All posts tagged "hakeem jeffries"

Trump biographer reveals why Jared Kushner will never get chewed out by his father-in-law

A biographer revealed why President Donald Trump would never chew out Jared Kushner, who recently met with a foe of the administration.

During an episode of Inside Trump's Head, author Michael Wolff revealed that Trump is "slightly intimidated" by his son-in-law. Wolff explained the relationship while responding to co-host Joanna Coles' speculation about whether Trump exploded at Kushner for meeting with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the House minority leader.

"Jared is operating his own independent office," Wolff said.

"So what's inside Trump's head over this meeting?" Coles wondered. "Is he like, 'I can't control my son-in-law?'"

Coles and Wolff framed the Kushner-Jeffries meeting as a power play before the midterms. They explained that Kushner expects the Democrats to take control of the House after the midterms, so Kushner reached out to Jeffries.

"'I might as well meet with him, and maybe I'll learn something,'" Wolff said, speculating Jeffries' thinking. "Maybe he was doing it as a favor."

However, Wolff said that with Trump, "His family is always right," so he likely didn't chew out Kushner when news of the meeting leaked.

"Really?" Coles asked. "So, he doesn't pick up the phone and yell at Jared? 'What were you thinking?'"

"No," Wolff said. "First thing, he's slightly intimidated by Jared."

"He's intimidated by him?" Coles responded. "Why?"

"Because he went to Harvard. Because he got the daughter," Wolff explained. "All of those reasons."

"And he's thin," Coles joked, referring back to a conversation they had about Trump's weight and weight-loss efforts.

"And Jared is very good at playing his father-in-law," Wolff continued. "I've seen the way he moves around his father-in-law, never engaging, always being able to refocus the subject on something that his father-in-law wants to talk about. I mean, it's kind of artful."

Wolff added, "Jared is really the only person who survived the first term and prospered, right?"

'I'm very concerned': Marco Rubio triggers alarms of 'war' from intel lawmakers

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held an unusual briefing on Tuesday that raised concerns among intel lawmakers over whether the U.S. may launch military attacks on Iran.

Rubio's private meeting was held virtually just hours before President Donald Trump's State of the Union address and included both Senate and House lawmakers, including high-ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, Politico reported. The move has raised questions over the Trump administration's decision to take military action in the Middle East.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) expressed alarm over Rubio's comments.

"Rep. Jim Himes, top Intel Committee Dem, on Trump and Iran: 'I'm very concerned. Wars in the Middle East don't go well for presidents, for the country, and we have not heard articulated a single good reason for why now is the moment to launch yet another war in the Middle East,'" Sahil Kapur, senior national political reporter for NBC News, wrote on X.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) shared his apprehension about Trump's previous statements on Iran and what could happen next. Last year Trump had claimed that U.S. military strikes in Iran had dismantled the country's nuclear program.

"What happened to Iran's nuclear program being 'completely and totally obliterated'?... Donald Trump's words, not our words. Clearly he was lying to the American people or he's lying right now," Jeffries said in an interview with reporters that was shared by journalist Aaron Rupar on X.

One leader's anti-Trump profanity is telling

A lot of attention has been given to Hakeem Jeffries recently on account of him dropping the f-bomb. In reaction to the president reposting a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, the House minority leader, in his own video, said “f--- Donald Trump.”

I think it’s worth asking why Jeffries did that beyond the usual explanations. The conventional wisdom is that Trump’s video was so disgustingly racist that Jeffries was expressing an appropriate level of emotion in calling on his Republican colleagues to condemn it.

But while emotion would explain the reaction of a normal person, Hakeem Jeffries is anything but. He’s a party leader in the United States Congress. As such, emotional reactions are typically taboo. For him to say “f---- Donald Trump,” something in the political landscape must have changed so that saying it is not only OK, but good for his party.

What has changed? Consider the following example of Trump’s behavior since ICE and Border Patrol killed two middle-class white people in Minneapolis. Referring to Alex Pretti and Renee Good in an interview, he said: “He was not an angel and she was not an angel.”

