Vanessa

'Liked' by @waltshaub !!
'Followed' by @HakeemOluseyi !!! and @glennkirschner2 !!!!!!!!!!!

[Miles Taylor @MilesTaylorUSA]

Yesterday Donald Trump tripled the size of his personal political army inside the government. Illegally. And almost no one noticed.

Here's what happened:

He signed an order converting ~8,000 of the most senior career officials in government into employees he can fire for any reason, or no reason at all.

These aren't rando's. They're the directors, chiefs of staff, and the people who write the rules or decide who gets federal money, i.e. the lieutenants right below his political appointees.

Until yesterday, they answered to the law. Now they answer to him.

A president normally gets ~4,000 political appointees. People he can bring into government and fire at will. I was one of them at DHS. You serve at his pleasure, full stop -- so if you're gonna speak truth to power, you're prepared to quit (or get fired if he doesn't like it).

The rest of the federal government is PROTECTED from firing if they tell the truth.

But Trump just stripped those protections. Adding 8,000 more people to his personal army. Overnight. Without asking Congress.

With the stroke of a pen, those people now serve at the pleasure of the president. They're "his" people, whether they like it or not.

And the chilling effect is real. An official who can be fired this afternoon for "subversion of presidential directives" (the order's own words) doesn't need to be hand-picked to know what's expected of him or her.

The threat does all the work.

By the way, this order is illegal. The law only lets Trump reclassify jobs when "necessary" in exceptional circumstances. And this blows an 8,000-person hole in the merit hiring / firing system created by Congress.

Without permission, Trump has created a whole new category of stormtroopers inside the Executive Branch.

If this doesn't get challenged in court, you're going to see the U.S. government become a very different place.

Here's the full story: https://t.co/mJzrvzhxGR

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@DougBright1 @townhallcom Um, she suspended campaign activity, she didn't drop out. She's still on the ballot.
#factsmatter

[NW Pete @ptv1024]

@RapidResponse47 How about this one. HE’S ASLEEP.

[@Fievel131. @Fievel131]

@RapidResponse47 Were his eyes open here too?

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@RapidResponse47 WATCH. THE. VIDEO.

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@DarAlderson @Acyn https://t.co/uYkYMoxanW

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@KweenInYellow @Acyn Graham Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, defends him in sexting scandal — after campaign paid her $30K https://t.co/7Zzb6jMdkF

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@LaddSoftball @Acyn https://t.co/uYkYMoxanW

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@KweenInYellow @Acyn Graham Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, defends him in sexting scandal — after campaign paid her $30K https://t.co/7Zzb6jMdkF

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@eawickham @Acyn https://t.co/uYkYMoxanW

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@KweenInYellow @Acyn Graham Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, defends him in sexting scandal — after campaign paid her $30K https://t.co/7Zzb6jMdkF

[Vanessa @VJD364]

@KweenInYellow @Acyn Graham Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, defends him in sexting scandal — after campaign paid her $30K https://t.co/7Zzb6jMdkF

[Adrienne @AdrienneMH2425]

@Acyn Despite the drama swirling around this guy, what are the redeeming/best-candidate elements for @grahamformaine? I mean, out of ALL the D's in the state of Maine, this dude is the most wow, most exciting, most fit, most winning, most viable candidate? There's no one "cleaner"?

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Hasan Piker: “All of these Fox News guys are like I can’t believe this is what Graham Platner was doing. Pete Hegseth was literally your co-worker and was a notorious drunk rapist. I feel like I’m losing my mind, the standards are so out of wack. We just never look at Republicans. They can do whatever the fuck they want. They can literally murder, cheat, steal, rape”

[Chuck Schumer @SenSchumer]

50-49: Republicans, by one vote, chose to keep Trump’s insurrectionist slush fund dream alive.

After they fumbled around for hours, we needed just one more Republican to muster the courage to end Trump’s taxpayer handout to cop beaters and felons.

As per usual, they were spineless.
https://t.co/DNSTwTh7F3

[The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln]

Trump's Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins: "If we have a big screwworm infestation—which we will not, we're on top of it..."

The screwworm has returned to the US after 60 years after Trump and DOGE eliminated a program to contain the flesh-eating parasite.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Ossoff: There is no world in which Todd Blanche could earn my vote. As far as I'm concerned, he should resign. Todd Blanche is a crony. Todd Blanche is a loyalist. He has no business as the nation's top law enforcement official.

If we want to stop these spectacularly incompetent nominees from getting confirmed, we're going to have to stop relying on a few Republican senators to suddenly discover their courage and integrity. We're going to have to win the majority in the senate.

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

House Republicans break with Trump again to approve Ukraine aid https://t.co/gF03sNDi4n

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

James Carville: “I’m just waiting for the NYT to drop a 5-point series on the depth of this corruption. The corruption is beyond anything, it might be that there’s been more corruption under the administration of Donald Trump than there has in the 250 year history of the US”

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

Ever wonder why trump doesn't do everything in his power to release ALL the Epstein files to clear his name?

Symone Sanders-Townsend and Michael Steele make it clear: it would be THE END for trump.

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

Holy shit, this sick old man can't even keep himself upright, seated in the Oval Office.

He's practically sideways. How TF is this not a bigger story?

[Furkan Gözükara @FurkanGozukara]

🚨 WOW: CNN confirms a massive supermajority of Americans completely reject Donald Trump's priorities. A staggering 68 percent say the US President is not focused on real issues.

He is intentionally ignoring inflation to focus on his own vanity projects. Total failure!

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Thinking of my friend Alexei Navalny and his family today. He would have turned 50 today.
Goodbye to my fearless friend, Alexei Navalny https://t.co/HYsacXcJRT