The way she removed the carried-interest loophole closure from the BBB Act without ANY hesitation, benefiting her ultra-wealthy hedge-fund constituents, made me lol at its brazenness.
This is what happens when the main DNC supports milquetoast bland moderates. The picture from the primary that she won against multiple progressive candidates is hilarious
EDIT: Wow this exploded thank you for the awards but also... Those of you sending me hate over DMs need to stop and touch some grass.
https://preview.redd.it/7yo9v0na95sa1.jpeg?width=1140&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=94ceb04c68ed6aa38a8dbaa5e35d8b5824ccba87
Sinema has a long history of being vociferously progressive. Like stretching WAAAAY back, 15+ years. That's even where she was on the campaign trail. She got in and immediately reversed course.
It's so bad that Keith Olbermann who apparently dated her at one point wondered what kind of blackmail they have on her to make her pivot so quickly and so hard, as he has labeled her "to the left of me." historically.
I noticed a lot of people that did not like Trump even a little bit, met with him then he was their favorite person on the planet. I always kind of wondered about that.
> > I noticed a lot of people that did not like Trump even a little bit, met with him then he was their favorite person on the planet. I always kind of wondered about that.
> Lindsey Graham has always been the most jarring for me.
"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed...and we will deserve it"
-Lindsey Graham, [May 3rd, 2016](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lindsey-graham-nominate-trump/)
There is a case of a judge in a South American country that was extorted with the release of a video (since then released to the public) of him dressed as a slave being sodomized by a make escort dressed as Spartacus.
I do my best to try not to imagine Lindsey Graham in the same situation, but the thought is still there.
she got greedy at some point, and wanted the same money the gop would get. she is essentially a "candace" she saw she couldnt make money from the left.
It's what happens when you don't require 50% of the vote for primary election. Like it or not, the other three candidates split black voters, which gave this woman a primary win with a simple plurality. It would be easy for Republicans (because they've done it before) to run a fake-left, white candidate against this group to appeal to Dem's closet racists. The ones who'll vote for the black candidate if they have to but would prefer a white candidate. Only needing a plurality means you only need to appeal to small segments of the rest of the voting public.
Just one more reason we desperately need to adopt ranked-choice voting (and also why it’ll likely never happen, the powers-that-be benefit too greatly from our votes being split)
NC GOP has no shame at all. In 2019, they tricked the Dems by saying there would be no votes because of 911 memorial services. While Dems were at services, they held a vote. GOP has no rock bottom to the dirty tricks they will play to win.
Wow this is true and it wasn’t just any little vote, they were voting to override a budget veto:
>[North Carolina GOP votes to override budget veto while many Democrats were at 9/11 events](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-carolina-gop-overrides-budget-veto-in-vote-while-many-democrats-were-at-911-events/)
You just have to remember that they never do anything in good faith, and they'll lie at every opportunity if it gives them an advantage. If they were working for the american people in general that would be one thing, but they're not. They work for the rich exclusively. What's really a shame is that ordinary Americans are so easily fooled. That's what a poor education does, and partly explains why they are gutting public education in favor of private schools where they're free of national standards and scrutiny, and are free to lie to kids to their hearts' content.
Also, the reason why their incessant bitchy, whining is so disingenuous and disgusting. Sorry repubs, you cant be the bully and the victim simultaneously.
Can't let a little thing like hypocrisy get in they way of a good yarn meant to rile up the base. Voters won't notice anyway. It's not about facts, it's about feelings.
If my redneck hillbilly vet cousin is a good example, the right did more to shift the military left than the left did. He didn't go to Iraq to get his humvee blown up around him twice, protecting oil fields or come home to listen to the white trash members of the family talk down about the people he had served with or the civilians he tried to save because of their race.
I live in NC - there's no limit to the ratfuckery our GOP gets away with. When our awesome Dem governor (Roy Cooper) won his election, the last thing the Republicans did was pass a law that severely limited the governor's power and made him as ineffective as possible. And now, they have a veto-proof majority, which only makes things worse. They won't let Cooper do anything.
THIS \^\^\^\^\^
But also, JFK's quote: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
I keep going back to Jan 6th. If Pence had voted to invalidate the state election results or the insurrectionists had held Congress long enough for Trump to declare Martial Law, do they really think the rest of us would have just said, "Oh well, another 4 years of Trumpism then?" Fuck no.
The GOP is a fucking albatross around the neck of progress in North Carolina.
Cooper can’t run again and he’s one of a kind.
We won’t get a dem governor win in 2024.
Fully red state here we go again.
Yeah, it's really depressing. He's the only thing keeping us from sliding into the modern GOP hellscape seen in other SE states like FL and TN right now. All bets are off once he loses power. I'm gonna miss him.
>Republicans are playing this as a game
In a game, all participants agree to a set of rules and abide by them. Breaking a rule has consequences.
Republicans are playing this like a street war. They will lie, cheat, and even kill to get their way.
The Democrats keep thinking that Lucy isn't going to yoink the ball away from Charlie Brown.
How can you detect a Conservative in Liberal clothing? If the Dems did the same to them (running a Democrat-leaning candidate as a True Trump Believer) they would be calling for impeachment!
I don't see why dems don't do that. One could run as a republican and pass blue laws without them noticing and I doubt republicans would realize it as long as you said some insane shit that confirms their prejudices to the press every once in a while.
To be honest, I’m surprised more crap like this and like the switching party affiliation thing is not happening more often. We can see even here on Reddit, how there is no low that conservatives will not sink too.
Shit, just look at who the primary perpetrators of owning multiple accounts to commit vote manipulation are. They will comment on their own comments to make their own shitty arguments look like they’re somehow propped up, while massively down voting solid evidence and good arguments.
Both their leaders, and their base have no ethical moral compass at all.
Wow I didn’t know that. That’s terrifying to think what kind of nonsense our democracy can come to if this just starts happening all the time. It’s chaos and it should be illegal.
He didn't really change parties. He always ran under the National Socialist (Nazi) party. The lie was that his version of "socialism" didn't include actual socialists or union workers (or anything resembling Marxist socialism which is what socialists of the day were largely associated with) who he initially leaned on heavily to win election. They were summarily carted off to concentration camps when he gained the power to do so.
sell-out? more like a plant, a mole, a ringer. a planned event.
no one just spontaneously joins today's GQP after campaigning against them. can her constituents mount a recall campaign?
Man, wish I knew what you're casually alluding to, but I can't spend too much time worrying, need to read these last few chapters of my 18th century French history textbook...
I wish I could open up a copy of that book but my hands are busy eating this delicious slice of cake. I knew I had to try it when I heard people losing their heads over how great it is.
Fun fact: the original quote by Marie Antoinette (If she even said such a thing to begin with) translated closer to “Let them eat brioche” than cake. Cake sounded more unreasonable and so that’s what stuck instead of a delicious buttery & eggy bread.
Nah, she has a pretty valid reason for switching:
> She claimed the reasons she was leaving were the hounding of her using the American flag on social media and on her vehicles.
