- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
Trump fired all three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Thursday, abruptly disabling the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration at a moment when Trump has sought to reshape federal voting rules.
The two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, were notified by email. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email said. It was signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, deputy director of presidential personnel in the Executive Office of the President.
The third commissioner, Republican Christy McCormick, was allowed to resign, according to three sources within the agency. McCormick declined to comment when reached by phone. The agency’s fourth commissioner, Republican Donald Palmer, voluntarily departed the agency earlier this year to join the Heritage Foundation.
You must log in or # to comment.
Go back to sleep
Welp.
We lived long enough to see America become a 3rd world shithole.
Always was.
Never bought into the whole America #1. Maybe in the Olympics.
Anyway, good luck, 'Murica. Time to fight or die for realsies.
Don’t wish the death and slavery empire good luck, lol. Death to America.
There are two Americas in that country and I’m rooting for the better half.
Which half genocided Korea?
Let me guess, the ones out on the streets protesting for world peace? How cynical and disingenuous can you be.
It doesn’t matter if half the country feels bad whenever America does some horrible evil shit lol. The output is the same.
We were never #1 but we weren’t a 3rd world shithole like it’s rapidly becoming. I get people hate us and want to be edgy but its just not remotely the case
🌎🧑🚀🔫👨🚀
Statements like this make me think you haven’t been paying attention.
The EAC supports elections but doesn’t run them, states and counties do that. So firing all its members freezes a federal support office, not the election machinery itself.
Think of it as the standards lab that certifies equipment and hands out funds, not the referee on the field. The main effects:
• Frozen certification of new voting machines (existing ones stay valid). So new companies can’t provide new equipment. Possibly means ‘the fix is in’ by Musk or associates
• No rule changes to the federal registration form — which also blocks the administration from adding things like proof-of-citizenship before November. So this looks more like the regime is shooting it’s own foot here.
• Stalled grants and guidance to states.
Bottom line: it’s closer to paralysis than takeover, and it doesn’t change how you vote. The real open question is legal — whether firing bipartisan election commissioners survives a court challenge… if it is ever challenged in court by the dormant democrats.
This is what I was thinking as well, either there’s something that the EAC was expected to do which he’s trying to prevent or he just decided to fire people he doesn’t like regardless of the consequences to himself
On an unrelated note: I would avoid doing bullet points followed by a sentence starting with “bottom line” or any similar turn of phrase. That’s a common format LLMs spit out. The actual contents of your comment read human written and have plenty choices of phrase that I don’t see coming out of an LLM, so I figured I’d point it out
I have called out people on here to stop doing that too. All it does is lower your credibility.
This needs to be higher. Misleading headlines can cause people to panic, and do more harm than good.
What’s happening is certainly a bad thing, and alarming, and corrupt, but all is not lost. We still need to vote (and can!).
Context matters.
Everyone calm down. Dont react. Wait until the car hits you before you move out the way.
It’s more like screaming and causing a panicked stampede in a crowded pedestrian area because someone got hit by a car on an adjacent crosswalk. The panic will do more harm, more people will die in the stampede. Do something about the car running someone over, get the victim medical attention and apprehend the driver, but don’t suddenly tell everyone “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!” Cause that’s not going to help anything and can only cause more damage.
Its easier just to block you than listen to your idiocy
Go ahead, I don’t care. You have literally nothing worthwhile to say.
You’re the one who replied to me anyway, so blocking me won’t do a damn thing. You could always try shutting the fuck up and crying in your own corner where your despondency won’t infect anyone else.
which also blocks the administration from adding things like proof-of-citizenship before November.
You think that’s going to stop them? lol. You must be new around here. They broke it so they can “fix” it the way they always wanted it.
And they already won the court case. It was earlier this week at SCOTUS.
I’m not going to be surprised when they declare this election a horrible loss due to illegal voting in blue states no matter what the outcome is. Then they’ll use the noncompliance with illegal demands and lack of a federal oversight committee to declare an emergency around late October 2028.
they declare this election a horrible loss
What does that even mean tho? They declare random bullshit all the time and we all go “that’s nice dear” and get back to whatever we were doing already. What’s their plan after making this declaration?
