Many readers are claiming that Wray's resignation was designed to force Trump to put Patel through the confirmation process, citing David French's article in the Times. I addressed that fallacy in the newsletter, as explained in my response to William Titelman:
Hi, William. The Vacancies Act would operate in the same fashion regardless of whether Wray resigns or is fired. So there is no strategic advantage in resigning now.
I addressed this point explicitly in the column last night, although I did not mention French by name. I wrote:
"Some commentators are trying to lionize Wray’s capitulation, claiming that the timing of Wray’s resignation forces Trump to obtain Senate confirmation for Kash Patel—something that Trump would have been forced to do if he fired Wray on January 20, 2025."
David Frum repeated David French's opinion last night during his conversation with Larry Mantle on America at a Crossroads. Thank you clarifying that Wray's act (of cowardice) does not present the "legal obstacle" as "observed" by conservative writer Erick Erickson that David French references. If only these opinion writers would think (i.e. do research) before they write.
Perhaps you are being too quick to judge Wray see the opinion piece by David French in today’s NYTIMES and which I am pasting in here:
By David French
Opinion Columnist
On Wednesday, Christopher Wray told his F.B.I. colleagues that he would step down as director by the end of President Biden’s term. His statement was a perfect example of bureaucratic deference. “I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down,” Wray said. He wants to “avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.”
But is something else going on?
By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who’s served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. He’s not in a Senate-confirmed position, and he’s not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he can’t walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the “first assistant to the office.”
In this case, that means the position would default to Paul Abbate, who has been the deputy director of the F.B.I. since 2021, unless Trump chooses someone else, and that “someone else” cannot be Patel, at least not right away.
The bottom line is that the Senate has to do its job. Wray is foreclosing a presidential appointment under the Vacancies Reform Act, and — as I wrote in a column last month — the Supreme Court has most likely foreclosed the use of a recess appointment to bypass the Senate.
So a resignation that at first blush looks like a capitulation (why didn’t he wait to be fired?) is actually an act of defiance. It narrows Trump’s options, and it places the Senate at center stage. In Federalist No. 76, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the advice and consent power was designed to be “an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the president, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters.”
Patel is just such an “unfit character,” and now it’s senators’ responsibility to protect the American republic from his malign influence — if, that is, they have the courage to do their jobs.
David French is an Opinion columnist, writing about law, culture, religion and armed conflict. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a former constitutional litigator. His most recent book is “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.” You can follow him on Threads (@davidfrenchjag).
It's a nice rational analysis, but the senators will all capitulate to Trump. Maybe they'll get rid of one layer of awful candidates, but Trump has an infinite supply. He'll just replace one awful candidate with another less overtly (but just as deeply) awful, and all the senators will swallow it. The Democratic senators, if recent history is any indication, will say nothing. Not a word.
Hi, William. The Vacancies Act would operate in the same fashion regardless of whether Wray resigns or is fired. So there is no strategic advantage in resigning now.
I addressed this point explicitly in the column last night, although I did not mention French by name. I wrote:
Some commentators are trying to lionize Wray’s capitulation, claiming that the timing of Wray’s resignation forces Trump to obtain Senate confirmation for Kash Patel—something that Trump would have been forced to do if he fired Wray on January 20, 2025.
I certainly agree with your opposition to appeasement. However, as I understood it the difference has to do with the acting head being required to be someone who has already received Senate confirmation or who has served in the agency in a senior capacity during the years before the nomination and that this resignation forecloses a presidential appointment under the Vacancies Reform Act. In that sense it forces the Senate to do its job and in the interim puts the agency under someone who is likely to be responsible. Is this wrong? If so, can you explain?
One more comment, and then I will leave you alone. per the Lawfare article I cited (and its citation to further authority), the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel has ruled on three occasions that the Federal Vacancies Act applies equally to resignations and firings. Under the DOJ precedent, it doesn't matter whether Wray resigns or is fired. The same result applies.
But a note in the Harvard Law Review (cited in Lawfare) makes a strong case that the DOJ OLC memos are wrong and that the FVA does not apply to firings. If the Harvard Law Review article is correct, then it would have been BETTER for Wray to be fired, because the FVA would not apply and Trump would have NO authority to appoint a temporary replacement.
I am away from my computer at the moment but, in short, the Vacancy Act operates in the same manner regardless of how the vacancy occurs or when it is created.
Hi, William. A resignation does not foreclose a presidential temporary appointment; rather, it expressly authorizes it. The Act merely limits who the president can appoint to someone who is already Senate confirmed or has requisite level of service in a senior capacity.
More to the point, in my opinion (expressed by me more thoroughly elsewhere in the Thread: Wray should not have given way, but should have upheld the principle that the FBI Directorship is not a political appointment. Wray, by giving way in advance, undermined that principle.
Robert, like you, I was sickened to hear that Wray caved. Originally it was he and Jerome Powell who said they would hold steadfast to their jobs. Powell has won out while Wray leaves the bureau to fend for itself under the dicktator. Just praying there are enough sane people in Congress to protest against Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and the rest of the crazy people. Not counting on it tho’…sigh.
It’s time to shift the focus. Trump won this second time improbably not because he won but because the Dems lost. At this point to tidal wave is coming, because one party did not understand what was happening in the country and how to speak to it effectively or how to even connect with people consistently and meaningfully, etc, etc. It would be a mistake to say Harris got 50% of the vote. A large percent were voting against Trump. The Dems are highly dysfunctional. They don’t speak openly about problems they created like over-regulation. They don’t even know how to get the public to give them credit for key legislation such as the IRA. Far left topics continue to dominate the headlines and it’s not what most Americans want to hear. If you want to help the county, focus on the spectacularly dysfunctional Dem Party and how it was instrumental over 5+ decades to getting us to this point. Then, maybe there might be a brighter future.
The more to the left you go then the more you lose the middle. You can’t win elections without the middle. You have to be in the political middle and then accomplish your objectives by bringing the country with you. By smart messaging and smart managing of the public’s attitude. Going further to the left is a recipe for disaster. You will further disillusion people like me who are already phenomenally disillusioned with the Democratic Party. How about taking on the national debt and how about taking on the burdensome regulatory environment? How about cleaning up our cities which were a disaster during the pandemic under liberal leadership. And, for example, I do think that being overly woke disillusioned a lot of people in the middle. The answer is never at the extremes, the answer is at the middle and then pushing forward With smart messaging and bringing people along with you. You get a lot more accomplished that way that align with your objectives than to move fully to the extreme and then try to get things done. I am not a averse to the objectives that you have in mind, I just have a much more pragmatic way to go about achieving them. And I would say, likely a much more successful way. Losing elections is not the way to go about it. Disillusioning people is also not the way to go about it.