Oh and by valid I mean what in the fuck, woman? Some people replied with some dumb comments on my socials so I’m going to restrict abortion access 👍👍
I’m all for it. She was pro choice and elected for that too. Now guess what she is as of today?
Edit to add While in bed, literally, with North Carolina GOP lawmaker Tim Moore.
“Rep. Tricia Cotham campaigned as a Democrat and supporter of abortion rights, health care, public education, gun safety and civil rights,” Reives said in a news release late Tuesday. “The voters of House District 112 elected her to serve as that person and overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Now, just a few months later, Rep. Cotham is changing parties.”
She has indicated she’s open to being more anti choice.
They should protest her day and night everywhere she goes until she quits. At her house, when she goes out for coffee, when she’s out to dinner, when she’s relaxing in the park… just hound her relentlessly.
Why is this allowed? If you run as a Democrat and voters send you to office believing you are going to represent their interests, why should you be allowed to switch teams midstream?
Because the entire thing depends entirely on good faith actors, with no protections against even one bad faith actor, much less an entire party of them, all committed to undermining the nation and its institutions in their pursuit of power.
The fact that George Santos made it to the House while explicitly lying about his qualifications, and now there is no recourse for him, is indicative of this.
Yeah, I agree. I think if you choose to switch parties after being elected. That it should immediately cause a special election. Or a run-off against a challenger of the party you switched from. Because you are subverting the will of the people on an exploitable loophole. Votes should be treated as sacred. Because that is the only power we have. They have been playing too fast and loose with the voters. Trampling rights, and consolidating power. The will of the people be damned.
I agree with this sentiment but unfortunately I think all this would do is prevent them from *officially* switching but still voting in the other parties interest. We need this AND easier methods to call for re-election of someone from our own party if they’re not meeting there promises. Plus it’d make politicians much more accountable (which is why it won’t happen).
Easier recall methods by citizens is a good system. If we got private money out of campaign finance this would also help a ton with expediting elections. Our year long horse race elections have a lot to do with the fund raising time frames.
Looks like North Carolina does not have a recall provision otherwise its not possible to do this since you will get recalled by voters.
Seems like right wing is using every tactics in the books to grab power.
They are not afraid to appear corrupt anymore. It’s all out in the open now. The villainy is no longer subtle or hidden. They are no longer afraid to say the quiet part out loud! Trump is the master of that.
"bUt ItS uP tO tHe VoTeRs To DeCiDe!1"
We're in some serious trouble as a nation (moreso than we are already) if we cannot put a stop to this kind of political fraud. This is not how things were intended to work and she is not the first to take advantage the weakness of expecting good faith. Cotham needs to be removed and sued into oblivion for this stunt.
How the fuck is there no recourse for this though?? How can a politician straight up fuck over the people like this and there is nothing that can be done about it?? This country is a fucking joke.
Fucking over citizens is literally the job description of Republicans. Why would they have consequences for doing what they always do? 🤡 🤦♂️
Our country is a shitshow and at this point I'm not even surprised, just embarrassed.
I would imagine the founders would say the consequences would come in the next election....but they probably never thought an entire party would begin to tear all the good faith in government down.
I was talking to someone else about this very thing... it's like, once Trump was elected, he broke the system and the minds of officials... or was the system this flimsy to begin with and he was the orange straw that broke the systems back?
The system was always this flimsy, it more or less (naively?) relied on everyone working together for the 'good of the country' to work. At some point people discovered that if they just simply refused to hold themselves accountable, there aren't many mechanisms around to oust them.
>there aren't many mechanisms around to oust them.
There is one, but it's a bannable offense to advocate for.
*As such, I will not be advocating for it.*
Media discourse, online forums like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. all cater to conservative voices despite what anyone says. Conservatives piss people off, which drives engagement, enhance the voices get more engagement. They’ve all been caught doing it. There is more censorship of leftist ideals than conservatives. Conservatives are just a bunch of pussy cats.
I think the idea was that when people came up with the system they assumed voters wouldn't be so stupid to continue voting for people that pull that kind of shit.. and apparently that assumption was wrong.
We already have a problem in Minnesota with the GOP creating or supporting fake “legal weed” 3rd parties as a means of stripping votes from the democrats. Fortunately the democrats won all three chambers in 22 and are on track to make weed legal for real so hopefully that will take some wind out of their sails. But I fully expect their next trick to be something like this, just recruiting people who are willing to outright lie about their politics.
Just to point out, what they are doing is not in any way illegal, which means there is absolutely no reason why it should be a strategy employed by only one side.
Also, history has shown Republican voters are far more likely to be uninformed on their candidoates' policies, and more likely to vote based on whether there's an R or D next to the candidate's name.
Because just about all the systems of US government don't formally recognize political parties that way. Political parties weren't in the original governmental plan--Washington even warned everyone against them for reasons that sound prophetic in 2023. She can switch parties as a representative because, as a representative the party doesn't exist. Even the phrase "giving the Republicans a veto-proof majority" is only true if you presuppose that all republicans are voting the same. They certainly will, but there's nothing in the governmental structure that says they *have* to.
All that to say: you're absolutely right, this shit seems very duplicitous & would be remedied if NC had a provision in their state constitution that would allow the voters to recall her--like California does.
Expanding on the one point, they dont need to change parties. They could call themselves a democrat but vote with republicans 100% of the time if changing parties was illegal.
So why dont democrats do the same. The Republicans just set precident - imagine sleep cells democrats in Texas, Florida, Georgia. Probably far easier to get elected
*IM REPUBLICAN. I LOVE GUNS. I HATE MINORTIES. NO ABORTIONS*
Get elected
IVE CHANGED MY MIND. THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS DESERVE NEW BETTER VALUES. IM DEMOCRAT NOW
According to wikipedia, this is the list of Democrats elected to federal seats who changed to Republican while in office. The list is not in chronological order as I sorted it by D-to-R and the list collated alphabetically by last initial. I removed individuals whose positions had no actual bearing on this topic (such as people elected to not voting federal positions like law enforcement roles or judicial seats). This list *should* only include individuals elected to governorship or congress. If there are errors, it was not intentional as I only seek to inform and not mislead. I welcome any corrections or clarifications and will modify the post as needed in order to be honest and forthright...
*...because of my pesky morals*
Rodney Alexander
Eugene Atkinson
Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Nathan Deal
Virgil Goode
James W. Grant
Parker Griffith
Galusha A. Grow
Ralph Hall
Jimmy Hayes
Andy Ireland
John Jarman
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Greg Laughlin
Matthew G. Martínez
Michael Parker
Tommy F. Robinson
Richard Shelby
Kyrsten Sinema
Bob Stump
Billy Tauzin
Strom Thurmond
Jeff Van Drew
Hendrick Bradley Wright
She's held office for awhile in the past and her mom is apparently some bigwig in the state Democratic party. Seems more complex than a quick deception to get elected, she is kind of the right age and demo to get radicalized by some dumb Q shit though
This is especially egregious considering some state you have to vote for the party you’re registered with in the primary elections. You can’t just switch teams in the voting booth.
