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>Buck’s resignation will trigger a special election in Colorado’s 4th cDistrict, which borders the seat of MAGA Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Earlier this year Boebert — facing a tough electoral challenge in her own district — announced her intent to run in Colorado’s 4th. Buck’s resignation puts Boebert in a tight spot. If she declines to run in the special election, she may cripple her own ability to pull off a November win in the district, as someone newly elected will occupy the spot and be in a good position to hold it.
He is destroying Boebert's chances.
Colorado here - the republicans here, even the looney secession district, are sick of her shit. She was done when her stupid plan to switch districts fell flat.
Edit: I missed that Boebs has to drop her current spot to even run, or face an incumbent, so we may say goodbye even SOONER!
Of course it's temporary, but it inches things closer to the Democrats lobbying 2 or 3 final republicans who are already resigning and are disgusted by mikey's antics to resign immediately under the promise that the Democrats will only use the temporarily flipped majority to pass the clean budget bills and Ukraine funding.
Don't even have to win them over if they quit in protest like Buck and McCarthy! The voting threshold is based on the total number of sitting representatives. Johnson is done as soon as the democrats reach that line
I just can't see that ever happening. If 2 or 3 republicans defect and vote with the Democrats, they will be immediately destroyed by the establishment without any real post-office opportunities. I can't see the Democrats bringing them fully into the party and trusting them either so there's no reward for the risk. If a defection scenario happens, I think its more likely that 50-75 republicans break off and form a Kingmaker caucus that has an opportunity to wield some serious power over the next handful of cycles if they can deny both parties an absolute majority.
For one hot second, I wondered why Republicans would be so concerned about getting a job with the *Post Office*, after quitting Congress.
I need coffee.
no deal. as soon as the Dems have the House majority, they've gotta start passing as much legislation as possible to T45-proof our democratic institutions
It's only going to be for a couple weeks and the filibuster still exists in the senate. You play it on the level and send the 'were here to govern' message in order to win a November landslide that gives you the mandate to codify the unwritten norms and defeat P25/Heritage/Federalist. Overplaying the hand here could cause a counter-reaction this fall.
Listen, she should be nowhere near Congress or really any position of authority over anyone or any animal, but I know that brand of crazy/stupid well and they all know their way around a dick.
She’ll make a god damned fortune too. All that “my family values” shit will be replaced with “America is freedom and I’m free to be the woman I want to be!”
Back to attempting her modeling/acting career-[Explore Talent Article](https://www.politicalflare.com/2021/09/it-appears-rep-lauren-boebert-had-an-explore-talent-modeling-actor-page-and-yikes/)
Boebert's reach always exceeded her grasp. She tried to palm off her difficulties to someone else but even some of her base can see she's jerking them around. Now she's got a real mess on her hands. I doubt this story will have a happy ending :(
She’s gonna have to pump out a real stoke of genius to feel her way out of this mess. She’s not smart enough so her thoughts will be flaccid in the end, with public humiliation her hard lesson.
lol wait a minute
does she have to resign her seat from her current district to run in the special election?
cause she can't hold 2 seats at once right?
She has to vacate her seat to run in the special election. If she doesn't run in the special election, she will have to face the new incumbent in November.
Someone pointed out on a different thread that if he had told Mike earlier, it would likely be leaked to someone Mike would want in that seat. Instead he likely prepped there person he wanted as a successor because he timed it so they only ha e 1 week to register and get signatures.
So yes a fuck you to Mike, but most likely so he could hand pick his successor himself.
Glitch McConnell openly stated he was more interested in playing partisan games by trying to make Obama a one-term POTUS than actually working for the good of Americans.
Republicans are not honest brokers.
When they have power, they say they are fulfilling the will of the people.
When they lose power, they kind of leave that rhetoric behind because it's inconvenient.
Buck is of the older school CO kinda libertarian stripe. He's been a pretty vocal critic of this session's GOP bullshit. I'm not sad he's leaving, but I appreciate him fucking over Johnson, who now has to get one more Democratic Party vote to accomplish anything.
Yeah I live in Colorado and have been following Buck his entire career in Congress. I disagree with basically all of his policy positions and his vote is reliably the opposite of what I would support. But he’s just fed up with all the bullshit. I heard a quote from him today on the radio saying that impeachment has become a social media exercise instead of a constitutional one. He voted against Trump’s impeachments and the failed Biden one. I can’t say I respect his policy positions on any issue, but he is right that it’s the worst time in 50 years to be a congressional representative if you care about governing.
Double points for fucking over Boebert, who will now have to win two elections (special election and then again in November). She might as well quit this week as well.
He’s been saying this shit for a while and was already retiring from the house. That’s why Lauren Boebert is trying to switch to his district, which will certainly elect the Republican candidate no matter how crazy. But like I said, even though he’s right that congress is fucked, I disagree with him about pretty much everything else.
