Make no mistake. This is about rigging the 2026 Elections. Republicans doing what they always do when they can’t win fair and square:
CHEAT AND RIG THE SYSTEM
The Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) posted at 8:47 AM on Fri, Aug 08, 2025:
1. US Senator John Cornyn of Texas announced this morning that the FBI had granted his request to help Texas law enforcement agencies in “locating members of the Texas House of Representatives who have fled the state in a shameful attempt to thwart the legislative process.”2. He was referring to scores of Democratic state lawmakers who denied a quorum in the bid by Republicans to redraw Texas’ congressional districts to give the president an extra five seats in the US Congress.
3. Donald Trump evidently expects a wipeout in next year’s midterms and is trying to pad the margins to avoid losing the House. He faces the prospect of two years of Democratic investigations if he fails.
4. The Texas attorney general declared the move by the Texas Democrats illegal, and the Texas governor ordered state law enforcement to fetch them.
5. Texas, however, doesn’t have jurisdiction in Illinois and New York, where some of the lawmakers went. That’s why Cornyn got involved. He wanted the federal government to do what Texas can’t.
6. The problem, however, is there’s no apparent basis for the FBI to be involved, as there are no federal statutes in doubt. Cornyn did not cite one, nor did he cite a Texas statute being violated.
7. In his own words, the worst these Democrats have done is “avoid their constitutional responsibilities.” While that might be shameful, it’s hardly a crime, especially since plenty of lawmakers in Washington, including Republicans, don’t show up for scheduled votes.
8. The FBI’s lawless decision to help Texas is the latest of what I have been calling the GOP’s attempt to change the rules of democracy – that’s what gerrymandering mid-decade is – to avoid being held accountable for their support for an unpopular president’s unpopular agenda.
9. But it is also the latest attempt to do something else: criminalize dissent.
10. Fleeing Texas to deny a quorum might indeed be shameful, depending on your view, but it’s nonetheless a form of constitutionally protected speech. We have such protections because there is always an incentive on the part of those in power to silence those who stand against them.
11. We must have such protections. Otherwise, those w/o power — us — would have no way of petitioning for the redress of grievances. This latest move illustrates that law enforcement is often less abt enforcing the law than it is abt enforcing the will of the powerful.
12. But it is also a microcosm of a larger, more ominous pattern that I think is slowly coming into view – the corruption of the law by Trump & his party to protect a criminal conspiracy against the people. I know, I know. This sounds outlandish, but consider where it all began.
13. The president singlehandedly implemented a massive sales tax on the entire country, in the form of insane and illegal tariffs, for reasons that have nothing to do with economics, or the national interest, and everything to do with Donald Trump’s demented mafia mentality.
14. The Republicans in Washington went along, for fear of their lives (literally) and their fortunes, and anyway it was a fair price to pay for all those sweet tax cuts, even though every one of them would have voted against those tariffs if they had ever come up for a vote.
15. The Republicans are now complicit in a criminal conspiracy to force the people to pay and pay and pay for the essentials of life, even as our wages are decimated, jobs disappeared, & safety net (Medicaid) taken out from beneath us, as a consequence of that conspiracy.
16. (Another component of the conspiracy is getting rid of immigrants who do needed work, while depriving native-born Americans of the education and opportunities they need to enter the middle class.)
17. But the Republicans can’t change course now, not without implicating themselves in a scheme to extort us. So they push ahead w/ Trump’s plan not only to prevent us from knowing we’re being extorted – by faking gov’t data – but also to prevent those who do know from saying so.
18. This is what’s happening in Texas. The Democrats there are trying to raise public awareness of the fact that the Republicans are trying to rig the rules of democracy so they win whether it’s heads or tails.
19. In turn, the Republicans in Texas are corrupting the law, with the help of a lawless FBI director, to prevent the Democrats in Texas from alerting the American people to the GOP’s criminal conspiracy against them.
(https://x.com/johnastoehr/status/1953816878255673643?t=iTgN043I0zVBGaQuRKrBSA&s=03)
Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) posted at 10:25 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Breaking News: Trump Speaks for One Hour Without Explaining Where U.S. Citizens Arrested in D.C. for Being Homeless Will Be Taken When He Puts Them in Custody and Sends Them “Far Away”
(https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1954927261397713218?t=dcVSwpMS3Uvzr-LNiFpeFQ&s=03)
Max Flugrath🗳️ (@MaxFlugrath) posted at 1:20 PM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Should voting be a limited privilege?