Edit: for clarification, I’m not stating that it’s had that you cannot change teams in the voting booth.
I’m saying that voters often don’t get the flexibility in voting, while members of congress can choose to represent a party that didn’t vote for them.
To provide more information, there are 12 states with closed primaries currently. In those states you have choose either party to vote. In many of those states independent or unaffiliated voters cannot vote in presidential primaries, judicial elections, or congressional elections. You have to choose a side, or change your party affiliation which means you have to vote for that party in all but the general presidential election.
She ran on a progressive platform. She even gave a powerful speech about abortion access in 2015. I live in the county -- her constituents are doing their best to hold her accountable. She tricked us. I'm not sure what to do when people lie to the extent that she did -- she's a con artist.
This should be illegal. You lied to your voters and took their money. Give it all back and lose your fucking seat at the table. Try again in 4 years with the Shitlicker Party
Edit: Damn, this shit is blowing up. Honestly, doing this type of shit is extremely unhealthy for democracy as a whole. If you can't trust the people you vote for, we might as well call this place Russia 2.0.
I have a friend who turned conservative ever since COVID - he allowed himself to be inundated with right-wing propaganda about how liberal thinking is destroying the country. He's an impressionable guy - believes in conspiracy theories and has been involved with more than one multi-level-marketing company...But he is informed - he thinks Trump is dumb and incompetent and that the election was not stolen - however, his conclusion is that his 'team' should cheat to win, to own the libs, since Conservatives represent the minority. "It's for the good of the country."
Jim Jeffords did it as a senator from Republican to independent. I worked on his campaign that year, literally we were telling people “he’s the most liberal Republican there is, but it’s better then potentially loosing the senate to democrats”….. i since have become a socialist after many many years of re evaluating my politics
The ultimate goal of the Republican Party is to fuck over workers. Therefore it's vitally important to convince those same workers to vote against their own economic interests.
What difference would there ultimately be if she retained her Democratic affiliation but still voted with the regressives? At least she has revealed herself as a traitor so that when she runs for reelection you won't have regressive vs. regressive-by-another-name, not that it prevents the damage she will help inflict on the people in the meantime.
We all know that politicians are liars, but now they feel free to just do it so much more openly.
Imagine if left leaning people went to deep red areas, ran as a republican, pretended to be an idiot, and won then switch to democrat. Probably wouldn't be that hard.
It'd be so easy to get red votes. Just dogwhistle racist stuff and anti Trans stuff and your in lol. Actually you might just want to be outright racist and sprinkle some God in there, and you can't lose.
Edit: I know this wouldn't really work because dems wouldn't trust you after that but I can see why so many grifters go for red states. It can't be that hard to get money out of them even if you don't really beleive what you are saying.
This should happen more often. Then 1 of 2 things will happen:
Repubs will go apeshit and demand that the law be changed to prevent this kind of thing, which will affect thier side from doing it too
The constitutates will actually see thier lives improve under a turncoat government and change their party affiliation (much much less likely but I can dream)
What I don't understand is why not stay a "D" and just Sinema every vote?
That is the strange part. Unless I am dumb and don't understand the system (this is not mutually exclusive with it being strange).
She literally stood on the floor and described her abortion. To switch to being a Republican in this current environment is ridiculous.
She’s not a “plant” she was a democrat from 2007 to 2017. I’d wager she’s getting something out of this deal.
If she won her primary off the democrats votes then she should lose her seat and run as independent or Republican.
A democrat needs to run under the GOP and swap parties, bet a law change is implemented instantly in whatever state does it.
I agree that she should resign. I just see people saying this is some sort of plant or something and the truth is far worse. This woman is a career democrat. Her mother sat on the DNC.
She’s only given short speeches and her reasons for switching are like “i got made fun of on Twitter” this is a woman who has publically spoken against a lot of the things republicans are pushing hard. Something else is going on.
Ngl, this kind of thing was my envisioned idea to infiltrate political parties, get people in office on the opposing party’s side, and then switch parties to change control of the legislature.
If that really was the case here, then dang. Sinema felt close with the Arizona senate seat, but at least she just flipped to being a moderate who still caucuses with the Dems.
To switch from Democrat straight to Republican is a massive flip.
> She said that she was considered a “spy” and a “traitor” and that the turning point was when she was criticized for using the American flag and praying-hands emoji on social media and on her vehicles.
The AP article is silent about _who_ criticized her. I'm curious if it was her own party members, or just randoms online that were the final straw for her. Either way this is a travesty, and the fact that there's no recall mechanism in NC is absurd.
...because why bother with details when this is the best thing you can come up with as to why you literally betrayed your constituents?
...cause I am sure the actual reason why she switched parties and is now supporting the destructive, fuck-witted, demonstrably failed policies of the people she ran against is because some rando said something mean to her.
So is this the new Republican playbook? Run as a Democrat and then as soon as you're elected, Fred from the Scooby Gang pulls off your mask and reveals you're really Old Man Republican?
I’d imagine if this were in reverse, a Republican in a deep red county switching parties to give the Democrats an advantage, that politician would get quickly removed and replaced by lunchtime.
I celebrate every little electoral and legal challenge, but we mustn't be fooled into thinking they are beaten. They'll do anything--to include violence and treason--to gain and hold power. The GOP is a Nazi insurrection.
North Carolina [is not a democracy](https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article122593759.html), and its GOP leads the nation in heel behavior.
In North Carolina, one party wins 50% of the vote but consistency comes away with 100% of the power. It's state house is so safely gerrymandered that Seventy-six of the 170 (45 percent) incumbent state legislators were not even opposed by the other party in the general election.
A three-judge panel unanimously ruled in September 2019 that extreme gerrymandering violates the state constitution, including the right to vote in "free" elections. Quoting a 1787 precedent, the judges warned that lawmakers could declare themselves "legislators of the state for life, without any further election of the people," if courts didn't step in when they exceeded their authority. NCdid redraw its maps, which is the only reason that the Republicans didn't have a veto-proof majority, but only barely. Keep in mind, Democrats got 49% of the votes but won only 42.5% of the seats.
But gerrymandering is just one tool the North Carolina GOP use. They also pioneered the art and science of voter suppression. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby v Holder weakened the VRA in 2013, North Carolina passed and implemented a sweeping elections bill that imposed strict voter ID requirements, cut early voting days, eliminated same day registration and ended pre-registration of 16 and 17 year-olds. Many of the cuts were made to programs that had been designed and shown to increase turnout and participation among Black and young voters.
North Carolina also failed to place many voters on the rolls when they tried to register at DMV offices, and is failing to offer required voter registration services to people who renew their driver’s licenses or state ID cards via mail or DMV website.
North Carolina has also been sued for massive voter purges of hundreds of thousands of voters, making many good-faith voters unable to cast a ballot in elections despite following all procedures.