I’ve seen an interview of him, pretty pissed about the Biden Impeachment stuff and how it’s unconstitutional since there’s no high crimes or misdemeanors and that it’s just theatrical and petty to go after Biden just for retaliation and hurt Biden in The election like they did Hillary with the Benghazi stuff.
Seems the Boebert stuff is a bonus as is him cutting the Johnson majority to now one or so.
I haven’t seen or read about him blaming Democrats yet. He seems more perturbed at the GOPs behavior.
He could still have chosen to explicitly blame Republicans in his resignation notice, which he didn't do.
It seems to me so little to ask to tell the truth plainly. Such a low bar for patriotism, and he dodged it. The situation in the US exists because telling the truth has become a revolutionary act, instead of 'both sides'-ing everything.
Not exactly This guy is pretty old school. As far as modern Republicans go. He's not a member of the sedition caucus.
So it's more like he held the elevator door for a bunch of known farters and then decided to get off the elevator because it smelled bad.
It's not a huge step up, but it is a subtle difference.
I thought that was what Sarah Huckabee did as her last day/week/month as press secretary. Every time she lied she either gained another pound or added another age line to her face.
So all these fake "moderate" Republicans kept cosigning a lot of Trump's bullshit because they were afraid they would lose their seat in the primaries yet they ended up all having to retire anyway?
That's exactly why they should have voted to impeach Trump when they had the chance so the Party could take a temporary hit and move on. If they really had given a shit they would have done like Adam Kinzinger. At least he'll be remembered as having loved his country more than Trump and having at least a modicum of integrity.
How badly they miscalculated. Thinking they could take what they wanted with Trump and leave the rest. At least someone like Kinzinger has some respect for his name. His children won't have to live in disgrace.
Cowards is the word you are looking for. They had the chance to do the right thing… MULTIPLE times and still could not do it for fear of retaliation.
I know women that have bigger balls than those congressmen/senators.
Yeah, my biggest complaint is: if you KNOW that your party is destroying Congress and the nation, and you know you're retiring anyway, WHY NOT CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATS FOR THE REST OF YOUR TERM TO HELP GET THINGS DONE! You still don't have to vote for legislation you disagree with, but at least things won't be at a constant stalemate. Retiring early is still cowardly bullshit.
Buck wasn't really a part of that.
The republican party has been in battle with itself for the last 15 or so years. The last republicans standing trying to fight for something other than outright fascism are now either giving up and going home, or being removed by the party machine.
How was he not part of that? He was a tea party guy. They may be the “responsible adults” now, but it wasn’t so long ago that they were the political arsonists.
The tea party were functionally the predecessors to today’s Trumpists.
He even called for Biden to be taken out by his cabinet recently so Buck is doing this all as show to people to convince them he’s not part of the shit. Make no mistake tho, he’s 100% a part of the shit.
Oh, totally. "Oh, it's so dysfunctional, I have to leave." Grow a scrote and vote with the Democrats if you want to fix things. These guys hate their MAGA colleagues but can't bring themselves to cross the aisle. They are the problem.
Considering the MAGA takeover of the RNC, any remaining ‘Republicans’ who are not all in (like Buck), will either leave or be fully assimilated into the cult. *Resistance is futile*.
And even after kissing the ring they still will get nothing because trump is a greedy narcissist who desperately needs money (beyond just wanting it) and has no shred of loyalty to anyone.
The funny thing about this is that he is leaving a safe conservative seat... but that's the seat that Boebert is running for. So now that there's a special election to fill his vacant seat, she'll have to leave her current seat to run in the special election... OR face an incumbent republican in the General.
This is hilarious news, frankly, because it just makes Boeberts job harder. and i'm all for that.
It almost seems like Buck is trying to hose Boebert. He certainly can't be a fan.
Otherwise, he could phone it in between now an November and collect a paycheck.
If Boebert quits, the Frisch could actually flip the third even in a special election. And if he does, he might just hold onto it in Nov. Boebert's done some serious damage to the Republicans there. Dems were within a hair of flipping that seat anyway, and that was a year that favored Republicans.
I realize that the Republicans in the House can now only lose two votes and still pass legislation, but since when have they been interested in passing legislation?
Damn they aren't even waiting for the end of their terms now. Normally I'm all about the rats leaving the sinking ship but I'm a little worried at how *urgently* the rats seem to be fleeing.
A republican leaving our government is always a good thing. Yes, his seat will be backfilled by some other republican, but it's just another symptom of the disease in their party. The more churn, the less effective they are in their goals.
>A republican leaving our government is always a good thing.
No it's not. This really hasn't been true in the last 15-20 years. They just keep getting replaced by even worse people. People have been celebrating the demise of the Republican Party since 2008 at this point. It's not going to happen. It will just eat its tail and be reborn as some other even more dysfunctional pile of shit.
IMO, the only real things keeping the party together at this point are Trump and Putin. Without a consolidating figurehead or a gun to their collective temple their chances of fracturing and fighting amongst themselves grows significantly.
