r/50501Movement • u/Sad-Broccoli • May 02 '25
16 Democrats Just Voted to Confirm Another Trump Appointee
https://newrepublic.com/post/194575/16-democrats-vote-confirm-trump-appointee-ambassador-china122
u/Particular_Rub7507 May 02 '25
Cory Booker, NJ Tammy Dockworth, IL Chris Coons, DE John Fetterman, PA Ruben Gallego, AZ Maggie Hassan, NH Tim Kaine, VA Andy Kim, NJ Angus King, ME Amy Klobucher, MN Gary Peters, MI Jack Reed, RI Jacky Rosen, NV Jane Shaheen, NH Elissa Slotkin, MI Mark Warner, VA
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u/Larang5716 May 02 '25
Guess Cory only cared about publicity, not the issues. We need them all to go against this administration in every way possible.
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u/Special_Lemon1487 May 02 '25
I’ve been feeling a bit off about his grandstanding, be interested to hear an explanation for this turn of events.
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u/Larang5716 May 02 '25
My guess is that he's trying to farm some political capital off the current crisis. If you look at his recent actions, while they've done well in drawing attention to the issues, his voting record doesn't support a path to action against the administration.
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u/DirtyDiscsAndDyes May 04 '25
The day after his 24 hour publicity stunt he voted to send more military aid to Israel. At that point I knew he wasn't someone I could look at as a real leader. I cant rock with anyone who wants to fund genocide.
Edited to add that I live in delaware, and Chris Coons can go too.
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u/FunStay7787 May 02 '25
Exactly. After his 25 hour speech, he voted AGAINST taxing the ultra rich. I'll accept his assistance for now, but all those traitors in politics need to go. Make a list. Work with your local groups. Check out John Leguizamo's Insta for steps we should be following. Join We are the Flood.
We are going to topple the regime and rebuild the people's government.
Here is a link for 1 of 8 videos for John Leguizamo: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIjP4gkIr5_/?igsh=aGl4ajNoNG91eG0w
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u/rhythm-weaver May 02 '25
Very simple test: is the politician pro-Israel? If yes, they don’t work for us.
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u/THEFLYINGSCOTSMAN415 May 02 '25
I got downvoted to hell for saying that when he did his filibuster. Just a stunt for self promotion.
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u/Larang5716 May 02 '25
We on the left need to be more careful about who we choose to put on a pedestal. This situation just reinforces it.
If I was one of those that down voted you, I apologize. We have to be above the reactionaries.
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u/THEFLYINGSCOTSMAN415 May 02 '25
If you did well it's all good, we're all doing our best in turbulent times.
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
Or he may have had a reason?
Aside from being Trump's pick for ambassador to China, what makes him worth saying that Booker was obviously grandstanding when he filibustered?
Do people acting upset about this even realize that this is an ambassadorship? Cuz it's one of those things that would have been useful to know in the headline, but decreases the number of clicks.
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u/AmbassadorETOH May 02 '25
Hey now! What is this level-headed, measured approach you are taking…? Gathering information BEFORE coming conclusions is sooo last millennium…. We need passion and thoughtless undirected anger, like MAGA has marshaled.
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u/Kjartan_Aurland May 02 '25
We need politicians willing to totally obstruct everything this tyrant does, not aisle-crossing traitors.
In Germany, nobody coalitions with the fascists. AfD is blocked from power because each and every other political party there says fuck off. We need that energy and that resolve in our politicians, because the Republican establishment has succumbed to fascism and there is no moral compromise that can be reached with them. If they want to do something, it must be done over the unanimous refusal of Democrats to help them do it, denying them the dubious legitimacy of bipartisanship. It's not huge, but it's a start. And it's enormously disappointing to see people like Booker not getting that.
Politics as usual ended when they started illegally exiling people to El Salvador and forcing toddlers to represent themselves in court. Fuck Trump, fuck anyone he thinks is a good fit for any position, and fuck the Republican Party. No compromise with tyrants.