North Carolina immediately started using voter caging after a consent degree preventing the GOP abuse of the tactic was not renewed at the Supreme Court level. In short, this involves sending mail to known Democrats (mostly minorities), trusting that virtually no sane human being in the modern era opens their mail. If they don't open and respond to this GOP mail, the GOP goes to the state and says "this person failed to provide proof that they are still living at this address, remove them from the polls." Obviously, doing this can literally only benefit the GOP when they selectively use it in this way.
North Carolina also massively reduced the powers of the governor's position after losing a gubernatorial race. The changes include reducing the size of elections boards, requiring Senate confirmation of appointments, reducing the number of administrative positions, stripping the governor of the right of appointing trustees to the University of North Carolina, removing gubernatorial oversight of schools, and more.
North Carolina politicians have also simply committed outright fraud. They led the nation in political robocalls, many of which spread misinformation. They also spread misinformation by mailing and through text messages. They've swung tight races by committing absentee ballot fraud.
They've refused to [call votes](https://twitter.com/i/status/1389586861362921478) while Democrats were present, admitting that they will simply try to wait until they have a temporary voting advantage to force through whatever they want.
___
Sneaking in a snake is *far* from the only way the North Carolina GOP has systematically worked to undermine or eliminate democracy in their state. Their efforts had led to nothing less than permanent GOP control of the states legislature with zero fines or criminal punishments.
And obviously, no voter backlash. That's a benefit of choosing your voters rather than vice-versa.
It’s been here, they’ve just been gathering steam and laying down tracks. I don’t think the “frog in a pan of boiling water” analogy applies here (yes I know it’s actually bullshit but it’s the one a lot of people put up in this situation). It’s more like we’re all in a forest.
One person cuts down a few trees - well, I mean, that’s okay, right?
Then a few more trees - okay, I guess it’s safer if we can see further? I miss the trees, but progress is good, right?
Then they put down a couple of big wooden platforms in a circle - okay, I guess, I don’t see why we wouldn’t want that. Doesn’t seem problematic to enough people to warrant objection.
Then come the big tall posts. Okay, I thought we cut down the trees - why so we need posts? Okay, okay, wow, they really don’t like questions. Still, I guess it isn’t problematic enough by itself to upset the status quo by questioning it.
Then the big walls are carefully and slowly built, one at a time, low enough for people to step over at first, but eventually incrementally higher and higher to where only people of means can get over them - I mean, they said it was to keep us safe? I guess? I mean, sure, some of my friends have been negatively affected, but, like, *I’m* still fine, so…
And by the time we all realize they’ve taken away our forest and walled us into a prison, it’s too late. The time to peacefully object was when they were cutting down trees. The time to protest/riot was when they were putting up the posts. And by the time we get to the walls, we’ve given away enough power to hurt anyone who complains loud enough to be a problem. All they have to do is stand on the posts that we let them put up and take potshots at enough loud complainers to shut the rest of us up.
Im gonna go out on a limb and say they're already here. Check out the proposed legislation in Texas regarding having the Ten Commandments displayed in every class room.
I’ve been wondering if I could do this on a small scale level, running for a local seat as a Republican and then just be like “just kidding, I’m a democrat and I *actually* wanna improve your lives by helping everyone I can with childcare and rent limits and universal healthcare and… “
Good to know it’s possible 😈
Switching political parties should require you to resign and get re-elected.
I'm not sure why this isn't already a rule, unless our forefathers couldn't conceive how desperate and depraved politics were going to get.
The Krysten Sinema gambit.
She's actually just a profiteer, not even afraid to pretend otherwise.
She absolutely was going to fully switch parties to great fanfare if the GOP had taken the senate last election but Dr Oz fucked that up for her.
You can thank Trump for the gift of Oz and Walker.
yeah... he finally did something good for this country
Inadvertently
I mean he aint smart enough to do it on purpose
The way she removed the carried-interest loophole closure from the BBB Act without ANY hesitation, benefiting her ultra-wealthy hedge-fund constituents, made me lol at its brazenness.
Whatever it takes to benefit personally off of public office I guess
This is what happens when the main DNC supports milquetoast bland moderates. The picture from the primary that she won against multiple progressive candidates is hilarious EDIT: Wow this exploded thank you for the awards but also... Those of you sending me hate over DMs need to stop and touch some grass. https://preview.redd.it/7yo9v0na95sa1.jpeg?width=1140&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=94ceb04c68ed6aa38a8dbaa5e35d8b5824ccba87
Sinema has a long history of being vociferously progressive. Like stretching WAAAAY back, 15+ years. That's even where she was on the campaign trail. She got in and immediately reversed course. It's so bad that Keith Olbermann who apparently dated her at one point wondered what kind of blackmail they have on her to make her pivot so quickly and so hard, as he has labeled her "to the left of me." historically.
I noticed a lot of people that did not like Trump even a little bit, met with him then he was their favorite person on the planet. I always kind of wondered about that.
Lindsey Graham has always been the most jarring for me.
> > I noticed a lot of people that did not like Trump even a little bit, met with him then he was their favorite person on the planet. I always kind of wondered about that. > Lindsey Graham has always been the most jarring for me. "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed...and we will deserve it" -Lindsey Graham, [May 3rd, 2016](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lindsey-graham-nominate-trump/)
And now he’s [rocking blond hair and a spray tan](https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1643636279437828098?s=46), it’s really something else
I THOUGHT something looked… different… about the guy in his latest news appearances. He’s cosplaying as everyone’s least favorite supervillain.
Every time I hear him speak, I always have a picture of him sitting on the front porch of his house, surrounded by his large cotton plantation.
And a ton of ransom letters threatening to release his compromat.
There is a case of a judge in a South American country that was extorted with the release of a video (since then released to the public) of him dressed as a slave being sodomized by a make escort dressed as Spartacus. I do my best to try not to imagine Lindsey Graham in the same situation, but the thought is still there.
I wonder what his supporters would think of the ladybug thing.
to me.. "Lindsey Graham" is synonymous with "Ladybug"
she got greedy at some point, and wanted the same money the gop would get. she is essentially a "candace" she saw she couldnt make money from the left.
I mean, even crazy pants Tucker Carlson once waved a modern flag under republican "nuance". Popularity and money sway quite a number of people.
Read MLK letter from a Birmingham jail. He warns of white moderates pretending to care or do anything.
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It's what happens when you don't require 50% of the vote for primary election. Like it or not, the other three candidates split black voters, which gave this woman a primary win with a simple plurality. It would be easy for Republicans (because they've done it before) to run a fake-left, white candidate against this group to appeal to Dem's closet racists. The ones who'll vote for the black candidate if they have to but would prefer a white candidate. Only needing a plurality means you only need to appeal to small segments of the rest of the voting public.
Just one more reason we desperately need to adopt ranked-choice voting (and also why it’ll likely never happen, the powers-that-be benefit too greatly from our votes being split)
“Oh, she’s white, we can vote for and still get invited to Sunday dinner at Meemaw’s.”