… surely the gops plan to take more power this time wont work.
Dude is trying to steal the next election and install himself as king, amd we’re all just shrugging our shoulders. Let’s see how that works out for us.
lets dont see, and get up off the couch to do what it takes to remove him
So he’d have to overturn the 22nd amendment.
Let’s say he does.
Plot twist: Obama runs against him.
Plot twist: one drop law passed so only 100% white people can run
Plot delay: 1 year lost arguing how white italians and irish are
Plot double cross: everybody is disqualified
Plot triple twist USSupreme Court rules that only Asians descended from the Caucus mountains are white and can run so Madami wins.
Who says such a scenario even bothers with an erection?
Probably how it’s working out for Russian citizens.
We’re a pretty stupid and servile society of people. I don’t see that going well for us going forward.
Time to buy that popcorn stock.
That will save my 401k!
best I can do is 40K
Any bets on Kalshi about when his arteries call it quits?
Who cares what a bunch of addicts think?
Hey, people have been betting on Kalshi using insider knowledge. I was hoping that somebody in his inner circle is placing bets that gives us any indication on his cardiovascular fitness.
If anyone has the chance to kill him, they should absolutely kill him.
I know that probably violates some terms of use or whatever, but it is my political opinion and is based on established American political thoery.
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” - Thomas Jefferson
They should still show up to work and do their jobs. I highly doubt they answer directly to the executive branch, or that the president even has the power to terminate them.
How were they selected in the first place? Are they elected, appointed, or hired? By whom? These are the questions that matter.
If they report to Congress, then I’m guessing at a minimum that it would take an act of congress to fire them. Not that republicans wouldn’t do it if trump asks, but there’s a narrow enough majority that a few spoiler votes could block it.
We need to stop letting trump get away with usurping the powers of the other branches of government.
Didn’t the supreme court just give him power to fire certain people he couldn’t before?
Then someone needs to call the legitimacy of the supreme court into question because at this point they’re ruling against the constitution and there need to be impeachments.
And do what? They are completely illegitimate already. We’re finding out the hard way that it’s far too difficult to oust people at this level of government.
Maybe divert all power to the midterm thrusters so we can get people in office that will actually impeach corrupt officials who betray the constitution in order to advance their personal power?
Yep, that would be the senate, and would probably require a super majority. There’s so much that needs to be revamped… expanding the courts, term limits, etc. Which this court keeps showing an absolute needs for!
Or we could just challenge them to a dance-off. Make things so much simpler.
Jk, I couldn’t resist when I saw your username.
But yeah there’s some serious work to be done in the Capitol, so hopefully we elect some people who are actually gonna do it.
JFC, you are so behind the times. The fact that you are getting upvotes is scary. Obviously, many people don’t know that American life as they know it, was effectively destroyed a week ago.
Remember the other day, when there was all that talk about Birthright Citizenship being BARELY upheld by SCOTUS? A case that was so obvious that it NEVER should have been brought, to say nothing making it all the way to the SCOTUS, where it inexplicably had 4 votes against it?
That vote was a red herring, a distraction. The important case, the one that got 10% of the coverage of Birthright Citizenship, was the one that struck down the independence of nearly EVERY independent agency (over 2 dozen) that regulates EVERYTHING in our country. Now the president can fire anybody, in any agency, for any reason. ALL government regulation is now in the hands of Donald Trump.
That means pharmaceuticals, food, air, water, transportation safety, roads, buildings, mail, workplace safety, etc. literally EVERYTHING in this country that requires regulations to remain safe, are up to Donald Trump. So if the meat industry wants to pay off Donald Trump to loosen safety standards, he’ll take the bribe, and let them write their own rules, and we’ll be eating horsemeat and dogmeat labelled as beef, and it will be perfectly legal, so don’t bother to sue.