When I heard the president say that, I immediately thought of a Times article published in 2014 reflecting on a white police officer killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The Times reporter accepted as true propaganda provided by the Ferguson police department pushing the view that the 18 year old was somehow deserving of his death.

“[Brown] lived in a community that had rough patches, and he dabbled in drugs and alcohol,” the Times reporter said. “He had taken to rapping in recent months, producing lyrics that were by turns contemplative and vulgar. He got into at least one scuffle with a neighbor.”

In addition to Brown stealing a box of cigars, the above details were enough for the Times reporter to conclude that he “was no angel.”

What was done to Brown was done in accordance with what you might call the rules of white power – the law should protect inpeople (in this case, a white cop) and punish outpeople (in this case, a Black man). That he did nothing to deserve death by the state is incidental to enforcing the rules of white power. Michael Brown was already seen as guilty. Smearing him was merely an effort to prove “the truth” after the fact.

After Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE and Border Patrol, respectively, they were smeared the same way that Michael Brown was, all in an effort by the regime to justify their deaths by the state. The difference, obviously, is that they aren’t outpeople. Anti-Black racism was never supposed to be directed at them. Trump may be the paragon of the white-power social order, but he’s breaking the rules.

And white people don’t like it.

According to a poll released Feb. 4, Trump’s approval rating dropped 11 points over the last month. Just 41 percent approve, with 57 percent disapproving (an increase of 12 points). This poll is important to note because it’s Rasmussen. The most Trump-friendly poll, Rasmussen tends to reflect the views of America’s white majority. Forty-one percent in Rasmussen is like 31 percent in a more legitimate poll.

I think implicit in such polling is a concern white people have rarely if ever had before — whether their own police departments will shield them from the same violence that killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Occasionally, a viral video will show state and local cops doing what’s expected, but those seem to be overwhelmed by the number of videos showing state and local cops appearing to take the side of the regime.

Compounding matters is a largely unknown effort by the Trump regime to co-opt state and local law enforcement. Called “Task Force Model,” the program pays salaries and benefits to state and local cops who aid ICE and Border Patrol. During an appearance on MS Now, Matt Lewis said the arrangement could be detrimental to the midterms. His larger point, however, is “the person who pays you becomes your boss.”

It is an article of faith among respectable white people (the term I prefer) that state and local police departments are there to serve and protect everyone. This faith is rarely shaken, even when white cops kill Black men. Indeed, such moments usually serve to deepen that faith.

The only way imaginable to undermine that trust would be if the institutions of law enforcement started treating respectable white people the same way they have historically treated everyone else — in other words, if inpeople no longer receive the unconditional protection of the law and are instead punished the way outpeople have been.

I wouldn’t say that faith has been shaken, but Trump is creating potential for it by wedging two camps no one imagined could be wedged. In doing so, I think he risks white power backfiring on him. Not because respectable white people will become anti-racists, but because they are unlikely to tolerate being treated like Black people.

That’s what’s changed. That’s why someone like Hakeem Jeffries, a Democratic leader whose job depends on his skill in finding the middle of the middle of the road, a man who was until last month focused on affordability and nothing else, suddenly has the confidence to cuss out Trump. He believes he’s speaking with the blessing of a new majority.

He probably is, but don’t be fooled as to why. It’s not because Trump has “lost the culture.” It’s not because he has “lost the country.” Those are euphemisms for a backlash among respectable white people to a president whose authoritarian impulses did not stop at the color line, as they were supposed to, according to the rules of white power.

Lots of white people are, at best, indifferent to anti-Black politics. They want to be seen as “above politics,” because that’s what makes them “respectable.” However, that indifference melts into the air when anti-Black politics is directed at them. The shock of that kind of immorality and injustice is enough to turn them into revolutionaries.

Trump will be battered by a midterm ferocity — if we can just get rid of these weaklings

Today, I will be typing to you with fire, and helping you deal with the excess hell that is being hand-delivered to us daily by the most lawless, bigoted, corrupt, heartless collection of sub-humans in American history.