I feel like the Dems have been highly functional but should have been a bit less politics as usual about things. Not necessarily things that would definitely fall into the more progressive camp but that would have fallen into the more aggressive camp in order to preserve our nation's ability to continue to refine our policies and services. For example, the SCOTUS should have been expanded during Biden's first two years. Many guardrails that Trump blew through should have been hardened into law instead of being left up to honor in the belief a la Susan Collins that politicians or the nation had learned the lessons. By focusing on preserving our ability to listen to the people and respond, we could have begun to work out the complex laws needed to reduce lies in the media while preserving free speech, and thus shape the national conversation and ensure elections really are about people's informed choices. Four years isn't much to work with, and the first two should have been earth moving.
They were earth moving. I hate doing this, but once again: the media didn't do their job as the "Fourth Estate". That doesn't mean we lost the political capital that Biden's term created - we need to bring it with us instead of continually bickering about what went wrong.
I'm spending less time on forums reading people who are still stuck on the blame-game,and more time building relationships with groups who are pulling together and developing strategies to pick up seats in 2026, with a big effort on state and local races. We're moving ahead with the idea that the Democratic Party should be communicating both up and down, and illuminating that we need to start doing that now. Too much focus on WaDC, and too little awareness of what is needed at other levels.
You guys just continue with your chat. We'll be in touch when things get underway.
Well; I can’t argue that. I can comment that if those voters felt left behind before, I hate to think too hard as to how they will feel with tramples and his band of thieves running the show.
I don't think voters feel left behind so much as they feel disgusted by both parties--because they imbibe Fox's lies about the Biden crime family, the lying evil Harris, the "plans" Democrats have to eliminate all Christians from government positions (yes, people have told me that), the (mythical) waves of illegal immigrants storming the country committing murder, their gut feeling their dollars don't go as far as they used to, etc. AND at the same time they know Trump is a convicted felon, rapist, insurrectionist, pathological liar, psychopath, and fraudster. If YOU honestly believed you had these two choices, would YOU vote?
I think Sherrilyn Ifill’s comments in her substack piece are much more to the point. Trump ran a racist, misogynistic campaign. If we don’t address the issues of race and gender disparity in our country we will continue to chase after shiny objects to our sorrow.
The GOP won because enough voters are racists and misogynists. They preferred a demonstrably unfit 78 year old man over a competent Blackj woman. It is time to face the fact that Americans are bigots and happy to be bigots. Trump gives them permission to revel in their hate.
I would say that this is not new news. If this is known, then the question is why haven’t Democrats spent years with positive messaging and other attempts to address it.
Another example. In the 80s Reagan promoted the concept that the government was your enemy. He made it acceptable to hate our own government. In 50 years the Democrats have done little to dispel that. If one’s ship is listing, and you know that it’s listing and we do nothing about it and it finally flips over, who’s to blame? While blame is not really the intent, the Democrats have sat by for more than 50+ watching the ship list, watching the Republicans become increasingly toxic. They - the Dems - have been ineffective at managing the social discussion, the social sentiment, the American mindset, etc. When you lose, you don’t blame the other team, you take a very hard look in the mirror.
Karen, Though not comparable, Wray’s announced resignation already is perceived as normalizing Trump’s defiance of the norm of a 10-year appointment ensuring the Director serves under more than 1 President, thus, more or less, de-politicizing the post. As a consequence, I expect the new regime will have a far easier time getting Kash Patel confirmed.
Capitulation/appeasement: I like the line (maybe from Seinfeld?) about Wray: He folded faster than Superman on laundry day.
And about Zuckerberg: again he shows, as if we needed more proof, that he is just another run-of-the-mill, odious, hypocritical, self-serving and anti-American billionaire who is lower than that stinky stuff stuck to the bottom of your shoe.
I heard someone say, "It's not going to be as bad as we thought. It is going to be much, much worse." How can there be so many elected Republicans in Washington DC and in red states across the country that are so purely evil? I really don't understand it. There should be people out there willing to stand up and speak out, no matter the risk to their political careers. Liz Cheney did, but we need people who are in power now.
As Harry Truman observed way back in 1948, "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." They've been scum since 1872. Their only good President other than Lincoln was Eisenhower, and he was cordially hated by the GOP establishment like Lincoln was.
THE GOP except for Lincoln and Eisenhower have always been for government of by and for organized money. They used to tolerate elections. I think that will go away now too.
Yes, indeedy. Talk about normalizing the abnormal. During Obama's administration, MSM were turning to Newt to serve as the "voice of the opposition". I wrote to ask what in the world made them think that was a good idea. By the end of that week, he was gone. I'd LOVE to think I actually made somebody at the editorial level THINK, but I imagine I'm not the only one who called them out on it. I certainly hope so. I mean, really? Newt Gingrich as political analyst?
Kate, you asked “How can there be so many elected Republicans in Washington DC and in red states across the country that are so purely evil?”
Conservatives want us to believe the history that they constructed, a tale where “Columbus was a hero, the Founding Fathers were devout Christians, George Washington was protected by God's divine hand, we never slaughtered Indians, we helped all the Africans we enslaved, and we brought peace, love, and democracy all across the world” (this from P Marshall and D Manuel’s ‘Lighting and Glory’ and ‘Sea to Shining Sea’).
They convinced themselves that our story is something very different from what it really is, and try fool as many as they can. WHY? The answer is easy: they want Power and Money (all of it), and they don’t want anyone getting in their way. Not fair wages, not equal rights, not women, not people who look different from the average while male.
I bet many want what they want while still believing in freedom for all, but there is a catch, you can’t tank freedoms in order to get what you want because you wind up without freedoms. You can’t dump shit in your back yard and then send your kid out there to play.
trump unleashed this- Oh for the days of bickering across the aisle. I say that and think “John McCaine, he wasn’t so bad!”
But, hey, the factions that want this have been hard at work since we last put them down all those years ago- so really, while we were working back and forth across the isle, they were plotting this crap then. It does feel evil.
I've not believed in the idea of "evil" before, though I would characterize what Hitler did in the Holocaust as evil. I tend to believe that there's goodness in the heart of all people. I struggle to find that goodness in the people who aid and abbet Trump and especially in Trump himself Now i believe that evil is stalking our land in the form of mental illness and ideals that are contrary to the laws and ideals arliculated in the Constitution. People of all stripes and positions live in fear - fear for our own safety and for the safety of our families or fear of exposure. Trump has dirt on a lot of people and can rouse some of his supporters to violent action. Are his and their actions evil or are they evil people? I don't know, but the result is pervasive evil and fear. I think we need to give those in power a bit of a break if they act in a puscilanimous manner out fear of retribution. I agree with Robert that resistance is in our hands. We are somewhat "below the radar. "
Christopher Wray stepped aside today so Trump could bulldoze past him. It reminded me of a "different" Christopher Wray in 2018 when Mr. Wray was the mastermind who helped Trump save Brett Kavanaugh from what all the top Republicans thought was a sure defeat after the testimony against Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford.