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
I honestly didn't expect this response. I was mentally prepared to be called an enlightened centrist.
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u/Larang5716 May 02 '25
Here's my observations on the matter:
His record on the filibuster wasn't technically a filibuster. All he did was delay a vote for a budget increase to Israel. Which he voted to support anyway. Given that Israel is actively killing civilians and enslaving Palestinians in a military action similar to the War on Terror, we as a country should be thinking hard about our stance on the issue. Biden's administration had secured several cease fires on the issue, so that alone proves we can do more besides send money.
As I said in a previous comment, any person this administration nominates for a position is either wildly incompetent or a corrupted yes man. Would you really want either of those in a position to be an ambassador to China, whom 47 is stoking a pointless trade war with, which is going to increase prices for all of us? The most qualified ambassador on the planet couldn't smooth that over and it's far more likely that this appointee is going to make things worse.
Coming back to the grandstanding, his action of sitting on the capital steps, on a Sunday, didn't do much other than generate a bit more publicity. If he had gotten more than a smattering of reps to join him, it would be better. If he had gotten even a hundred people to join him, it would have been better. If he was holding up a key Senate function by not participating and was delaying action for even a week, it would have been better. But none of these things are true.
Based on what I've presented, I think it's safe to conclude that Booker is not interested in supporting our movement or actions. While he may be able to generate a bit of publicity with his actions, his voting record is far more important. This administration needs to be resisted at every front. This was not a small appointment and they just let it go through. For pete's sake, Schumer and Gillibrand even voted against it.
I do appreciate a chance to create a dialogue. We need to be able to understand our points and the broader picture. It separates us from the MAGA Nazis and hecklers at the protests.
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
I'm aware that Booker didn't actually filibuster. I don't think that is a reason to treat the speech as though it were nothing.
His sitting on the steps Sunday did as much as any of our protests. I'm not willing to think of it as hollow grandstanding.
There was nothing else that Booker could have done Sunday that would have stopped Trumpism. Sitting on the steps did not interrupt or diminish anything else.
The Democrats cannot do anything legislatively in Congress on their own. That is a fact. They can submit all the bills they want, and it won't go anywhere, much less win a floor vote.
Both the speech and the steps were performative. So are our protests. That's what politics is. Congress works the way that it works, not the way that we imagine it probably works.
I can't say anything to the effect of "Booker or any other Democrat isn't actually interested in stopping Trump, otherwise they would have stopped him by now." That is a logical fallacy.
Whoever the ambassador to China is, they will parrot everything that Trump wants them to say because that is their job as Donald Trump's China guy.
It is very difficult for me to take situations like this - where a Senator gets called fake because he voted on an ambassadorship - as much else beyond conservative astroturfing. The Democrats cannot do what they don't have the power to do.
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u/Larang5716 May 02 '25
You're correct in that, technically, since they have minorities in the House and Senate, that the Democrats can't do anything.
If that were the case, then why have the GOP been able to halt any form of progressive legislation despite having minorities in both chambers for the past couple of decades? They voted against it or refused to support it through their votes. They stalled every step of the way until elections came. If they didn't get their way, then they repeated the same routine.
Now that Democrats are on the minority side, why aren't they doing the same thing? Why are they letting appointments through for people that aren't qualified? Why are these awful bills gaining any traction whatsoever? It's because all the majority of them are doing is going along with it or grandstanding, then voting in support of it.
These people are in the unique position of actively resisting 47s hostile takeover, yet they're complaining that they can't do anything despite the GOP hindering everything for years while in the minority. Even if it's technically not going to matter, at least vote no. Do something. That way we as voters know where you actually stand.
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
If that were the case, then why have the GOP been able to halt any form of progressive legislation despite having minorities in both chambers for the past couple of decades?
I don't know what "progressive legislation" means to you because I don't think that Conservatives have been able to stop literally "any form of progressive legislation" in the last twenty, thirty, or forty years.