In America, it’s supposed to be a right.
But that’s not what the Supreme Court seems to think.
Their next ruling could empower states to block millions of Americans from voting. ⬇️ https://t.co/lg3aFzJaNx
(https://x.com/MaxFlugrath/status/1954971174548496602?t=_z3c-q2VOKZlsyyDgn_bpw&s=03)
sam (@sam_d_1995) posted at 8:06 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
it should probably a bigger story that Republicans in the PA state senate are about to destroy every transit network in Pennsylvania for no reason
(https://x.com/sam_d_1995/status/1954711074466681184?s=03)
Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) posted at 1:15 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
Over one million Pennsylvanians in every one of our 67 counties is counting on the Senate to fund mass transit.
The House has passed my proposal four times already. It’s time to get it done. https://t.co/KBNZA94eNT
(https://x.com/GovernorShapiro/status/1954607447684866559?t=9KUcTuZO85JJ9o8DMRwriA&s=03)
Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) posted at 9:55 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
The irony is not lost on many in Washington that Trump says spitting on a DC cop is justification for hitting/punching back “hard” when he pardoned hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted those same cops — and said attacks on them that day were “minor.”
(https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1954919710069256232?t=Ir3IkO8e_yP2_V3Gs8HYTg&s=03)
Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) posted at 9:51 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Breaking News: Trump says that under his control the Metropolitan Police Department will be free to do “whatever the Hell they want” to protesters, confirming that one of the primary purposes of his taking over the capital is to prevent people protesting him
(https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1954918580405068077?t=M_g4st2ssdIhAnLJm9gqZw&s=03)
Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) posted at 11:03 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
“I am outraged that so few people in positions of power are willing to speak up when they see abuses…And I am outraged that the price of standing up to Trump is to be subjected to endless lies, attacks and false accusations,” Marc Elias writes.
https://t.co/LINiOsPcpg
(https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1954936657024549098?t=p4iAaaqTQzkgOugOfuSIrg&s=03)
The United States versus Elon R. Musk (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 8:20 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
“pocketwatching,” in which white people are obsessed with how much money Black people earn outside of the fields of sports & entertainment and feeling resentment that Black people dare to be affluent and are not always struggling & poor, arises from white supremacy & segregation
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1954895634793959783?t=nZTlq7id-OwC_cx_CkUsLg&s=03)
The United States versus Elon R. Musk (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 8:20 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
the irony of the modern white pocketwatcher is that such a person who desperately wants Black people to stay in their place and stay poor are nearly always self-professed “progressives” who claim in the bold print that they don’t oppose racial economic equality
but they do
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1954895636073271533?t=kQJAW2-R96Ol_ENYW2wpLw&s=03)
Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) posted at 10:17 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Breaking News: Trump Says He Is Going to “Create” New Judgeships in DC, Officially Announcing a Policy to Stack the Courts with His Agents (e.g., his personal lawyer Emil Bove)
(https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1954925040203362561?t=YDHjWfFp79B-R38LCRhuWw&s=03)
The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) posted at 10:56 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
UPDATE: Pete Hegseth was standing right there the entire time and not a single reporter in the White House press corps asked about him promoting the idea of women losing the right to vote.
Unbelievable stuff.
(https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/1954935075277058224?t=XxM9FVVn3Af0kgXdQELvtA&s=03)
antjams (@antjams) posted at 10:25 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Exactly it is sad that only a few Black people like us get the anti dog whistling he just said. He brought up Chicago, Oakland and New York City very traditional huge Black population saying they are filled with violent thugs code words for the N word.
(https://x.com/antjams/status/1954927276338073766?t=I9Nyy8owImPtElXyzMHeYQ&s=03)
Trill Clinton (@aStatesman) posted at 10:12 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
DC is a majority Black city. That’s why Trump can tell blatant lies about crime rates and statistics and his cult believes it. They think anything Black is inherently bad.