BTW, the ONLY agency that SCOTUS protected was the Federal Reserve, which was the one agency Trump really wanted to get his hands on. But the Sociopathic Oligarchs who make these decisions were smart enough to keep the MONEY out of Trump’s hands. They WANT him to fuck up everything else, and make our lives miserable, but they aren’t going to let him fuck up THEIR money.
Ahh, so you are actually a dictatorship now
Yeah, everyone was treating birthright citizenship as a win, when that’s just the law and status quo. The independence of agencies was a clear and painful loss.
No shit things are bad, but that doesn’t mean we should just fold.
Feel free to smugly insult me though, that’s not going to do anything to stop fascism.
I agree that insulting you was cruel, unnecessary, and detracts from the intended message.
I can respect the self-awareness
I wasn’t the person who insulted you - I just agree that they were needlessly cruel and out of touch.
Oh you’re right, your profile pictures were a similar color and I didn’t check the usernames. My bad!
Don’t take it personally it’s better that information get out, it’s shocking how nobody is really talking about how bad this is.
Yeah, it’s bad, but I wouldn’t say no one is talking about it. There are certainly media bubbles where no one talks about it, but that doesn’t seem to be here.
Civil disobedience is probably one of the best tools of resistance at this point. If he’s doing blatantly antidemocratic stuff, his orders no longer carry democratic legitimacy and should not be followed. They only have weight if people obey. Sure, he might send someone to remove them from office forcibly, but it would contribute to cracks in his image of power.
Yeah, we only show him that he has the powers he imagines he does when we go along with what he decrees. He’s a despot who derives his power from people’s unwillingness to stand up to him.
Nothing substantial is going to happen until Inauguration Day 2029. If on that day, Donald Trump is still in office, and the government doesn’t do anything to remove him, then the United States of America has officially ended, and it’s ON!
Don’t wait for that to happen. Don’t let him spend another two years strengthening the state apparatus in preparation for just that. You don’t need to (and probably shouldn’t) jump right to violence, but neither should you counsel inaction, endorse defeatism or trust everyone to somehow erupt into spontaneous revolution at some point.
Revolutions need planning and support. If you believe that’s the only way, protesting now is the way to recruit supporters for then.
We have to spend the next two years knocking their legs out from under them over and over. We have to force them to spend significant amounts of personal time and money on defense lawyers, instead of plotting their next scam. They need to be playing PERSONAL defense, trying to keep their own asses out of prison, so they don’t have time to defend MAGA.
And keeping them tied up in legal trouble will shut them up, too. Their lawyers will be telling them to not make comments to the press, which will reduce their ability to spew propaganda, and maybe even suppress their campaign speech. You can’t make wild allegations if you know you may have to defend them in court, under oath.
We can’t do anything about Donald Trump being in office over the next 2 years, but we can make that time miserable for him, and everybody around him.
I saw you insult someone else in this thread for no reason - “You and your comment are stupid because I know what’s really important to comment about.” It’s clear that you’re angry and impotent, and spreading the former paradoxically makes you feel a little less of the latter. You’re not helping anyone or anything, including yourself. And giving yourself an arbitrary 2.5 year deadline to pretend that you’ll ever do more than insult and complain and regurgitate the same articles we’re all reading in this same bubble like you’re the one who really gets it is sad. You complain and insult online today, and that’s what you’ll do every day up to, including, and after Inauguration Day 2029. It’s as ON as it’s ever going to be for you.
“You and your comment are stupid because I know what’s really important to comment about.”
You’re one of those weak minded people who can’t argue the merits of an issue, so you INVENT a quote that I never said, and try to force me to defend it. Not gonna happen.
You don’t know me at all. I have vulnerable people in my life that depend on me, and if MAGA were to do anything to them, I would have nothing to lose, and I would become very dangerous. I am not alone in this. Maybe YOU can’t envision a potential future America that isn’t a Nazi America, but I can see it very clearly, and I don’t intend to be a bystander, like you.
Americans really aren’t paying attention. They (Supreme Court) just ruled the pedophile in chief can fire anybody now. Irregardless if it’s supposed to be an independent branch. You are all cooked
And the left continues to cannibalize itself instead of mounting any meaningful resistance to fascism…
Lol let me guess, you think people like Biden, Pelosi, Schumer and Clinton are “left”?