Ms. Ford's testimony about how Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her was so powerful and riveting to the country that the Republicans were speechless. It was Wray who told Kavanaugh to step into the Senate hearing on the offense. He told Kavanaugh to be angry and aggressive and bully his way into being allowed to ascend to our Supreme Court. It worked.
While Mr. Wray does not seem to have the backbone to stand up to Trump in defense of our rule of law and the employees of our FBI, we need to stand in that breach and push back as often and as loudly as we can to stop Trump from bulldozing past us to install the most incompetent and immoral group of sycophants as we've seen into the top positions in our government.
It seemed Pete Hegseth was not doing well on his apology tour of the Senate. Now Trump has redoubled his efforts to shove the Fox weekend warrior into the Secretary of Defense job. It sounds like Trump and/or his minions have been bullying Senators behind the scenes to accept Hegseth. It's the "Christopher Wray Attack More Aggressively Plan" minus Mr. Wray. But it doesn't have to work if we stay strong and keep the pressure on the Senators.
We have to do whatever we can to stop Trump's latest round of bullying. THIS nomination is especially critical. If we allow Trump to shove such an incompetent, immoral puppet into one of the most powerful jobs in our country, Trump will figure the rest of his flunkies will be easier to install in the coming weeks.
We must meet Trump's repeated bullying with repeated pushback.
He's not invincible--just old, stubborn, mean, mentally ill and selfish. Put your senators on speed dial. Write to the media. Make enough noise to send Pete Hegseth back to Fox. Then start over with the next Trump loser who takes their turn in the barrel, be it Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, Robert Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Mehmet Oz or Harmeet Dhillon.
CC- thanks for the reminder of the Kavanaugh hearing and Wray’s complicity. Also , do you remember with the insurrection, Wray was caught off guard , because he didn’t believe the tips that were coming in.
Regarding David Frum’s column, in a normal, law-abiding world, the rules will be followed. In Trumps world, they won’t pay any attention.
In my opinion, Hegseth would be unlikely to receive regular security clearances, given his reported problems with alcohol. And now the incoming Administration wants Hegseth to head a Department that maintains all manner of things as secrets?
Well, maybe not such a surprise: the top guy ‘stored’ classified documents in a bathroom!
And assaulted women and all the other demented things he’s done and has been convicted of. Yet, here we are. People just like this loser will destroy this country. And he’s getting a pass. I don’t understand. Why do we keep saying, ”in four years…” Think of the devistation…dying children, billionaires getting tax breaks, seniors dying because they can’t pay for their meds, etc etc etc. We can’t afford to wait. There HAS to be a way to get rid of this jackass, his VP, and Johnson. I’d tell how but big brother is watching. I’m terrified.
Very interesting information about the other Christopher Wray, and so true. Hegseth is doing the same. I agree that everyone must contact their senators and protest Hegseth's appointment, especially those in red states. Phone calls are best, and be sure to say you are a voter in their state. Visit their local office, especially with a group. Even if a message is not received, it is still worth sending. Where are the veterans and especially the women?
"APPEASEMENT OR IMPEACHMENT - CHOOSE NOW" was on my sign at the first Women's March in January 2017. Having lived in Germany as a Stanford student and learned the history of that country, I understood enough to answer the question "How are you, Eric?" with "Pretty well, personally, apart from impending fascism."
Eric: Thank-you for posting this must-read article by Rebecca Solnit.
She writes: the sense of being disrespected “doesn’t come from the policies advocated by the Democratic Party, and it doesn’t come from the things Democratic politicians say. Where does it come from? An entire industry that’s devoted to convincing white people that liberal elitists look down on them. The right has a gigantic media apparatus that is devoted to convincing people that liberals disrespect them, plus a political party whose leaders all understand that that idea is key to their political project and so join in the chorus at every opportunity.”
She also writes: The implication is the usual one: we—urban multiethnic liberal-to-radical only-partly-Christian America—need to spend more time understanding MAGA America. The demands do not go the other way. Fox and Ted Cruz and the Federalist have not chastised their audiences, I feel pretty confident, with urgings to enter into discourse with, say, Black Lives Matter activists, rabbis, imams, abortion providers, undocumented valedictorians, or tenured lesbians. When only half the divide is being tasked with making the peace, there is no peace to be made, but there is a unilateral surrender on offer. We are told to consider this bipartisanship, but the very word means both sides abandon their partisanship, and Mitch McConnell and company have absolutely no interest in doing that.
And also: Years ago the linguist George Lakoff wrote that Democrats operate as kindly nurturance-oriented mothers to the citizenry, Republicans as stern discipline-oriented fathers. But the relationship between the two parties is a marriage, between an overly deferential wife and an overbearing and often abusive husband.
I agree, Kathy, that Eric's post of the Rebecca Solnit, November 2020 article, is a "must read," even or especially now. I find myself drawn to her writing each time I come upon it. Another line in the article that complements Robert's position, seems to me, is this:
"Now is an excellent time to stand on principal and defend what we value, and I believe it's a winning strategy too, or at least brings us closer to winning than surrender does."
"Pretty well, personally, apart from impending fascism." I really like that line and am going to use it widely. Gives a perfectly normal and (hopefully) educating answer to a perfectly normal inquiry. Thanks a bunch.
I just clicked the link in my comment and found that it opened the essay normally. However, clicking on another thing, a video, there were a lot of pop-up ads that were problematic. I hope you can read the essay.
If there is any doubt as to the need to smash the Myth of Patriarchy, Christ Wray’s lack of leadership supports this reasoning. If a social idea is to be convincing, it needs to deliver. “White, rich men are better at governing”? “Should be the head of the household”? “ Are our Protectors”? “Are more qualified by “Divine Right”? Bullshit. We are on our own. Brace for impact.
Never surrender indeed. I am using my instagram account to amplify nuggets of truth from people like Robert, HCR, Jess Craven and others thru the lens of my dog - because if you can’t trust a dog, who CAN you trust?!
Thanks Robert. I attended the NCGA House day of action yesterday. And wrote an overview to some friends...it was not for lack of effort. I am proud that I was there with hundreds of other concerned voters letting our voices be heard. And for thousands upon thousands calling/emailing the 3 Reps to sustain their votes during the override.