(https://x.com/aStatesman/status/1954923770491154888?t=Z3PLl0Y0DF34Vn9OGiKW6A&s=03)
Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) posted at 9:57 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Breaking News: Trump Refers to Alaska As Russia—Confirming the Kremlin Claim to the State—Saying That He Is “Going to Russia” to Meet Putin, When He Is In Fact Going to a U.S. State
(https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1954920055235354921?t=Wjx7OHofIfOQ5j9SDe4bEw&s=03)
The United States versus Elon R. Musk (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 9:48 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
“Triple Trumpers” do not understand the wave of anti-Trumper sentiment that will come their way once the is pig finally 🪦
they have no idea at all what’s headed for them in that new era
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1954917778504523979?t=6yazdhznGsOetykHn1d9zA&s=03)
I am a Democrat, and I don’t give two flying phucks about the NYC Mayoral Race.
austerity is theft (@wideofthepost) posted at 2:53 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
National Dems and especially NYS Dems refusing to endorse Mamdani because they’re afraid of getting frozen out by big donors are courting the death of the party via this race. The bargain is Cuomo murdering the Democratic party as a national brand. I hope they realize that.
(https://x.com/wideofthepost/status/1954632169558573341?t=n_w7XWK7vs0ilRPZd7WRmg&s=03)
AG Brian Schwalb (@DCAttorneyGen) posted at 11:01 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
The Administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.
There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year.
We are considering all of our options and
(https://x.com/DCAttorneyGen/status/1954936123731652926?t=SBE_ccJaeASbo0LyW_4XIQ&s=03)
Ciara & Russell, I’m Next… (@KirkWrites79) posted at 11:27 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Black people in DMV please make sure your tags and licenses are current or don’t drive (if possible). For real.
(https://x.com/KirkWrites79/status/1954942880059121927?t=4CV5crV5ASeNl4yb3vSLbw&s=03)
Robert Welch II (@WelchRobII) posted at 5:05 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
Bernie blaming everything on Democrats and billionaires is a cop out. It absolves the white majority middle class Republicans from their complicity and the material benefits they receive from white supremacy. To the marginalized the white middle & working class is the oligarchy.
(https://x.com/WelchRobII/status/1954665406108779000?t=5Hn5iNcCZONI1nX7k9iBuQ&s=03)
Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) posted at 0:43 PM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
🚨 BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to toss out Obergefell v. Hodges; the landmark ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
(https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/1954961955103309865?t=jqtAtcLE9dBF6_BkeeOqtQ&s=03)
improvise. Adapt. overcome. (@reesetheone1) posted at 0:00 PM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
You want to push back?
Go fucking vote next year like we did in 18.
Black folks set a record for turnout in a midterm that year…. 51 percent.
To put that perspective, Carter and Clinton won the 76 and 96 presidential elections with 52 and 53 percent turnout.
(https://x.com/reesetheone1/status/1954951118141919385?t=PoLE6-Bw3pHnmsugqNWb8w&s=03)
Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) posted at 6:32 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Over the past few months, the DOJ has sent letters to nearly 20 states requesting their sensitive voting data, despite questionable grounds to do so. States like Alaska and Florida handed over all the information the department requested. https://t.co/zKrgAFxBMZ
(https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1954868644598460578?t=eYHekmdUR4mWMGIg83v-0Q&s=03)
emptywheel (check) (@emptywheel) posted at 1:00 PM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Hey @PamBondi?
Neither of the two cities you invaded are among the most dangerous.
Memphis#1
3 are in MO (St. Lou, Springfield, KC)
3 are in LA (Alexandria, NOLA, Monroe)
3 are in OH (Cleveland, Canton, Dayton)
2 in AL (Anniston and Birmingham)
Little Rock
Myrtle Beach
(https://x.com/emptywheel/status/1954966085054189679?t=qJoAfAckv0YNNQA005qW1w&s=03)
Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 (@JoshEakle) posted at 9:59 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
You’re watching masked federal agents assault and disappear an American citizen into an unmarked van.
Her name is Amanda Trebach—an ICU nurse and a U.S. citizen.
