Project 2025: How to Start a Fascist Takeover in 180 Days!

[bilateralrope]

I doubt Trump is going to pardon the Jan 6 people because they're losers, they didn't succeed in overturning the vote and the government in 2021. The only exceptions might be a handful who Trump has some special interest in, but I doubt even that.

It would be a deviation from his past behavior, yes, but someone could convince him that it would make him look strong or that he stands to gain enough to bother. He's had years now to see the consequences of not having thug power loyal to him personally that he can order around.

I wonder how many of the Jan 6 people will be thugs for him. He probably would have had them if he pardoned them before the end of his first term, but now it has been 4 years, many of them have been incarcerated. Some of them might be questioning if he will pardon them next time. Then comes them learning about the distinction between federal and state crimes.

[Ralin]

I doubt Trump is going to pardon the Jan 6 people because they're losers, they didn't succeed in overturning the vote and the government in 2021. The only exceptions might be a handful who Trump has some special interest in, but I doubt even that.

It would be a deviation from his past behavior, yes, but someone could convince him that it would make him look strong or that he stands to gain enough to bother. He's had years now to see the consequences of not having thug power loyal to him personally that he can order around.

I wonder how many of the Jan 6 people will be thugs for him. He probably would have had them if he pardoned them before the end of his first term, but now it has been 4 years, many of them have been incarcerated. Some of them might be questioning if he will pardon them next time. Then comes them learning about the distinction between federal and state crimes.

Were I a hateful MAGA cultist I imagine I'd be more happy to be pardoned once he was back in office than angry that he didn't do it on the way out. Especially since I probably think he was basically fleeing a successful coup and hunkering down to plan his comeback.

[Raw Shark]

I doubt Trump is going to pardon the Jan 6 people because they're losers, they didn't succeed in overturning the vote and the government in 2021. The only exceptions might be a handful who Trump has some special interest in, but I doubt even that.

It would be a deviation from his past behavior, yes, but someone could convince him that it would make him look strong or that he stands to gain enough to bother. He's had years now to see the consequences of not having thug power loyal to him personally that he can order around.

C'mon, he has thug power that he can order around in spades. I had a guy try to pick a fight with me about the election two weeks after-fact at my job yesterday while he was buying coffee. In the second bluest state in the entire country. I didn't say a thing about it, he just launched this conversation about it himself.

"Thank God I can still buy coffee! Ka-MAH-LA would've banned that."

"What?"

"Yeah, the liberals were going to take away coffee!"

"I'm sorry, what?"

I know it's a faux pas to say the word, "retarded," these days, but those guys are straight up retarded. Which explains what happened in the election.

[Gandalf]

I know it's a faux pas to say the word, "retarded," these days, but those guys are straight up retarded. Which explains what happened in the election.

The fuck?

[Ralin]

I doubt Trump is going to pardon the Jan 6 people because they're losers, they didn't succeed in overturning the vote and the government in 2021. The only exceptions might be a handful who Trump has some special interest in, but I doubt even that.

It would be a deviation from his past behavior, yes, but someone could convince him that it would make him look strong or that he stands to gain enough to bother. He's had years now to see the consequences of not having thug power loyal to him personally that he can order around.

C'mon, he has thug power that he can order around in spades. I had a guy try to pick a fight with me about the election two weeks after-fact at my job yesterday while he was buying coffee. In the second bluest state in the entire country. I didn't say a thing about it, he just launched this conversation about it himself.

"Thank God I can still buy coffee! Ka-MAH-LA would've banned that."

"What?"

"Yeah, the liberals were going to take away coffee!"

"I'm sorry, what?"

I know it's a faux pas to say the word, "retarded," these days, but those guys are straight up retarded. Which explains what happened in the election.

Not the same thing. Being able to rant and eventually someone somewhere will hat up and make it so isn't the same thing as having a private army where you can order a specific person to go to a specific place at a specific time and shoot a specific person or anything like that.

[Raw Shark]

Not the same thing. Being able to rant and eventually someone somewhere will hat up and make it so isn't the same thing as having a private army where you can order a specific person to go to a specific place at a specific time and shoot a specific person or anything like that.

