Let’s not whisper it or mumble: The issue is that we have a president who has no business being president. My column
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EJ Dionne
@EJDionne
Washington Post columnist, Georgetown prof, Brookings senior fellow. Author of “Code Red” and Co-Author of “100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting.”
Bethesda, MDJoined January 2012
EJ Dionne’s Tweets
This is an accusation of perjury from a long-serving Senator who does not say such a thing lightly. Shouldn't there at least be a pause in the reckless rush to confirmation? Or are Republicans determined to turn the Supreme Court into a purely partisan body?
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Untruthful testimony, under oath and on the record. twitter.com/nytopinion/sta…
Democrats: Stop tearing each other apart over impeachment. That only helps #Trump. The path is clear: Keep impeachment on the table but first use hearings & further inquiries to make clear to the majority just how outrageous Trump's behavior is.
My column
Monday Night Massacre:
Trump fires Sally Yates, Acting AG who refused to defend his indefensible #MuslimBan. History will remember her well.
Bill Maher: "Did you protect President Obama?”
Eric Holder: "The difference between me and Jeff Sessions is I had a president I did not have to protect.”
Joint / Statement:
"Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime."
Even before the #CorkerKickBack went viral, this tax bill was a festival of corruption, full of provisions that help donors and tilt the tax code to the privileged and corporations. (And, please, no more talk of #Trump as a "populist.")
My column
A column I don't regret writing:
"Any senator who votes to confirm [#Barr] in the hope that he’ll fight back against Trump’s abuses is choosing to ignore the many red flags Barr waved before us amid all the smoke."
A theory:
Trump's tweets this morning attacking the FBI's McCabe & praising his base tell us he's preparing for damaging news coming out of the Mueller investigation & aiming all his attention to his core supporters in the hope that they will pressure GOP pols to support him.
This is priceless. Thank you for your using Twitter feed year round to enlighten, inspire and entertain us (and, sometimes, to put us in a sober mood) by reminding us of our history.
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JFK's letter to child--"You must not worry about Santa Claus. I talked with him yesterday and he is fine."--1961:
That was an extraordinary exit speech by — so extraordinary that it wasn’t an exit speech at all but the beginning of the next chapter of a life that will make a difference in the lives of others. Good to hear a politician willing to defend the nobility of politics
“I will not ever tell my Justice Department — and it’s not my Justice Department, it’s the people’s Justice Department — whom it should or should not prosecute.”
The only right answer.
#BidenTownhall
I never thought an incoming president would quote a foreign autocrat to attack his fellow Americans. He has nerve to say "America First."
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Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems: "In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity." So true!
The FBI had nothing to justify its election-changing intervention against #Clinton. Zero. Zilch. It was all politics
politi.co/2h8wtFW
Yes, the dam is breaking against Trump. The 1/6 committee has increased the likelihood he’ll be prosecuted, made the attack on democracy a key midterm issue, weakened Trump’s political position & left Republicans weary. Not bad for 8 hearings.
My column
Now there's an idea, Karen!
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Maybe Dems should come back offering a wall that lasts for 3 years and a solution for the Dreamers that is permanent... twitter.com/jorgeramosnews…
"Pelosi could give a graduate school course in handling an ignorant, irrational blowhard. It all starts with holding him accountable for his falsehoods."
grades Pelosi properly.
Defeating #Trump is the absolutely necessary first step toward a more humane politics. This means the left and center-left cannot spend their time tearing each other apart.
Lessons from the British #LabourSplit.
My column
Respectfully, Justice Breyer, court enlargers aren’t the problem. We didn’t block Garland or rush Barrett onto the Court. We’re not the radicals. We’re not the judicial activists. We’re not the ones trying to overthrow decades of precedent.
My column
After everything the GOP did to help a conservative hold on to that State Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin, the liberal won. Jill Karofsy leads incumbent conservative Daniel Kelly, 523,777 to 454,674 with 60% in. A remarkable defeat for the right in the swingiest of swing states.
I'm sad & disappointed that is voting for this reckless tax bill. What he said in 2001 is even truer now: "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans..."
#Trump is a lying demagogue. Because this is not said often enough, he has been allowed to routinize lying and enshrine the vilest forms of divisiveness as a normal part of our politics. “We report the lies, you decide” is not the way to go.