I bring you those loaded words, and wonder if I still have somehow underestimated the revolting Republican Party.

I know that you are the true patriots in America who have the guts to pay attention, and then pay a terrible mental price for it. I know that you are the people who can be counted on to rush to the latest political fire, and if necessary use your bare hands to put it out.

I know that you are the people who deserve better than what you are getting both from the party you stand and fight for, and from the one that so obviously and consistently stands against Americans.

Every damn hour we are under steady assault by a repugnant collection of Republican, subservient thugs — a cult of knuckle-dragging hyenas — which are fronted by a gruesome man, who is so completely dead inside, the bile is starting to ooze out of him leaving bandaged hands, swollen ankles, and burnt-orange puddles wherever he was last seen sleeping in public.

The sickly Donald Trump does not have much time left, but then neither does the United States of America.

In fact, the only thing we have in common with this grotesque, abusive monster is that we are all locked in a battle for our survival.

Who’s going to die first? Our country or Trump?

There isn’t a single thing the bought-off Trump, aided by his subservient cult, won't do to end us, as he strangles a never-ending list of enemies, chokes the life out of America, and pockets millions and millions of dollars before he finally takes his last breath.

Our health care, food security, and clean air and water are all under steady assault. Our safety nets are gleefully being pulled from underneath us by lifeless billionaires who can never get enough. Our vote and humans rights are being incinerated. Prices are going up, and a lawless, bought-off conservative Supreme Court is doing everything in its seemingly unlimited power to drag us down.

Our military is being perverted into a partisan tool, and we are steaming toward the breaking point where it will be necessary to ask whether they are with us, or against us.

Trump will not stop until he is convinced he can snap his fat little fingers, and his military will do his heinous bidding. That’s what this is all about, because that is what this was always going to be about when he seized power last year.

This is a takeover, and an attack on a fragile democracy that has survived for centuries, but only because it could trust its president and courts not to unify with the odious intent of dismantling it.

Authoritarianism isn’t some fictional thing, people, it is A THING, and it is happening right in front of our tired eyes.

It is the laziest, most oppressive political system known to man, because it isn’t fueled by enlightenment or better ideas. No, instead it is all about the control by the few over the many, and rammed down our throats with brute force whether we like it or not.

It marches to the monotonous, banging drum of nonstop, state-run propaganda that props up evil, subservient agents in places like our Pentagon, Justice Department, the FBI, and that blasted court ...

You know what I am bringing to you this morning is true, because you have the audacity to pay attention. If you are reading this all-too-sober accounting of our current state, you can plainly see it, feel it, and most importantly: are wondering just what in the hell we are supposed to do about it.

Because if this is our reality, shouldn’t we all be sounding the alarms every chance we get, and supporting each other as we do the work to save the United States of America from itself?

I have great faith in you, dear reader. You give me strength simply by knowing you are out there. By God, there are millions of us, and we are our only chance to put this attack down, and save America.

So now an important question: Do you think the leadership in the Democratic Party is taking all this as seriously as you are?

If you are, we are done for the day. I wish you strength and peace of mind ...

Most of you will know that I am not a party man, because my work as a journalist prevented it, and because after observing political parties and their politicians closely, I trust most of them only as far as I can throw them with my old, tired left arm.

While we the people are fretting, and screaming, and voting, and marching, and hollering, and devouring all the warnings like this one, the leadership of the party we have assigned to save us, is at best badly misreading situation, or at worst, accepting too many horrible realities by the hour, that when piled atop each other will ultimately bury us — and most likely sooner than later.

Right now, like it or not — and man, I absolutely hate it — we are being asked to make the best of our tragic situation in America, while a trio of inaction figures spend the better part of each day rubbing the sleep from their eyes, and reacting instead of taking our righteous fight to the people 24/7.

How is it Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Ken Martin have been assigned to lead the Democratic Party in this historic hour of vital resistance?

Why are we STILL accepting this?

Isn’t it clear by now that time and again they have let us down since last year’s horrible elections? Isn’t it clear by now they have proven they are simply incapable of rising up to meet this dire situation?