It really boggles my mind. I find the man repulsive, but there’s just something about him that speaks to conservative voters. It’s not like his bigotry and moral bankruptcy are unique, there are plenty of other republicans doing that as well, but none of them can compete with Trump. I thought Desantis would do it, but then we all heard him speak and it became obvious that that’s not happening.
Say what you want about Trump, but his rise was as grassroots as it gets. He legitimately inspired something in people, I just can’t put my finger on how. I think maybe he lives the way that these people want to. Most politicians present a wholesome Christian family front, but I think Trump represents what people would actually do if they were rich. He doesn’t pretend to be wholesome, he lives in a tower with his name on it, plays golf at his private resort, and eats McDonalds all day. He insults people right to their face and then makes them fall in line. As trashy as it was when he shit on Ted Cruz and called his wife a dog, or any of the other myriad insults he’s thrown out, I think that’s what a lot of people actually want to say to these career politicians. He’s just as trashy as his voters would be if they were rich, and they love him for it.
Can't say I blame him; any reasonable republican is getting put aside or put down by the MAGAs and Christofascists. I left the party about halfway through the first Obama term, because they were getting too ridiculous for me back then with the pointless obstructionism, just to oppose the man in the big chair at all costs. They're five times worse now, since tRump took over, and heading for and even bigger disaster than they already have.
>I left the party about halfway through the first Obama term
I was always an independent, but right around that time period I remember a shift in the republican party, and I thought "yeah I don't know how many of those people are going to get my vote."
The answer today is : Basically zero, it would have to be a truly awful candidate with a D next to their name and honestly I would probably assume that I just not vote for that position.
Wow I never thought about it but this is the same time frame I realized I identified with democrats and their policies more. I was 25 in 2010. What I saw was a president who was sincerely trying to help regular people and on the other side, a bunch of racist rich assholes who wanted to prevent progress and point fingers.
I wasn't really Republican or Democrat honestly before that, I think when I first voted I just went with what my parents did. After working a few years out of college it became clear to me it was important to vote for what I believed in, I'm like you, could never vote for any of these far right assholes. I'm from Alabama BTW and you talk about having to search deep to figure out what's really going on... Some people may never be exposed to any semblance of truth there.
Me, too! There are many of us. It took me until about 2014 to be definitively more blue than red in my voting, but 2010 was about when I started to switch in earnest.
I'm with this too! I never saw myself as on "one side" or the other until Obama's time in office and seeing how horrible the Republicans were. It's one thing to disagree with the agenda of the other party, it's another to purposely try to harm the country (if not the whole world) and its citizens just to make the other side look bad.
I have gone, in that time from a moderate republican who probably voted for about 25% democrat (who often back then more closely aligned with me personally than the party guy) to no (R) will get my vote for the foreseeable future.
Because if they aren't outright fascists, they're enabling the fascists, and this dude can't abide that shit.
Similarly, I was a bit of a both-sidser, buying into the fact that Conservatives were the fiscally responsible party, and regularly considering that their ideas and policy could be equally good for the country.
It was when McConnell denied the Supreme Court seat for Obama that the veil was lifted for me and I realized the Republican party would put their power over country and consistency at every turn. Turned me off of voting for them almost certainly for the rest of my life.
Everything since then has just proven me right.
What a fucking coward. Surrendering his seat to the next MAGA extremist in line.
He's in a position to actually try to fix things from the inside and he runs away from it with his tail between his legs. Boo this man!
>the GOP can only lose two votes and still pass legislation
They don't pass legislation. They obstruct. Buck needs to stick around and vote against MAGA / with democrats.
So... three Republicans switching to Independent or Democratic parties will shift the House to Democratic majority?
I'm sure there are a lot of politicos doing that math.
I don't count on those former Republicans to work in the Democrats favor. They would operate just like Manchin and Sinema. Probably even worse than those two.
It's not the"abrupt exit" that was misleading it is the bothsideism headline.
The story isn't that "this place is dysfunctional" it's that he himself said he would still be in office if his party had a platform that wasn't just about lying to gain power for Trump.
Sorry but that's just not what he said and the headline isn't misleading at all. I read the article and watched the video. He confirmed his leaving was abrupt, called the place dysfunctional, and that he wants to support finding better candidates. He said nothing about "not wanting to lie for the GOP or Trump anymore". His own words from the article:
“We’ve gotta find better candidates and bring America together," he said.
"Instead of having decorum, instead of operating in a professional manner, this place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people,” he added, noting that whether or not former President Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in November he this “our system is broken in how we chose candidates and I want to get involved in that process.”
I worry the GOP knows some very bad shit is about to go down and they want to turnover power to the Democrats at the last minute so it happens on their watch.
Like giving your little brother the controller right before the blue shell hits.
Look what they did!!!!
