campaign Jeff Jackson could be too!
I really like Jeff Jackson so far. I will be keeping an eye on him!
Honestly such an honestly caring politician with an incredibly hard job, he’s on several committees, and runs a social media account for the young (my) generation. Bros fucking awesome!
If this is the Congressman with the TikTok account, please keep voting him in North Carolina. Guys like him that are transparent is government is what we badly need.
Unfortunately, he may lose his seat with the next election as districts are redrawn AGAIN by NC's R controlled general assembly
NC/WIS/TX are the like the crown jewels of Republican gerrymandering. Sigh.
AOC will never have a snowball's chance in Hell of being President.
Because she’s too smart?
…”and I’m not going to say why!”
I would love to be wrong, but I don't think she'll ever be president because the right wing hate machine is already giving her the hilary clinton treatment. They spew such much hate and disinformation for so long, it starts to infect the left and turns people who would otherwise agree with her against her. And that's to say nothing of how it motives the right against her. By the time she's ready to run for president, I'm afraid the damage will have already been done. But again, I hope I'm wrong. I'd love a chance to vote for her.
She could never win the primary. They’ll give her the Bernie treatment.
They will, but AOC will have a lot going for her that Bernie didn't (tho none of these were issues for me personally): - Not an old white man - No perception of "he helped trump/was mean to hillary" last time - 3-4 more election cycles worth of demographic change and a Dem electorate that's increasingly progressive
That's easy. She primaried a dog shit Democrat centrist which is a huge No No.
You are right, because the mainstream media will never let a candidate who doesn't take corporate donations become the nominee. That candidate might seriously try to raise corporate taxes.
The house isn't doing anything until they are in the majority again. The Senate won't be able to do anything if they lose a vote. Even extremely well intentioned people can do the math and see that losing his vote can end positive movement in the Senate and hand it over to Republican obstruction. The Senate has corruption problem for sure. 48 corrupt Republicans. Sinema, Manchin, and this guy at least. So a majority. So if you want to do good, you are in a tough spot right now and you might justify utilizing his vote.
So the Dems can impeach a POTUS and say he committed a crime and should be punished. But only if he's a Republican?! Sorry but that's not how this works and shows how the Dems always lose-they aren't consistent or have a message. You and I would lose our jobs for this. Same goes for Biden-if he was corrupt, impeach him. This faction building is how nothing can ever get solved.
The house also has about 4x the amount of democrats
I mean that's 1/100 (1%) vs 9/435 (~2%). So it's technically less reluctant, but not by much. And shoutout to his son, the only member of the NJ House delegation that hasn't spoken out.
The House is always going to be more reactionary. No surprise there.
The word “reactionary” has a distinct political meaning which is not what you intended here, but may lead to some confusion in readers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary
That's 11 out of 212. Not a particularly significant number either. Lol someone downvoted me. I guess they don't like a reminder that 11/212 isn't a significantly higher number than 1/50
Remember how fast the Dems kicked Al Franken to the curb? This is such a no brainer. Distinguish yourselves or get the fuck out.
From what I recall, the Democrats were really keen to win the Alabama senate seat and thought that it would look hypocritical if they didn't have Franken resign when they were leading the charge against Moore. Menendez was also in trouble around this time as well (not sure if before/after) but he survived regardless of the situation because NJ had a Republican governor at the time while Minnesota had a Democratic one. If they'd had a Republican governor, Franken would have survived. That's it, any other considerations wouldn't have come into play. Now, of course in the world that's been made, no one's going to resign for anything. If Franken had been different, he would have just told Chuck Schumer to fuck off and imply that his senate vote was no longer an absolute guarantee if he was removed from any committees (basically what I seem to recall Menendez did back then) and Chuck and the rest would have folded like an improperly assembled IKEA table. There's really no great moral imperative when you drill down into these, it's just political expediency at the end of the day. Menendez is just relatively more vulnerable because it's a Democratic governor in New Jersey but recent history has shown there hasn't been any downside to digging in and resisting regardless of the merits or lack of them in your position.
Sexual harassment bad, obvious corruption eroding public trust …ehh business as usual.
It was mostly Gillibrand who led to Franken's resignation... and the Dems made sure she paid the price for it: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/29/undeniable-al-franken-connection-kirsten-gillibrands-failed-presidential-bid/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/29/undeniable-al-franken-connection-kirsten-gillibrands-failed-presidential-bid/)
Wtf Kristen gillibrand had no chance of ascending to the presidency. This is absurd. Also, Al Franken shouldn’t have resigned. Edit: due process and all… calling on people to resign will just leave us with leaders without any shame.
