Summary

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) warned Republicans against opposing Donald Trump’s nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as attorney general, stating that MAGA supporters would target their jobs if they break ranks.

Tuberville defended Trump’s right to choose his team, urging senators to “vote with President Trump.”

Gaetz, who recently resigned from Congress, is a divisive figure within the GOP, having faced FBI and House Ethics investigations over alleged misconduct.

Some Republicans are openly concerned about the nomination and are deliberating their next steps.

  • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Yeah I’m sure senators will respond well to threats — as well as some house members did to threats from Gym Jordan to make him Speaker.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      9 hours ago

      Yes. They don’t care. Stop wasting your time pointing out their overt hypocrisy. It’s exactly what they want.

    • tempest@lemmy.ca
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      15 hours ago

      I mean if you were hoping for some gotcha on them being hypocrites you should know by now that they don’t care and neither do their supporters.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        8 hours ago

        Tuberville himself wouldn’t, but a lot of Republicans thought that was dumb as shit and was directly hurting military readiness. He does not have a good reputation in his own party thanks to that stunt. Tuberville’s voters will still come out for him, but it takes more than that to get things done in Congress.

        It’s quite possible that more than a few Republicans will ignore Tuberville. The senate breakdown will be 47/53, so it doesn’t take many to stop it.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      Yes. He would have zero issue with your comment. He would smile. He is not attempting to be logically consistent

    • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      The same Tuberville that held up more than 300 of Biden’s non-political military promotions now thinks nominations should just get a rubber stamp?

      Of course. You don’t expect them to play by the same rules they try to impose on everyone else, do you?

      Mitch McConnell has openly acknowledged, admits to, and embraces the hypocrisy as a political tool to be wielded as necessary.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    And this is why they will fall in line. Tuberville’s threat is very, very real.

    Trump has long shown his power to make or break political careers in the GOP. No prominent member of the GOP has so much as criticized Trump and had their political careers remain intact. Liz Cheney is a prime example. Mitch fucking McConnell, who spent decades shaping the far right of the GOP and spent the past 10 years leading Trump’s rise to power in the first place, is now being ostracized by some in his own party for not being MAGA enough. Adam Kinzinger, a former harsh critic of Trump, is now apparently trying to revive his political career by following the Kevin McCarthy playbook of sucking up to Trump..

    They have both trifectas. They’ve got the White House/Congress/Supreme Court trifecta, along with the White House/HOR/Senate. It’s their game. They get to play the game by their rules. And Trump has said that they’re basically going to play Calvinball with the rules to get what they want. They have 53 seats in the Senate. If 51 of them decide that a simple majority can remove a member because they fucking say so, then that’s the rule and there’s nothing you or I can do about it.

    This is the 2nd Trump administration. Get on board or get run over. Trump has far, FAR more power and influence than he had during his first adminstration. Get in his way and you will be purged. It’s that simple.

    And remember, all you people all over the other threads bitching and saying you couldn’t vote for Harris because Liz Cheney showed up with her that one time…remember that you fucking voted for this.

    • recapitated@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      On the Harris🤎Cheney issue, I think it’s notable that the Harris turnout was actually quite large in many places, but the trump turnout was larger.

      I can’t remember what media I was doomfully consuming, but someone basically said Dems should not try to court Republicans to vote… because even if it works, they’ll arrive at the polls and vote Republican.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        I can’t remember what media I was doomfully consuming, but someone basically said Dems should not try to court Republicans to vote… because even if it works, they’ll arrive at the polls and vote Republican.

        Now this is an interesting take on it that at least makes some more sense. I don’t think we have any precedent to really go on; how many times do we really see someone from one party advocating for the other guy. It would be interesting to study how valid it actually is.

    • recapitated@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      I’m not aligned with Kinzinger but I don’t really see the kissass vibes. I think he remains as principled as ever but he is acknowledging the new conditions of the game.

    • NewNewAccount@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      This is the 2nd Trump administration. Get on board or get run over. Trump has *far, FAR* more power and influence than he had during his first adminstration.

      Hoping you’re wrong and his mandate fades quickly and he becomes an ineffective lame duck as early into this upcoming term as possible.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      then that’s the rule and there’s nothing you or I can do about it.

      That is NOT true!

      There’s nothing legal we can do about it, but that not the same thing.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Of course, you can always try to go the extralegal route, but you need a hell of a lot of heavily armed people willing to actually do that. Problem with that is that a good chunk of said people just got finished saying “Meh, nah.”

        • Billiam@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          Problem with that is that a good chunk of said people just got finished saying “Meh, nah.”

          “BUT OnLy 3 PERCeNt oF The coUnTrY FOugHt aGainSt tHE BRiTisH!”

    • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Nothing in that hill article involves sucking up to trump.