That is accurate, I'm just concerned because I'm around it enough that one of them might put one in my center mass because I approve of the gays or something.

[Tribble]

Not the same thing. Being able to rant and eventually someone somewhere will hat up and make it so isn't the same thing as having a private army where you can order a specific person to go to a specific place at a specific time and shoot a specific person or anything like that.

That is accurate, I'm just concerned because I'm around it enough that one of them might put one in my center mass because I approve of the gays or something.

I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but it’s been clear for decades that the long term goal for a lot of Republicans is to have all their opponents (whether real or imagined) exiled, imprisoned, enslaved and/or executed. They will believe and/or at least promote any and all things against their opponents since that will help them advance their agenda.


Harris could literally have stood in front of that person, order a coffee, drink a coffee, say “I love coffee, we need more coffee in America” and that guy would probably still believe and/or promote the idea she if doing to ban coffee. To him, the truth literally does not matter, she’s an enemy that needs to be exiled, jailed, enslaved and or executed, that’s all that matters.

[bilateralrope]

Raw milk CEO whose products have been recalled may lead US raw milk policy

Mark McAfee, whose products have been repeatedly contaminated with bird flu, asked by RJK Jr to apply for job

Maanvi Singh
Fri 6 Dec 2024 00.02 GMT

Mark McAfee, a California raw milk producer whose products have been recalled several times recently due to bird flu contamination, said he has been approached by Robert F Kennedy Jr’s team to guide the upcoming administration on raw milk policy.

McAfee, whose dairy products were recalled after state officials detected bird flu virus in milk samples, said that the transition team for Kennedy, the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, asked him to apply for a position advising on raw milk policy and standards development. The idea, he told the Guardian, would be to create a “raw milk ordinance”, mirroring the existing federal “standard milk ordinance”.

Kennedy is a notable fan of raw, or unpasteurized, milk, including McAfee’s products. If confirmed, he has said, he would work to remove restrictions on raw milk, which the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have so far advised against consuming.

Kennedy’s team did not respond immediately to the Guardian’s request for comment.

If McAfee, whose farm is the largest producer of raw milk in the US, were to gain a role in the upcoming administration, it would be in line with the upcoming administration’s broader edict to put industry heads in roles regulating the very products they sell.

Trump has also appointed oil executive Chris Wright for secretary of energy, and Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary.

McAfee’s Raw Farm in Fresno supplies raw milk and milk products to grocery stories across California, and has the unique distinction of supplying the kefir used in the smoothies at Los Angeles’s celebrity-approved Erewhon market.

Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate when he ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, interviewed McAfee for a documentary about raw milk released earlier this year. She told McAfee that Kennedy was a fan, and drinks his milk when he is home in Malibu. In a post on X in October, Kennedy said that with Trump in office, the FDA’s “war on public health” would end, as would its “aggressive suppression” of raw milk.

Raw milk, which is not heated to kill harmful pathogens, has been linked to the outbreak of bacterial infections including a strain of E coli that can cause kidney failure. McAfee’s farm has also been involved in several lawsuits stemming from a salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 171 people in California last year.

The federal government does not regulate the sale of raw milk – states do – but the FDA prohibits the interstate sale of unpasteurized milk for human consumption. In 2008, McAfee’s company pleaded guilty to putting “pet food” stickers on its raw milk in order to illegally sell it across state lines for human consumption.

McAfee and other proponents of raw milk have claimed that it has more beneficial enzymes and diverse probiotics than pasteurized milk. The current FDA and researchers have countered that milk is not, in fact, a significant source of probiotics in the first place, and that the bacteria found in raw milk – which come through infected udder tissues, or the dairy environment including soil and cow manure), and milking equipment – are not the kinds that benefit our digestive systems.

But the consumption of raw milk has come under particular scrutiny this year amid a bird flu, or H5N1, outbreak, which included the first documented human cases of the virus. No known cases of bird flu virus have been confirmed in people who drank raw milk, although there are three cases in North America where the source has not been identified. Contact with raw milk and the handling of raw milk, however, has been associated with infections – especially among dairy workers.