I never said that and you’re making assumptions. But have fun bickering over the bullshit you made up in your head, I’m sure that’s not precisely the kind of thing I was referring to
Oh then do enlighten me. Tell me what you meant when you said:
And the left continues to cannibalize itself
Because I guarantee somewhere in your explanation it will amount to “Those fucking leftists need to learn to respect their centerist elders.”
Dude. You’re doing it now.
I never said anything about “centrist elders.” You’re making that shit up so you can feel leftier-than-thou.
Go ahead. Prove me wrong.
Translation?
Wait, are you politically illiterate‽
No, but I’m not sure how literacy would help me understand a sentence that uses a noun as a verb.
Also, what does a superpac have to do with demagoguery? Superpacs are kind of the elite that demagogues tend to rile the masses against, no? How does a demagogue fit with the superpac? (Other than the obvious part where the demagogue lies to the masses while taking money from superpacs)?
Not sure why you’re comparing this to political illiteracy since the meme was quite incomprehensible to begin with…
The meme is that the majority of <img src=“https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/6dedb145-206a-4b35-ab5e-c9e41e1130c7.png” alt=“Amerikkka” width=“32” height=“auto”> do NOT know what “leftist politics” even are, as you keep demonstrating. The DNC’s AIPAC is nowhere leftist, so Democrat canibilizing antifascist action is extremely oxymoronic, as they play the same capitalist demagoguery: lobbying lobbying lobbying. Counter rhetorics is all they ever do, since their interests lie in extraction of wealth. The punch is that “left” is the past tense verb of “leave,” and “political” describes people that are, as in “political [people already] left?”
So long as your country fiats capitalism, it will always descent to fascism. The funny part of <img src=“https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/6dedb145-206a-4b35-ab5e-c9e41e1130c7.png” alt=“Amerikkka” width=“32” height=“auto”> fascism, is that bigotry & racism is baked in, meaning their fascism is even more stupefying than basic economic fascism.
Unfortunately, appointed by the president so firing them may be legit. Another power grab and the foundation for a fixed election but legit
Assuming Congress was willing to use their authority, the check against this is they must be approved by the senate.
There needs to be a quorum of 4 to do anything, so they already couldn’t legally
There’s no mechanism for temporary or acting commissioners, but that has been a common Drump strategy to circumvent Congress. Just declare an acting one, then when the confirmation period expires, declare a new acting one
Directly from the authoritarian playbook
“It’s a COOKbook?!?”
Nah the ones with the cookbook are on the opposite side of the political spectrum
America is cooked
We were already cooking in 2008 and people were so excited about Obama they didn’t care to notice how the biggest things that happened during his administration were: legally requiring American citizens to become paying customers of health insurance companies, expansion of government and corporate surveillance and bailing out of billion dollar corporations.
At this point we cannot accept ANY outcome other than Democratic control of both houses. If somehow that isn’t the reported result it is clearly because of all of this bullshit and should NOT be accepted under any circumstances.
The options are either we win or it’s rigged. Period.
Ironically the same attitude the Republicans have. It’s almost like someone is interested in having civil unrest, and has pushed public discourse in a direction that makes it inevitable.
What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
Thomas Jefferson
their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
That’s the best part: they don’t.
Thanks SCOTUS!
This right here is the final straw. Cancelling the independence of federal agencies will turn this nation into a capitalist MAGA shithole faster than anything else he’s done.
I used to believe that we needed to add 4 seats to SCOTUS, but I no longer believe that. Now I believe that we need to add at least 20 seats to SCOTUS, with rolling term limits. The count shouldn’t be so close that one bad faith president can negatively manipulate policy for the next century. It should include rolling term limits, so every president gets to appoint a few, but not enough to steer the direction of the court.
We have to strengthen the independence of the three branches of government, and this is how we do it for SCOTUS.
The whole US government needs term limits.
Including the 4th branch: billionaires and trillionaires
Yup.