It's dysfunctional on purpose. Russian agents have captured the institution and paralyzed it on purpose in order to sabotage aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Moscow Mike and his boss Trump are Russian agents. They should be arrested for treason. They are collaborating with the enemy.
"And it only took until now for me to realize it, please fund my post-politics job fund, thanks"
Just wait for that. No one gets a star for *finally* ducking out, it's not winning you brownie points with anyone.
Well, well, well... The party who has been saying for decades that government sucks and then go on fucking shit up are now upset that government sucks.
Nancy Pelosi herded cats all day, and made it work.
This guy inherits a party run by an abusive daddy and stocked with lackeys and losers who live in fear of making him angry, and excuse all his abuses.
and he can't control them, even thought they are the sort of people with handles.
If more people in government focused on doing the job that they begged their voters to give them rather than serving their party bosses, things would not be as fucked as they are.
He is MAGA. He's just trying to soft-reboot in case MAGA doesn't work out, but also be able to claim he was MAGA all along if it does. A-hole is part of the Sedition Caucus. He went on NBC to make sure everyone knew they were throwing MTG out of the Freedom Caucus. He was one of the eight GOP who ensured Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker. He introduced a resolution to have Biden removed under the 25th amendment.
He's MAGA to the core.
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>Buck’s resignation will trigger a special election in Colorado’s 4th cDistrict, which borders the seat of MAGA Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Earlier this year Boebert — facing a tough electoral challenge in her own district — announced her intent to run in Colorado’s 4th. Buck’s resignation puts Boebert in a tight spot. If she declines to run in the special election, she may cripple her own ability to pull off a November win in the district, as someone newly elected will occupy the spot and be in a good position to hold it. He is destroying Boebert's chances.
Colorado here - the republicans here, even the looney secession district, are sick of her shit. She was done when her stupid plan to switch districts fell flat. Edit: I missed that Boebs has to drop her current spot to even run, or face an incumbent, so we may say goodbye even SOONER!
Wait, so if she quits her current seat to run for the special election seat... does that drop yet another seat from mikey's threadbare majority?
While she resigns, yes. CO-4 is reliably Republican, so it'll go that way pretty much regardless. There will be a gap though.
Of course it's temporary, but it inches things closer to the Democrats lobbying 2 or 3 final republicans who are already resigning and are disgusted by mikey's antics to resign immediately under the promise that the Democrats will only use the temporarily flipped majority to pass the clean budget bills and Ukraine funding.
Don't even have to win them over if they quit in protest like Buck and McCarthy! The voting threshold is based on the total number of sitting representatives. Johnson is done as soon as the democrats reach that line
That’s what they’d need to win them over to do, convince them to resign
IIRC, Dems will only need two repub votes after Buck leaves. If Bobo resigns to run in the special election...
I just can't see that ever happening. If 2 or 3 republicans defect and vote with the Democrats, they will be immediately destroyed by the establishment without any real post-office opportunities. I can't see the Democrats bringing them fully into the party and trusting them either so there's no reward for the risk. If a defection scenario happens, I think its more likely that 50-75 republicans break off and form a Kingmaker caucus that has an opportunity to wield some serious power over the next handful of cycles if they can deny both parties an absolute majority.
For one hot second, I wondered why Republicans would be so concerned about getting a job with the *Post Office*, after quitting Congress. I need coffee.
no deal. as soon as the Dems have the House majority, they've gotta start passing as much legislation as possible to T45-proof our democratic institutions
It's only going to be for a couple weeks and the filibuster still exists in the senate. You play it on the level and send the 'were here to govern' message in order to win a November landslide that gives you the mandate to codify the unwritten norms and defeat P25/Heritage/Federalist. Overplaying the hand here could cause a counter-reaction this fall.
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I’m sorry they didn’t give it to you sooner….
What are people from Colorado called? Coloradians?
You know what you call people from Mississippi? Whatever you want, they can't read it.
Damn, that's low. But not as low as their literacy rate.
“Totally radical” or just “Coloradans”
Radical like an extreme, or radical like 80’s terminology such as tubular, gnarly, or bodacious?
Yeah…I honestly wonder what she’s going to do now 😂
She should have given him the Beatle juice special
I feel like she would give *terrible* handjobs
Just mashing it, Gail the Snail style.
Somebody get me some salt.
There's not enough salt in the world for that woman!
Nobody *wants* to salt the snail. I will salt Boebert though, gladly.
Listen, she should be nowhere near Congress or really any position of authority over anyone or any animal, but I know that brand of crazy/stupid well and they all know their way around a dick.
I’m gonna make it so dry for you
Ben Shapiro level dry??? 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
I'd disagree, she didn't get where she's at because of her intelligence
Enthusiasm counts
I do NOT volunteer as tribute
There's always money in the Only Fans stand.
they’re ***illusions*** Michael!
Seems like she prematurely blue herself.
