- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
Republicans routed as Democrats gain powerful new leverage over Trump for remainder of his presidency
Democrats have regained control of the US Senate, routing Republicans nationwide with historic victories that will give them powerful new leverage over Donald Trump for the remainder of his presidency.
Democrats will soon have the ability to hold up not just Trump’s legislative agenda, but also any appointments he makes to his cabinet or the federal judiciary – including the supreme court, where conservatives have a 6-3 majority.
You must log in or register to comment.
Wow. Some of these upsets are insane. God now all that’s left is for them to actually punish trump.
It would be nice, but that’s probably not in the cards for the next two years. Even if everything goes right at this point, the Democrats would be looking at 55 seats in the Senate. That’s still 5 seats short of overriding filibusters or vetoes and also for an impeachment conviction. The Democrats need to govern well, get the cost of living down and they need to show that the trust put in them was well placed. Spending the next two years in a bunch of political theater won’t do that and Democrats will lose the trust they have now.
Trump’s corrupt regime needs to be held to account, but that’s not going to happen in the next two years. Democrats need to prove they can make peoples’ lives better so they can expand (or at least maintain) their advantage. Then, if they can win the Presidency in 2028, then it will be time to retool the DOJ into an actual law enforcement arm and turn them loose on the corruption of Trump’s administration.
Democrats will lose the trust they have now.
They don’t have trust now. They are not Republicans; that is the one and only reason they are winning today. None of this is about trusting Democrats and if they don’t understand that and respond appropriately then the US is going to have Marco Rubio or some other Republican ass clown as president in 2028.
I feel quite sure they don’t and won’t. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
I really don’t see any way the GOP wins the presidency in 2028. That’s just not how US politics work. People always hate Congress, but they blame the president for bad economies and bad news.
It’s far more likely this turns out like 2006-2008, where the Dems had a huge wave in 2006 and then an even bigger one in 2008 when they elected Obama.
Swing and low info voters simply don’t give much of a shit about the work Congress actually does on a daily basis. They’re going to blame the president for their problems like they always have.
I really don’t see any way the GOP wins the presidency in 2028. That’s just not how US politics work. People always hate Congress, but they blame the president for bad economies and bad news.
Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974. Regan trounced Carter in 1980. Never underestimate the American public’s willingness to forget about past crimes. I hope you’re right that 2028 becomes a second drubbing of the GOP over their failed policies and corruption. I also doubt that what we saw last night will have any durability. It wasn’t all that long ago that Democrats were talking about the the Blue Wall. And that fell apart almost as fast as it got named.
Swing and low info voters simply don’t give much of a shit about the work Congress actually does on a daily basis. They’re going to blame the president for their problems like they always have.
I agree that most voters don’t care about politics. And more importantly, they don’t want to hear about it. And this is why I see an impeachment (which will ultimately fail) is such a dumb play. It will force people to deal with politics. It will be the news cycle for months. And ultimately the votes just don’t exist in the Senate to convict. Which means the public has politics shoved in their face for months and the end result is a propaganda win for Trump. He will push a failure to convict as him being “INNOCENT of any wrong doing” (of course it will use ALL CAPS). And the Democrats get what out of that? No one is held accountable, nothing useful gets done to begin the process of fixing the country, and the public just sees the Democrats being useless for months on end.
We need to hold Trump and his cronies accountable. But it’s not really possible right now. Once he is out of office and we have a DOJ which isn’t filled with criminals, then they can pick apart the criminal empire. Until then, the Democrats need to show the public that they are working to make the lives of the public better.
Talriko and el sayed seem like noncareer politicians. Maybe they’ll actually bring about some change like zohran and you’ll see more candidates like them in future.
Was surprised to see independents in iowa, montana and nebraska give tough fights.
All of this, AND the problem remains of the establishment Democrats who are not fascists, but maybe where Republicans were like 20ish years ago. So it’s very much an uphill battle for real progress.
But this is a night to celebrate.
The easy part of a democracy is saying, “I have the right to vote”. The hard part of democracy is say, “ya, that asshole also has the right to vote.” Whether we like it or not, the country as a whole is no where near as liberal/progressive/left wing as Lemmy. This is going to mean that we have to work with folks with whom we have pretty significant disagreement. Hopefully with these wins, things can shift leftward and more can get done. At minimum, we can slam the brakes on the GOP and Trump’s corruption and undermining of our democracy. It’s slow, its frustrating and it often means we don’t get what we really want. But, as terrible of a form of government as democracy is, it’s a damn sight better than anything else we’ve tried in history.