We could call that bill “Luigi’s Revenge”.
Seems like a branch that could use the liberal application of an axe.
I think the nation as a whole should be divided up into four regional blocs, each with their own judiciary, executive, legislative, military branches, and a regional president. They submit personnel to the national body, including National Justices. This keeps any single territory, person, or party from dominating the ideology of the national court.
What I am thinking, is something like…
- 3 executive justices, chosen by the executive without presidential input.
- 3 judiciary justices, required to have served a long time as a judge.
- 3 legislative justices, chosen by the elected representatives.
- 3 military justices, chosen by rank and file soldiers by popular election.
- 1 presidential justice. When the president who picked the justice leaves office, so does their pick.
If we have 4 regions, and including the National President’s single justice…
- 53 national justices, total.
0000
Also, add in…
-
10 year term limit total, that can’t be renewed nor extended. Presidential justices also are subjected to this restriction.
-
An age limit of 60. A justice has to have a sound mind, and reasonably modern understanding of the nation’s people and a grasp of technology.
-
Elimination of the shadow docket, and limits on the amount of vacation time that justices can have in a year. We want them to do their job.
This right here is the final straw.
LOL.
I’ll believe that when I see the majority of americans stand up and fight back in any meaningful way.
I would be so happy for my cynicism to be proven wrong - to see Trump, his lackeys and his puppeteers stopped.
But I don’t expect that to happen.
YOU are the reason that the Democratic party keeps fucking us over. Every time you, and other cynical defeatists, post your edgy take that the Dems won’t do anything, you send them the message that you’ll accept their failure - AGAIN!
ALL politicians are lazy and greedy at their core, and if you give them permission to do nothing, that is exactly what they’ll do, and go back to their favorite hobby, insider trading.
As we head into a Midterm election that is likely to be a bloodbath, it is vitally important that we clearly tell the new Democratic Congress that we expect SERIOUS action this time. No more dithering and slow-walking like last time. EVERY committee will be dedicated to investigating corruption, with a thousand tentacles.
We all want to know that MAGA Criminals WILL be punished this time, and not just Donald Trump, and we’d all appreciate it if you would STOP sending the message that we expect them to fail us, and we’ll accept it.
They need to hear that they’d better NOT fail us this time, or they’ll end up in the same position as MAGAs. Get on board with THAT message, and be part of the solution. Stop surrendering in advance, and giving the permission to fail.
YOU are the reason that the Democratic party keeps fucking us over
I’m not even an American.
I’m one of those foreigners that the USA keeps fucking over.
I’ve been watching gbthe USA shoot itself in the foot for decades without seeming to care to fix their problems.
I want the Americans to fix their shit, but I seriously doubt that they have the character to do the hard work is needed.
We all want to know that MAGA Criminals WILL be punished this time, and not just Donald Trump
As I said, I want to believe that it’s possible, but from what I’ve seen so far, Americans won’t rise to the challenge.
Prove me wrong. Fix your own fucking country.
I never thought in my lifetime the United States would need “International Observers”.
Yeah that’s for countries that don’t respect democracy, not… Oh nevermind.
I’m not sure the last time I saw the phrase international observers offhand (I am sure it’s happened but just missed it) but they are definitely needed in that country. They seem to be degrading themselves to third world, in function if not by cold war meaning.
Umm excuse me. Who the hell do you think you are calling us a third world. That label belongs to shit whole countries didn’t you hear our lord and DT say so about another country. How dare you accuse us of being like THEM.
Okay I can only act like that so much before I start to vomit. All jokes aside we are more in line with a 4th world (even if there is no such thing) instead of a 3rd world. I still can believe this motherfucker got elected TWICE.
Can’t win because you’re shit? Cheat.
- Republican Party Saying
Drump is one of the most hated presidents in US history, seriously none of this will work out in the favor of the Republican party. Fuel shortages start soon, all thanks to Trump’s economy.
This was the plan from the beginning. Don’t act surprised now or when there are armed men at polling stations on Election Day.
We’re gonna need a shitload of plumbers for this job.