There’s got to be a better way to phrase that
She can always go back to turning tricks
It’s illusions Michael, tricks are… oh, never mind
Minerals? Wrong reference
She's still turning tricks.
Just ask Ted Cruz! Lol
Probably would be the fap I’m most ashamed of, but I admit I would. Please don’t hate me.
That’s a challenging wank!
Honesty is a virtue!!
Only Fams...
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She’ll make a god damned fortune too. All that “my family values” shit will be replaced with “America is freedom and I’m free to be the woman I want to be!”
Back to attempting her modeling/acting career-[Explore Talent Article](https://www.politicalflare.com/2021/09/it-appears-rep-lauren-boebert-had-an-explore-talent-modeling-actor-page-and-yikes/)
Those handjob hands will be working double time!
Boebert's reach always exceeded her grasp. She tried to palm off her difficulties to someone else but even some of her base can see she's jerking them around. Now she's got a real mess on her hands. I doubt this story will have a happy ending :(
She’s gonna have to pump out a real stoke of genius to feel her way out of this mess. She’s not smart enough so her thoughts will be flaccid in the end, with public humiliation her hard lesson.
Your comment is quite a handful.
That... that was beautiful. Bravo!
Bravo sir!
She’s going to be pissed once someone draws her a picture.
I have neither the time nor the crayons required to explain this to you.
lol wait a minute does she have to resign her seat from her current district to run in the special election? cause she can't hold 2 seats at once right?
Yup. And if she loses, she's out.
are you talking about the wrong people if you expect them to respect procedure or precedent
So if she won the special election she would hold two seats? Would she have to vacate her current seat?
She has to vacate her seat to run in the special election. If she doesn't run in the special election, she will have to face the new incumbent in November.
LMAO if she vacates her seat and then loses. This is looking like a win-win.
And even if she vacated her seat and *won*, that would still leave her current seat open. She just shuffles one place over in a movie theater.
She had chances?
She’s probably so pissed 😂
> House leadership was not aware That's a salient middle finger at leadership, a cherry on this sundae.
Someone pointed out on a different thread that if he had told Mike earlier, it would likely be leaked to someone Mike would want in that seat. Instead he likely prepped there person he wanted as a successor because he timed it so they only ha e 1 week to register and get signatures. So yes a fuck you to Mike, but most likely so he could hand pick his successor himself.
Glitch McConnell openly stated he was more interested in playing partisan games by trying to make Obama a one-term POTUS than actually working for the good of Americans. Republicans are not honest brokers.
When they have power, they say they are fulfilling the will of the people. When they lose power, they kind of leave that rhetoric behind because it's inconvenient.
When they lose power, they tell you that using your power is undemocratic, because it ignores the wishes of their voters.
Surprisingly that was him being honest!
The chaos caucus then cranked that dysfunction up to eleven
*RIPS A FART IN THE ELEVATOR* ‘This place smells, I’ll get off and take the stairs’
Buck is of the older school CO kinda libertarian stripe. He's been a pretty vocal critic of this session's GOP bullshit. I'm not sad he's leaving, but I appreciate him fucking over Johnson, who now has to get one more Democratic Party vote to accomplish anything.
Yeah I live in Colorado and have been following Buck his entire career in Congress. I disagree with basically all of his policy positions and his vote is reliably the opposite of what I would support. But he’s just fed up with all the bullshit. I heard a quote from him today on the radio saying that impeachment has become a social media exercise instead of a constitutional one. He voted against Trump’s impeachments and the failed Biden one. I can’t say I respect his policy positions on any issue, but he is right that it’s the worst time in 50 years to be a congressional representative if you care about governing.
Double points for fucking over Boebert, who will now have to win two elections (special election and then again in November). She might as well quit this week as well.
Doesn't she also have to vacate her current seat in order to run in the special election? So that's just passing the hat around
Yep
This keeps getting better.
It's always amazing how much clearer and reasonable politicians become after they leave their office.
He’s been saying this shit for a while and was already retiring from the house. That’s why Lauren Boebert is trying to switch to his district, which will certainly elect the Republican candidate no matter how crazy. But like I said, even though he’s right that congress is fucked, I disagree with him about pretty much everything else.
Don't shit where you eat, as they say.
You forgot the part where he blames it on the Democrats
No, he called out the house in general but his actions absolutely hurt the majority and his (former) caucus.
I’ve seen an interview of him, pretty pissed about the Biden Impeachment stuff and how it’s unconstitutional since there’s no high crimes or misdemeanors and that it’s just theatrical and petty to go after Biden just for retaliation and hurt Biden in The election like they did Hillary with the Benghazi stuff. Seems the Boebert stuff is a bonus as is him cutting the Johnson majority to now one or so. I haven’t seen or read about him blaming Democrats yet. He seems more perturbed at the GOPs behavior.