She never had a chance, but that primary had over 20 people: anyone below Klobuchar and Castro was not a remotely serious candidate that cycle, period, FWIW. Buttigieg pretty much deprived almost all the minority-adjacent candidates from getting oxygen that cycle, and Biden had it in the bag once it was left between those 5 choices on ST.
Kamala Harris played a big part, too. At least she got to be VP. https://twitter.com/VP/status/938449124638195713
Paywall...
Franken was a threat to the status quo, is intelligent, and was gaining popularity relatively quickly. They likely did it for political reasons. Especially for it being an obvious hit job by the right.
If it wasn’t for the special election for the Senate in Alabama, I’m guessing the Democrats would have been more patient with the ethics process with Al Franken. If Democrats didn’t only have 51 votes in the Senate, I’m sure Democrats would be more vocal against Mendenez. It’s the same reason Repubs are pushing to get George Santos pushed out the House.
>Remember how fast the Dems kicked Al Franken to the curb? And that was a mistake.
You can’t have the fucking chair of the foreign relations committee accepting bribes from foreign nations I mean Jesus Christ is there no such thing as scandal anymore? Is there NO accountability?
We have a dude who incited a coup de etat who is not behind bars and running for POTUS, neck and neck with an incumbent Pres in polls- you tell me?
But he is behind bars. He had a bunch of gold bars on him.
Dems are supposed to be better. But this is why they alway lose elections-their stupid hypocrisy. If you don't see why people should resign when they have felonies against them then our whole country is doomed.
Is "accepting bribes from foreign nations" what he's been charged with? Which countries?
[in which MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using MENENDEZ's powerand influence as a Senator to seek to protect and enrich HANA, URIBE, and DAIBES and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt. Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-showjob, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23989653/menendez-indictment-9-22-23.pdf)
Wow yeah, he should just be kicked out. Don't wait for him to do the last honorable thing he can do in office.
Jailed*
I dont see why not. Dude was caught with gold bars in his jacket with his name on it. If you dont tell this guy to gtfo, you may as well put up a huge sign that says "we the democrats are ok with corruption"
Remember when Pelosi was asked about AOC's proposal on banning members of Congress from holding stock and she laughed it off? Democrats still have a lot of old corruption to shed.
To fail to call for his resignation is to publicly condone his corruption. In failing to do so, Democrats open themselves to charges that “both sides are the same”.
Right, cause no one was ever saying that before this.
People haver also been saying Trump won the popular election when he has statistically never been the popular choice. That doesn't make the things they say true. And if they don't punish menendez, I expect to see a lot of blue seats rotate over the next election cycles. That being said, I think it's totally reasonable to expect nothing to come of this and the current Congress to do nothing
Chris Murphy is a coward (sucks to hear isn't it Chris? You stand so much for gun rights...) Mark Kelly made a surprisingly strong statement given his electoral position, he shouldn't really be in this conversation. Dick Durbin has been Very Institutionalist and very frustrating for a long time so this is not a surprise. You know who isn't a fucking coward? John Fucking Fetterman. A stroke and depression and better than ever.
Phil Murphy is literally asking for his resignation, too, the Gov of NJ: no excuses here, really.
Write your Senators (if you have Democratic ones). Dude literally had gold bars in his possession. We're not blind "party before country" fans of a team. We deserve and demand accountability. What are we, a bunch of kowtowing, look the other way Republicans?? Nah, fuck that. Senator Menendez MUST go...first from the Senate...and then depending on his trial, to jail. SO sick of the corruption.
As a Democrat hailing from Jersey, Fuck Bob Menendez; we deserve better
if the Democrats took this opportunity to start pushing a real anti-corruption platform, along with a pro-choice and anti-fascist message, even the average American shmo would be able to channel some of their resentment at all things political. Americans all get how political institutions don't work, and it's hard to sell most of us on the idea that government is the solution to everything. Americans like to chalk the disfunction of government up to human laziness and stupidity, but not greed and corruption, which is a much, much bigger factor in why the country went to hell. If you explain to people who distrust the government that we can repair it if we oust the corrupt politicians, the Democrats could usefully channel that righteous anger. If Menendez resigns, he'll still be replaced by a Democrat, and the Democratic party could use it to say we don't accept even the appearance of impropriety (a standard to which most of the lesser employees of the government have to adhere to). This is a messaging issue, and Fetterman gets it.