Research suggests that milk carries huge amounts of viral particles. “The most infectious thing from the cows is the milk,” said Meghan Davis, a molecular epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University studying environmental health. In some cases, cows that tested negative for H5N1 in their respiratory tracts were found to be carrying the virus in their milk.

Consuming raw milk amid the bird flu outbreak, Davis said, is inherently risky. While most people who have been infected with bird flu have reported mild illnesses, people with compromised or suppressed immune systems could experience more severe symptoms. And as more people are infected, the virus is more likely to mutate and develop more infectious or severe strains that could affect the broader population.

“The impact of another pandemic would be awful,” said Davis. “Especially of a pandemic that really affects our food-producing animals as well as people.”

Cats who have drunk infected raw milk have exhibited severe neurological symptoms and died.

Still, McAfee vehemently denies that raw milk could be implicated in any such risks.

“This is the newest platform for the FDA to attack us,” McAfee said. “There are no reported illnesses in the United States regarding [bird flu] and raw milk. Zero. But yet they say the sky is falling.”

Like other proponents of raw milk, he has suggested that milk from infected cows boosts immunity to bird flu by passing on antibodies. Antibodies to H5N1, however, have not been found in raw milk products, and cow antibodies would not confer immunity to humans.

This week, Raw Farm voluntarily recalled all milk and cream products made between 9 and 27 November after tests found bird flu virus in retail samples and dairy storage and bottling sites. The California department of food and agriculture also quarantined the farm and suspended the distribution of Raw Farm product produced on or after 27 November.

I wonder how many people this administration is going to kill before any violence starts.

[Tribble]

Raw milk CEO whose products have been recalled may lead US raw milk policy

Mark McAfee, whose products have been repeatedly contaminated with bird flu, asked by RJK Jr to apply for job

Maanvi Singh
Fri 6 Dec 2024 00.02 GMT

Mark McAfee, a California raw milk producer whose products have been recalled several times recently due to bird flu contamination, said he has been approached by Robert F Kennedy Jr’s team to guide the upcoming administration on raw milk policy.

McAfee, whose dairy products were recalled after state officials detected bird flu virus in milk samples, said that the transition team for Kennedy, the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, asked him to apply for a position advising on raw milk policy and standards development. The idea, he told the Guardian, would be to create a “raw milk ordinance”, mirroring the existing federal “standard milk ordinance”.

Kennedy is a notable fan of raw, or unpasteurized, milk, including McAfee’s products. If confirmed, he has said, he would work to remove restrictions on raw milk, which the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have so far advised against consuming.

Kennedy’s team did not respond immediately to the Guardian’s request for comment.

If McAfee, whose farm is the largest producer of raw milk in the US, were to gain a role in the upcoming administration, it would be in line with the upcoming administration’s broader edict to put industry heads in roles regulating the very products they sell.

Trump has also appointed oil executive Chris Wright for secretary of energy, and Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary.

McAfee’s Raw Farm in Fresno supplies raw milk and milk products to grocery stories across California, and has the unique distinction of supplying the kefir used in the smoothies at Los Angeles’s celebrity-approved Erewhon market.

Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate when he ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, interviewed McAfee for a documentary about raw milk released earlier this year. She told McAfee that Kennedy was a fan, and drinks his milk when he is home in Malibu. In a post on X in October, Kennedy said that with Trump in office, the FDA’s “war on public health” would end, as would its “aggressive suppression” of raw milk.

Raw milk, which is not heated to kill harmful pathogens, has been linked to the outbreak of bacterial infections including a strain of E coli that can cause kidney failure. McAfee’s farm has also been involved in several lawsuits stemming from a salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 171 people in California last year.

The federal government does not regulate the sale of raw milk – states do – but the FDA prohibits the interstate sale of unpasteurized milk for human consumption. In 2008, McAfee’s company pleaded guilty to putting “pet food” stickers on its raw milk in order to illegally sell it across state lines for human consumption.