The experience was empowering. And it was important to shed light on the darkness. The tune sung outside the gallery was This Little Light of Mine. This repeated an earlier House entrance event before the Speaker gaveled them out for several hours
This stark extreme version of anything that they might have tried in let's say WI (formerly what I call the most gerrymandered state) will take each and every concerned citizen. Please begin this winter by becoming involved at the Precinct level. The folks at the Democratic Precinct upwards never have been so involved as they were in 2023-24. That must expand.
Obviously lawsuits will follow. The Dems will need extra funds for these legal fights.
WRAL even played a live feed during the afternoon session. The amount of press per other activists. was fairly unprecedented.
Dan showing up is so important, actually critical. I had not attended such an event in Raleigh in years. Although it was dumbfounding, I definitely feel a lot better being a witness. Instead of simply reacting by reading about it later.
We are everywhere. The grassroots movement is a thing of beauty. I am the Director of Fund Development for the largest grassroots movement in the United States for Mental Health. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (Nami). Our affiliate is Nami Westside Los Angeles. We are strong and we get things done. I will also say that my family is from a very small town in Alabama. The reddest of red state. Brantley, Alabama...population 850. Many people in Brantley are liberal Democrats...You just never know...
"Republicans in North Carolina have refined the practice of contesting election outcomes to a dark art. In doing so, Republican legislators have set themselves above the people as the final authority in the state."
Be pretty hard to recommend to my grand-daughter that she look at Duke or UNC as good options to pursue her higher education.
Send her there and have to register to vote in NC (students can after 30 days) and get her active in the college Dems. UNC has a strong chapter, not sure about Duke. My daughter attends UNCC and was a PAID intern for Harris. She’s still active on campus. Send her and let her make a difference.
We need good people in states like NC to fight against the Republicans. The challenges are great, but that makes victory, when it comes, and it will, more glorious.
I live in NC and both Duke and UNC and others are great schools. The situation in NC will take time and great candidates like our new Governor and Attorney General. Sending your grand daughter to either school insures us she will get a great education and the skills to do something about her future.
Well... I hope so. But if the Republicans continue to strip the governor of his logical powers and a woman's right to choose is flushed, it can't be healthy for young women or anyone else.
Swbv, what Stephen means there is that she might be fighting the Republican sickness her whole life. Stay the hell away from NC or any other state where she might have her reproductive rights destroyed by state politicians. This mess is going to get much, much worse and the last thing she needs is to be in a state which will gladly implement every insane policy Trump feeds them. The "Black Nazi" got 40% of the vote in the NC governor's race. She can get as good an education in Vermont and sleep better too.
1. WTF is Amy Klobuchar doing? Why TF are dems trying to explain away anything trump does?
2. NC shows us exactly what they will do, even when you don't appease them. They've done that here in WI too after Tony Evers was elected as governor, 6 years ago.
3. Remember when conservatives were scrambling to outlaw what they called zuckbucks - Zuckerburg's donations to help with election processes? Now they love him. It's another indication that doing anything to explain or help them is an exercise in enabling people who are fascist at their core.
We the People are going to have to be the new leaders of the Democratic party. Somehow, make a coalition of the Jess Pipers, the David Peppers, AOC gets it, Jessica Craven etc. We need a Zelensky.
What a great idea. Volodymyr Zelensky is the only hero left standing in our times that I can see. Did you know that before the Ukrainians elected him president, he was their Jon Stewart? Their famous national comic speaking dark truth to power?
AMEN! But remember that Zelensky emerged from a body of people protesting the wrongs in his country and succeeds only so far as he is supported by them. To wait for someone to emerge is foolishness. The leaders only emerge as the people who carry the message from the rest of us foreward. I see a number of people already who could be the ones doing that.
I agree with David French…in stepping down now, Wray is forcing a confirmation vote on Kash Patel, not allowing him to be appointed as “Acting Director” for two years before having to face a confirmation vote.
Joni Ernst may have caved on Hegseth in the face of a possible primary challenge by State AG Brenna Bird. Was Christopher Wray threatened with an IRS audit like Comey and McCabe. (Oh, right, the IRS watchdog said Comey and McCabe were selected at random. Random selection of former FBI directors, maybe.) Trump plays hardball. Sometimes people just get out of the way.
The ONE TIME Dems did, when Biden pardon Hunter, Dems (including John Fetterman and SC Rep Clyburn, Joyce Vance, Barb McQuade and other leaders) said he was wrong to do this; it weakens the 'rule of law' which is laughable.
Thank you for this article...I was sick about Christopher Wray's wimpy decision. It's just one more nail in the coffin of justice..."We are living through a moment of opportunity and crisis. We should do everything we can to prepare, resist, impede, preserve, and defend as appropriate. Surrendering in advance is nowhere on that list." Count me in on that!
Many readers are claiming that Wray's resignation was designed to force Trump to put Patel through the confirmation process, citing David French's article in the Times. I addressed that fallacy in the newsletter, as explained in my response to William Titelman:
Hi, William. The Vacancies Act would operate in the same fashion regardless of whether Wray resigns or is fired. So there is no strategic advantage in resigning now.
I addressed this point explicitly in the column last night, although I did not mention French by name. I wrote:
"Some commentators are trying to lionize Wray’s capitulation, claiming that the timing of Wray’s resignation forces Trump to obtain Senate confirmation for Kash Patel—something that Trump would have been forced to do if he fired Wray on January 20, 2025."
After further research, I note that some legal commentators contend that Wray could LIMIT Trump's ability to make an appointment under the Federal Vacancies Act by forcing Trump to fire him. See Lawfare, https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-trump-will-lawfully-appoint-loyalists-without-senate-consent
Robert,
David Frum repeated David French's opinion last night during his conversation with Larry Mantle on America at a Crossroads. Thank you clarifying that Wray's act (of cowardice) does not present the "legal obstacle" as "observed" by conservative writer Erick Erickson that David French references. If only these opinion writers would think (i.e. do research) before they write.
Perhaps you are being too quick to judge Wray see the opinion piece by David French in today’s NYTIMES and which I am pasting in here:
By David French
Opinion Columnist
On Wednesday, Christopher Wray told his F.B.I. colleagues that he would step down as director by the end of President Biden’s term. His statement was a perfect example of bureaucratic deference. “I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down,” Wray said. He wants to “avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.”
But is something else going on?
By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who’s served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. He’s not in a Senate-confirmed position, and he’s not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he can’t walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the “first assistant to the office.”
In this case, that means the position would default to Paul Abbate, who has been the deputy director of the F.B.I. since 2021, unless Trump chooses someone else, and that “someone else” cannot be Patel, at least not right away.
The bottom line is that the Senate has to do its job. Wray is foreclosing a presidential appointment under the Vacancies Reform Act, and — as I wrote in a column last month — the Supreme Court has most likely foreclosed the use of a recess appointment to bypass the Senate.