She was lawfully participating in a community observation patrol near an ICE staging area, monitoring unmarked vans https://t.co/RrcXbp4ujK
(https://x.com/JoshEakle/status/1954920658271617418?t=uRmXumAJReFPmPn9BY0VtA&s=03)
Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) posted at 0:22 PM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
NEW: The RNC asks SCOTUS not to hear a challenge to a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received within five business days, arguing the 5th Circuit correctly ruled the grace period violates federal law.https://t.co/rvunIHbE2x
(https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1954956685304316225?t=Jp98Qm7WQxiV17MVo9elpQ&s=03)
Bullshyt POLL TAX
Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) posted at 0:03 PM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
NEW: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed a GOP bill that would require voters with felony convictions to pay all legal fees before their right to vote is restored. Evers said he’d never sign a bill making it harder for voters to cast their ballot. https://t.co/xovmciWR3M
(https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1954951706409656774?t=skyJSTcGdWiZ2RKVs0agog&s=03)
Maine (@TheMaineWonk) posted at 6:13 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
🚨 TRUMP TRADE DEALS ENTER NEW PHASE: SHAKING DOWN INDIVIDUAL AMERICAN COMPANIES.
Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the US government 15% of their revenues from chip sales in China.
(https://x.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1954863685379268965?s=03)
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 5:41 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Private companies are now handing the US government a cut of their profits to avoid punitive measures against them while Trump is deploying federal law enforcement on the streets of DC and the media is STILL not ready to call this authoritarianism. Do I have that right?
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1954855711306899500?t=7lnORKSzGcR0JhT-NVg08g&s=03)
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 7:07 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
With Trump set to use crime as a fake justification to threaten DC today, media should make one thing clear: At this point his pattern of manufacturing pretexts for militarizing domestic law enforcement has become undeniable. Some thoughts on that here:
https://t.co/1EL9fTPAkq https://t.co/7kTH0lxI4h
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1954877259086483966?s=03)
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 7:16 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Media often struggles w/Trump’s supercharged use of *pretexts,* I.e. his fake justifications for doing things. Coverage often says he “argues” that pretend things are happening, when reporters/editors themselves know it isn’t a real argument. This is rarely conveyed to readers.
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1954879566683742477?t=8qWZ22mT-UFnrhXkfFSRww&s=03)
Biden/Obama/HRC/Harris Democrat (@KTforBiden) posted at 0:05 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
I CANNOT STAND HYPOCRITES!
Biden won the Dem primary and the @DSA Socialist cult refused to endorse him! Not once but twice!
And they refused to endorse Harris! As did @ZohranKMamdani!
But this clown for some reason thinks @TheDemocrats owe Mamdani their support & endorsement!
(https://x.com/KTforBiden/status/1954771208055955962?t=JZAzBDVLnK6rAZeuOphkiA&s=03)
Acyn
@Acyn
Trump: I’m officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. You know what that is—Placing the D.C. Metropolitan police department under direct federal control
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1954916185558188522
Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) posted at 4:03 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
🚨 BREAKING: Trump is throwing his weight behind the House Oversight Committee’s push to dig up evidence to overturn Biden’s pardons of Fauci, Milley, Schiff, and more; a move that would rip open one of the most politically explosive fights in recent memory.
(https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/1954649847341949298?t=XR3agkDsGqLBaAF07JaRKA&s=03)
🪷 A Harris Democrat✊🏾 (@sephius1999) posted at 6:49 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Hello Leftists, MLK was not a Leftist nor Socialist.
Y’all love co-opting movements that clearly required compromise to accomplish their goals, something that Leftists see as impure.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
(https://x.com/sephius1999/status/1954872733843481017?t=BsNWtSU7WBn-rijxW7iq8w&s=03)
Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) posted at 2:36 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
“Trump is making their lives worse, not better. He and his administration are amateurs, inept and in over their head. They are entertainers and grifters, shock jocks and freaks. Whatever talents they may possess, mastery of governing is not one of them” https://t.co/fT7VM4RAk4
(https://x.com/JonLemire/status/1954627919436714433?t=RVaTfvR7A1ubGYHch3w5kg&s=03)
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 5:42 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
Everything we predicted and you folks in the media ignored b/c you were willing to sell out democracy if it meant feathering your own nests. I have NO FUCKING TIME for these clowns.