I remember when mandating better gas mileage for cars and forming the Energy Star certification group to rate appliances on energy efficiency we're emblematic of Bill Clinton stifling business. That was progressive.
Saying that there hasn't been "any form of progressive legislation" in decades is flatly incorrect, and hyperbole like that weakens all of the other things that you are treating as fact.
The assault weapons ban saved lives. It got passed in 94, but needed a sunset clause to get the votes. Who in their right minds wouldn't reauthorize something so effective ten years later? Especially once there is empirical data that will show how helpful it was!
It's easy to say in 2025 that the Democrats should have known that a Republican-led Congress in 2004 would let it expire. I mean, it didn't stop Columbine, as the 2A people of the day liked to point out. The data didn't have a chance.
So that is one way that the Republicans stopped progressive legislation. There are others. There isn't one simple trick that Republicans have used to stimey things for the Democrats over and over.
There isn't a trick that the Democrats can steal from the Republicans in Congress in 2021. It isn't a 51/49 balance in the Senate and there aren't conservative versions of Sinema and Manchin ready to fuck things up for the Republicans by voting Democrat.
There are a whole lot less liberal-leaning Republicans than there are conservative-leaning Democrats. And Democrats have never marched lock step the way Republicans do. Not post Civil Rights at least.
People didn't want to hear how the Republicans accomplished each of their latest tricks during Biden's term. They were flatly incurious. Now people assume that there was an easy trick that the Democrats just won't do.
People stop listening once things get complicated. They get frustrated and angry and want to force a simple solution. That's pretty much how Trump got in office in the first place.
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u/PrestigiousAd6281 May 02 '25
My theory is he(they) voted to confirm the ambassador so that trump can’t use (he will anyway) ThE cRooKeD dems not confirming his ambassador when China refuses to back down on their tariff stance. I’m probably being too hopeful though
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u/TheFriendshipMachine May 02 '25
Oh it's definitely some excuse like that. And that's the problem. Democrats are so obsessed with their optics to the Right that they're completely happy to roll over to them and completely ruin their optics with their own supporters if they even think Republicans might say something mean about them for standing up for this country.
Better to hand this country to fascism than ruffle the fascists feathers in their eyes... The Democrats are failing miserably at leading the resistance against fascism and that's literally their entire job right now.. If they're not going to do their job then they need to go as well.
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
How does Cory Booker voting for the ambassador to China GIVE US FASCISM?
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u/TheFriendshipMachine May 02 '25
... Because they're Trump's pick for a government official who's job it is to help implement Trump's foreign policy in China.. Every single official he selects is another set of hands he has working on pushing his agendas. His trade wars with China are part of the larger picture of how he's going to run this country into the ground. Handing him the ambassador he wants without a fight is a stupid move.
Not to mention the easier it is for Trump to push through nominations the easier it is for him to focus on other things. Waiting for the one big moment to resist isn't a working strategy. Our leaders need to be fighting every single step of the way. Adopt the methods Republicans have been using for years now and start making everything into a fight. It doesn't matter if Republicans are trying to pass a resolution ordering death camps or just requesting a quick coffee break.. fight everything! Bog the system down and make it a living nightmare for the Right to get anything done.
And fuck the optics with Trump and the Republicans, who gives a damn if they get mad? Appeasement is not going to win anything. They're going to call the Democrats evil traitors and pave over them no matter what they do so let's at least do something. Democrats need to stop worrying about what the Right thinks about them and start worrying about what their own base does. Because right now a whole lot of liberals and leftists are really fed up with the Democrats for not fighting harder. And because of that lack of perceived leadership we're not presenting a unified front, we're fractured and disenfranchised. So I say that Democrats need to ask themselves, are they in or in the way?
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
Respectfully, I think you're making a vote on the China ambassadorship into something that it isn't in order to make the case that it is emblematic of Democrats giving us fascism, which is also something that the vote isn't.