This is going to mean that we have to work with folks with whom we have pretty significant disagreement.
WRONG. Blocked.
I kid, I kid.
On serious note, agreed. And we have to keep working outside of the main elections. The primaries are where we get to vote for progressives. No progressives? Getting them to run in the primaries is how we get them :)
It’s massive work, but yesterday was a good day.
The Republicans folded like lawn chairs once they knew they couldn’t block the release of the Epstein Files. They just need to be pressured enough to throw the executive under the bus to save their own asses.
Spending the next two years in a bunch of political theater won’t do that and Democrats will lose the trust they have now.
Problem: The American public is out for blood. Making an example out of Trump and his allies is an essential part of gaining any long-term trust from voters. According to exit polls the state of democracy was the top issue for Democrat voters, and to deliver on that requires accountability.
Solution: Democrats need to Louis XVI this motherfucker.
I agree that it’s needed. But it’s a dead issue for the next two years. Let’s assume both Alaska and Mississippi break for Democrats. That’s 56 seats in the Senate. If we assume that all 56 Democratic Senators vote for impeachment, that’s still 4 votes short of a conviction. Where do those last 4 votes come from?
Maybe they can convince Rand Paul to vote for impeachment. While he may be a couple cards short of a pair, he’s pretty consistent in his Libertarian views. He might be willing to go against Trump.
Then there is Ted Cruz. Sure, he’s been a full on cock-Gobbels-ing Trump. But, he did originally fight Trump and might be quite willing to jettison Trump and try to build a “savior of the GOP” for a 2028 Presidential run.
And then who? Oddly, I think Lindsey Graham might have been a possibility, but he’s done the world a favor and dropped dead. And this is before we consider John Fetterman seeking to ingratiate himself further to Trump,. meaning Democrats would need to pick up another vote for impeachment.
I just don’t see it as within reach. At best, it becomes virtue signaling. At worst, Trump touts the lack of conviction as “Proof” that he is innocent and of Democrats’ “Trump Derangement Syndrome”. It hands Trump a propaganda win while accomplishing nothing real in return. It gives him an issue to take back to the GOP base and repair some of the damage to his cult of personality. And nothing actually gets done.
Ya, it sucks big old donkey balls, but the real accountability is going to have to happen after he is out of the Presidency. His own DOJ has kinda shown the way on this. Break out the RICO act and go after every single one of the criminals who supported his corrupt regime. Toss everyone we can in jail and throw away the key.
Jeffires is already talking about how voters aren’t interested in “revenge”. If they start courting the right again I’m going to lose my mind.
Yeah the weak dick dems gonna continue to have a weak dick. There’s mild hope tho cause I’ve seen comments from many dems out for blood too. So i guess we’ll see?
Rankin is the judiciary guy and he’s already talking about issuing subpoenas.
Jeffries sucks but he isn’t the dictator of Congress.
best we can do is a non-binding finger wag
Mississippi and Alaska are still in play too. A 56 dem senate is possible
eh 55… one of those is still Fetterman.
Beating Trump still doesn’t solve the genocides in Cuba and Palestine, nor will it stop the fact that billionaires dictate everything about how this country is run. The working class will continue to get crushed for billionaire profits. We need an entirely new system, a socialist system, and that will never come from the democrats. It needs revolution.
OK do it.
Start your revolution.
Because tons of socalist candidates won last night, like a lot of them. Change through voting might be slow but if last night was any indication its clearly possible.
0 socialist candidates won. Joe Tuche and Greg Levy both got a little over 2% of the vote each, and even if they had won, you still cannot change a capitalist system into a socialist one electorally. The state is not a neutral body, it’s something that co-evolves alongside the base mode of production and distribution, and is under the control of whoever controls the commanding heights of the economy. A socialist-led government over a capitalist state has no power over the capitalist class, because the capitalists control the economy.
There were many social democratic candidates that won, correct. The people clearly do want a system that works for them, and social democracy a la the DSA is in people’s heads the path of least resistance to that. However, because the problem of choosing who controls the economy is never addressed, this can only end in reforms that are taken away as soon as there is a crisis of profitability. It does not replace the need for socialism.
As for revolution, it isn’t just something you do, or something that falls into your lap. It happens when there is a large, revolutionary socialist party, a class conscious working class, and a crisis in the capitalist class. We can directly contribute to the first two by getting involved with a socialist party. Both Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the Party for Socialism and Liberation have two tiers of membership, general membership which is low commitment in time and money, and cadre membership, which requires significant time and money. See which is more active near you (almost certainly PSL, but varies), and consider joining the general membership!