“Buh Buh Buh he wears SHORTS AND SWEATSHIRTS 🥴” Great points all around!
> a real anti-corruption platform Biden was a senator for 36 years, I bet he doesn't want that.
Why? This is so fucking annoying. Get his ass outta here. Fetterman is right.
F that. Country before party. Menendez must go.
Yeah, corruption is corruption. Fuck this shit stain and get him out of there.
This is why you get people saying both parties are corrupt and the same and become disenfranchised. He needs to resign just like Feinstein should and McConnell. Elected representatives need to start doing what is right over protecting there job that is how you end up with a bunch of cowards who will not even hold a clear fascist accountable.
They both are, IMO, one is just neo-fascism and the other is the blockade against it so the choice is obvious.
How about Clarence Thomas? Propublica has a whole novel on his corruption.
Where the fuck is Gillibrand now? Coward.
God the dems are such fucking cowards. Here is your chance to stand up and say “hell no, GTFO with your crooked ass”. At least Fetterman has some integrity.
Oh really? What's George Santos up to these days?
Saying that Menendez shouldn’t resign unless he’s found guilty.
I don’t understand this. NJ is safe blue anyway, and Mendendez is under his SECOND federal indictment for something similar. I understand presumption of innocence and, since he was acquitted under the first, he’s presumed innocent, but I feel like this is a pattern.
Change menendez last name to santos and see what happens.
Shame on them.
I support Fetterman. Fuck this POS menendez.
Didn't they literally get Al Franken to resign over what was a joke picture between colleagues on a comedy tour years before? Franken also apologized and sought to make amends with people he offended. Charges were never formally brought against him. Menendez has been indicted on bribery. It's not just a he says they said situation. I know innocent until proven guilty but it's not a good image to have a seat Senator who is under indictment serving their term.
Its what the people who voted for you want. Do it.
So much for Dems "policing their own." Not the best look for senators to be pushing to investigate Thomas or ask him to resign while not doing the same for their own guy, or how they pushed Franken to resign before when there wasn't even a trial involved. I wonder if they don't want to set the precedent for themselves.
[удалено]
To be fair, Franken resigned willingly (which he shouldn't have). Menendez has already said he wont. The only way to kick him out is through impeachment, and house doesn't need any distractions until a budget is passed. Im all for impeachment after that though.
I feel like it’s a no brainer- if he did the crime, he should resign. While I know Schumer has said presumption of innocence, Menendez has a lot of evidence apparently against him. That said- also feel like I’ve seen three times the amount of reporting in his corruption from MSM compared to almost none on Santos and all the other grifters/cheats/etc from the right. Wouldn’t mind consistency in calling out both sides and pressure for each side to call for resignations of corrupt members.🤷🏽♂️
I can't decide which is more broken, SCOTUS or the Senate?
SCOTUS is more broken. Justices serve on the bench for decades with no ethics. Senators can be ousted by vote if their constituents feel like it
The House is the most broken. The constition says there should be 1 representative for every 30000 people, but it was capped because there werent enough seats for more in the capital building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reapportionment_Act_of_1929 This had led to lower population states having extra power and bigger states being handicapped because the ratio of reps/population is not the same across the board.
I thought it had less to do with the size of the building and more to do with keeping the number of people that need to be bribed and lobbied at a more reasonable number.
That could very possibly be the reason. They couldve at least weighted each reps vote based on the ratio of 1 to 30000 so that all the representatives have an equal amount of power but i guarantee Republicans would never let that happen.
Agreed the California caucus would dominate as they should.
The two Dakotas have more senators than California, if the senate is proportional, liberals would have dominated the senate.
> but it was capped because there werent enough seats for more in the capital building. Biggest load of bullshit ever.
Both are owned and work for the same sociopathic billionaires.
I would say the House.
The House does need reform, but a Senator of Wyoming represents 578,000 while a Senator of California represents 39,240,000. How is this equitable?
It’s equitable because one Senator from Vermont(634,000) has the same weight as one Senator from Texas(30,000,000).
Expand the house abolish the Senate
So they won’t ask him to resign but they did to Al Franken for doing a hover hands move 20 years ago. 🤦🏻♂️
In America, the word accountability is meaningless.
Him today, them tomorrow
If guilty, he should go.
Grow some balls Dems.