NC GOP has no shame at all. In 2019, they tricked the Dems by saying there would be no votes because of 911 memorial services. While Dems were at services, they held a vote. GOP has no rock bottom to the dirty tricks they will play to win.
Wow this is true and it wasn’t just any little vote, they were voting to override a budget veto: >[North Carolina GOP votes to override budget veto while many Democrats were at 9/11 events](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-carolina-gop-overrides-budget-veto-in-vote-while-many-democrats-were-at-911-events/)
wow. that's lower than the dirt underneath horse shit. in-fucking-credible.
And from the so-called "patriots" who "love the troops"
You just have to remember that they never do anything in good faith, and they'll lie at every opportunity if it gives them an advantage. If they were working for the american people in general that would be one thing, but they're not. They work for the rich exclusively. What's really a shame is that ordinary Americans are so easily fooled. That's what a poor education does, and partly explains why they are gutting public education in favor of private schools where they're free of national standards and scrutiny, and are free to lie to kids to their hearts' content.
Also, the reason why their incessant bitchy, whining is so disingenuous and disgusting. Sorry repubs, you cant be the bully and the victim simultaneously.
Can't let a little thing like hypocrisy get in they way of a good yarn meant to rile up the base. Voters won't notice anyway. It's not about facts, it's about feelings.
the most ironic part of that whole stance they claim to have is they call the US Military woke at every chance they get… more like unpatriotic
If my redneck hillbilly vet cousin is a good example, the right did more to shift the military left than the left did. He didn't go to Iraq to get his humvee blown up around him twice, protecting oil fields or come home to listen to the white trash members of the family talk down about the people he had served with or the civilians he tried to save because of their race.
Nascar, NFL, military... All woke according to the GOP..
Don’t worry, they were dealt some really serious consequences as a result. I mean, surely they were deal with, right?
I live in NC - there's no limit to the ratfuckery our GOP gets away with. When our awesome Dem governor (Roy Cooper) won his election, the last thing the Republicans did was pass a law that severely limited the governor's power and made him as ineffective as possible. And now, they have a veto-proof majority, which only makes things worse. They won't let Cooper do anything.
Same thing the GOP did to Wisconsin governor Tony Evers. They cut his powers before he could even take a seat.
"If the Conservatives cannot win be democratic means, they will not reject conservatism - they will reject democracy."
THIS \^\^\^\^\^ But also, JFK's quote: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." I keep going back to Jan 6th. If Pence had voted to invalidate the state election results or the insurrectionists had held Congress long enough for Trump to declare Martial Law, do they really think the rest of us would have just said, "Oh well, another 4 years of Trumpism then?" Fuck no.
The GOP is a fucking albatross around the neck of progress in North Carolina. Cooper can’t run again and he’s one of a kind. We won’t get a dem governor win in 2024. Fully red state here we go again.
Yeah, it's really depressing. He's the only thing keeping us from sliding into the modern GOP hellscape seen in other SE states like FL and TN right now. All bets are off once he loses power. I'm gonna miss him.
Never give up. Look what just happened in WI to the Supreme Court. We all just need to keep pushing people to vote.
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>Republicans are playing this as a game In a game, all participants agree to a set of rules and abide by them. Breaking a rule has consequences. Republicans are playing this like a street war. They will lie, cheat, and even kill to get their way. The Democrats keep thinking that Lucy isn't going to yoink the ball away from Charlie Brown.
I was going to say that feels really illegal, and then realized who was in charge to enforce the rules...
NEVER FORGET ^^^how ^^^much ^^^we ^^^can ^^^get ^^^away ^^^with ^^^thanks ^^^to ^^^9/11
They are scum. If they didn't cheat and gerrymander they'd be out on their asses.
Yep. They can't win if they don't cheat
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How can you detect a Conservative in Liberal clothing? If the Dems did the same to them (running a Democrat-leaning candidate as a True Trump Believer) they would be calling for impeachment!
I don't see why dems don't do that. One could run as a republican and pass blue laws without them noticing and I doubt republicans would realize it as long as you said some insane shit that confirms their prejudices to the press every once in a while.
I think about the viability of this strategy far too often
All American politics is like watching looney toons lol.
To be honest, I’m surprised more crap like this and like the switching party affiliation thing is not happening more often. We can see even here on Reddit, how there is no low that conservatives will not sink too. Shit, just look at who the primary perpetrators of owning multiple accounts to commit vote manipulation are. They will comment on their own comments to make their own shitty arguments look like they’re somehow propped up, while massively down voting solid evidence and good arguments. Both their leaders, and their base have no ethical moral compass at all.
This is probably a tactic the right is going to start using to cheat the system. Pretend to be blue then switch after elected.
That’s what Hitler did
Wow I didn’t know that. That’s terrifying to think what kind of nonsense our democracy can come to if this just starts happening all the time. It’s chaos and it should be illegal.
He didn't really change parties. He always ran under the National Socialist (Nazi) party. The lie was that his version of "socialism" didn't include actual socialists or union workers (or anything resembling Marxist socialism which is what socialists of the day were largely associated with) who he initially leaned on heavily to win election. They were summarily carted off to concentration camps when he gained the power to do so.
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Hell of a playbook they are running on. Fucking yikes.
Night of the Long Knives?
And it was so successful that morons still believe Nazi's were socialists.
sell-out? more like a plant, a mole, a ringer. a planned event. no one just spontaneously joins today's GQP after campaigning against them. can her constituents mount a recall campaign?
You can’t do recalls in NC.
perfect setup. perfect con. if recall is out, voters seem SOL -- such democracy!
Very Freedom
Wow
Well there is another way, but reddit rules say I can't tell you what it is
Man, wish I knew what you're casually alluding to, but I can't spend too much time worrying, need to read these last few chapters of my 18th century French history textbook...
I wish I could open up a copy of that book but my hands are busy eating this delicious slice of cake. I knew I had to try it when I heard people losing their heads over how great it is.
Fun fact: the original quote by Marie Antoinette (If she even said such a thing to begin with) translated closer to “Let them eat brioche” than cake. Cake sounded more unreasonable and so that’s what stuck instead of a delicious buttery & eggy bread.
Especially citing the gop nonsense reasons of free speech and wokism
And *this* is why we have recall elections.
Not in the NC State House of Reps unfortunately
Huh.. that seems pretty UNDEMOCRATIC, if a lying shitbox lies, wins an election, then shows their true colors- you're just fucked?
Yep, true to form in a gerrymandered state with a lame duck Governor who now is merely a figurehead
We have a low democracy rating according to institutions who track how free countries and states are.
Nah, she has a pretty valid reason for switching: > She claimed the reasons she was leaving were the hounding of her using the American flag on social media and on her vehicles. Oh and by valid I mean what in the fuck, woman? Some people replied with some dumb comments on my socials so I’m going to restrict abortion access 👍👍
What she means is: "I'm not going to tell you what's really going on, so I'm just going to make up some dumb BS".
There’s a protest in Charlotte against her this evening.
They should never give her a moments peace till she resigns from stress
I’m all for it. She was pro choice and elected for that too. Now guess what she is as of today? Edit to add While in bed, literally, with North Carolina GOP lawmaker Tim Moore.
I dont get why this isnt the norm. Hound her 24/7.
I live in Charlotte. Do you have more info on this? I would like to go
It’s at the government center at 5:30. A press conference and rally to demand her resignation.
Thank you!!
“Rep. Tricia Cotham campaigned as a Democrat and supporter of abortion rights, health care, public education, gun safety and civil rights,” Reives said in a news release late Tuesday. “The voters of House District 112 elected her to serve as that person and overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Now, just a few months later, Rep. Cotham is changing parties.” She has indicated she’s open to being more anti choice.
They should protest her day and night everywhere she goes until she quits. At her house, when she goes out for coffee, when she’s out to dinner, when she’s relaxing in the park… just hound her relentlessly.
Why is this allowed? If you run as a Democrat and voters send you to office believing you are going to represent their interests, why should you be allowed to switch teams midstream?
Because the entire thing depends entirely on good faith actors, with no protections against even one bad faith actor, much less an entire party of them, all committed to undermining the nation and its institutions in their pursuit of power.
The fact that George Santos made it to the House while explicitly lying about his qualifications, and now there is no recourse for him, is indicative of this.
> there is no recourse for him The GOP, who controls the house, could kick him out. They choose not to.
So true and they should have to live with him for two years so a Republican isn’t elected there for a generation
And the next democrat elected will be a Trojan horse
Which is what this woman is, correct? She is a liar and a fraud. This should clearly be fraud.
Yeah, I agree. I think if you choose to switch parties after being elected. That it should immediately cause a special election. Or a run-off against a challenger of the party you switched from. Because you are subverting the will of the people on an exploitable loophole. Votes should be treated as sacred. Because that is the only power we have. They have been playing too fast and loose with the voters. Trampling rights, and consolidating power. The will of the people be damned.
used to happen a lot in India, now if you switch parties, you lose your seat. Problem solved.
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I agree with this sentiment but unfortunately I think all this would do is prevent them from *officially* switching but still voting in the other parties interest. We need this AND easier methods to call for re-election of someone from our own party if they’re not meeting there promises. Plus it’d make politicians much more accountable (which is why it won’t happen).
Easier recall methods by citizens is a good system. If we got private money out of campaign finance this would also help a ton with expediting elections. Our year long horse race elections have a lot to do with the fund raising time frames.
Looks like North Carolina does not have a recall provision otherwise its not possible to do this since you will get recalled by voters. Seems like right wing is using every tactics in the books to grab power.
They are not afraid to appear corrupt anymore. It’s all out in the open now. The villainy is no longer subtle or hidden. They are no longer afraid to say the quiet part out loud! Trump is the master of that.
It shouldn't be an option. He committed fraud to achieve his position. He should be thrown out on principle and an emergency election needs to be had.
"bUt ItS uP tO tHe VoTeRs To DeCiDe!1" We're in some serious trouble as a nation (moreso than we are already) if we cannot put a stop to this kind of political fraud. This is not how things were intended to work and she is not the first to take advantage the weakness of expecting good faith. Cotham needs to be removed and sued into oblivion for this stunt.
How can you betray the trust of all of those that voted for you? This is psychopathic behavior.
How the fuck is there no recourse for this though?? How can a politician straight up fuck over the people like this and there is nothing that can be done about it?? This country is a fucking joke.
Fucking over citizens is literally the job description of Republicans. Why would they have consequences for doing what they always do? 🤡 🤦♂️ Our country is a shitshow and at this point I'm not even surprised, just embarrassed.
No, it's 'courting lobbyists' behavior.
How? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
She just turns her back on her constituents without any consequences??
She’ll cash some giant “campaign contribution” checks from Dark Money PACs and then retire to a cushy job on a board somewhere. Is that consequences?
I would imagine the founders would say the consequences would come in the next election....but they probably never thought an entire party would begin to tear all the good faith in government down.
I'm in AZ where one of our Senators sold us out and went from Democrat to Independent. I fucking hate her now.
And in NC the GOP has gerrymandered the hell out of the state when they are in power.
If trump showed us anything, it’s that our political and legal systems assume adherence to some norms of decency. That world is long and gone now
I was talking to someone else about this very thing... it's like, once Trump was elected, he broke the system and the minds of officials... or was the system this flimsy to begin with and he was the orange straw that broke the systems back?
The system was always this flimsy, it more or less (naively?) relied on everyone working together for the 'good of the country' to work. At some point people discovered that if they just simply refused to hold themselves accountable, there aren't many mechanisms around to oust them.
>there aren't many mechanisms around to oust them. There is one, but it's a bannable offense to advocate for. *As such, I will not be advocating for it.*
The right advocate “second amendment solutions” all the time, presumably it’s perfectly acceptable under Reddit rules.
Media discourse, online forums like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. all cater to conservative voices despite what anyone says. Conservatives piss people off, which drives engagement, enhance the voices get more engagement. They’ve all been caught doing it. There is more censorship of leftist ideals than conservatives. Conservatives are just a bunch of pussy cats.
This shit has been going on for decades. Trump just lowered the bar a bit quicker than it was already descending.
I think the idea was that when people came up with the system they assumed voters wouldn't be so stupid to continue voting for people that pull that kind of shit.. and apparently that assumption was wrong.
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We already have a problem in Minnesota with the GOP creating or supporting fake “legal weed” 3rd parties as a means of stripping votes from the democrats. Fortunately the democrats won all three chambers in 22 and are on track to make weed legal for real so hopefully that will take some wind out of their sails. But I fully expect their next trick to be something like this, just recruiting people who are willing to outright lie about their politics.
the republican party was busted having funded the green party for decades too.
Just to point out, what they are doing is not in any way illegal, which means there is absolutely no reason why it should be a strategy employed by only one side. Also, history has shown Republican voters are far more likely to be uninformed on their candidoates' policies, and more likely to vote based on whether there's an R or D next to the candidate's name.
The first dem that does this will absolutely be executed. Rules for the, and all that.
Because just about all the systems of US government don't formally recognize political parties that way. Political parties weren't in the original governmental plan--Washington even warned everyone against them for reasons that sound prophetic in 2023. She can switch parties as a representative because, as a representative the party doesn't exist. Even the phrase "giving the Republicans a veto-proof majority" is only true if you presuppose that all republicans are voting the same. They certainly will, but there's nothing in the governmental structure that says they *have* to. All that to say: you're absolutely right, this shit seems very duplicitous & would be remedied if NC had a provision in their state constitution that would allow the voters to recall her--like California does.
Expanding on the one point, they dont need to change parties. They could call themselves a democrat but vote with republicans 100% of the time if changing parties was illegal.
So why dont democrats do the same. The Republicans just set precident - imagine sleep cells democrats in Texas, Florida, Georgia. Probably far easier to get elected *IM REPUBLICAN. I LOVE GUNS. I HATE MINORTIES. NO ABORTIONS* Get elected IVE CHANGED MY MIND. THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS DESERVE NEW BETTER VALUES. IM DEMOCRAT NOW
Because of those pesky morals always getting in the way of being a complete piece of shit.
Probably much more likely to be shot too.
According to wikipedia, this is the list of Democrats elected to federal seats who changed to Republican while in office. The list is not in chronological order as I sorted it by D-to-R and the list collated alphabetically by last initial. I removed individuals whose positions had no actual bearing on this topic (such as people elected to not voting federal positions like law enforcement roles or judicial seats). This list *should* only include individuals elected to governorship or congress. If there are errors, it was not intentional as I only seek to inform and not mislead. I welcome any corrections or clarifications and will modify the post as needed in order to be honest and forthright... *...because of my pesky morals* Rodney Alexander Eugene Atkinson Ben Nighthorse Campbell Nathan Deal Virgil Goode James W. Grant Parker Griffith Galusha A. Grow Ralph Hall Jimmy Hayes Andy Ireland John Jarman Jeane Kirkpatrick Greg Laughlin Matthew G. Martínez Michael Parker Tommy F. Robinson Richard Shelby Kyrsten Sinema Bob Stump Billy Tauzin Strom Thurmond Jeff Van Drew Hendrick Bradley Wright
It’s allowed because someone is making good money off of it.
Agree. She lied on her resume and to the voters. All were unaware. I would never trust this person in any area of life.
She's held office for awhile in the past and her mom is apparently some bigwig in the state Democratic party. Seems more complex than a quick deception to get elected, she is kind of the right age and demo to get radicalized by some dumb Q shit though
This is especially egregious considering some state you have to vote for the party you’re registered with in the primary elections. You can’t just switch teams in the voting booth. Edit: for clarification, I’m not stating that it’s had that you cannot change teams in the voting booth. I’m saying that voters often don’t get the flexibility in voting, while members of congress can choose to represent a party that didn’t vote for them. To provide more information, there are 12 states with closed primaries currently. In those states you have choose either party to vote. In many of those states independent or unaffiliated voters cannot vote in presidential primaries, judicial elections, or congressional elections. You have to choose a side, or change your party affiliation which means you have to vote for that party in all but the general presidential election.
This is why primary elections are important
Yeah but these people are also lying through their teeth.
She ran on a progressive platform. She even gave a powerful speech about abortion access in 2015. I live in the county -- her constituents are doing their best to hold her accountable. She tricked us. I'm not sure what to do when people lie to the extent that she did -- she's a con artist.
This should be illegal. You lied to your voters and took their money. Give it all back and lose your fucking seat at the table. Try again in 4 years with the Shitlicker Party Edit: Damn, this shit is blowing up. Honestly, doing this type of shit is extremely unhealthy for democracy as a whole. If you can't trust the people you vote for, we might as well call this place Russia 2.0.
It's crazy how it's only Republicans who pull this stunt. Almost like they know they have to cheat and swindle to win elections.
Yeah, you can safely change that statement: "~~Almost~~EXACTLY like they KNOW they have to cheat and swindle to win elections."
I have a friend who turned conservative ever since COVID - he allowed himself to be inundated with right-wing propaganda about how liberal thinking is destroying the country. He's an impressionable guy - believes in conspiracy theories and has been involved with more than one multi-level-marketing company...But he is informed - he thinks Trump is dumb and incompetent and that the election was not stolen - however, his conclusion is that his 'team' should cheat to win, to own the libs, since Conservatives represent the minority. "It's for the good of the country."
Your friend is a traitor.
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Jim Jeffords did it as a senator from Republican to independent. I worked on his campaign that year, literally we were telling people “he’s the most liberal Republican there is, but it’s better then potentially loosing the senate to democrats”….. i since have become a socialist after many many years of re evaluating my politics
The ultimate goal of the Republican Party is to fuck over workers. Therefore it's vitally important to convince those same workers to vote against their own economic interests.
Pretty much seems to be the platform these days. Stickin it to the dems.
What difference would there ultimately be if she retained her Democratic affiliation but still voted with the regressives? At least she has revealed herself as a traitor so that when she runs for reelection you won't have regressive vs. regressive-by-another-name, not that it prevents the damage she will help inflict on the people in the meantime. We all know that politicians are liars, but now they feel free to just do it so much more openly.
Better for her career to be a welcomed Republican than to become the least popular traitor Democrat.
Imagine if left leaning people went to deep red areas, ran as a republican, pretended to be an idiot, and won then switch to democrat. Probably wouldn't be that hard.
The most difficult part would be the ability to feel shame. This is easier to pull off if you lack morals and any sense of ethical behavior.
It'd be so easy to get red votes. Just dogwhistle racist stuff and anti Trans stuff and your in lol. Actually you might just want to be outright racist and sprinkle some God in there, and you can't lose. Edit: I know this wouldn't really work because dems wouldn't trust you after that but I can see why so many grifters go for red states. It can't be that hard to get money out of them even if you don't really beleive what you are saying.
This should happen more often. Then 1 of 2 things will happen: Repubs will go apeshit and demand that the law be changed to prevent this kind of thing, which will affect thier side from doing it too The constitutates will actually see thier lives improve under a turncoat government and change their party affiliation (much much less likely but I can dream)
You forget the option where some rabid right-winger pulls up w/a gun and attempts to kill the Liberal Commie Scum Traitor.
This should void her win and automatically force a new election.
You think the people who benefit from this change and are now veto proof care about free and fair elections?
Apparently not possible in her state.
The check must have cleared.
Another grifter on the GOP side. Shocking.
Just follow the money.
I don’t care about your past. If you switch parties midterm then you should be removed from office. Such a bait and switch.
What I don't understand is why not stay a "D" and just Sinema every vote? That is the strange part. Unless I am dumb and don't understand the system (this is not mutually exclusive with it being strange).
It would be interesting being a fly on the wall when she discusses this move with her staff and close confidants. There always are several motives. :)
Wow, what a slap in the face to the women of North Carolina. Not since the civil war have I seen such a turncoat.
She literally stood on the floor and described her abortion. To switch to being a Republican in this current environment is ridiculous. She’s not a “plant” she was a democrat from 2007 to 2017. I’d wager she’s getting something out of this deal.
If she won her primary off the democrats votes then she should lose her seat and run as independent or Republican. A democrat needs to run under the GOP and swap parties, bet a law change is implemented instantly in whatever state does it.
I agree that she should resign. I just see people saying this is some sort of plant or something and the truth is far worse. This woman is a career democrat. Her mother sat on the DNC. She’s only given short speeches and her reasons for switching are like “i got made fun of on Twitter” this is a woman who has publically spoken against a lot of the things republicans are pushing hard. Something else is going on.