McAfee and other proponents of raw milk have claimed that it has more beneficial enzymes and diverse probiotics than pasteurized milk. The current FDA and researchers have countered that milk is not, in fact, a significant source of probiotics in the first place, and that the bacteria found in raw milk – which come through infected udder tissues, or the dairy environment including soil and cow manure), and milking equipment – are not the kinds that benefit our digestive systems.

But the consumption of raw milk has come under particular scrutiny this year amid a bird flu, or H5N1, outbreak, which included the first documented human cases of the virus. No known cases of bird flu virus have been confirmed in people who drank raw milk, although there are three cases in North America where the source has not been identified. Contact with raw milk and the handling of raw milk, however, has been associated with infections – especially among dairy workers.

Research suggests that milk carries huge amounts of viral particles. “The most infectious thing from the cows is the milk,” said Meghan Davis, a molecular epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University studying environmental health. In some cases, cows that tested negative for H5N1 in their respiratory tracts were found to be carrying the virus in their milk.

Consuming raw milk amid the bird flu outbreak, Davis said, is inherently risky. While most people who have been infected with bird flu have reported mild illnesses, people with compromised or suppressed immune systems could experience more severe symptoms. And as more people are infected, the virus is more likely to mutate and develop more infectious or severe strains that could affect the broader population.

“The impact of another pandemic would be awful,” said Davis. “Especially of a pandemic that really affects our food-producing animals as well as people.”

Cats who have drunk infected raw milk have exhibited severe neurological symptoms and died.

Still, McAfee vehemently denies that raw milk could be implicated in any such risks.

“This is the newest platform for the FDA to attack us,” McAfee said. “There are no reported illnesses in the United States regarding [bird flu] and raw milk. Zero. But yet they say the sky is falling.”

Like other proponents of raw milk, he has suggested that milk from infected cows boosts immunity to bird flu by passing on antibodies. Antibodies to H5N1, however, have not been found in raw milk products, and cow antibodies would not confer immunity to humans.

This week, Raw Farm voluntarily recalled all milk and cream products made between 9 and 27 November after tests found bird flu virus in retail samples and dairy storage and bottling sites. The California department of food and agriculture also quarantined the farm and suspended the distribution of Raw Farm product produced on or after 27 November.

I wonder how many people this administration is going to kill before any violence starts.

As many as they possibly can.

Of course, the problem in this case isn’t that some of the dumbasses who are going to drink raw milk will get sick - that’s their own damn fault. The problem is that they’re gonna get sick and potentially spread their illnesses to other people. While blaming everyone but themselves, naturally.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn around and ban pasteurized milk for no other reason than to give the finger at the “deep states,” the “ so-called intellectuals” and them evil Democrats.

[bilateralrope]

Of course, the problem in this case isn’t that some of the dumbasses who are going to drink raw milk will get sick - that’s their own damn fault. The problem is that they’re gonna get sick and potentially spread their illnesses to other people. While blaming everyone but themselves, naturally.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn around and ban pasteurized milk for no other reason than to give the finger at the “deep states,” the “ so-called intellectuals” and them evil Democrats.

Would you still call them dumasses if RFK Jr gets the health agencies to start saying that raw milk is good ?

As for banning pasteurized milk, that will be complicated since SCOTUS killed the chevron deference.

[Zaune]

Good thing Trump has probably never heard of Tom Kratman, isn't it?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I had to look it up because I had never heard of the Chevron deference:

The Chevron deference, and why it mattered

28 June 2024
The Supreme Court in a 6-3 vote killed a legal precedent that conservatives have attacked for decades, known as the "Chevron deference".

"Today, the court places a tombstone on Chevron no one can miss," Justice Neil Gorsuch, one of the most conservative members wrote.

The deference, set in 1984 in a case involving the oil giant, gave federal agencies wide powers to interpret laws and decide the best ways to apply them.

In ending the deference, the conservative-majority court has slashed and severely weakened the powers of agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency.

The aftershocks of such a seismic decision will be felt throughout the federal government. Let's take a look at how we got here.

What was the Supreme Court case about?