My column
John McCain RIP
He revered and lived by the words of Viktor Frankl, the Holocaust survivor who declared:
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
Merrick Garland, as I wrote back in December, is one of the most decent and honorable people I’ve gotten to know, and I first met him a half century ago. This clip captures his decency, his generosity of spirit, and his sense of civic obligation to our country.
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Perhaps the strongest moment of the hearing - Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland chokes up when he talks about his motivations for taking the AG job. “The country took us in and protected us and I feel an obligation to the country to pay back.”
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Biden is reclaiming the word 'freedom' for Democrats & progressives, going after a deep conservative contradiction. The right-wing, with book bans and the use of government power to undermine rights, is surrendering its own claims on the idea.
My column
#Trump wants a big military parade. The world's most powerful country doesn't need a parade to satisfy the president's ego. Secretary Mattis-Suggest using the money a parade would cost for scholarships for the kids of Wounded Warriors and of those who gave their lives in service.
Slouching toward autocracy
We know what a military coup looks like. But #Trump's slow-motion dismantling of rules & norms--and declarations that "truth isn't truth"--are especially insidious because we can lose our democracy without even noticing
My column
So Harris is the only Senator not allowed to press a witness to answer the question as asked? Notice Sessions' grin when she's interrupted
Forget DeSantis. Whitmer & Shapiro are defining the future.
Wes Moore and Maura Healey, too.
Don’t get obsessed with a Trump-DeSantis rumble rooted in a tired, old cultural politics. “Fix the damn problems” is the sound of the future speaking.
My column
“After Calling Joe Biden Senile, Republicans Complain He Outsmarted Them.”
Great headline on a good piece by & .
The dam is breaking. Watch Joe Manchin. There is a real shot for the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
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The Senate has shown it cannot do its basic duty and find 60 Senators to support basic voting rights, so I support changing the rules around the filibuster for voting rights legislation.
Every gushing story about Ron DeSantis should be balanced by pieces about Gretchen Whitmer & Josh Shapiro. Both won landslides in 2016 Trump states. Their problem-solving approach is the future. Trump/DeSantis represent the culture war past.
My column
If a politician wants the privilege of being our President he should not be allowed to disrespect freedom of speech or freedom of expression
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If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect....
Worth five minutes & 42 seconds of your time to watch go on & dismantle all efforts by Trumpists to undermine story. Fox’s viewers, he says, can choose to be McCain Republicans or Trump Republicans.
George Will on "this sad, embarrassing wreck of a man" who is our president. He speaks English "as though it is a second language that he learned from someone who learned English last week" but is clear in siding with Russia, not our intelligence agencies.
Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server was front-page news for years. Trump’s extravagant abuses of power just roll by as if we were watching a movie about another country with a dysfunctional political system & a corrupt, madcap leader.
My column
Stacey Abrams on voter suppression & the test to The 2d Reconstruction: "We have to always be vigilant about the retrenchment, but we’ve got to be even more aggressive about the progress. Because the further ahead we get, the harder it is to drag us back.”
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution….They do not respect the results of a free election…They promote authoritarian leaders and promote political violence.”
#BidenSpeech
Of all the horrific tweets #Trump has sent out, is there a more obscene one than this? It is hard to find words that capture the horror of his using the deaths of young Americans as part of his campaign of denial and self-protection.
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Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!
If Republicans try to rush through a #Trump nominee for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat, Democrats must warn they will enlarge the Court if they win both Houses as a remedy to conservative court packing. A rushed confirmation after the Garland outrage will destroy the Court’s standing
Seemingly sober commentary about how “effective” Trump’s attacks are plays down a core truth: He lies, and lies, and lies again. This, not tactical musings, must stay at the fore to avoid a replay of the false-equivalence journalism of 2016.
My column
When he ran for president in 1996, I thought “Lamar!” (as his signs told us) was the GOP’s best candidate. He was a decent governor, smart & serious. This is, in the broadest sense, a pathetic end to his career
eviscerates his choice
Democrats owe #MitchMcConnell a debt
Yes, you read that right.
