...ergo, W did a fraction of the damage to America, and closes at 22% approval rate.

Whereas, #PutinsBitch let's a half million people die, loses 3 million jobs and... is still at 32%?

"Patience, Grasshopper." I tell myself. "Give it time give it time give it time, November 2022 is eons away blah blah blah." Okay, but the 32% v. 22% thing cain't be a good thing.*obligatory smh*

Whatever one thinks about Zuckerberg & the Twitter Magnates, taking Trump off the "air" is the BESTUS GIFT they could ever give planet Earth.

I never thought I'd say this, but under Trump I missed the quiet, considered Statesmanship of George the Younger.*sigh*

Michael Flynn calling for a coup, in other words, isn’t something you should just forget about. It’s something you should pay attention to, and think about.

Yep, them damned Repugs are saying Trump (32% Favorable v. 55% Unfavorable) will be "reinstalled" to the Presidency come 4 August. Set your watch haha!

i think the old-fashioned filibuster, a-la james stewart, should absolutely come back, and there's probably sufficient support for it doing so. however, both of your ideas would be quite good as addenda to that change.

JL

John M from Ct. wrote,

Cheney may come back to haunt us all, but in this moment she has stood up for America when all of her colleagues have taken their stand against America.

Agreed, and while I hate her politics I have to respect what she's doing here, both on principle and on her political acumen.

Cheney, last seen practicing powerful political speech, isn't facing anything close to the end of her career. She sees that
Trumpism will die, either because Trump dies or else because he'll be way too busy in court fighting for his freedom. Furthermore, he's simply done too much damage, folks are tired of his schtick and he got his Twitter/Facebook bullhorn taken away, so he's considerably de-fanged. For God's sake Trump motivated 80 million 'Muricans to vote for Joe Freaking Biden! A-yup! That's WRITING ON THE WALL.

Cheney has nicely positioned herself for that inevitable post-Trump future.

ONCE THE FEVER BREAKS, Cheney will check some important boxes:

1- She was one of the lone honest adults in the GQP room.

What's not to like?

Remember the Fallen, yes, of course. But otherwise

Phooey on our National Anthem! Let's toss this monstrosity and instead go with "America, the Beautiful."

It's much easier to sing and since we're no longer doing
Colonial Empires nor WWIII (one hopes***) something less militaristic seems more appropriate.

America may continue to be everybody's distruptive Uncle at the [World's] Thanksgiving table but in the spirit of "fake it 'til you make it" we could start with a little rebranding.

***I strongly doubt that we're going to nuke ourselves into extinction. The reason I'm confident is that said Armageddon rich guys on all sides would lose everything that that makes it worth being rich. Greed is one of the most powerful allies one can have, amirite?

Here's a couple Sunday Night "You, too, can be a DJ" theme suggestions:

1- Anything pre-1960

2- Anything post-2000 (or -2010 or even -2020!)

3- British Invasion, natch.

4- Anything NOT FROM USA OR CANADA.

Bingo! Hit the nail on the head. I'm glad that I read your comment before I responded myself as I'd have been redundant. And redundant is a Pope Don the Irrelevant's thing, not mine.

The Repugs are famous for squawking about Our Sacred Constitution written as though by the Hand of God, Almighty.

The reason there's no Filibuster concept in there is because, um...lemme think a moment...aha! Because they didn't want it in there, hello?

C'mon, they rigged up the Senate to protect minority rights [slave State's rights, in other words] and freaking counted 60% of the [non-voting & definitely not created equal] slave population to to augment the Evildoer's power. What is the point of retaining such folly?

(calms down and wipes up the spittle)

Enough! Let each side do what they do when the People give them a turn. Let the People see which they like better and vote accordingly. Rinse and repeat, and you've got a functioning Constitutional Republic.

You know all the whack jobs in the GQP? Inaction (cue "Filibuster!") protects the Repugs.

FOR THE RECORD, Joe and company are playing the Repugs like the Repugs played Obama back in the day. Make it look like you're trying to reach across the aisle, and then, bam! Do whatever the hell you wanted to do in the first place. Payback is a mother...

I think Manchin's & Sinema's public reticence/foot dragging makes sense if you picture them running on some variation of, "I was a BULWARK against my Party's excesses!"

Yep, until he proves otherwise Joe is surely guilty of Practicing Effective Politics.

In all cases the discussion of potential reforms are addressed to two senators, and two senators only. All the Poli Sci chatter that dresses these discussions up ("it's still 3/5's, just a different 3/5's! That would be OK with *THEM*, wouldn't it?" "Maybe?") is just filler - in the end, it's going to be up to Schumer to crack the puzzle. And maybe he'll find a third or fourth approach to "reforming" the filibuster, as opposed to just outright abolishing it.

The one I like, and maybe others whose voices, votes, and opinions don't count in the Chuck-vs-Joe&Kristen debate, is the abolition, outright. (Please, don't say abolishment when abolition will do. Brevity = clarity)

Here's my thinking: the traditional reason for not just abolishing the practice, argued to the Dems, is, Oh NO! Wait til the Republicans get back in charge! Then you won't be able to use the filibuster to stop them from passing all their hateful legislation! Save it, save the filibuster, for when you need it for defense. Even if, for that reason, you have no offense whatever when you actually win the elections.

It doesn't make sense. The point of getting rid of the filibuster is to get back to majority rule, as you say above. And if the Senate majority, filibuster-free, can pass any legislation it likes (assuming the House and Prez are on board, of course), then that's because the majority of the people voted for its representatives to pass that legislation.

But, but ... the Republican legislation will be so awful - so hateful! How can we let that happen? Um... if it's that awful then the people will hate it too, and throw the bums out in subsequent elections.

Kind of like all the talk around here about how, if only Biden and the gang could actually pass its programs through the Senate THIS YEAR because the filibuster is gone, those programs wouldl win the hearts and minds of the American people, and the Dems would be returned to office for once, rather than being thrown out - again - for failing to ever pass any decent laws when they're in office. Because of the filibuster.

Since I happen to believe the American people, in a working majority, actually like the Dems approach to politics better, I'm willing to risk the Republicans passing a bunch of bum laws that will piss everyone off in 2029, in return for the Dems passing a bunch of fine laws that will make everyone happy in 2022 and 2023.

Get rid of the filibuster. It only helps the Republicans. It never helps the Democrats.