So a resignation that at first blush looks like a capitulation (why didn’t he wait to be fired?) is actually an act of defiance. It narrows Trump’s options, and it places the Senate at center stage. In Federalist No. 76, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the advice and consent power was designed to be “an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the president, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters.”
Patel is just such an “unfit character,” and now it’s senators’ responsibility to protect the American republic from his malign influence — if, that is, they have the courage to do their jobs.
David French is an Opinion columnist, writing about law, culture, religion and armed conflict. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a former constitutional litigator. His most recent book is “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.” You can follow him on Threads (@davidfrenchjag).
Very interesting! thanks. "The bottom line is that the Senate has to do its job." Gulp.
It's a nice rational analysis, but the senators will all capitulate to Trump. Maybe they'll get rid of one layer of awful candidates, but Trump has an infinite supply. He'll just replace one awful candidate with another less overtly (but just as deeply) awful, and all the senators will swallow it. The Democratic senators, if recent history is any indication, will say nothing. Not a word.
That certainly would be a divergence from the established trend, would it not?
Hi, William. The Vacancies Act would operate in the same fashion regardless of whether Wray resigns or is fired. So there is no strategic advantage in resigning now.
I addressed this point explicitly in the column last night, although I did not mention French by name. I wrote:
Some commentators are trying to lionize Wray’s capitulation, claiming that the timing of Wray’s resignation forces Trump to obtain Senate confirmation for Kash Patel—something that Trump would have been forced to do if he fired Wray on January 20, 2025.
Hi Robert,
I certainly agree with your opposition to appeasement. However, as I understood it the difference has to do with the acting head being required to be someone who has already received Senate confirmation or who has served in the agency in a senior capacity during the years before the nomination and that this resignation forecloses a presidential appointment under the Vacancies Reform Act. In that sense it forces the Senate to do its job and in the interim puts the agency under someone who is likely to be responsible. Is this wrong? If so, can you explain?
Thanks.
One more comment, and then I will leave you alone. per the Lawfare article I cited (and its citation to further authority), the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel has ruled on three occasions that the Federal Vacancies Act applies equally to resignations and firings. Under the DOJ precedent, it doesn't matter whether Wray resigns or is fired. The same result applies.
But a note in the Harvard Law Review (cited in Lawfare) makes a strong case that the DOJ OLC memos are wrong and that the FVA does not apply to firings. If the Harvard Law Review article is correct, then it would have been BETTER for Wray to be fired, because the FVA would not apply and Trump would have NO authority to appoint a temporary replacement.
I am away from my computer at the moment but, in short, the Vacancy Act operates in the same manner regardless of how the vacancy occurs or when it is created.
Hi, William. A resignation does not foreclose a presidential temporary appointment; rather, it expressly authorizes it. The Act merely limits who the president can appoint to someone who is already Senate confirmed or has requisite level of service in a senior capacity.
The linked article in Lawfare suggests that Christopher Wray would LIMIT Trump's ability to make an appointment under the Federal Vacancies Act by forcing Trump to fire him, rather than by resigning. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-trump-will-lawfully-appoint-loyalists-without-senate-consent
William, I hope you are right about this. Thank you for sharing.
David French is wrong in his analysis. See my reply posted above.
More to the point, in my opinion (expressed by me more thoroughly elsewhere in the Thread: Wray should not have given way, but should have upheld the principle that the FBI Directorship is not a political appointment. Wray, by giving way in advance, undermined that principle.
Why would the Orange Lizard pay any attention to the law? Laws are only for the little people.
What great insight.
David French is wrong. See my reply above.
Fingers are crossed that tffg doesn't find a way around this!! It's great!
Thank you for sharing this article. It's interesting and informative.
David French is wrong. See my comment pinned at the top.
Thank you Robert. I just saw your response and very much appreciate it.
I am so glad that you posted this column. I read it also and was very surprised with Robert's strongly worded opinion.
David French is wrong. See my comment posted at the top.
Robert, like you, I was sickened to hear that Wray caved. Originally it was he and Jerome Powell who said they would hold steadfast to their jobs. Powell has won out while Wray leaves the bureau to fend for itself under the dicktator. Just praying there are enough sane people in Congress to protest against Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and the rest of the crazy people. Not counting on it tho’…sigh.
It’s time to shift the focus. Trump won this second time improbably not because he won but because the Dems lost. At this point to tidal wave is coming, because one party did not understand what was happening in the country and how to speak to it effectively or how to even connect with people consistently and meaningfully, etc, etc. It would be a mistake to say Harris got 50% of the vote. A large percent were voting against Trump. The Dems are highly dysfunctional. They don’t speak openly about problems they created like over-regulation. They don’t even know how to get the public to give them credit for key legislation such as the IRA. Far left topics continue to dominate the headlines and it’s not what most Americans want to hear. If you want to help the county, focus on the spectacularly dysfunctional Dem Party and how it was instrumental over 5+ decades to getting us to this point. Then, maybe there might be a brighter future.
I disagree. The problem is that the Democratic party has been too moderate. Extremism just won a trifecta of an election.
We need to fight fire with fire. And the tool is ECONOMIC JUSTICE.
50 $trillion gone to the few and Walmart employees are on food stamps and Medicaid! Which you and I pay for!
Our for profit "Healthcare" system is killing people for twice the cost of all other nations.
Sorry, but we have been wussy. Time for a financial revolution!
The more to the left you go then the more you lose the middle. You can’t win elections without the middle. You have to be in the political middle and then accomplish your objectives by bringing the country with you. By smart messaging and smart managing of the public’s attitude. Going further to the left is a recipe for disaster. You will further disillusion people like me who are already phenomenally disillusioned with the Democratic Party. How about taking on the national debt and how about taking on the burdensome regulatory environment? How about cleaning up our cities which were a disaster during the pandemic under liberal leadership. And, for example, I do think that being overly woke disillusioned a lot of people in the middle. The answer is never at the extremes, the answer is at the middle and then pushing forward With smart messaging and bringing people along with you. You get a lot more accomplished that way that align with your objectives than to move fully to the extreme and then try to get things done. I am not a averse to the objectives that you have in mind, I just have a much more pragmatic way to go about achieving them. And I would say, likely a much more successful way. Losing elections is not the way to go about it. Disillusioning people is also not the way to go about it.
To the contrary, I think the Dems have been highly functional but their messaging has not been at all.
I thought Kamala was right on point. Unfortunately, the messages were within 100 days instead of 365.
