The Senate Quislings

With Action Items...

The technical definition of a quisling is a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force. The term is drawn from the actions taken by Vidkum Quisling, Minister President of Norway, about whom you can read more than you ever wanted to know here.

Below are our Senators Quisling, original list from the Times, annotated with the next year in which they are up for re-election.

If you are a long-time reader, you know that I am always looking for some good news, and I believe (and still do) that while times are very dark, they’re winning battles, but in the end WE THE PEOPLE will win the war.

Sorry.

Not today.

What these 10 Senators did is unacceptable and unforgivable. This wasn’t a messaging vote, it was a vote to ensure actual humans will suffer, and perhaps die because of it. It is antithetical to the principles and values that the Democratic Party has stood for in modern times.

This changes the calculus of everything. And I mean EVERYTHING.

We have some power in the House. Yes, we lost two Congressmen recently, Sylvester Turner and Raul Grijalva (both incredibly good men). But the margins are close, and it looks like public sentiment is starting to at least be heard by the MAGA lackies.

But we have lost the Senate. The overall Senate should be 53 - 47, but it is now 63- 37, and that is insurmountable¹. The Senators Quisling fell prey to absolute stupidity and an inability to see reality. I’ve heard their argument that shutting down the government would have given MORE power to Shitler, Muskrat and the Miscreants. That after 30 days, the fascist regime would have RIFFED² every non-essential worker.

They’re going to do it anyway. Remember, “cruelty” is a feature, not a bug.

Many people talk about Project 2025, but they haven’t read it. They “heard things”, they saw what was messaged. But if you read it³, you know what’s on the table. The Quislings obviously didn’t read it, or they would have understood the plan.

The Senate is supposedly an august body. It has an incredible set of policies and procedures (hat tip to Robert Byrd) that the Quislings could have leveraged to prevent the $13 billion in cuts to non-defense spending, including a devastating $1.1 billion cut to DC, Medicaid cuts, as well as the ceding of power over tariffs. But they folded, after standing in opposition as recently as 48 hours before the first test vote.

If the Senators were smart, they would have messaged better and then voted to shut down the government. They would have said the GOP has a trifecta, this is THEIR bill, these are THEIR actions, and YOU, the public, will feel it within weeks.

They would have gotten on EVERY media outlet from Fox to CNN to TikTok and messaged: “This is what the CR will do.” They would have spelled out the disaster that it is. They should have messaged this every hour of every day from the first day they saw the bill. Instead, Schumer wrote an op-ed in the Times.

THE TIMES!

Don’t get me wrong, I read the Times. As much as I have problems with the Old Grey Lady⁴, I’ve read the Times every day since I was in grade school. I AM THE WRONG AUDIENCE. People like me understand the score, and know how wrong this was.

It’s as if writing to, or in, the Times replaces righteous action.

IT

DOES

NOT

And so, it is left to WE THE PEOPLE to rise up.

First, and this won’t do anything, but you’ll feel better. Send a post card if your Senator is one of the Quislings, and say that because of his/her vote, you will never give them another dime, will never vote for them, and are considering voting for the Rethuglican in their next election because there is no daylight between them. And then stick to it⁵.

As part of this point, sign the Indivisible petition calling on all Democratic Senators to demand Schumer resign as Minority Leader. Link here. Again, it won’t go anywhere, but you’ll feel better.

Second, join the April 5th Hands Off protest. Link.

It will be huge in DC if you can get there, but there will also be events throughout the country. You can also attend the organizing meetings if you want to hold a local event. This will be a non-violent event.

Third, join your local resistance organization, and don’t just join: put in time and effort, by going to meetings, meeting the people, attending rallies and protests (remember, there are Tesla protests EVERY WEEK). Also consider a financial contribution: resistance costs money.

As part of this action, bring friends and family⁶ to the meetings, rallies and protests. And while you’re talking to them, remind them that there are primaries THIS SPRING and a general election on 4 November.

I hear you: “I don’t bother with local elections. They don’t matter. Plus the party abandoned us.”

Here in Pennsylvania, the most important races are on the BACK of the ballot. If we are unable to retain 3 judges, we lose the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. If we skip the primary, we end up with some Rethuglican School Board candidates running AS DEMOCRATS. Which means book burners and those that will refuse to make up the monies lost for IEPs when DoE does its worst. If you live in Virginia or New Jersey, your help is desperately needed, on the ground and through contributions⁷. If you have questions about races in any other states and need information, let me know.

PLEASE make sure you vote this year!!!!! The Democrats who abandoned all of us are in the Senate, they are NOT at the local, county and state level. We need to salvage what’s left of democracy from the ground up, and that means protecting everything from the local Judges of Election (the frontline people who say who can vote at individual polling places, and oversee the initial vote count) through the state candidates and above all, the judges.

Avoid confusing “the Party” with the Quislings.

I am an institutionalist. I am a proud member of the liberal wing, and not a party regular⁸. But destruction the Senators Quisling caused was, in certain ways, not that different from what happened on January 6th, 2021. Sure, it wasn’t violent, and it wasn’t illegal, but mark my words, it was just as catastrophic.

They have left us no choice but to resist, to take to the streets, to strike, obstruct and potentially sabotage, to follow the lead of the WW2 Resistance. This is a terrible thing to have come to, but the Quisling vote changed everything.

1. Yes, Rand Paul voted no on the cloture motion, but normally he’s MAGA-aligned.

2. “RIF“ is the government term meaning “Reduction in Force” and it is akin to a private sector layoff.

3. Yes, I read it. It’s one reason I no longer sleep.

4. Henry Jarvis Raymond, George Jones, and Adolph Simon Ochs are crying in their grave

5. You won’t actually have to vote for a Rethuglican, all of these Senators, except those retiring, will be primaried. Work your heart out for the replacement.

6. Especially if they are young people.

7. If you are voting in the New Jersey gubernatorial primary, while I am not endorsing, I’d be glad to tell you for whom I would vote. Text or email me for info. In Virginia, it should be an uncontested gubernatorial race. If Bobby Scott ends up throwing his hat in the race, um, he’s the wrong choice.

8. I am a yellow dog Democrat, having never voted for a Republican in a general election.