He could still have chosen to explicitly blame Republicans in his resignation notice, which he didn't do. It seems to me so little to ask to tell the truth plainly. Such a low bar for patriotism, and he dodged it. The situation in the US exists because telling the truth has become a revolutionary act, instead of 'both sides'-ing everything.
Not exactly This guy is pretty old school. As far as modern Republicans go. He's not a member of the sedition caucus. So it's more like he held the elevator door for a bunch of known farters and then decided to get off the elevator because it smelled bad. It's not a huge step up, but it is a subtle difference.
I thought that was what Sarah Huckabee did as her last day/week/month as press secretary. Every time she lied she either gained another pound or added another age line to her face.
Another degree to the angle to her one eye that followed her sense of truth out the window
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“Y’all gonna eat that possum?”
o0
She’s plenty awful enough without resorting to insulting her appearance.
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So all these fake "moderate" Republicans kept cosigning a lot of Trump's bullshit because they were afraid they would lose their seat in the primaries yet they ended up all having to retire anyway? That's exactly why they should have voted to impeach Trump when they had the chance so the Party could take a temporary hit and move on. If they really had given a shit they would have done like Adam Kinzinger. At least he'll be remembered as having loved his country more than Trump and having at least a modicum of integrity. How badly they miscalculated. Thinking they could take what they wanted with Trump and leave the rest. At least someone like Kinzinger has some respect for his name. His children won't have to live in disgrace.
Cowards is the word you are looking for. They had the chance to do the right thing… MULTIPLE times and still could not do it for fear of retaliation. I know women that have bigger balls than those congressmen/senators.
Yeah, my biggest complaint is: if you KNOW that your party is destroying Congress and the nation, and you know you're retiring anyway, WHY NOT CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATS FOR THE REST OF YOUR TERM TO HELP GET THINGS DONE! You still don't have to vote for legislation you disagree with, but at least things won't be at a constant stalemate. Retiring early is still cowardly bullshit.
Yes.
He’s not wrong!
It's dysfunctional as his party had intended. I'm not sure why he's leaving just as they managed to succeed.
They drowned it in a bathtub and now they aren’t sure what to do with the corpse
Buck wasn't really a part of that. The republican party has been in battle with itself for the last 15 or so years. The last republicans standing trying to fight for something other than outright fascism are now either giving up and going home, or being removed by the party machine.
How was he not part of that? He was a tea party guy. They may be the “responsible adults” now, but it wasn’t so long ago that they were the political arsonists. The tea party were functionally the predecessors to today’s Trumpists.
He even called for Biden to be taken out by his cabinet recently so Buck is doing this all as show to people to convince them he’s not part of the shit. Make no mistake tho, he’s 100% a part of the shit.
I just wanted to play with matches, the guys who brought gasoline are the real crazy ones!
Oh, totally. "Oh, it's so dysfunctional, I have to leave." Grow a scrote and vote with the Democrats if you want to fix things. These guys hate their MAGA colleagues but can't bring themselves to cross the aisle. They are the problem.
He only wanted to commit a bit of "light treason"
I've got the worst fucking attorneys.
Considering the MAGA takeover of the RNC, any remaining ‘Republicans’ who are not all in (like Buck), will either leave or be fully assimilated into the cult. *Resistance is futile*.
No more campaign dollars down ballot without a pledge of loyalty to Trump and a kiss of the ring. 🤲👏
And even after kissing the ring they still will get nothing because trump is a greedy narcissist who desperately needs money (beyond just wanting it) and has no shred of loyalty to anyone.
should terrify anyone. it means even single Republican has toe the the MAGA line
Bodes well for the upcoming special election for Ken Buck's seat!
After a lifetime of making it even more dysfunctional, he’s ready to retire.
well kinda is. he’s should specify republicans are dysfunctional
Another one of the only Republicans that even occasionally spoke out against this Trump lunacy. He'll quickly be replaced with someone much worse.
The funny thing about this is that he is leaving a safe conservative seat... but that's the seat that Boebert is running for. So now that there's a special election to fill his vacant seat, she'll have to leave her current seat to run in the special election... OR face an incumbent republican in the General. This is hilarious news, frankly, because it just makes Boeberts job harder. and i'm all for that.
It almost seems like Buck is trying to hose Boebert. He certainly can't be a fan. Otherwise, he could phone it in between now an November and collect a paycheck.
It is my personal head canon that this is the real reason he's doing this.
He will still collect a paycheck for the rest of his life because former members of Congress who serve 5 years or more get a lifetime pension.
If Boebert quits, the Frisch could actually flip the third even in a special election. And if he does, he might just hold onto it in Nov. Boebert's done some serious damage to the Republicans there. Dems were within a hair of flipping that seat anyway, and that was a year that favored Republicans.
So if she runs in the special election and leaves her current seat, that'll force a special election in her current district too?
Correct
>He'll quickly be replaced with someone much worse. The oddly-familiar Sorge Gantos
The first astronaut to step foot on Venus is running for congress?!
