Summary
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) announced he will block all of Trump’s State Department nominees until USAID is reinstated.
His move comes after Elon Musk took control of USAID, placed senior staff on leave, and seized classified information.
Schatz condemned the administration’s “authoritarian behavior” and vowed to delay confirmations until USAID operates normally.
His blockade could significantly slow Trump’s ability to fill key diplomatic positions, forcing Senate Republicans to spend more time pushing nominations through.
Headline is poor, he’s using procedural tools to slow things way down. From the article
Doesnt change the fact that apparently USAID is the red line for this guy.
That’s not necessarily true. Often in situations like this you’ll start with one simple demand and then if they cave, move on to the next
Think it’s more so a matter of finally realizing the threat of the moment here
USAID is probably a trial run for the monsters trying to tear our government apart to do Putin’s bidding.
Components of the delusion in this worldview:
It’s “our” government, not “their” government. This has been at best an aristocratic and at worst a totalitarian government for the entirety of U.S. history. Where was this democratic control during the Biden administration, when overwhelming resistance couldn’t influence them to stop a genocide? Where was the democratic control during the Obama administration, when we couldn’t stop unconstitutional PATRIOT Act enforcement, or end the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, but rather, witnessed a continual expansion of the Middle Eastern invasions/military theater into other countries like Libya and Somalia?
Putin is behind the Trump presidency, not the same American oligarchy behind every single presidency. Please provide real proof of this. I have yet to see any. Something a hell of a lot more concrete than a “he said she said” or “funding for ads or bots came from Russia.” It’s my working theory that the “blame everything on Russia” is a propaganda line used to insulate Democrats from ideas that contradict their worldview.
Assumption of a nefarious scheme to change the nature of the federal government, or institute a “takeover”, versus the facade of one in a situation where it’s already been taken over. Again, I think I phrased this same question to you yesterday - explain the consensus in SUPPORT of the Palestinian genocide. How does both the openly fascist party, and the so-called “opposition”, SUPPORT that? Not asking you to justify it, or defend it, or say “tough shit those are our choices” - I want an explanation. How does something so insanely evil become a bipartisan political consensus, in the absence of central management? See point 1. My working theory is that this pretense is simply being used to expand control of the state over the individual while promoting the partisan D vs. R narrative.
That USAID is some kind of net positive instead of a tool of U.S. imperialism. Read something like this - https://www.blackagendareport.com/weaponizing-aid-how-usaid-and-global-fragility-act-sustain-us-imperialism-libya or some of the Wikipedia overview of its weird history of association with espionage and U.S. empire building - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_International_Development#Controversies_and_criticism
As usual your takes seem to be rooted in the Dem party line as opposed to a solid, objective, anti-imperialist viewpoint.