Rep Ocasio-Cortez: It's a massive, illegal power grab that the House and Senate have a sworn duty to stop.

[Dennis Donovan]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Trump is holding all the nation’s hospitals and vital services hostage to seize power from Congress and hand it over to billionaires.

We must state the truth: this is a constitutional crisis. It’s a massive, illegal power grab that the House and Senate have a sworn duty to stop.
2:51 PM · Jan 28, 2025

Link to tweet

[boston bean]

1. Hopefully many join and scream it from every outlet possible.

Local/national/tv/radio/social media. Every single Democrat needs a united message on this and go to their local stations.

[SocialDemocrat61]

35. And if the local stations refuse to put them on air

What do you suggest then?

[boston bean]

39. They will get on.

I see them on local news clips.

[SocialDemocrat61]

40. Yes I'm sure Sinclair stations

will put them on unedited to make their case.🙄

[Magoo48]

50. Why isn't the rest of our mob standing beside her, or messaging,

Or all in a group, on the steps, or organizing a sustained protest in their fucking building?

[Squaredeal]

2. So when do impeachment proceedings start?

Obviously, a no-brainer.

[Bettie]

4. We don't have the house

so.....approximately: never.

[Cirsium]

18. Always the same excuse

Somehow Republicans always find a way to relentlessly advance their agenda no matter how few seats they control, no matter how discredited they are, no matter how unpopular their policies are. They do whatever it takes.

[Bettie]

23. OH, I think that Dems should be

introducing articles of impeachment pretty much every day, as the magats would, but we need to realize that they will probably not go anywhere, but they should have them in the record at very least.

[Cirsium]

37. Very good

Things can change in a hurry if we fight. Too many Democrats say "we'll fight when we have the seats. GOTV!... and send more money!"

[Bettie]

38. They need to fight

even knowing that they lack the power to do more than make noise.

Republicans learned a long time ago that making noise will get the media interested. We need a few metaphorical bomb throwers.

[bdamomma]

24. We should

give them a taste of their own medicine. The MAGATS in the House and Senate.

[SocialDemocrat61]

44. Facts are not an excuse

Republicans have the majority in the House. There is no way an impeachment resolution would pass.

[Cirsium]

48. yes they are

"Facts" are always the excuse, and there are always some convenient "facts" available to excuse away inaction and failure.

No one said an impeachment would succeed. So what? You can't adjust what you do or don't advocate by some cold blooded calculus about what is practical or possible. Advocate for the impossible. That is what the Abolitionists did. That is what the Suffragettes did. That is what the Freedom Riders did.

You advocate for the right thing because it is the right thing, not because it is practical or even possible, and some day it will be possible. If you don't advocate for the right thing, it will never be possible.

[SocialDemocrat61]

49. It's a useless gesture

Just a ‘feel good’ action for some. Don’t expend political capital on something doomed to failure. It’s a waste of time.

[Cirsium]

54. I don't agree

Anything that facilitates a robust discussion with the general public about the emergency is valuable.

That doesn't expend political capital, it builds it. There is nothing more important.

We need an all out 24/7 fight not just to save the country, but to save the planet. All of this pick your battles, keep your powder dry, be practical, be realistic crap is exactly what caused this catastrophe. It is not the way out.

[SocialDemocrat61]

55. That's naive

It will fail instantly since republicans control both houses of Congress. Most people aren’t politically engaged, so it won’t facilitate any robust discussion. It’s a complete waste of time and effort.

[Cirsium]

56. Sure

So what? I you tailor what you advocate to what is possible there can never be any progress. Besides, the point is not to impeach him, the point is to say that he should be. This is not exactly a complicated proposition. I don't know what people are so afraid of. Maybe after the mid terms it can happen. But start talking about it now. Who knows? Just maybe people will vote for Democrats in the mid terms because we are talking about it, because they know that is what we are going to do. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Don't start with the assumption that we are going to lose. That's why we lose. Take the fight to them. Now.

The Republicans have been talking about eliminating the ACA from the time it was enacted. The Republicans have been talking about eliminating Social Security for 90 years. They don't sit around "ohhhh, it is not possible at this time, whatever can we do? Once we have more seats we will take a stand."

[SocialDemocrat61]

57. Complete fantasy

Any resolution for impeachment would be immediately voted down by Republicans. It wouldn't even be sent to committee for hearings. It's a complete waste of time. This is not something will happen if we all wish hard enough for it.
I want to see realistic, effective actions which help people, not useless feel good gestures that accomplish nothing.

