Resistance HQ Bulletin 5, 11/15/24

… Jill Biden’s former Press Secretary Michael LaRosa responded harshly to Sherrilyn Ifill calling Donald Trump’s nominee for SecDef Pete Hegseth a “white supremacist” on MSNBC: “This shit has to stop. Opposing DEI initiatives does not make you a white supremacist. Conversations and demonization like this are a big part of the reason we got our asses kicked.”

… The Trump transition team is electing to bypass FBI background checks on some of its nominees, opting instead to use a private company. They are not required to do this, although every incoming president since World War 2 has.

… I talked a little in yesterday’s column about Trump talking about making his Cabinet appointments as “recess appointments” to get them in office prior to Senate confirmation hearings and votes. That would mean that both the House and the Senate would have to vote to adjourn. With a 3 seat majority in the Senate and a 4-5 seat majority in the House, it would take almost every Republican in both Chambers to go along with that after Trump takes office.

… If one of the Chambers (most likely the Senate), does not agree to adjourn but the other does, then the President has the power to order them adjourned at that point. However, that has never been done in the history of the United States.

… Trump does not believe in the Separation of Powers. He views the presidency as if it has monarchical powers. So, I certainly would not put it past him to try everything in his power to bypass the Senate “advice and consent” powers to put craziest in charge of massive federal agencies, including those with access to highly sensitive intelligence, with the stroke of a pen and procedural gimmicks.

… Once again we have to rely on the courage and integrity of a handful of establishment Republicans to stand up to Trump and stand for the Constitution. Each successive year since 2017, the number of Republicans willing to do that has steadily decreased. It may be zero now.

… Mike Pence has come out against Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr for HHS: “For the majority of his career, RFK Jr has defended abortion on demand during all 9 months of pregnancy, supports overturning Dobbs … If confirmed, RFK Jr would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed HHS Secretary in history.”

… It certainly would provide an interesting out for Republicans wanting to vote against RFK Jr to cite their reason as he’s too pro-choice. That would be a clever way to protect themselves politically from a right-wing primary challenger. As long as 4 vote against him, I don’t care what their reasons are.

… Hakeem Jeffries said he will be running for House Minority Leader again.

… The lobbying organization that represents the Quakers has given their annual Peace Award to Rand Paul.

… Trump’s new Border Czar and Kids in Cages architect Tom Homan went on Don Jr’s podcast last night and was asked what we could expect from him on his first day in office. Homan responded, “Shock and awe.”

… Rabiul Chowdhury, Chair of the Muslim group ‘Abandon Harris’ in PA is complaining that Trump won in PA and MI because of them and now they aren’t happy because he seems to be abandoning his campaign promises to them to side with Israel: “Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his Secretary of State pick and others.” Imagine that.

… Rick Scott joined Elon Musk to endorse Lara Trump for the appointment to fill Marco Rubio’s seat in the Senate. It is still Ron Desantis’s choice, and he has never gotten along with his predecessor Scott.

… The christian nationalist in charge of Oklahoma’s schools Ryan Walters, who recently announced mandatory Bible study in public schools, has asked Joe Rogan if he is willing to accept an appointment to his Library Advisory Committee. It’s all an ‘own-the-libs’ game to them.

… Bernie Sanders said that he is looking forward to Trump keeping his campaign promise to cap credit card interest rates at 10% and is happy to work with him and Senate Republicans on the bill. This will be fun to watch. Trump had no intention of keeping this promise, which Bernie knows.

… Lindsey Graham gave a long and tortured justification why he is likely going to vote for all Trump’s nominees including Matt Gaetz. Fox News Contributor Ben Domenech, who is married to Meghan McCain, responded: “Lindsey, we both know what John would think of you if you vote for Gaetz. You don’t need to do this.” Graham was close friends with John McCain.

… Domenech also wrote: “Gaetz is a sex trafficking drug addicted piece of shit. His eyes are permanently rimmed with the red rings of chemical boosters. In person, he smells like overexposed Axe Body Spray and stale Astroglide … The man has less principles than your average fentanyl addicted hobo … He’s a hypocritical ass with the worst Botox money can buy, pursuing an ever-thinner nose and higher cheekbones at every opportunity like a Real Housewife gone mad for fillers.”

… Axios is reporting that some House Democrats are frustrated with Nancy Pelosi and say that she should let Hakeem Jeffries run the show. Three quotes from Members: “She needs to take a seat.” “Making scattershot comments is not just unhelpful, it’s damaging.” “Hakeem has been tremendously graceful and respectful of her, but I don’t think she’s being respectful of him.”

… Axios reports that most of the frustration stems from Pelosi insisting that Joe Biden drop out of the race after the debate, which some think was a mistake.

… Stephen King announced that he was permanently leaving Twitter for Threads. He was bombarded with the usual hate and “own the libs” BS in his replies that has made the platform so toxic. Most of the replies from his fans told him to go to Bluesky instead. I’m on both, in my opinion Bluesky is better.

… King has written some of the darkest, most horrifying stories in the history of the human race. He said he had to quit X “because it got too dark.” Too dark for Stephen King … yikes!

… Marge Greene warns Senate Republicans that if they vote against RFK Jr “they’ll have to deal with Trump and they’ll have to deal with Elon Musk and his great new PAC.” So Musk’s money and Twitter platform is King of America? Maybe.

… Only 3 House Democrats won in districts that Trump also won. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA) is one of them, along with Jared Golden (ME) and Marcy Kaptur (OH). She was asked on CNN what other Dems could learn from her