Look, I don’t hate these men. I don’t even dislike them. I thank them for their service.

But now it’s time they return to the important ranks of the foot soldiers and backbenchers, because they are NOT leaders.

The irony is, we were always invariably going to be better off when we stopped with our absurd idolatry of politicians. It has been a weakness of the Democratic Party my entire professional lifetime, but that makes it no less a reality.

Here’s a fact: Most people simply don’t trust politicians, and that is actually a strength of a thriving Democracy. When one man or woman gains too much power we begin swerving toward what we fought to avoid more than 250 years ago.

Welcome to our current nightmare.

But since we are here, I will readily concede that occasionally, politicians can truly inspire. I have seen these rare folks and been sparked by them. Four come to mind in my lifetime: John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Michelle and Barack Obama.

In action and words, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) is my current favorite.

Lord knows, we have never needed inspiration more.

Schumer, Jeffries and Martin simply aren’t delivering it.

They have proven they lack the guts and talent to make our case to the American people. And making our case to the American people is what needs to be happening from sun up to sun down — from North Carolina to North Dakota — every single day.

We must grab the pulpit and shake it. We need to bring thunder to this war for our survival.

Tell me: When was the last time Schumer did that? As he ever done that?

Now tell me why Jeffries was siding with Trump earlier this week in the pardoning of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who was indicted by the Biden Justice Department on bribery and money-laundering charges. Just last month, Jeffries slammed Trump for being “completely and totally out of control” with these relentless, lawless pardons.

Does Jeffries mean what he says? Too many times I am not sure what the New York Congressman is thinking, and that has become a big, damn problem for such a public figure.

I won’t waste too much of my my breath on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), because its pretty clear they quit really giving a damn the minute they had all our phone numbers, and could just sit back and batter our cell phones with never-ending fundraising requests.

It’s still hard for me to reckon how Ben Wikler didn’t get that job, given what he did to help rescue the Wisconsin Democratic Party from the abyss the past decade or so.

Look, if you told me 13 month ago, coming off the most catastrophic election losses in America history, the Democratic Party wouldn’t change a thing with its Congressional and Senatorial leadership, I would have slapped some self-respect into you.

But here we are with black eyes, because any party that trots out the same losers to lead it after absorbing a thorough beating like the one we got last November can’t respect you if it can’t even be bothered to respect itself …

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING would energize the Left more than putting new, invigorating leadership in place. It would show the party listens, and believes in action, not just empty words. It would invite millions of people in, instead of stiff-arming them away with the same old bulls--- …

CHANGE.

Too many people don’t trust the party, because they don’t think it is listening to them. This simply has to be rectified, because we don’t have any time left.

If we don’t win big next year, we can kiss it all goodbye. There will be no more do-overs. We simply must do EVERYTHING we can to ensure we win.

So one more question before I go: Why do we expect so damn much from ourselves, and so damn little from our leadership?

(D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.)

Dr Oz belittled with crushing Hakeem Jeffries putdown as he elbows way into shutdown fight

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) referred to Dr. Mehmet Oz as a "rando" and slammed the former television doctor as the Senate moves closer to ending the government shutdown.

Jeffries was responding to a reporter's question about Affordable Care Act subsidies and Dr. Oz's comments when the Democratic lawmaker responded.

"That's like the most random way to start a question on a serious topic. Nobody who's serious in this country takes Dr. Oz seriously. No one. And I mean, it's shocking that the guy even was confirmed, but this is part of the reality of Republicans here in the House and over in the Senate. They're nothing more than a rubber stamp for Donald Trump's cruelty and extreme agenda," Jeffries said.

"I have no idea what Dr. Oz is talking about and neither do the American people," he added.

Jeffries pointed to Democrat wins in elections last week and cited how Americans are upset with the Trump administration amid the shutdown and rising cost of living.

"It's been a disaster for the American people and the American people know it, which is why last Tuesday, Republicans all across the country got wiped out. One of the most decisive off year elections ever. In modern American history," Jeffries said.