Any fears Dems had that Senate acquittal would strengthen #Trump are gone. By rigging the process in Trump’s favor, McConnell discounted acquittal’s value & put the Senate on trial
My column
News that Trump’s Justice Department’s targeted & marks a breaking point: We can’t just move on from Trump, much as we’d like to. We need to root out his corruption. There’s no escape from holding Trump accountable.
My column
This is the key point (as my friend also noted). It's very important to know exactly what happened here. Corker's shift contradicted his earlier deficit statements & his own explanation was weak. If his vote is connected to this provision, the bill should be pulled. twitter.com/topherspiro/st
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What a horrific way to start the new year. Treating the Justice Department in an entirely politicized way ("Deep State Justice"? Really?) is the way of autocrats. Republicans must choose -- sooner, not later: Fight back, or be complicit in the destruction of our institutions.
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Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others
The more Mueller imperils #Trump, the more McCarthyite the GOP becomes about his probe. Our democratic republic is closer to the edge than we want to think. My column
A great Tweet, Senator. But what will you and your colleagues do about it?
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I never thought I’d see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. bit.ly/2TwSHRc
Moderates who won’t take on the filibuster “should prepare for when the...public decides it would rather have the party that promises nothing & does nothing than the one that promises quite a bit but won’t work to make any of it a reality”
"The sinking sense that he [#Trump] really didn’t win fair and square — that he and a foreign power tipped the scales — has now been fortified by a raft of information unknown to voters when they cast their ballots."
The decision of right-wing Catholic bishops to begin drafting a statement many of them said was aimed at President Biden was also an attack on Pope Francis, who had made clear that he did not want them to go down this divisive road.
My column: It backfired
Liz Cheney made an airtight case that Trump sought to overthrow our democracy, broke the law repeatedly, incited a mob to prevent the Electoral Vote count, threatened Vice President Pence, incited a mob to go after him & was fully aware the election was not rigged.
#Insurrection
“Manchin and Sinema see the filibuster as key to bipartisanship, but it isn’t.”
, one of our shrewdest students of Congress, makes an airtight case that “eliminating or at least modifying the filibuster” is key to spurring cooperation.
On tonight, Sen. spoke of the declining power of the #NRA and a major shift in the politics of guns. He's right. Here is a column I wrote last month detailing how advocates of sane gun policy are gaining ground.
The full exchange I mentioned earlier.
Thanks, Greg, for continuing to insist on this. "The Wall" is not "border security." The Wall is a symbol. Border security requires hard work and careful thinking. #Trump prefers symbols.
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Replying to @chrislhayes
The conflation of "border security" with "the wall" is the central propagandistic device being employed by Trump and his GOP allies right now.
The basic problem they face is that the public doesn't see them as synonymous.
Two Joes will determine whether we protect the voting rights of all Americans.
Joe Biden & Joe Manchin will have to conclude that defending democracy is more important than defending the filibuster. The For the People Act’s fate is in their hands
My column
Great point from : To say a former president can’t be impeached “would effectively grant immunity from impeachment to every president during his last few months in office, when the opportunity to subvert an election is greatest.”
Remember the #Trump rule: Whenever there are dangerous new developments in the #Russia story, he attacks #HillaryClinton. He must be very worried again.
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Crooked Hillary Clinton is the worst (and biggest) loser of all time. She just can’t stop, which is so good for the Republican Party. Hillary, get on with your life and give it another try in three years!
All those Republicans who were oh-so-worried about the ethics of Bill and Hillary #Clinton -- where are they?
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NYT just received documentation that Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. met with Indian real estate executives too.
nytimes.com/2016/11/20/us/
All the coverage of Florida, Texas and other culture-war-waging red states might make you think our country is veering right. It’s time to pay more attention to the avalanche of progressive legislation that is the Minnesota miracle.
Free link to my column
For those insisting GOP senators take Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Bret Kavanaugh seriously, their claim that their timeline is quasi-sacred is infuriating. A lifetime appointment is at stake. Whose interests are served by haste?
My column
Don’t define Biden’s victory down. It was a big deal. Unlike Trump in 2016, Biden won a majority of the votes (75 million and rising) and beat Trump by over 4 million. Don’t let a right-wing that hyped 2016 denigrate a far bigger Biden win.
My column
Biden backs “background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines & eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.”
After Jan. 6, we can’t let the gun extremists win.