I feel like the Dems have been highly functional but should have been a bit less politics as usual about things. Not necessarily things that would definitely fall into the more progressive camp but that would have fallen into the more aggressive camp in order to preserve our nation's ability to continue to refine our policies and services. For example, the SCOTUS should have been expanded during Biden's first two years. Many guardrails that Trump blew through should have been hardened into law instead of being left up to honor in the belief a la Susan Collins that politicians or the nation had learned the lessons. By focusing on preserving our ability to listen to the people and respond, we could have begun to work out the complex laws needed to reduce lies in the media while preserving free speech, and thus shape the national conversation and ensure elections really are about people's informed choices. Four years isn't much to work with, and the first two should have been earth moving.
They were earth moving. I hate doing this, but once again: the media didn't do their job as the "Fourth Estate". That doesn't mean we lost the political capital that Biden's term created - we need to bring it with us instead of continually bickering about what went wrong.
I'm spending less time on forums reading people who are still stuck on the blame-game,and more time building relationships with groups who are pulling together and developing strategies to pick up seats in 2026, with a big effort on state and local races. We're moving ahead with the idea that the Democratic Party should be communicating both up and down, and illuminating that we need to start doing that now. Too much focus on WaDC, and too little awareness of what is needed at other levels.
You guys just continue with your chat. We'll be in touch when things get underway.
The Democrats have been very successful but not for enough voters or a large majority who feel left behind.
Well; I can’t argue that. I can comment that if those voters felt left behind before, I hate to think too hard as to how they will feel with tramples and his band of thieves running the show.
I don't think voters feel left behind so much as they feel disgusted by both parties--because they imbibe Fox's lies about the Biden crime family, the lying evil Harris, the "plans" Democrats have to eliminate all Christians from government positions (yes, people have told me that), the (mythical) waves of illegal immigrants storming the country committing murder, their gut feeling their dollars don't go as far as they used to, etc. AND at the same time they know Trump is a convicted felon, rapist, insurrectionist, pathological liar, psychopath, and fraudster. If YOU honestly believed you had these two choices, would YOU vote?
This one.
If they pay attention
I think Sherrilyn Ifill’s comments in her substack piece are much more to the point. Trump ran a racist, misogynistic campaign. If we don’t address the issues of race and gender disparity in our country we will continue to chase after shiny objects to our sorrow.
The GOP won because enough voters are racists and misogynists. They preferred a demonstrably unfit 78 year old man over a competent Blackj woman. It is time to face the fact that Americans are bigots and happy to be bigots. Trump gives them permission to revel in their hate.
I would say that this is not new news. If this is known, then the question is why haven’t Democrats spent years with positive messaging and other attempts to address it.
Another example. In the 80s Reagan promoted the concept that the government was your enemy. He made it acceptable to hate our own government. In 50 years the Democrats have done little to dispel that. If one’s ship is listing, and you know that it’s listing and we do nothing about it and it finally flips over, who’s to blame? While blame is not really the intent, the Democrats have sat by for more than 50+ watching the ship list, watching the Republicans become increasingly toxic. They - the Dems - have been ineffective at managing the social discussion, the social sentiment, the American mindset, etc. When you lose, you don’t blame the other team, you take a very hard look in the mirror.
Apparently Trump cannot fire Powell, but he can and would have fired Wray. So their situations are not comparable.
Karen, Though not comparable, Wray’s announced resignation already is perceived as normalizing Trump’s defiance of the norm of a 10-year appointment ensuring the Director serves under more than 1 President, thus, more or less, de-politicizing the post. As a consequence, I expect the new regime will have a far easier time getting Kash Patel confirmed.
Does Wray get benefits/pension etc by resigning vs being fired?
"dicktator". Perfect.
Capitulation/appeasement: I like the line (maybe from Seinfeld?) about Wray: He folded faster than Superman on laundry day.
And about Zuckerberg: again he shows, as if we needed more proof, that he is just another run-of-the-mill, odious, hypocritical, self-serving and anti-American billionaire who is lower than that stinky stuff stuck to the bottom of your shoe.
I heard someone say, "It's not going to be as bad as we thought. It is going to be much, much worse." How can there be so many elected Republicans in Washington DC and in red states across the country that are so purely evil? I really don't understand it. There should be people out there willing to stand up and speak out, no matter the risk to their political careers. Liz Cheney did, but we need people who are in power now.
As Harry Truman observed way back in 1948, "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." They've been scum since 1872. Their only good President other than Lincoln was Eisenhower, and he was cordially hated by the GOP establishment like Lincoln was.
THE GOP except for Lincoln and Eisenhower have always been for government of by and for organized money. They used to tolerate elections. I think that will go away now too.
People have ignored the extent to which Newt Gingrich corrupted the Republican party and American politics.
Yes, indeedy. Talk about normalizing the abnormal. During Obama's administration, MSM were turning to Newt to serve as the "voice of the opposition". I wrote to ask what in the world made them think that was a good idea. By the end of that week, he was gone. I'd LOVE to think I actually made somebody at the editorial level THINK, but I imagine I'm not the only one who called them out on it. I certainly hope so. I mean, really? Newt Gingrich as political analyst?
Indeed. Gingrich was very influential in getting us to where we are today. Matt Gaetz reminds me Gingrich.
Kate, you asked “How can there be so many elected Republicans in Washington DC and in red states across the country that are so purely evil?”
Conservatives want us to believe the history that they constructed, a tale where “Columbus was a hero, the Founding Fathers were devout Christians, George Washington was protected by God's divine hand, we never slaughtered Indians, we helped all the Africans we enslaved, and we brought peace, love, and democracy all across the world” (this from P Marshall and D Manuel’s ‘Lighting and Glory’ and ‘Sea to Shining Sea’).
They convinced themselves that our story is something very different from what it really is, and try fool as many as they can. WHY? The answer is easy: they want Power and Money (all of it), and they don’t want anyone getting in their way. Not fair wages, not equal rights, not women, not people who look different from the average while male.
I bet many want what they want while still believing in freedom for all, but there is a catch, you can’t tank freedoms in order to get what you want because you wind up without freedoms. You can’t dump shit in your back yard and then send your kid out there to play.
trump unleashed this- Oh for the days of bickering across the aisle. I say that and think “John McCaine, he wasn’t so bad!”
But, hey, the factions that want this have been hard at work since we last put them down all those years ago- so really, while we were working back and forth across the isle, they were plotting this crap then. It does feel evil.
Remember Newt Gingrich: Before Trump, Gingrich shaped the Republican Party as a den of nastiness and unprincipled behavior.
Because they were nursed at the breast of hate.
Again, as I stated above, Joe Biden or Kamala Harris need to take a stand. Now more than ever.