'Rubbed me the wrong way': Dem blasts Hakeem Jeffries over 'Mission Accomplished' moment

The Democrats had a great day in the latest election, but Hakeem Jeffries is being called out for purportedly taking a page out of George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" playbook.

Jeffries was put on the spot by a former lawmaker who is now a registered Democrat. Joe Walsh was once a Tea Party Republican congressman, but he abandoned his party with the coming of Trump, and recently he flagged a "much, much, much, much, much bigger" than Trump.

Now, Walsh is calling out Jeffries with profanity.

"The day after a HUGE win for Democrats all over the country, I’ve got just a quick bone to pick with Hakeem Jeffries," Walsh wrote. "So late last night, after this romp happened, what did House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries say? The Democratic Party is not dead. Can we cool it with these premature obituaries of the Democratic Party? The Democratic Party is back. And I thought, 'The Democratic Party is back'? Respectfully, Hakeem, what happened yesterday had nothing to do with the Democratic Party."

He continued:

"Voters came out yesterday in America and repudiated Donald Trump. They voted for Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger and Zohran Mamdani. They voted for the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, school board. They voted for Pennsylvania’s three Supreme Court justices. They voted for two statewide candidates down in Georgia. I could go on and on and on... Americans yesterday who voted were so pissed off and so scared to death that they would have stripped butt-a-- naked and crawled across broken glass for miles to vote. That’s how pissed off and afraid we all were."

He then added, "This was all because of the grassroots voters, the resistance. That’s who carried the day yesterday. It wasn’t because of the Democratic Party, Hakeem Jeffries. It wasn’t because of you, Hakeem Jeffries. It wasn’t because of Chuck Schumer. It wasn’t because of Ken Martin and the DNC. No. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way."

"Look, I get it. Democrats had a good day. Thank God. But Hakeem Jeffries declaring that the party is back is a bit like George W. Bush and the infamous 'mission accomplished' sign," according to Walsh, who then asked, "Why even say that? You won one Election Day here, Hakeem. Chill, baby. You’ve got a lot more to prove."

In his conclusion, Walsh wrote, "You wanna show me the Democratic Party is back? Then you need to meet the f------ moment."

Read the essay here.

'Can’t believe this is real!' Expert enraged by 'sickening' new White House website

A legal expert is enraged by the Trump White House's new Myspace spoof website launched during the government shutdown, saying "I can't believe this is real" and calling the move "disgusting."

Eliza Orlins, a public defender and former Manhattan district attorney candidate, said in an Instagram reel that the White House launched a page on its website called "Mysafespace" to attack Democrats and mock them with racist and sexist "jokes" about Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other leaders.

“The official White House website has launched something called 'mysafespace.' It’s hosted on the actual .gov website that your government tax dollars are paying for during the shutdown," Orlins said.

The site features fake profiles for Schumer, Jeffries, billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, "antifa" and others. It calls Jeffries "Temu Obama" and "sombrero guy," among other things, with a background covered in sombreros and showing him photoshopped wearing a sombrero in multiple pictures. It also has a top eight friends section — just like Myspace.

The "about me" section mocks Democrats, saying, "Hey we're Democrats in the House and Senate. We love DEI, transgender for everyone, and handing out taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants. We couldn't care less if our men and women in uniform get paid or if our neighborhoods are safe - we just love playing politics with people's livelihoods!!"

“And all this went live while the government is shut down and federal workers and members of the military aren't being paid," Orlins said.

Orlins questioned if the site is a violation of the Hatch Act, which forbids partisan activity in the federal workplace.

"The irony of this being posted on Whitehouse.gov now, while the president himself may be technically exempt from the Hatch Act, that doesn't mean that other people are. And who approved this? How much taxpayer money went into it? And think about the precedent it sets when the president is using whitehouse.gov to attack political opponents," she added.

"This is sickening... This absolutely crosses a line. I can't believe the callousness of this government as they refuse to fund SNAP for 40 million people, they triple, quadruple, quintuple people's health premiums for next year and take away Medicaid and Medicare for so many people. It's just disgusting and that your tax payer dollars are going to fund websites like this instead of funding the things that they should be funding," Orlins said.