My column
#Trump’s scandalous, outrageous lies right now are why I wrote this column:
Democracy’s champions must defend an honest vote count against a lawless president who would destroy our constitutional system to hold on to power.
It’s way past time for him to go
Some of the GOP voter suppression bills read as if they were translated directly from the Russian or the Hungarian. They empower partisan bodies to set aside honest ballot counts.
Why we need #ForthePeople & #VotingRights.
My column: The #Trump Contagion
My immediate reaction was not to wonder if this was the “best” case to lead with or what the politics will be, but simple relief that Trump was finally being held accountable by the law. He still faces a trial, but that’s the point. He has evaded responsibility for too long.
“This is who we are." Paul Ryan.
Yes, House Republicans, the heartless health-care vote will define you. My column
The Afghanistan ugliness shouldn’t distract from the fact that Biden made the right call. Yes, he needs to respond to a humanitarian crisis rooted in errors of execution But the only alternative was re-escalation, a step he was wise to avoid.
My column
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The NFL National Anthem Debate is alive and well again - can’t believe it! Isn’t it in contract that players must stand at attention, hand on heart? The $40,000,000 Commissioner must now make a stand. First time kneeling, out for game. Second time kneeling, out for season/no pay!
Fall River, where I grew up, shaped who I am and what I believe. In my home town, "solidarity" is a living, breathing concept.
spoke Fall River Values to the nation on Tuesday. The contrast with #Trump was striking, and instructive. My column:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/joe-k
Obama’s description of the status quo under #Trump — he didn’t have to mention him — will be echoed all year: “corruption, carelessness, self-dealing, disinformation, ignorance, and just plain meanness.”
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I’m proud to endorse my friend @JoeBiden for President of the United States. Let's go: twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1
That just 7 Senate Republicans bolted should end the absurd talk that there’s a burden on Biden to achieve a bipartisan nirvana. The case for ending the filibuster is now overwhelming. There aren’t 10 GOP votes for anything that really matters.
My column
Hugh, I really am disappointed that a person as steeped in the law as you are would support canceling an election because holding it on the scheduled date is now inconvenient for your party. What's to stop this from happening again and again? It's a clear abuse of power.
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If @GovKayIvey and legislature agreed to cancel special election and provide that appointed senator serves until end of term, tough to see how federal ct overturns law when the Moore/Jones objections arrive.
Barrett tonight became the first justice in 151 years to be confirmed without a single vote from the minority party. The GOP has turned the Supreme Court into a radically conservative partisan body. Court enlargement is the way to moderate it.
My column
. has broken through the noise & risen from nowhere to 3d place in the latest Iowa poll by pushing aside pre-packaged politics and taking on issues conservatives think they own: religion, community and freedom. Hope it's contagious.
My column
We knew from the start who Trump is. Jack Smith’s devastating indictment brings home the many odious aspects of his public life. Indicting a former president is a big step. In the interest of justice, it was right, brave & necessary.
Free link to my column
Joe Biden will never seize the public stage the way Trump does—or push his supporters to embrace lies. That happens to be why Biden was elected. At the end of a consequential week, those who voted for him can feel pretty good about themselves.
My column
“The responsible vote is for Joe Biden. It’s a vote for decency. A vote for the rule of law. And a vote for honest and earnest leadership. It’s time to put country over party. It’s time to dismiss Donald Trump.”
Tom Ridge, Republican, PA’s former Governor inquirer.com/opinion/commen
An important thing is doing out there is reclaiming the word "freedom" for progressives. His riff below is very good and very revealing.
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Don’t let anybody tell you that the other side is the side that’s got a handle on freedom. We are the party of freedom and we shouldn’t be afraid to go out there and say it.
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#Trump will attack the networks no matter what they do. So why be complicit in lies by caving in? Demand to see the speech in advance and say no if he is lying.
Is this treating him differently from other presidents? Yes. Because no other president has lied on the scale he does.
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Replying to @brianstelter
TV exec texts: "He calls us fake news all the time, but needs access to airwaves… If we give him the time, he'll deliver a fact-free screed without rebuttal. And if we don't give him the time, he'll call every network partisan. So we are damned if we do and damned if we don't."
Note to Electoral College: Might you harbor doubts about the temperament of a man who makes stuff up about nonexistent fraud--after winning?
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In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