I've not believed in the idea of "evil" before, though I would characterize what Hitler did in the Holocaust as evil. I tend to believe that there's goodness in the heart of all people. I struggle to find that goodness in the people who aid and abbet Trump and especially in Trump himself Now i believe that evil is stalking our land in the form of mental illness and ideals that are contrary to the laws and ideals arliculated in the Constitution. People of all stripes and positions live in fear - fear for our own safety and for the safety of our families or fear of exposure. Trump has dirt on a lot of people and can rouse some of his supporters to violent action. Are his and their actions evil or are they evil people? I don't know, but the result is pervasive evil and fear. I think we need to give those in power a bit of a break if they act in a puscilanimous manner out fear of retribution. I agree with Robert that resistance is in our hands. We are somewhat "below the radar. "
Christopher Wray stepped aside today so Trump could bulldoze past him. It reminded me of a "different" Christopher Wray in 2018 when Mr. Wray was the mastermind who helped Trump save Brett Kavanaugh from what all the top Republicans thought was a sure defeat after the testimony against Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford.
Ms. Ford's testimony about how Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her was so powerful and riveting to the country that the Republicans were speechless. It was Wray who told Kavanaugh to step into the Senate hearing on the offense. He told Kavanaugh to be angry and aggressive and bully his way into being allowed to ascend to our Supreme Court. It worked.
While Mr. Wray does not seem to have the backbone to stand up to Trump in defense of our rule of law and the employees of our FBI, we need to stand in that breach and push back as often and as loudly as we can to stop Trump from bulldozing past us to install the most incompetent and immoral group of sycophants as we've seen into the top positions in our government.
It seemed Pete Hegseth was not doing well on his apology tour of the Senate. Now Trump has redoubled his efforts to shove the Fox weekend warrior into the Secretary of Defense job. It sounds like Trump and/or his minions have been bullying Senators behind the scenes to accept Hegseth. It's the "Christopher Wray Attack More Aggressively Plan" minus Mr. Wray. But it doesn't have to work if we stay strong and keep the pressure on the Senators.
We have to do whatever we can to stop Trump's latest round of bullying. THIS nomination is especially critical. If we allow Trump to shove such an incompetent, immoral puppet into one of the most powerful jobs in our country, Trump will figure the rest of his flunkies will be easier to install in the coming weeks.
We must meet Trump's repeated bullying with repeated pushback.
He's not invincible--just old, stubborn, mean, mentally ill and selfish. Put your senators on speed dial. Write to the media. Make enough noise to send Pete Hegseth back to Fox. Then start over with the next Trump loser who takes their turn in the barrel, be it Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, Robert Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Mehmet Oz or Harmeet Dhillon.
CC- thanks for the reminder of the Kavanaugh hearing and Wray’s complicity. Also , do you remember with the insurrection, Wray was caught off guard , because he didn’t believe the tips that were coming in.
Regarding David Frum’s column, in a normal, law-abiding world, the rules will be followed. In Trumps world, they won’t pay any attention.
In my opinion, Hegseth would be unlikely to receive regular security clearances, given his reported problems with alcohol. And now the incoming Administration wants Hegseth to head a Department that maintains all manner of things as secrets?
Well, maybe not such a surprise: the top guy ‘stored’ classified documents in a bathroom!
And assaulted women and all the other demented things he’s done and has been convicted of. Yet, here we are. People just like this loser will destroy this country. And he’s getting a pass. I don’t understand. Why do we keep saying, ”in four years…” Think of the devistation…dying children, billionaires getting tax breaks, seniors dying because they can’t pay for their meds, etc etc etc. We can’t afford to wait. There HAS to be a way to get rid of this jackass, his VP, and Johnson. I’d tell how but big brother is watching. I’m terrified.
Very interesting information about the other Christopher Wray, and so true. Hegseth is doing the same. I agree that everyone must contact their senators and protest Hegseth's appointment, especially those in red states. Phone calls are best, and be sure to say you are a voter in their state. Visit their local office, especially with a group. Even if a message is not received, it is still worth sending. Where are the veterans and especially the women?
"APPEASEMENT OR IMPEACHMENT - CHOOSE NOW" was on my sign at the first Women's March in January 2017. Having lived in Germany as a Stanford student and learned the history of that country, I understood enough to answer the question "How are you, Eric?" with "Pretty well, personally, apart from impending fascism."
Rebecca Solnit complements Robert's piece well:
https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-on-not-meeting-nazis-halfway/
Eric: Thank-you for posting this must-read article by Rebecca Solnit.
She writes: the sense of being disrespected “doesn’t come from the policies advocated by the Democratic Party, and it doesn’t come from the things Democratic politicians say. Where does it come from? An entire industry that’s devoted to convincing white people that liberal elitists look down on them. The right has a gigantic media apparatus that is devoted to convincing people that liberals disrespect them, plus a political party whose leaders all understand that that idea is key to their political project and so join in the chorus at every opportunity.”
She also writes: The implication is the usual one: we—urban multiethnic liberal-to-radical only-partly-Christian America—need to spend more time understanding MAGA America. The demands do not go the other way. Fox and Ted Cruz and the Federalist have not chastised their audiences, I feel pretty confident, with urgings to enter into discourse with, say, Black Lives Matter activists, rabbis, imams, abortion providers, undocumented valedictorians, or tenured lesbians. When only half the divide is being tasked with making the peace, there is no peace to be made, but there is a unilateral surrender on offer. We are told to consider this bipartisanship, but the very word means both sides abandon their partisanship, and Mitch McConnell and company have absolutely no interest in doing that.
And also: Years ago the linguist George Lakoff wrote that Democrats operate as kindly nurturance-oriented mothers to the citizenry, Republicans as stern discipline-oriented fathers. But the relationship between the two parties is a marriage, between an overly deferential wife and an overbearing and often abusive husband.
I agree, Kathy, that Eric's post of the Rebecca Solnit, November 2020 article, is a "must read," even or especially now. I find myself drawn to her writing each time I come upon it. Another line in the article that complements Robert's position, seems to me, is this:
"Now is an excellent time to stand on principal and defend what we value, and I believe it's a winning strategy too, or at least brings us closer to winning than surrender does."
"Pretty well, personally, apart from impending fascism." I really like that line and am going to use it widely. Gives a perfectly normal and (hopefully) educating answer to a perfectly normal inquiry. Thanks a bunch.
Don't click that link, seems to be a bad bug
I just clicked the link in my comment and found that it opened the essay normally. However, clicking on another thing, a video, there were a lot of pop-up ads that were problematic. I hope you can read the essay.
If there is any doubt as to the need to smash the Myth of Patriarchy, Christ Wray’s lack of leadership supports this reasoning. If a social idea is to be convincing, it needs to deliver. “White, rich men are better at governing”? “Should be the head of the household”? “ Are our Protectors”? “Are more qualified by “Divine Right”? Bullshit. We are on our own. Brace for impact.