'Schumer siesta': Trump reshares comedian in sombrero video hinting at 2028 run

President Donald Trump Friday shared a video from a comedian posing as the president wearing a sombrero with a Trump 2028 hat on top, bright poncho and referring to the government shutdown as the "Schumer siesta" and referring to Hakeem Jeffries as "Dollar Store Obama."

Shawn Farash, who also calls himself Captain Deplorable, created the video and by Friday morning Trump had reshared it on his Truth Social platform:

"Hola, mi fellow Americanos... welcome to the Schumer shutdown. We call it the Schumer siesta. He put the government on siesta, cryin' Chuck and El Hakimo 'Jefe' Jeffries. We used to call him Dollar Store Obama until we realized he's worth far less than a dollar. But they put the government on siesta to give illegal aliens your healthcare. We're not going to let it happen. But I looked at both of them I said 'we're not going to let it happen.' It's no bueno. I said 'It's no bueno.' They begged me, they said 'But señor, por favor, please give illegal aliens healthcare.' I said 'We're not going to do it. We're never going to do it. It's not gonna happen.' And they were also very upset about our 'Big, beautiful sombreros.'"

The comedian then dipped his head down and showed a Trump 2028 hat on top of the sombrero.

"These are the greatest sombreros the world has ever seen, we really have the best sombreros and everybody wants one except cryin' Chuck and El Hakimo 'Jefe' Jeffries. They don't want one but they're going to wear one when all is said and done. We're going to end the siesta, we're going to reopen the government and we will not give into the demands of Chuck and El Jefe. We're not going to do that. Thank you. Gold bless you."

Trump has hinted at canceling the 2028 election during his speech with generals this week saying that the country is being "invaded from within."

This GOP defeat suggests Trump finally has a fight on his hands

It’s premature, but so far, I think the congressional Democrats have shown some spine in the face of another government shutdown.

Let’s hope they show more. If they do not, their public reputation for wimpiness is going to balloon. And I don’t mean among Republicans and independents. I mean among their own kind. This is no time for finding a comfy spot between freedom and despotism. The Democrats must fight, even though there’s a cost, as there always is, to fighting.

Last time, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer shucked and jived about 30-day extensions, all the while scheming in the background for face-saving ways to cave. In the end, he said keeping the government open was better than closing it, as Donald Trump would then have the power to redefine “essential services” and cut them to the bone. Nine Senate Democrats acquiesced. Did they get something in return? No.

But this time at least, Schumer isn’t messing around with 30-day extensions. The House passed one last week, with one Democrat for it and two Republicans against it, but it was killed off almost immediately in the Senate by a Democratic filibuster.

If Schumer were planning to shuck and jive again, he would have gotten his caucus to vote for it — it’s called a temporary “Continuing Resolution” – while claiming party leadership is still negotiating with Trump. He didn’t, though. For now, I’ll take that as a hopeful sign.

That’s partly because there’s no one to negotiate with. GOP leaders in the House and Senate don’t want to make any moves without the president’s say so. Meanwhile, the president himself seems to believe his party doesn’t need the Democrats to keep the government open. (This assumes Trump cares, and I’m very much unconvinced that he does: “If it has to shut down, it'll have to shut down,” he said.)

That Schumer isn’t messing around (so far, at least) with a phony CR extension comes from something else — monumental upward pressure from the base of the Democratic Party to stand firm against Trump, even if doing so undermines efforts at bipartisan compromise.

Poll after poll shows Democratic voters are themselves increasingly furious with party leadership, especially with its weakness in the face of tyranny. That can be explained in the plainest of terms. Trump’s evil is no longer theoretical. It is real, and it must not be bargained with.

Schumer now thinks the situation is much different, because the president and his party are weaker than they were then.

“The BBB bill, which they have passed, is highly unpopular with the American people,” he said. “Democrats are unified. We have been strong on the same message for a very long time, which is: We need to help the American people lower their costs, particularly on health care.”