[Cirsium]

58. We live in different worlds

I think we are talking past each other.

Communicating and taking strong stands is not tantamount to "useless feel good gestures that accomplish nothing." That is the arena where the right wing is beating us.

[SocialDemocrat61]

59. Yes I live in the real world.

[Cirsium]

60. No need for that

There's no call for insults.

[SocialDemocrat61]

61. But I do live in the real world

[Magoo48]

51. Then they have plenty of time to raise a ruckus. Maybe gather in a group and say

something like—We hate DC fascists—say it really loud, with some enthusiasm.

[Bettie]

53. Right? I'd really like to see that

but the majority of them are silent. A few speak up, but not enough.

The time for being polite is long over. Have they even heard what their "colleagues on the other side of the aisle" say? Apparently not.

[malaise]

3. You go girl!

Rec

[Celerity]

5. K & R

[Solly Mack]

6. Yes, she stated the truth.

[sop]

7. It's Trump Constitutional Crisis #482

[ProfessorPlum]

8. Thank god someone with a megaphone is speaking out against this

Where is everyone else?

[hannah]

9. Omg

I just thought , we and all our representatives have WOKE up. This is the fight of our lives. We HAVE to fight back now.

[bdamomma]

25. and that fat fuck is playing golf.

He's an evil monster.

[Celerity]

32. Well, here is another type of Dem take: John Fetterman Stuns The View Hosts, Defends Meeting With Trump At Mar-A-Lago,

Says Trump's NY Prosecution And Convictions Were Politically Motivated

[markpkessinger]

10. Yes, on paper, it is certainly illegal . . .

. . . but the problem is, if we have a House and Senate who are unwilling to hold the president accountable for illegal activities, and a Supreme Court that has declared Trump to be immune from prosecution, then the question arises as to whether we even have laws anymore.

[DENVERPOPS]

12. He acts like he doesn't need congress, at all

If they continue to allow Trump to "DICTATE" EVERYTHING, The Republicans, in the House and Senate, are so stupid, they don't realize the next thing he shuts down, will be the Legislative branch, and they will all be out on the street..........Congress can't hold him accountable, interfere, or impeach him, if there is no Congress.......He already has the complete control of the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch............There will be no need for the Legislative Branch, if he is going to keep MAKING HIS OWN rules and laws, and not even acknowledge existing laws........

On a side note:

He and his group are the equivalent of locking a bunch of monkeys in a room with bushel baskets of hand grenades......

No exaggeration........

[markpkessinger]

17. But if neither Congress nor the Supreme Court will hold him accountable . . .

. . . then effectively he doesn't need Congress!

[Think. Again.]

28. But we MUST try! And then try again!

[Cirsium]

20. No

The problem is that we are more interested in being nice to Republicans and pleasing big donors than we are in fighting back; more interested in beating down the Left tha taking on the extreme right. The Republicans are able to block or cripple the Democrats even when they don't control the legislature. When they can't do that, they go on an all out propaganda blitz on multiple levels.

All social and political change start with, is driven by, advocacy, militant action outside of the electoral process, not the right number of butts in seats in the legislature.

Enough with the excuses.

[moonshinegnomie]

11. this is going to end in violence

someones relative is going to die or be seriously hurt from these policies and their families will seek revenge.

[MadameButterfly]

13. millions of relatives will die

this is genocide. it needs to be called out for what it is

[Trust_Reality]

14. Indeed, if the options keep narrowing...

And, it would appear that the fascist members of the Supreme Court are co-conspirators in this power grab - they declared T Rump above the law "when performing official acts".

[birdographer]

19. That seems almost like a given

But what if it is a MAGA family? I suspect the response will be the same. We just have to be patient and let their understanding of who they voted for unfold naturally. They WILL be negatively affected one way or another, and they WILL find out it’s all their Dear Leader’s doing.

He is also now going global—not just the movement of innocent immigrants, but he has halted HIV, tuberculosis, and one other disease aid to low-income countries, something that Biden had been doing (don’t know if he started it). Once he starts the tariffs and sanctions and all his controlling wet-dream ideas, the global impact will grow, as will the angry response to it.

I do not believe this will end well for him, and I suspect it will end in the near future.