      He says Rubio’s not the worst pick. Which is true.

  • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    GOP Senators: Sorry, I won’t get to represent you this term. Thanks for the votes though, and the 6-figure salary and sweet benefits package. Byeeee!

    • stringere@sh.itjust.works
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      10 hours ago

      And lifetime pension regardless of time served.

      The pension value can be up to 80% of the member’s final salary, which is $174,000 per year. At an 80% rate, that’s a pension benefit of $139,200. (The Speaker of the House has a salary of $223,500. The Senate President makes $193,400, as do the majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate.) All benefits are taxpayer-funded.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        7 hours ago

        I don’t think that’s a necessarily bad thing. You don’t want to pay politicians less money, when there is very little for anyone not rich or corrupt to run as it is.

        In fact… I think we should raise all of their salaries to $200k a year, and implement a $10 national minimum wage. Each congress members salary is a multiple of 20 of the minimum wage in their state. So let’s say your state has a $15 minimum wage, congratulations you make $250,000 rather than the base.

        • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          The salary is fine but not only is “insider trading” allowed but there’s no divestment or blind trust requirement. Some politicians are “more equal” than others because they’re already millionaires. The whole lawmaker thing is a side-gig.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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            3 hours ago

            Right… that’s why there should be a high salary and good pension for running, getting elected and serving. If you can run once and technically retire decently, it would incentivize normal people to run. Hopefully once you have enough regular folk you can ban insider trading.

            But even as it is, insider trading only really helps the people with money already. What am I gonna take the pittance I have in the bank and invest it? I would only be slightly less poor, even with some amazing trades.

        • olympicyes@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          The tradition of giving pensions (at least for the president) started under Eisenhower. Everyone took one so Truman wouldn’t be humiliated because he was one of the few who entered office without prior wealth.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      qon-addled magabrainz: “OMG! Hillary is sex trafficking children out of the basement of a pizza parlor with no basement, YOU GUYZZZ!”

      { Actual sex trafficker gets nominated for AG }

      Also qon-addled magabrainz: “If anyone questions this pedo being AG, we will END YOU!”

  • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    Gaetz, who recently resigned from Congress

    What!? How did I miss that?
    Are you telling me he was gone and now Trump has brought him back… what the fuck.

    This must be how Marty McFly felt. This really is a Biff timeline

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      This really is a Biff timeline

      Biff is based on donvict, because it’s been known for decades just what a total asshole he is.

      https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/back-to-the-future-writer-biff-is-donald-trump-190408/

      In the movie, Biff Tannen – Hill Valley’s number-one citizen, America’s greatest living folk hero and Marty McFly’s arch nemesis – resides in a palatial penthouse atop a casino, which bears a striking resemblance to the Trump Plaza Hotel, which opened its doors five years before the film premiered.

    • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      What!? How did I miss that?

      They announced it at some off hour, specifically hoping it would fly under the radar.

      But the dots are really simple to connect.

      • Gaetz was about to be exposed as a kiddy diddler facing a lifetime on the sex offender registry list.
      • Trump swoops in and offers him the AG position. This gives Gaetz not only political cover to resign from congress without looking suspect, but also gives him a path to make the sex trafficking issues go away.
      • Gaetz quits congress abruptly, knowing that house ethics rules mean the report exposing his exploits with teenage girls will not be published after all.
      • With the ethics report safely under wraps and the Senate firmly in Trump’s pocket, Gaetz is going to get the AG nod.
      • Gaetz makes his own sex trafficking investigation disappear, makes the Trump investigations disappear, and vows to continue doing Trump’s bidding as AG without question.
      • Most likely, Trump and Gaetz will start to meddle in Trump’s state cases as well. While state governments and legal scholars will decry this interference as highly illegal, the Trump administration will continue to push forward, with the backing of the Supreme Court, under the legal premise of “We’re in charge now. Deal with it.”
    • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I believe it happened right after Trump’s AG news was announced. It also conveniently came right before an ethics report was about to be released on him after the investigations finished

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      He has to resign to be AG. But yes resigning on just the nom, with the ethics report set to be released Friday, does make the whole thing stink. Especially given that Trump is transactional.

      • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        I’m guessing this is somewhat of a Hail Mary play for his career given that the walls are closing in on the ethics probe and him making plenty of enemies.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      59 minutes ago

      It has come full circle and is continuing to march forward inside itself until it becomes a Mobius magapede.

      Nothing Republicans like more than being infinitely up each others asses.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    Its about time someone ended Tommy’s career. I can’t believe his own actions haven’t. Dude is just a grade A cunt

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    15 hours ago

    Sen. Tommy Tuberville must be aware that the next time anyone is going to vote on any US Senators is (hopefully) in 2026, right?