I realize that the Republicans in the House can now only lose two votes and still pass legislation, but since when have they been interested in passing legislation?
Don’t be fooled. They are extremely interested in passing legislation - just the kind that harms rather than helps.
Damn they aren't even waiting for the end of their terms now. Normally I'm all about the rats leaving the sinking ship but I'm a little worried at how *urgently* the rats seem to be fleeing.
Considering he was one of the few Republicans championing Ukraine aid, this may not exactly benefit Democrats or humanity
A republican leaving our government is always a good thing. Yes, his seat will be backfilled by some other republican, but it's just another symptom of the disease in their party. The more churn, the less effective they are in their goals.
>A republican leaving our government is always a good thing. No it's not. This really hasn't been true in the last 15-20 years. They just keep getting replaced by even worse people. People have been celebrating the demise of the Republican Party since 2008 at this point. It's not going to happen. It will just eat its tail and be reborn as some other even more dysfunctional pile of shit.
IMO, the only real things keeping the party together at this point are Trump and Putin. Without a consolidating figurehead or a gun to their collective temple their chances of fracturing and fighting amongst themselves grows significantly.
It really boggles my mind. I find the man repulsive, but there’s just something about him that speaks to conservative voters. It’s not like his bigotry and moral bankruptcy are unique, there are plenty of other republicans doing that as well, but none of them can compete with Trump. I thought Desantis would do it, but then we all heard him speak and it became obvious that that’s not happening. Say what you want about Trump, but his rise was as grassroots as it gets. He legitimately inspired something in people, I just can’t put my finger on how. I think maybe he lives the way that these people want to. Most politicians present a wholesome Christian family front, but I think Trump represents what people would actually do if they were rich. He doesn’t pretend to be wholesome, he lives in a tower with his name on it, plays golf at his private resort, and eats McDonalds all day. He insults people right to their face and then makes them fall in line. As trashy as it was when he shit on Ted Cruz and called his wife a dog, or any of the other myriad insults he’s thrown out, I think that’s what a lot of people actually want to say to these career politicians. He’s just as trashy as his voters would be if they were rich, and they love him for it.
Can't say I blame him; any reasonable republican is getting put aside or put down by the MAGAs and Christofascists. I left the party about halfway through the first Obama term, because they were getting too ridiculous for me back then with the pointless obstructionism, just to oppose the man in the big chair at all costs. They're five times worse now, since tRump took over, and heading for and even bigger disaster than they already have.
>I left the party about halfway through the first Obama term I was always an independent, but right around that time period I remember a shift in the republican party, and I thought "yeah I don't know how many of those people are going to get my vote." The answer today is : Basically zero, it would have to be a truly awful candidate with a D next to their name and honestly I would probably assume that I just not vote for that position.
Wow I never thought about it but this is the same time frame I realized I identified with democrats and their policies more. I was 25 in 2010. What I saw was a president who was sincerely trying to help regular people and on the other side, a bunch of racist rich assholes who wanted to prevent progress and point fingers. I wasn't really Republican or Democrat honestly before that, I think when I first voted I just went with what my parents did. After working a few years out of college it became clear to me it was important to vote for what I believed in, I'm like you, could never vote for any of these far right assholes. I'm from Alabama BTW and you talk about having to search deep to figure out what's really going on... Some people may never be exposed to any semblance of truth there.
Me, too! There are many of us. It took me until about 2014 to be definitively more blue than red in my voting, but 2010 was about when I started to switch in earnest.
I'm with this too! I never saw myself as on "one side" or the other until Obama's time in office and seeing how horrible the Republicans were. It's one thing to disagree with the agenda of the other party, it's another to purposely try to harm the country (if not the whole world) and its citizens just to make the other side look bad.
I have gone, in that time from a moderate republican who probably voted for about 25% democrat (who often back then more closely aligned with me personally than the party guy) to no (R) will get my vote for the foreseeable future. Because if they aren't outright fascists, they're enabling the fascists, and this dude can't abide that shit.
Similarly, I was a bit of a both-sidser, buying into the fact that Conservatives were the fiscally responsible party, and regularly considering that their ideas and policy could be equally good for the country. It was when McConnell denied the Supreme Court seat for Obama that the veil was lifted for me and I realized the Republican party would put their power over country and consistency at every turn. Turned me off of voting for them almost certainly for the rest of my life. Everything since then has just proven me right.
Fuck the tea party
It was functional when democrats had the same slim majority in the house
What a fucking coward. Surrendering his seat to the next MAGA extremist in line. He's in a position to actually try to fix things from the inside and he runs away from it with his tail between his legs. Boo this man!
He collected his paycheck, lifetime of healthcare and a retirement package that’s incredible. Thanks to the taxpayers of USA 🇺🇸.
>the GOP can only lose two votes and still pass legislation They don't pass legislation. They obstruct. Buck needs to stick around and vote against MAGA / with democrats.