And yes, I do organize already. You should too!
I am wondering if the GOP sees this voting bloodbath as a referendum on trump. If so then they might feel he’s more of a liability than an asset and they 25th Amendment him.
They’re cowards, they won’t do shit.
God I hope so.
They won’t. All they’ll think is next time cheat harder
They haven’t finished cheating harder this time. The results still have to be honored and the new representatives sworn in.
They have no choice now. They either adapt or get completely annihilated again in 2028 because Trump isn’t going away. So now we’ll see how many of the GOP are just grifters and how many are true believers in the cult.
They tried with all of the mid-cycle redistricting measures to try to gerrymander their way to victory.
It backfired. Republicans got flattened.
Even r/Conservative is finally smelling the Spirit of Hartshorn.
I forgot about that cesspool, is it even relevant anymore? Like…is this deadass? Aren’t they literally talking about themselves?:
(All 23 replies aren’t available to view btw, if anyone was curious. That sub suppresses it’s users like they live in a majority black district)
I believe that comment is about Trump and Hegseth intentionally. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t deleted
r/Conservative reacts for 6 to 12 hours before shutting everything down and moving on to a new set of talking points. The really significant development would be if the narrative remains broken for a few days
When something big like this happens it typically takes 2-3 days for the Nazi media to develop new talking points. Every now and then it takes longer, eg the January 6th attack took them a few months to fully rationalize.
“I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016 and then again in 2024, given how emotionally toxic, morally vacant, and psychologically mangled he is. I do not wonder anymore. He won for that exact reason. He was not a candidate. He was a mirror. If you were a racist, you found your guy. If you were a misogynist, you found your guy. If money was your only religion, you found your guy. If your heart was armoured shut, you found your guy. If you mocked disabled people, you found your guy. If you hated intelligent people, you found your guy. If you were a rapist, you found your guy. If you enjoyed golden showers with Russian sex workers, you found your guy. If you had done absolutely nothing to confront your emotional wreckage, you found your guy. If you were a serial cheater, you found your guy. If you were a perpetual bankrupt, you found your guy. If you stiffed honest workers, you found your guy. If you were a conman, you found your guy. If you mocked people’s appearances, you found your guy. If you longed for a toxic Daddy, you found your guy. If you were dissociated and disembodied, you found your guy. If you were unconscionable in every economic dealing, you found your guy. If you lied as naturally as breathing, you found your guy. If you had never eaten a green vegetable, you found your guy. If you were a white supremacist, you found your guy. If your ego contained a hole so large not even the presidency could fill it, you found your guy. If you were a sociopath who cared not one molecule about other humans, you found your guy. If he had only two of these traits, he never would have won. He won because he had hundreds of them, and millions of people recognized themselves in at least one. This has never been about Trump. It has always been about the people who finally had their worst instincts validated. Trump did not create the cruelty, he licensed it. He handed out permission slips for hate. He is merely a symptom of a far deeper disease: collective toxicity. If there is one sentence that explains Trump’s power, it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” That is the part that should chill the spine. Who knew that tens of millions of Americans were thinking such unconscionable things about their fellow citizens? Who knew how many white men felt so threatened by women and challenged by minorities that they were ready to torch democracy to feel big again? Who knew that after decades of apparent progress on race and gender, so many people were living in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to legitimize their worst selves and convert their bitterness into political power? We were living in a fool’s paradise. We aren’t anymore." — Michael Jochum
If they couldn’t sway it when they controlled the government on nearly all levels I doubt they can when they’ve lost most states
I really hope you are right.
I envy those of you who still have any hope he’ll have any amount of accountability at all for anything ever.
No, they know they’re in too deep and it’s ride or die. The most decisive thing they’re going to do in from new on is eventually annihilate their families three days after Trump dies when he doesn’t come back to life.
no great loss.
I doubt it.
However I do think the Republican leadership plan is to get rid of Trump in January. Trump is a loose cannon they can’t control, and he’s caused way too many issues for them, but leveraging his clear mental decline after he gets past the halfway point of his 2nd term gives them free reign to toss him aside via his obvious dementia. Install Vance for the remaining 2 years, someone they can control, hoping to get that sweet 10 year total.
$130 billion of excess oil industry profit says you’re wrong.
I doubt this happens. Their base is still way up Trump’s ass and they’d pay for it in 2028.