[Cirsium]

22. Passivity is a grave error

"Be patient and let their understanding of who they voted for unfold naturally?" That doesn't work.

I say, look to history. As for the MAGA supporters ever having any regrets, read what William Shirer discovered when interviewing everyday Germans after WWII. Every German city lay in ruins and millions had been killed.

"There was so much that was true that did not make sense: the monumental apathy of the German people and their deep regret, not that they had started the war, but merely that they had lost it; their whining complaints at the lack of food and fuel and their total lack of sympathy or even interest in the worse plight of the occupied peoples, for which they bore so much responsibility; their boredom at the very mention of the Nuremberg trial, which they were convinced was only an Allied propaganda stunt; their striking unreadiness for, or interest in, democracy, which we, with typical Anglo-Saxon fervor and blindness, were trying to shove down their throats."

― William L. Shirer, End of a Berlin Diary

Their deep regret, was not that they had started the war, but merely that they had lost it.

[birdographer]

42. I appreciate that

But that was then, this is now. How long a period is that that is described in that quote? Years?

I’m talking 6 months. And in 2024, not 1945. Oh, I know that we need to look at history and not repeat it, I get that. Did they have the internet to spread information about what Hitler was doing? Were the German people empowered as we are now? (Good grief, spend 6 days in a row not buying ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, and we could bring them to their knees.) Had Hitler been in power, then set on the sidelines, then put back into power by 50% of the population? What you are describing in that quote is donald’s first term. And I am not so sure that anyone was bored by the two impeachments (Nuremberg trials).

I get it, I get it, I get it—history is indeed repeating itself with donald. But Germany in the 1940’s didn’t have a Hitler to compare anything to. We do. And we are Americans, not Germans. When a man kills our mothers and fathers and children, we don’t whine and complain.

I guess you and I have different opinions of Americans and who we are (ignoring the cult—as I said, they will soon see the betrayal).

I am glad I am not as hopeless as it sounds like you are. I’m sorry you have given up.

[Cirsium]

47. The opposite

I am saying don't give up. Don't sit back watching it all collapse. Don't place your hope in MAGA cultists waking up. Don't expect that if things get bad that will change people. Fight now. Resist in every way that you can. Be proactive. Don't wait. Don't be in denial about the grave threat. Fight back now. Fight with everything you've got.

The harsh truth should make you burn with a red hot fury and you should have ironclad determination. Never mind "hope" and "hopeless." No time for indulging that. We do the right thing whether or not it seems hopeless. The right thing is to fight this monster with all of your being.

[bdamomma]

26. Revenge

from all the people he's hurting will cast upon him. It just a matter of time.

[birdographer]

43. Yes indeed

We need to just be patient and wait for it. He will get OUR revenge. And it won’t be pretty.

[Think. Again.]

29. It has begun with his violence already.

[Evolve Dammit]

15. why is this lost on other members of Congress? Fight dammit!

[Emile]

16. She is the leader of the Democratic party!

[KPN]

21. I suspect not as far as many other elected Dems are concerned --

at least, currently.

[TBF]

31. She is the only one really showing up & she has the charisma to lead. nt

[Think. Again.]

27. Thank You AOC !!!

Keep showing your colleagues the way!!!

[Irish_Dem]

30. The GOP congress insists their duty is only to Trump and Putin.

[orangecrush]

33. K&R

[SocialDemocrat61]

34. AOC is the future of the party

Wish more realized that.

[Passages]

36. I want to see her in Schumers spot yesterday.

[SocialDemocrat61]

41. I really hope Schumer retires at the end of his term

so she can run in his place.

[electric_blue68]

45. I sent my Sen- Schumer an e mail (bc it was too late to call) to tell him to Get Passionate (as well as stratigize)...

about Defending Medicaid.

Heck, he doesn't have worry, money wise. I don't begrudge his salary, I want serious passion which highlights, and empathizes with others vulnerability.

[Arazi]

46. Bravo!!!

(Been screaming this is a constitutional crisis through last night and today)

[usonian]

52. Brava for speaking up.

I have been urging (via DU) our former presidents and company to take the lead.

Presidents Biden, Obama, Clinton and Secretary Clinton, will you lead the way?
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219900398

Crickets. (not a blast on dems, just an observation)

LEADERS LEAD

[Mountainguy]

62. AOC is in the House

that's where impeachment starts.

Has she submitted the articles yet? If not then I don't know what she's asking be done.