A lot of people are asking the question: what then? In exchange for keeping the government open, the Democrats want the Republicans to agree to renewing Obamacare subsidies and rolling back cuts to Medicaid. If the Republicans balk and the government closes, how will it end? Will the Senate Republicans nuke the filibuster? Then what?

How do the Democrats win the argument?

Honesty, I don’t think this question is one of politics. It’s one of punditry. It’s the kind of question you ask yourself when you think of yourself as a disinterested arbiter who stands in remove of the words used by each party, and who assesses which side “won the debate.” It’s a whole lot of fun spending your time gaming things out (trust me), but in the end, it’s still punditry, not politics. And now, it’s irrelevant.

Trump acts like the Congress doesn’t matter. (The Republicans in the Congress act like the Congress doesn’t matter. The Republicans on the Supreme Court have ruled that in some cases, the Congress really doesn’t matter.) The president has pushed his party to claw back money signed into law by previous presidents. His administration has illegally impounded hundreds of billions of dollars in congressionally approved funding, all because it’s not “consistent with his priorities.”

He has said he has the right to do whatever he wants, however he wants, to whomever he wants.

“I’m the president,” he said.

He has determined press freedoms are “really illegal.” With the Supreme Court’s blessing, he’s arresting people for the “crime” of their identity. He has ordered prosecutors to indict at least one of his enemies by declaring him “guilty as hell.” (He said there’s no “enemies list,” but more indictments are coming.) And now, he has deemed that liberal groups that criticize him are “domestic terrorist organizations.”

He said, “they are sick, radical left people, and they can’t get away with it.”

And on top of this, the Republicans control everything.

As one observer put it: “You think people are going to blame the party that controls zero branches of the government and not the guy who repeatedly says he has the power to do literally whatever he wants?”

How do you win the argument against a criminal? You don’t. Absent the power to investigate him, all the Democrats can do right now is fight, and they must fight though fighting could come at a price. Yes, the shutdown may go on indefinitely. Yes, the Senate Republicans might nuke the filibuster. Yes, a lot of bad things might happen, especially to the Democratic base pushing the leadership to fight. But guess what? A lot of bad things are already happening and they will continue to happen whether the Democrats cooperate or not.

Those who are worried about arguments fear losing and won’t fight. Those who are willing to fight know they might lose and do it anyway.

'Shame on you. Resign': Hakeem Jeffries faces Dem backlash over Charlie Kirk honor

On Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) posted a clip of himself lashing out at Republicans over the imminent government shutdown, but commentators on Bluesky were more interested in his vote to honor conservative gadfly Charlie Kirk that had just concluded.

The honor, which is purely ceremonial, stated, “Charlie Kirk became one of the most prominent voices in America, engaging in respectful, civil discourse across college campuses, media platforms, and national forums, always seeking to elevate truth, foster understanding, and strengthen the Republic.”

Jeffries was one of 94 Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, but, as the leader of Democrats in the chamber, he ended up being on the receiving end of a wave of outrage.

As one critic wrote on Bluesky, “You're a complete disgrace voting to honor a bigot and enemy of democracy like Kirk. Shame on you. Resign.”

Pointing out that Jeffries had claimed that Republicans would “own” a possible shutdown, another added, “You voted to honor racism you will always own that.”

“You voted to honor Charlie Kirk??? My god, grow a set and defend the people he attacked! You need to, at the very least, be removed from leadership, and better yet, be removed from Congress. Such a useless POS at this point,” complained LgLover.

On X, pollster Adam Carlson pointed out, “Hakeem Jeffries voted to honor Charlie Kirk before he endorsed Zohran Mamdani.”

Veteran Lewis Medlock offered, “No one fails to meet the moment like Hakeem Jeffries.”

Daily Kos reporter Oliver Willis linked to a clip of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) detailing Kirk’s racist history on the floor of the House and dryly added, “This is the person [Jeffries] voted to honor.”

“WTAF? Hakeem Jeffries, along with the rest of House Democratic leadership is voting yes on a resolution to honor fascist Charlie Kirk,” activist Heidi Li Feldman wrote.