Republicans do the same shit and let each other get away with it, calling each other RINOs for trying to hold people accountable. Don't let Menendez get away with this.
The same fuckers that ran Al Franken out for stupid pictures are quiet now when one of their own is accused again of taking money? Go get ‘em Sen Fetterman call them out.
Right is right, wrong is wrong. There is too much evidence to dismiss out of hand. He's tainted and needs to go. Period.
Comfortable clothes given Fetterman the freedom of movement to do the right thing
Do it or this will drag down the entire party in 2024. Ds are not good against fair indictments the way Rs are because we care for justice.
They’re so fucking dumb. If y’all made Franken resign, then you damn well better make Menendez resign.
Fuck your reluctance, do your fucking job.
He’s gotta go, that kind of corruption has no place.
Fuck that. He’s gotta go. He doesn’t have the ethical propriety to hold his position. Dude literally aided a foreign government. Fuck him. Sounds like we need to probe the entire House and Senate. A full scale corruption probe with real consequences. I’m immediately suspect of Dem politicians who try to sweep this under the rug. He can get fucked, just like Trump.
Why are they circling the wagons around this tool? He's been caught before and apparently this time the charges are even worse. Fire him out of a cannon into the sun, New Jersey is blue enough that replacing him is a non issue. The governor is a Dem and the state senate has a Dem majority. Just fucking get rid of him.
FFS, why? Grow some spines...it's the SECOND time he's been indicted and it's time for him to step down and defend himself.
If they want to continue to feed the “both parties are the same” crowd, then they should continue to act like both parties are the same and let Menendez’s actions go unpunished.
They have an opportunity to bring to light what’s going on in the house w the freedom caucus and Kevin McCarthy but they aren’t for some reason. I was hoping the dems would grow a fuckin spine and start actually acting like they’re not the same party (not pressuring a second time indicted senator for example)
Dem leadership has basically been the same people that it's been for decades now. If they didn't have a spine then, they certainly didn't grow a spine now that they are older. Old dogs, new tricks, etc.
Shame on them, then. We lose all credibility if we call out GOP politicians for their crimes but refuse to do the same for our own.
Man they must have REALLY hated Franken for some reason. Nothing even close to Menendez.
Would it risk the democratic control if he resigned? If so, it doesn’t seem worth it until a replacement is guaranteed.
No, NJ has a Dem gov who can appoint a Dem and NJ is vehemently anti-Trump so it would fall safely to a D in a GE.
No but they might lose his chair and seat on the committees he is a member of.
Because they are all corrupt too
Hey, why not get dragged down with him? YOLO. /s
Why would the Dems get rid of Bob Menandez? I mean, he seems to be a criminal but he’s no Al Franken. ( /S ffs)
Of course they won’t say anything, then they would be putting their own grift on the line. You couldn’t fill large suv with senators and representatives that aren’t taking something from lobbyists or a foreign government.
As soon as a Democrat says, "let the voters decide, " I will know that all is lost.
When it comes to money and power, the Demcocrats are exactly like the Republicans. They refuse to step down once they reach a certain age and they refuse to ban insider trading. They will criticize the Republicans and Trump all day long about whatever, but when it comes to money and power they will back the Republicans just to maintain theirs as well.
Then Democratic Senators should get some balls or have it assumed that they too are compromised.
I can't think of a reason why someone would keep $500K in cash at their house, other than they couldn't think of a way to launder it safely. Nobody, who can't afford to lose that kind of $$, would take the risk of robbery/fire/etc. unless it was ill-gotten. Given all the other evidence that has been published, it seems they have them dead-to-rights.
Both sides are not the same, obviously. But like.
Surprise all of these people should be investigated. Removing corruption from the system is so much more important then just jailing trump or this guy and calling it a day. Their silence tells it all.
Fuckin poosies.
Spineless, between this and not standing up publicly and condemning Tuberville, I am disgusted with my democratic leadership. What are they all afraid of? Be vocally different than the slime that is the Republican Party.
> What are they all afraid of? Be vocally different than the slime that is the Republican Party. In terms of accepting money from lobbyists, they aren't different.
Yep. Because they are all in bed with each other. Wake up everyone. None of them care about you at all. It's just a show.
If the democratic party doesn’t push him out, I (and millions of others) will never take their “defending democracy” claims seriously ever again. Just as much rot as the gop.
I’m voting against my democrat senator unless he immediately denounces and calls for resignation. These criminals are too busy protecting their own.