Never surrender indeed. I am using my instagram account to amplify nuggets of truth from people like Robert, HCR, Jess Craven and others thru the lens of my dog - because if you can’t trust a dog, who CAN you trust?!
I’d really appreciate two things:
(1) a follow and a share of Steve’s account (https://www.instagram.com/stevethedog2024?igsh=Y2M3NG4wYnNpbTQ1&utm_source=qr) and
(2) your suggestions for other reliable sources of info to include in the linktree list in Steve’s bio.
You guys are the BEST. We can do this - together!! Unlike Christopher Wray, I am NOT afraid.
Thanks Robert. I attended the NCGA House day of action yesterday. And wrote an overview to some friends...it was not for lack of effort. I am proud that I was there with hundreds of other concerned voters letting our voices be heard. And for thousands upon thousands calling/emailing the 3 Reps to sustain their votes during the override.
The experience was empowering. And it was important to shed light on the darkness. The tune sung outside the gallery was This Little Light of Mine. This repeated an earlier House entrance event before the Speaker gaveled them out for several hours
This stark extreme version of anything that they might have tried in let's say WI (formerly what I call the most gerrymandered state) will take each and every concerned citizen. Please begin this winter by becoming involved at the Precinct level. The folks at the Democratic Precinct upwards never have been so involved as they were in 2023-24. That must expand.
Obviously lawsuits will follow. The Dems will need extra funds for these legal fights.
WRAL even played a live feed during the afternoon session. The amount of press per other activists. was fairly unprecedented.
You are a shining example of the grassroots patriotism Robert talks about here.
That is that is bluey sweet par excellence Pamsy!
I was there as well, Joe, under no delusion that my presence/protest would make any difference, just to bear witness. Thanks for showing up.
Dan showing up is so important, actually critical. I had not attended such an event in Raleigh in years. Although it was dumbfounding, I definitely feel a lot better being a witness. Instead of simply reacting by reading about it later.
If someone asks well...I can say yes I was there.
We are everywhere. The grassroots movement is a thing of beauty. I am the Director of Fund Development for the largest grassroots movement in the United States for Mental Health. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (Nami). Our affiliate is Nami Westside Los Angeles. We are strong and we get things done. I will also say that my family is from a very small town in Alabama. The reddest of red state. Brantley, Alabama...population 850. Many people in Brantley are liberal Democrats...You just never know...
You are a heroine. All strength and power to you!
"Republicans in North Carolina have refined the practice of contesting election outcomes to a dark art. In doing so, Republican legislators have set themselves above the people as the final authority in the state."
Be pretty hard to recommend to my grand-daughter that she look at Duke or UNC as good options to pursue her higher education.
Send her there and have to register to vote in NC (students can after 30 days) and get her active in the college Dems. UNC has a strong chapter, not sure about Duke. My daughter attends UNCC and was a PAID intern for Harris. She’s still active on campus. Send her and let her make a difference.
We need good people in states like NC to fight against the Republicans. The challenges are great, but that makes victory, when it comes, and it will, more glorious.
I live in NC and both Duke and UNC and others are great schools. The situation in NC will take time and great candidates like our new Governor and Attorney General. Sending your grand daughter to either school insures us she will get a great education and the skills to do something about her future.
Well... I hope so. But if the Republicans continue to strip the governor of his logical powers and a woman's right to choose is flushed, it can't be healthy for young women or anyone else.
There will be lawsuits and the Democrats have the majority on the NC Supreme Court
The people from NC that I know are great. But the cancer of deceitful politics and gerrymandering by the GOP has not been treated adequately.
Absolutely and it will take a generational change.
Swbv, what Stephen means there is that she might be fighting the Republican sickness her whole life. Stay the hell away from NC or any other state where she might have her reproductive rights destroyed by state politicians. This mess is going to get much, much worse and the last thing she needs is to be in a state which will gladly implement every insane policy Trump feeds them. The "Black Nazi" got 40% of the vote in the NC governor's race. She can get as good an education in Vermont and sleep better too.
1. WTF is Amy Klobuchar doing? Why TF are dems trying to explain away anything trump does?
2. NC shows us exactly what they will do, even when you don't appease them. They've done that here in WI too after Tony Evers was elected as governor, 6 years ago.
3. Remember when conservatives were scrambling to outlaw what they called zuckbucks - Zuckerburg's donations to help with election processes? Now they love him. It's another indication that doing anything to explain or help them is an exercise in enabling people who are fascist at their core.
We the People are going to have to be the new leaders of the Democratic party. Somehow, make a coalition of the Jess Pipers, the David Peppers, AOC gets it, Jessica Craven etc. We need a Zelensky.
What a great idea. Volodymyr Zelensky is the only hero left standing in our times that I can see. Did you know that before the Ukrainians elected him president, he was their Jon Stewart? Their famous national comic speaking dark truth to power?
AMEN! But remember that Zelensky emerged from a body of people protesting the wrongs in his country and succeeds only so far as he is supported by them. To wait for someone to emerge is foolishness. The leaders only emerge as the people who carry the message from the rest of us foreward. I see a number of people already who could be the ones doing that.
I agree with David French…in stepping down now, Wray is forcing a confirmation vote on Kash Patel, not allowing him to be appointed as “Acting Director” for two years before having to face a confirmation vote.
Kmm
Joni Ernst may have caved on Hegseth in the face of a possible primary challenge by State AG Brenna Bird. Was Christopher Wray threatened with an IRS audit like Comey and McCabe. (Oh, right, the IRS watchdog said Comey and McCabe were selected at random. Random selection of former FBI directors, maybe.) Trump plays hardball. Sometimes people just get out of the way.
True but when do the Democrats play hardball?
The ONE TIME Dems did, when Biden pardon Hunter, Dems (including John Fetterman and SC Rep Clyburn, Joyce Vance, Barb McQuade and other leaders) said he was wrong to do this; it weakens the 'rule of law' which is laughable.
It was ridiculous how Dem politicians and media types came down on Biden for pardoning his son.
Watch what who Trump pardons.
It is past time for the Democrats to play hardball.
Joni Ernst is aligned with the megadonors.
“There is a Senate DOGE caucus as well, which is led by Senator Joni Ernst….”
https://open.substack.com/pub/thinkbigpicture/p/doge-trump-musk-ramaswamy-spending?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Thank you for this article...I was sick about Christopher Wray's wimpy decision. It's just one more nail in the coffin of justice..."We are living through a moment of opportunity and crisis. We should do everything we can to prepare, resist, impede, preserve, and defend as appropriate. Surrendering in advance is nowhere on that list." Count me in on that!