You might see some of them, especially the ones from purple states, push back more against Trump but convicting him in an impeachment trial won’t happen.
They already had a referendum on Trump and he won convincingly lol like he literally was just part of an election of his own and wining Texas would not even have saved Dems.
There’s always the possibility there are Republicans with ethics and values (and who have not yet quit in disgust), who will find their voice now that they won’t be marginalized by their own party.
Do we have enough of a lead to overcome republican obstruction?
Ty for voting ,greetings from Belgium
Please issue sanctions against the US. Why haven’t you??
We’re literally doing to Palestine worse than y’all did to Congo. In 2026
Pssst, Congo was private property of King Leopold ,not Belgium
Democrats will have their work cut out for them. They will need to recruit 12 Republican Senators to have a veto proof Senate or Trump will stop each and every thing they might try to do. Their best bet is to stop ICE, fix ACA, prosecute corruption on an expedited time line, reverse tarrifs, get Citizen United cancelled, start taxing billionaires and major corporations in order to pay for American citizens services, tell Putin to get out of all of the Ukraine immediately, and tell Isreal to make the Israeli/Palestinian coalition government work. That might get them the next Presidency and keep majorities in Congress and Senate. Anything less and it’s likely GOP can gain ground.
We want justice not revenge!!!
I want both
You’re a good person!
Revenge only for me. Make it extra spicy.
The agenda that never existed btw
No, it does. It’s called Project 2025.
His agenda isn’t what he told his voters, it never was.
Is it enough to impeach?
Yes but not enough to convict.
It’s enough to get an actual trial in the Senate, though. The last two times, the Senate acquitted without calling any witnesses. This time they can make it a lot more politically costly to acquit.
I do like your optimism, but I think elevating JD Vance to president at this stage is a bad idea. It would be a circus and a distraction from more important matters. It was one thing when Pence was VP who at least had some moral fiber left and it could have removed the possibility of a second term. It’s another thing with a lame duck president whose VP lies just as easily and openly as he does.
Vance doesn’t seem like he has much in the way of principles or spine, so he’d probably be more amenable to compromise, and in any case it’d be worth it just to make an example out of Trump.
Removing the president isn’t the point, and it’s something the GOP needs to do sooner or later (and today’s results suggest sooner). Still, any opportunity to haul Trump over the coals should be taken IMO. Accountability is as much about the process as the result, and it’s not just Trump who needs to be held accountable, but everyone he has appointed and everyone who is backing him. Trump himself is a good place to start, even recognizing that Trump is the symptom, not the disease.
You want an idea of how insane this one is? Sure, Kansas didn’t go solid blue like Texas, but understand, the last time they had a Dem senator was 1932. You gotta screw up bad to lose Kansas to a Democrat.
Sadly, this probably means it’ll flip back in a few years. I’ll still take the win.
You know you are upset for something a few years in advance? Didn’t they just win?
A great nite for America. An even better tomorrow awaits us all.
It’s nice to see people turning on trump but this doesn’t really mean anything. Almost everything trump has done ( ICE raids, Iran war, Tariffs) has been done through executive power which he still has. He’s never gotten congressional approval for any of it, nor does he need to as long as the supreme court is still stacked with GOP
The one positive is that senate seats are held for 6 years, so it’ll be easier for a dem administration that replaces trump in 2028 to pass stuff.
I guess Christmas came early for the Americans
It’s was the unexpected bluekake
“Finally, we have full control of congress due to the absolute dumpsterfire of Trump’s second term. Now let’s ask the all mighty magic conch shell to determine our actions for the next two years”.
" Oh magic conch shell, what should the democrats do with our restored power in government against our tyrannical president?! "
NOTHING" The shell has spoken! "
We don’t care so much about any “legislative agenda” Trump may have. We care about reining in the corruption, the abuses of authority, illegal executive orders. Will we get a Congress that actually does stuff, will it protect its own constitutional authority, and will it do something about those enriching themselves on their government authority. And that’s before even will government do things for its constituents rather than just its corporate donors.
Winning majorities is only the start
I can already hear my internalized Lemmy voice pointing out that we don’t win anything by choosing the friendly capitalists over the asshole capitalists, and that all the theater over corruption and bigotry are to distract from the only real war: the class war.
But I think you countered that best by saying it’s only a start.
Even if we assume that the US government will look like the best Europe has to offer within a few decades, it will take multiple steps to get there.
And you know what is definitely NOT a step in that direction? Giving the entire government to the fascist racist pedo bigot robber-baron party. We did that TWO years ago.
