JUST POSTED: The Trump administration is rushing to approve a final wave of large-scale mining and energy projects on federal lands, encouraged by investors who want to try to ensure the projects move ahead even after President-elect Biden takes office

1) The Hitchhiker's Guide to a 2nd impeachment of President Trump: The House can impeach someone twice. And the Senate can even launch an impeachment trial after the President vacates his office.

Those dismayed at what is evidently considerable support for Trump must remember that fascism isn't a fad. It takes time to grow. It's been growing a long time. It will take a long time to root out. This will be the work ahead, even if Trump holds on for now. 1/

I think, too, we shld see past 1:1 conflation of American racism w/ fascism. Former is prerequisite of latter. It's always been there. Fascism hasn't. Fascism is racism surging *&* converging w/ multiple tributaries of violence (fantasy & fact), grievance, & personality cult.

So on one hand, Trump isn't an aberration; on the other, yes, he is worse than what's come before. I believe Trumpism is an inevitability. I also believe there is real historical reason to hope that its defeat--not yet, whoever wins--is also an inevitability. 3/

There have been U.S. fascisms before. The Klan, of course, & its politicians. I think also of the 1930s New Order of Cincinnatus, which elected a governor. They rejected the sieg heil salute as "*too* fascist." Emphasis theirs. They wanted just the right amount. 4/

And there have been plenty of racists in the White House. Trumpism is different--in part because of its vile wink, its grotesque "irony." Real fascism, the metastatic kind, is marked by a perversion of wit. That's how it gathers up fellow travelers. 5/

(THREAD) Independent journalists have already created a comprehensive list of impeachment trial witnesses who can *confirm* Team Trump helped plan the insurrection. Those witnesses can now be called. This thread lists the proof. Please RETWEET this widely.

(ARTICLE 2)

(ARTICLE 3)

(ARTICLE 4)

(ARTICLE 5)

So you’d think that under Trump there would’ve been more successful filibusters than ever given Democratic opposition.

Nope.

The vast majority of cloture votes passed — the Senate already nuked the filibuster for things Republicans care about



During the Trump era, there were an historic number of cloture motions filed in the Senate: 529 of them. 466 of them got votes — 93% of them passed

Compare to Obama’s first term: only 70% passed the first half, 57% in the

Why? In 2013, Senate Dems nuked the 60 vote threshold to get past a filibuster on nominees, except for SCOTUS, but left it for legislation

But when controlling Congress and the WH, the GOP didn’t move much legislation. They got what they wanted

So when Mitch McConnell says “no no, you have to keep the filibuster for legislation” it’s because he knows that it doesn’t matter when the GOP is a majority

The filibuster isn’t a useful tool for Democratic minorities — just Republicans

This essay is brought to you by several hours of combing through cloture motions for this spreadsheet, which shows a major drop in the filibuster blocking cloture after 2013 — with one exception highlighted, which I’ll explain in a second

When Trump knowingly accepted Russian help and obstructed the doj investigation and lied to the American people about who attacked our elections or extorting Ukraine the republicans didn't provide a valid counter argument

they asked "who unmasked?" or leaked or whistleblew

when Trump gave his acting officials and son-in-law and cabinet members security clearances that they didn't get cleared for Republicans look the other way

When he sided with Putin in Helsinki Republicans were in Moscow in secret meetings they voted not to release the transcript

When handed election security bills the Republicans voted against all but one of them which would strengthen funding for the machines that McConnell uses in his state

They helped Trump rail against the special counsel investigation into interference in our election

When a federal judge said Bill Barr had misrepresented that report they ignored it

When their own senate Intel report came out and said that Trump Associates were actively working to disseminate Russian misinformation into our public discourse during the election

And Ratcliffe said he wouldn't breathe the Intel committee on the interference

GOP ignored it.