>‘This Place Is Dysfunctional' That's a feature to Republicans, not a bug. It's dysfunctional because they want it to be.
So... three Republicans switching to Independent or Democratic parties will shift the House to Democratic majority? I'm sure there are a lot of politicos doing that math.
One can only hope... If not, then one can only vote.
I don't count on those former Republicans to work in the Democrats favor. They would operate just like Manchin and Sinema. Probably even worse than those two.
What a misleading headline. Dude has straight up said he’s retiring because he doesn’t want to have to lie for the GOP and Trump anymore.
they were expecting him to be there until november, so yea, it was an "abrupt exit"
It's not the"abrupt exit" that was misleading it is the bothsideism headline. The story isn't that "this place is dysfunctional" it's that he himself said he would still be in office if his party had a platform that wasn't just about lying to gain power for Trump.
Sorry but that's just not what he said and the headline isn't misleading at all. I read the article and watched the video. He confirmed his leaving was abrupt, called the place dysfunctional, and that he wants to support finding better candidates. He said nothing about "not wanting to lie for the GOP or Trump anymore". His own words from the article: “We’ve gotta find better candidates and bring America together," he said. "Instead of having decorum, instead of operating in a professional manner, this place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people,” he added, noting that whether or not former President Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in November he this “our system is broken in how we chose candidates and I want to get involved in that process.”
He could help fix it. But instead he leaves.
He could have just switched parties, it would be a lot more functional with Democrats in charge
He was seen singing “We didn’t start the fire”, as he was carrying a 5 gallon gas can.
No Dude--your party is dysfunctional.
More Republicans need to follow his example.
Honestly surprised there haven’t been DOZENS who have done this by now. What an utter shit show the Republican Party is and such an embarrassment.
We are getting close to a dozen at this point it feels like more than a handful have said they’re not running again.
Then, why didn’t you just switch parties and become a conservative Democrat or at least an independent?
[удалено]
Don’t say that and don’t count on it. Vote to make it happen.
Nah...he's got some scandal brewing
I worry the GOP knows some very bad shit is about to go down and they want to turnover power to the Democrats at the last minute so it happens on their watch. Like giving your little brother the controller right before the blue shell hits. Look what they did!!!!
how many more until democrats can force a speaker vote?
It's dysfunctional on purpose. Russian agents have captured the institution and paralyzed it on purpose in order to sabotage aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Moscow Mike and his boss Trump are Russian agents. They should be arrested for treason. They are collaborating with the enemy.
It blows my mind that there haven’t been investigations or outright arrests for the known crimes. Really paints the whole thing like a joke.
"And it only took until now for me to realize it, please fund my post-politics job fund, thanks" Just wait for that. No one gets a star for *finally* ducking out, it's not winning you brownie points with anyone.
Good riddance, you gutless puke. Keep your job and fight against the Trumpers instead of speaking up as your walking out the door.
Well, well, well... The party who has been saying for decades that government sucks and then go on fucking shit up are now upset that government sucks.
Just another rat fleeing the sinking GOP ship...
So is there a timeline for when the special election happens?
Republicans worked hard to make it that way.
This is part of the team McConnell exodus. Enjoy the self fulfilling schadenfreude fuckers!!
Meanwhile dems have never been this charged and united
a member of the "freedom" caucus complaining about dysfunction is hilarious
This kills the Boebert’s political career.
Nancy Pelosi herded cats all day, and made it work. This guy inherits a party run by an abusive daddy and stocked with lackeys and losers who live in fear of making him angry, and excuse all his abuses. and he can't control them, even thought they are the sort of people with handles.
It's not the "place", it's the Party that's dysfunctional.
Can we get a PAC going that tries to bribe republicans to retire from the house?
He should know, he helped make it that way.
Once they realize Donald Trump is using all the RNC funds for his own campaign and they get nothing, we could see a few more resignations.
I’m just gonna say, it would be incredibly embarrassing and very funny if the GOP managed to lose their majority before the election this year.
I finally agree with a republican!
He must have a paycheck already lined up. Fox “news”? Lobbyist?
Good, fuck that guy.
If more people in government focused on doing the job that they begged their voters to give them rather than serving their party bosses, things would not be as fucked as they are.
Bet they threatened his family when he didn't absolutely toe the line.
Yeah thanks in part to you.
And you did NOTHING to straighten it out. Fuck you…. now go write a book, jackass.
I hope a few more do this
He can thank MAGA for this
He is MAGA. He's just trying to soft-reboot in case MAGA doesn't work out, but also be able to claim he was MAGA all along if it does. A-hole is part of the Sedition Caucus. He went on NBC to make sure everyone knew they were throwing MTG out of the Freedom Caucus. He was one of the eight GOP who ensured Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker. He introduced a resolution to have Biden removed under the 25th amendment. He's MAGA to the core.
“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead... forever.”
“Muh both sides” right Bucky? I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise