Pre-Saturday [1]

(2323)(0038)

Snakes and Allies

I should not have woken up, having crashed for the night … there are reasons I’ll go into one day soon, mainly neighbours doing shiftwork … anyway, here we are, not even Saturday, first sleep over with, thought I’d check X and there’s Publius, a key anon pundit close to MAGA.

Rand Paul tried to “@DOGE” the Senate Budget last night with a $1.5 trillion Spending Cut Amendment, but it crashed 24-76. All Democrats voted NO, joined by 29 RINOs like McConnell, Graham, Cornyn, Tillis, and Thune – thwarting his attempt to reduce inflation and debt.

Here are the 29 “Republicans” who joined every Democrat in voting this down:

Banks (R-IN) – 2030 (Elected 2024) Blackburn (R-TN) – 2030 (Elected 2024) Boozman (R-AR) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Budd (R-NC) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Capito (R-WV) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Collins (R-ME) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Cornyn (R-TX) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Cotton (R-AR) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Cramer (R-ND) – 2030 (Elected 2024) Crapo (R-ID) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Fischer (R-NE) – 2030 (Elected 2024) Graham (R-SC) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Grassley (R-IA) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Hawley (R-MO) – 2030 (Elected 2024) Hoeven (R-ND) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Hyde-Smith (R-MS) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Lankford (R-OK) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Marshall (R-KS) – 2026 (Elected 2020) McConnell (R-KY) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Moran (R-KS) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Mullin (R-OK) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Murkowski (R-AK) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Ricketts (R-NE) – 2030 (Elected 2024) Rounds (R-SD) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Scott (R-SC) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Sullivan (R-AK) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Thune (R-SD) – 2028 (Elected 2022) Tillis (R-NC) – 2026 (Elected 2020) Wicker (R-MS) – 2030 (Elected 2024)

*NOTE: These dates assume no resignations, special elections, or other unforeseen changes.

All right … the context for non-Americans and for Americans unaware:

Yes and no … the combined House and Executive does have a say and POTUS does have the right of veto on actual bills … which one would assume he would use with Thune’s big-spending bill, inc. the Ukraine money Zelensky demanded.

Remember that this just now was a vote against a bill, not a bill in itself … in other words, the Senate “vetoed” (voted against) Rand Paul’s amendment. POTUS therefore will instead veto (hopefully) the Thune bill itself to stop it becoming law … the one which bypassed the House proposed bill, backed by POTUS.

Are there any mitigating circumstances for those Republicans above voting with the demonrats?

Well there may be. If House plus POTUS already have a way to kill the bill later, then the Rand Paul amendment might have just been an opening play to flush out the RINOs … or else certain Senators knew of the later play (to come) and did not impede it … it’s a wafer thin argument imho and who am I … not an expert in US division of powers.

But to employ that overused word … the optics certainly look bad to MAGA eyes. They, MAGA, and the RINO GOP, are certainly a house divided, as Lincoln put it long ago. I’ll be interested to see Mike Davis’s comment, though he’s judiciary.

Now, let’s jump across the pond to us and the Llama-Harmer’s latest, as reported and commented on by Vance and one other (Musk? Bondi?):