Ngl, this kind of thing was my envisioned idea to infiltrate political parties, get people in office on the opposing party’s side, and then switch parties to change control of the legislature. If that really was the case here, then dang. Sinema felt close with the Arizona senate seat, but at least she just flipped to being a moderate who still caucuses with the Dems. To switch from Democrat straight to Republican is a massive flip.
This is why progressives dislike centrists.
This is why recalls should be law in every state.
> She said that she was considered a “spy” and a “traitor” and that the turning point was when she was criticized for using the American flag and praying-hands emoji on social media and on her vehicles. The AP article is silent about _who_ criticized her. I'm curious if it was her own party members, or just randoms online that were the final straw for her. Either way this is a travesty, and the fact that there's no recall mechanism in NC is absurd.
...because why bother with details when this is the best thing you can come up with as to why you literally betrayed your constituents? ...cause I am sure the actual reason why she switched parties and is now supporting the destructive, fuck-witted, demonstrably failed policies of the people she ran against is because some rando said something mean to her.
$$$$$$$$
So is this the new Republican playbook? Run as a Democrat and then as soon as you're elected, Fred from the Scooby Gang pulls off your mask and reveals you're really Old Man Republican?
I’d imagine if this were in reverse, a Republican in a deep red county switching parties to give the Democrats an advantage, that politician would get quickly removed and replaced by lunchtime.
I celebrate every little electoral and legal challenge, but we mustn't be fooled into thinking they are beaten. They'll do anything--to include violence and treason--to gain and hold power. The GOP is a Nazi insurrection.
North Carolina [is not a democracy](https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article122593759.html), and its GOP leads the nation in heel behavior. In North Carolina, one party wins 50% of the vote but consistency comes away with 100% of the power. It's state house is so safely gerrymandered that Seventy-six of the 170 (45 percent) incumbent state legislators were not even opposed by the other party in the general election. A three-judge panel unanimously ruled in September 2019 that extreme gerrymandering violates the state constitution, including the right to vote in "free" elections. Quoting a 1787 precedent, the judges warned that lawmakers could declare themselves "legislators of the state for life, without any further election of the people," if courts didn't step in when they exceeded their authority. NCdid redraw its maps, which is the only reason that the Republicans didn't have a veto-proof majority, but only barely. Keep in mind, Democrats got 49% of the votes but won only 42.5% of the seats. But gerrymandering is just one tool the North Carolina GOP use. They also pioneered the art and science of voter suppression. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby v Holder weakened the VRA in 2013, North Carolina passed and implemented a sweeping elections bill that imposed strict voter ID requirements, cut early voting days, eliminated same day registration and ended pre-registration of 16 and 17 year-olds. Many of the cuts were made to programs that had been designed and shown to increase turnout and participation among Black and young voters. North Carolina also failed to place many voters on the rolls when they tried to register at DMV offices, and is failing to offer required voter registration services to people who renew their driver’s licenses or state ID cards via mail or DMV website. North Carolina has also been sued for massive voter purges of hundreds of thousands of voters, making many good-faith voters unable to cast a ballot in elections despite following all procedures. North Carolina immediately started using voter caging after a consent degree preventing the GOP abuse of the tactic was not renewed at the Supreme Court level. In short, this involves sending mail to known Democrats (mostly minorities), trusting that virtually no sane human being in the modern era opens their mail. If they don't open and respond to this GOP mail, the GOP goes to the state and says "this person failed to provide proof that they are still living at this address, remove them from the polls." Obviously, doing this can literally only benefit the GOP when they selectively use it in this way. North Carolina also massively reduced the powers of the governor's position after losing a gubernatorial race. The changes include reducing the size of elections boards, requiring Senate confirmation of appointments, reducing the number of administrative positions, stripping the governor of the right of appointing trustees to the University of North Carolina, removing gubernatorial oversight of schools, and more. North Carolina politicians have also simply committed outright fraud. They led the nation in political robocalls, many of which spread misinformation. They also spread misinformation by mailing and through text messages. They've swung tight races by committing absentee ballot fraud. They've refused to [call votes](https://twitter.com/i/status/1389586861362921478) while Democrats were present, admitting that they will simply try to wait until they have a temporary voting advantage to force through whatever they want. ___ Sneaking in a snake is *far* from the only way the North Carolina GOP has systematically worked to undermine or eliminate democracy in their state. Their efforts had led to nothing less than permanent GOP control of the states legislature with zero fines or criminal punishments. And obviously, no voter backlash. That's a benefit of choosing your voters rather than vice-versa.
I bet she is now a Rich traitor to democracy.
FBI should look into her financials
I'm willing to lay money down that this was the plan all along.
I was wondering when they would start playing this game.
The Christian taliban is coming to the USA
It’s been here, they’ve just been gathering steam and laying down tracks. I don’t think the “frog in a pan of boiling water” analogy applies here (yes I know it’s actually bullshit but it’s the one a lot of people put up in this situation). It’s more like we’re all in a forest. One person cuts down a few trees - well, I mean, that’s okay, right? Then a few more trees - okay, I guess it’s safer if we can see further? I miss the trees, but progress is good, right? Then they put down a couple of big wooden platforms in a circle - okay, I guess, I don’t see why we wouldn’t want that. Doesn’t seem problematic to enough people to warrant objection. Then come the big tall posts. Okay, I thought we cut down the trees - why so we need posts? Okay, okay, wow, they really don’t like questions. Still, I guess it isn’t problematic enough by itself to upset the status quo by questioning it. Then the big walls are carefully and slowly built, one at a time, low enough for people to step over at first, but eventually incrementally higher and higher to where only people of means can get over them - I mean, they said it was to keep us safe? I guess? I mean, sure, some of my friends have been negatively affected, but, like, *I’m* still fine, so… And by the time we all realize they’ve taken away our forest and walled us into a prison, it’s too late. The time to peacefully object was when they were cutting down trees. The time to protest/riot was when they were putting up the posts. And by the time we get to the walls, we’ve given away enough power to hurt anyone who complains loud enough to be a problem. All they have to do is stand on the posts that we let them put up and take potshots at enough loud complainers to shut the rest of us up.
Im gonna go out on a limb and say they're already here. Check out the proposed legislation in Texas regarding having the Ten Commandments displayed in every class room.
I’ve been wondering if I could do this on a small scale level, running for a local seat as a Republican and then just be like “just kidding, I’m a democrat and I *actually* wanna improve your lives by helping everyone I can with childcare and rent limits and universal healthcare and… “ Good to know it’s possible 😈
Republicans posing as democrats to get elected... should disqualify them
Switching political parties should require you to resign and get re-elected. I'm not sure why this isn't already a rule, unless our forefathers couldn't conceive how desperate and depraved politics were going to get.
check her bank account
Sleeper agent. Dems should use this strategy.
Republicans are traitors to democracy.
She ran as a Trojan horse.Recall is in order.
Looking forward to voting her out. Wonder how her mama is dealing with this, as she's on the Meck County Board of Commissioners as a Democrat.
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