While “Chevron deference” may sound like a chess strategy, it actually refers to a landmark Supreme Court ruling, Chevron v Natural Resources Defense Council.

The court decided in 1984 that judges should defer to federal agencies in interpreting ambiguous parts of statutes.

The idea was that if Congress passes a law where something is unclear - or there is a “gap” - it is up to an agency to fill in the gap.

In practice, that gave arms of the federal government such as the Environmental Protection Agency the freedom to create and implement rules without fear of protracted legal battles.

Then, in 2020, herring fishermen entered the chat.

That year the Trump administration began requiring that they cover the costs of taking federal monitors on fishing trips. The fishing vessels did not have a choice - it was illegal to fish without federal monitors on board to check on the Atlantic fishery, an area that extends from Maine to North Carolina.

They previously didn't pay for the monitors.

Commercial fishing companies - supported by conservative and corporate groups including the billionaire Charles Koch - sued in two separate cases.

In one, a federal judge ruled the National Marine Fisheries Service could legally impose the costs under the Chevron deference.

Who wins in throwing it out?
This is a big win for conservatives.

For four decades, they have been working to overturn the precedent.

By giving executive agencies more freedom to implement laws, in the conservative view, it vastly expanded the power of the federal bureaucracy.

In areas like workplace safety, financial markets and the environment, courts – and, by extension, businesses contemplating legal challenges to regulations - had to yield to agencies' interpretations of laws.

The Supreme Court has been paring back agency power in recent years, saying there are “major questions” of policy that Congress must explicitly detail in order for agencies to take action on them.

“Chevron deference” as a legal principle, however, had endured, setting guidelines for lower courts to follow.

On Friday, the Supreme Court delivered the final blow.

Who loses?
This is a defeat for the Biden administration, which argued that throwing out the Chevron deference would be destabilising.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan said that the ruling elevates the Supreme Court’s power over other branches of US government. The president, Congress and court are supposed to have equal power under the US Constitution, so by her reading the ruling is a loss for the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Advocacy groups and progressives also saw it as a setback for clean water, public health, fair lending, worker safety, and other areas where people rely on federal help.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organisation, for example, called the ruling "a monumental setback that will harm all Americans and profoundly impact our nation's environmental safeguards and public health protections".

"The court has set us on a path towards policy paralysis," it said.

Where do we go from here?
The ruling does not apply to past agency regulations and actions.

Looking to the future, corporations and others wanting to challenge agency rules will be heading to court and we can expect to see judges around the country now weighing in on what the federal government - and its bureaucracy - does.

Rules, requirements and penalties could all be stopped before they are implemented or overturned.

In the long-term, expect Congress to try to write more explicit instructions in its laws that lay out exactly how agencies will implement them. That could lead to confusion in large agencies carrying out different programmes - if Congress can actually pass those laws.

“The problem is many people think the Congress is quite dysfunctional now,” Philip Bobbitt, an expert on constitutional law at Columbia Law School, told the BBC.

“Where the court is going… seems to defy the realities of gridlock in the Congress as it's actually operating today."

[bilateralrope]

Trump team affirms he’s leader of GOP amid ‘President Musk’ barbs

by Miranda Nazzaro - 12/19/24 3:21 PM ET

President-elect Trump’s transition team pushed back against Democratic lawmakers who suggested Elon Musk is the “real leader” of the Republican Party after his aggressive pressure campaign against a stopgap spending measure.

“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR [continuing resolution], Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop,” said Karoline Leavitt, transition spokesperson for the Trump-Vance team, in a statement shared with The Hill.

Musk, a close ally of Trump, fired off numerous social media posts on Wednesday railing against the bipartisan spending measure, which was released Tuesday night ahead of the Dec. 20 shutdown deadline.

Musk, who is co-leading Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) advisory panel to slash government spending, urged members of Congress to vote against the bill, describing the more-than-1500-page measure as a big “piece of pork.”

At one point, he argued any lawmaker who supports the CR should be voted out of office and called for a moratorium on all legislation until Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

He, along with DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy, posted online about the CR for hours on Wednesday before Trump and Vice President-elect Vance broke their silence and came out against the measure.