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1954855983236166067?t=b7Jb1_KQmRII0qaUUrvZbg&s=03)
The United States versus Elon R. Musk (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 10:32 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
whenever a white Berner has “KHive” in his mouth the way his father once said “thug” and his grandfather once said “n—-r,” I feel like it’s 1962 and his ancestor going on about “not supporting any candidate that the Coloreds hope will help them”
it’s literally the same energy
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1954747622797033968?t=mxzxq9UkjFsfclv7adJstA&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 2:31 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
It’s not a secret why we don’t have a great safety net.
White people are racist and white voters keep supporting racists.
It’s not a secret but you all act like that isn’t the reason when it’s the ENTIRE reason.
We don’t have the social safety net we should because of racism.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1954626637037023622?t=WL2pO8_H805t_o3FmT427w&s=03)
Terry Lee Watkins Jr. 王瑞民💜💙 (@TerryWatkinsJr1) posted at 7:34 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
I remember when Biden
-reached historic lows in Black unemployment
-cut black child poverty by more than half
-increased our insured and working population
-established new federal hate crime legislation
-then appointed long standing Black federal judges to help for a generation
(https://x.com/TerryWatkinsJr1/status/1954884159601791060?t=n0h-gJFVjpBMgnoxCsuFxw&s=03)
Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) posted at 3:36 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
Prepare yourselves for scenes of Trump agents roughing up *citizens* in the streets of DC this week.
America will look like Russia in the eyes of the world once Trump issues his takeover-by-force order in a capital city where crime is actually plummeting, not rising.
He’s sick.
(https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1954642949637070892?t=BTs4q0OJG87UKLgOg96fQA&s=03)
Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) posted at 10:29 AM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
Undocumented immigrants just trying to earn a living to support their families aren’t showing up to work because they face a double threat.
📌 ICE could roll up to the job site and snatch them, because it’s easier to target hardworking people than go after real criminals.
📌 When the work is done, some employers refuse to pay and even threaten to call ICE on them. Exploitation and intimidation rolled into one.
📌 https://t.co/gagTy89n8W
(https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1954565666264285687?t=RX-_087SqUXVZPfY_E75sQ&s=03)
Sarah Reese Jones
@PoliticusSarah
Gov. Pritzker put on a master class for how Democrats should talk about Trump and his party on Meet The Press.
https://x.com/PoliticusSarah/status/1954581756385825191
ProPublica (@propublica) posted at 5:18 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
New: Frustrated by oil companies mysteriously withholding large amounts of royalties, North Dakota mineral owners lobbied for change. Instead, lawmakers provided an oversight program that, owners say, fails to address the issue it was created to solve. https://t.co/mdEZrGtdSX
(https://x.com/propublica/status/1954850009825808551?t=h8PQJQvqfoVro90datrFqg&s=03)
Marco Frieri (@MarcoAFrieri) posted at 6:49 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
Real question: why does the media continue to push Bernie Sanders?
(https://x.com/MarcoAFrieri/status/1954691594491429279?t=SFhcqXEdsF6GLrOf3PwhGQ&s=03)
Biden/Obama/HRC/Harris Democrat (@KTforBiden) posted at 6:12 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
For the EXACT same reason they constantly platformed trump.
To make Democrats lose.
(https://x.com/KTforBiden/status/1954863568316178570?t=zUmLcja2-Pa79b1FHpIhvA&s=03)
Symone D. Sanders Townsend (@SymoneDSanders) posted at 7:44 AM on Mon, Aug 11, 2025:
The president uses terms like “liberated” because if people repeat it then the idea of a “siege” seems more real.
Don’t fall for it.
(https://x.com/SymoneDSanders/status/1954886612271214759?t=V6xaXWhxomStjYH7h7kFEA&s=03)
Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) posted at 10:00 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
Following Trump’s trip to his Scottish golf resorts, we’re investigating how much the State Department has spent at Trump-owned properties since January 2025.
https://t.co/pOkWzQE6uB
(https://x.com/CREWcrew/status/1954739751606481279?t=zaWEpBva5nGUN_5iXdFJQg&s=03)
Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) posted at 10:05 PM on Sun, Aug 10, 2025:
Utter bullshit. Crime is at a 30yr low in DC. Fuck Trump. If you do not want to live in a fascist state, then resist this. Get in the way of this. Do not allow this.👇
(https://x.com/WalshFreedom/status/1954740870307336274?t=3F9RXmVwsNDhWoUWHdD7Sg&s=03)
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