Amid mounting pressure from Trump and his allies, the CR quickly crumbled, and several Democrats were quick to point the finger at Musk’s barrage of online posts as a driving factor in the breakdown.

Several Democratic lawmakers argued “President Elon Musk” is responsible for any impending government shutdown and used the situation as a chance to question Trump’s grip on his own party.

It remains unclear how much of a role Musk and Ramaswamy’s online posts played in Trump and Vance’s public opposition and whether the two DOGE leaders were in communication with the president-elect.

Several GOP members told The Hill on Wednesday they believe Musk has growing influence on Capitol Hill, with at least one lawmaker reportedly suggesting his posts may have impacted the vote count for the original CR.

The bill would have funded the government through March 14 and averted the Dec. 20 deadline.

House Republicans are now looking at an alternative government funding stopgap that excludes a debt ceiling increase and instead works on a committee to raise the borrowing limit twice next year in an effort to appease Trump.

The new bill, which is still being hashed out and is subject to change, would be similar to Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La) earlier plan, minus some policy provisions, two sources told The Hill on Thursday.

Just think about how much Trump must hate any narrative that says he isn't in charge. Think of the tantrums he will throw if it continues.

I hope dems keep pushing it.

[bilateralrope]

Or, if you want to make sure that Congress gets nothing done:

Rand Paul floats Elon Musk for House Speaker

Stef W. Kight

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is floating Elon Musk to be Speaker of the House after the powerful, billionaire tech businessman helped torpedo a bipartisan agreement on a short-term spending bill.

Why it matters: He's the first GOP lawmaker to explicitly suggest Musk should be Speaker, and his comments come as Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) bid to keep his job is under serious threat.

Musk has already emerged as one of the most powerful voices in politics and has become one of President-elect Trump's closest confidants.

What he's saying: "Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk," Paul posted on X on Thursday morning.

"[T]hink about it . . . nothing's impossible. (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka 'uniparty,' lose their ever-lovin' minds)"
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — a frequent Johnson critic — reposted Paul's comments, adding that she'd be "open to supporting Musk" for Speaker.
"The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday," she said. "This could be the way."

Between the lines: The Constitution does not specify that the Speaker of the House has to be a member of the chamber — though they always have been.

Non-representative names have been floated over the years during Speaker elections.
Paul has long been an advocate for slashing government spending, though he is in the wrong chamber to have much say over who will win the Speakers' gavel in January's floor vote.
Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital on Thursday morning that Johnson will "easily remain speaker" if he "acts decisively and tough" and eliminates "all of the traps being set by Democrats" in the spending package.

The other side: Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are incensed at the outsized power Musk appears to be exercising over the policymaking process.

"If this is the type of power he has, then he is going to be the unelected co-president of this country and we've got to be super blunt about it," said Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.).

Marjorie Taylor Greene open to Musk for Speaker

by Ashleigh Fields - 12/19/24 11:41 AM ET

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Thursday she would be open to supporting Elon Musk for House Speaker, an idea proposed by other Republicans as Congress faces a government shutdown Friday night.

Musk railed against the continuing resolution (CR) negotiated by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) throughout Wednesday, helping tank the bill. Johnson is now considering alternative plans with less than two days until government funding runs out and with President-elect Trump now calling on lawmakers to lift the debt limit as part of a spending deal.

Greene, who heads the so-called DOGE caucus, part of Musks’s efforts to cut government inefficiency, echoed sentiments from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in suggesting the billionaire take an official role leading the House.

“I’d be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House. DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency,” Greene wrote Thursday on social platform X.

“The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday. This could be the way,” she added.

Minutes before, she issued a statement criticizing Johnson’s leadership on the initial CR, which would have funded the government through March but was bound to require Democratic votes due to various additions, including an increase in lawmaker pay.

“Johnson needs to stop the same failed pattern making dirty swamp deals behind closed doors and keeping everyone in the dark,” she wrote on X.

“Republicans need to be working together to deliver the mandate. That requires big changes in behavior,” she continued.

Her comments come as Johnson’s future as Speaker has suddenly come into question about two weeks before Republicans vote for their next leader, and with one GOP member — Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) — already opposing Johnson, who has a razor-slim margin in the House.

However, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, said Wednesday that he still supported Johnson.

But he added, “There are a growing number of voices, both inside and outside the Freedom Caucus, who kind of shake their heads at what’s going on this week.”

Watching Musk crack under the pressure of having to do competent work could be entertaining.

[Solauren]

Watching Elon Musk trying to do that job, while Stoned out of his mind, would be entertaining.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Hold the fucking phone...Speaker of the House of Representatives, which thanks to the Presidential line of succession is first in line if Trump and Vance go kablam-o, doesn't have to be an elected person at all?

How in the flying fuck does that work? You Yanks seem to have fetishised elections to the point you elect law enforcement officers and the fucking judiciary, but a non-elected person can be Speaker (and, again, 2nd in the line of succession)?

I knew the US had some bonkers elements of it's political system but seriously?

[Zaune]

The Speaker has to be appointed by a majority of Congress, I believe, so it's not like the President can just appoint some rando. I don't think the question of what happens if they appoint a Speaker who is ineligible to run for President and then the President and VP both die has ever come up, but I presume they'd skip to whoever's next in line after that.

Although if that comes up in the next four years it was probably an inside job anyway, at which point precedent and procedure is out the window.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Well they let Trump run for president the first time despite never having been elected for anything before, so there is a precedent

[Rogue 9]

Trump team affirms he’s leader of GOP amid ‘President Musk’ barbs

"Any man who must say 'I am the king...'"

Hold the fucking phone...Speaker of the House of Representatives, which thanks to the Presidential line of succession is first in line if Trump and Vance go kablam-o, doesn't have to be an elected person at all?

How in the flying fuck does that work? You Yanks seem to have fetishised elections to the point you elect law enforcement officers and the fucking judiciary, but a non-elected person can be Speaker (and, again, 2nd in the line of succession)?

I knew the US had some bonkers elements of it's political system but seriously?

Technically speaking, but it's never been done. The Constitution simply says the House may choose its Speaker.

[AniThyng]

The issue is that speaker is in the line is succession right. Because I'm fairly sure there are other legislatures in the rest of the world that also do not relate require the speaker to be a one of the sitting members, just had to be elected by majority of the legislature

[bilateralrope]

The Speaker has to be appointed by a majority of Congress, I believe, so it's not like the President can just appoint some rando. I don't think the question of what happens if they appoint a Speaker who is ineligible to run for President and then the President and VP both die has ever come up, but I presume they'd skip to whoever's next in line after that.

Although if that comes up in the next four years it was probably an inside job anyway, at which point precedent and procedure is out the window.

The line of succession is a law. The constitution overrides it when they conflict. So if that happens, they skip the speaker and move down the line of succession to the next person. Until they reach someone eligible.

Unless Musk, who is known for not paying what he owes, offers a large enough bribe to SCOTUS.

[Raw Shark]

Double

[Raw Shark]

I knew the US had some bonkers elements of it's political system but seriously?

...and we all own and mostly know how to use a firearm, my guy. Even me. Saying that our political system is bonkers is an understatement. Saying that's an understatement is also an understatement.

[LadyTevar]

Trump team affirms he’s leader of GOP amid ‘President Musk’ barbs

"Any man who must say 'I am the king...'"

Yep, I'm just waiting to see how long Trump will put up with it. The BitchFest when it ends is going to be hilarious.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I knew the US had some bonkers elements of it's political system but seriously?

...and we all own and mostly know how to use a firearm, my guy. Even me. Saying that our political system is bonkers is an understatement. Saying that's an understatement is also an understatement.

Reminds me of Graham's Number, so large that the observable universe is far too small to contain an ordinary digital representation of the number, assuming that each digit occupies one Planck volume, but even the number of digits in this digital representation of Graham's number would itself be a number so large that its digital representation cannot be represented in the observable universe. Nor even can the number of digits of that number—and so forth, for a number of times far exceeding the total number of Planck volumes in the observable universe.