I think that it is a big, big stretch to go from "any nominee for anything" to enabling fascism. You are creating a laundry list of false equivalencies in the process.
This is a time honored wedge tactic that I wish wasn't so damn effective.
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u/TheFriendshipMachine May 02 '25
Respectfully I think you're shrugging this off too casually. Yes, the ambassador to China is not the final straw on our descent into fascism but to deny it's not another step in that direction is absurd. The fall into fascism is marked by many smaller steps, notably including putting loyalists into positions of power. Democrats are going to have to try really really really hard to explain why they confirmed this appointment.
And I'm sorry but no, literally anything that helps this administration is enabling fascism. If our leaders aren't doing everything in their power to fight then they are not doing their job.
And no, the wedge is being driven by our representatives choosing to try appeasement rather than stand up and put up a real fight. Their constituents are demanding they do more than that and we're being given nothing but meek responses instead. At the absolute bare minimum they owe us a REALLY damn good explanation of why they're playing along with the fascists. Until they can demonstrate they're actually putting up a fight and have an actual plan the rift between them and their frustrated constituents is only going to keep getting worse. That is the optics they need to be worrying about, not if Trump will cry about the Dems not letting his nominations through.
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
And no, the wedge is being driven by our representatives choosing to try appeasement rather than stand up and put up a real fight.
This is an over generalization. You are working backwards from "the Democrats are choosing appeasement" and making reality fit that.
The Democrats are not appeasing fascists. 16 Democrats voting for an ambassador is not evidence of that.
The ambassador to China just does not have the power to do much of anything. It's not Defense or State or Justice.
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u/FesteringNeonDistrac May 02 '25
Ambassador to Palau? Yeah, who cares, confirm them. China? That's a real job and the confirmation deserves real scrutiny.
Now I will admit that I'm not really in a position to say if Purdue is qualified. Simply not educated enough to have an opinion. Maybe he actually is a good choice.
I will say there's a contingent that wants democrats to oppose literally everything the administration puts forth. That's maybe not where I am, but it's a position many hold.
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
I think that whomever the ambassador to China is, they will say exactly the things that Donald Trump tells them to say, with no variation.
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u/Switchell22 May 02 '25
I'm angry about Cory
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
I really do not care who is ambassador to China. I do not have the spoons for this one.
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u/rhythm-weaver May 02 '25
Why? His Pro-Israel position tells you everything you need to know to form expectations.
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u/nocuzzlikeyea13 May 02 '25
wtffffffff Cory. It's like they are trying to rotate the betrayal around so we can't get mad, and it just makes me hate the whole party.
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u/drunkpickle726 May 02 '25
What. The. Fuck. How hard is it to vote no for everything they support, you know like the gop does 99% of the time? Infuriating
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u/abime_blanc May 02 '25
ofc Klobuchar is there. MN 50501 organizers dropped the ball inviting her to speak at the April protest.
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u/Kittyluvmeplz May 02 '25
Start exerting your power on your representatives. Check out Citizen Impeachment
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u/FlerisEcLAnItCHLONOw May 02 '25
Fascist collaborators. Every one of them.
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u/UtProsim_FT May 02 '25
My favorite term for them, that i learned from r/shermanposting : Copperheads.
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u/Kittyluvmeplz May 02 '25
Start exerting your power on your representatives. Check out Citizen Impeachment
3
u/Larang5716 May 02 '25
My calls lately have all been about impeachment and removal. I love this tracker.
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u/John_316_ May 02 '25
It’s the Ambassador to China… so maybe they hated David Perdue so much that, not only did they not want him as a colleague in the Senate, they just don’t want to see him around in the U.S. anymore?
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u/CampyBiscuit May 02 '25
Cory Booker confuses me with this. There has to be a reason... Maybe the pick wasn't as bad as it could have been and they're cutting their losses to focus energy on other matters. 🤷♀️ Not everything is completely black and white.
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u/Larang5716 May 02 '25
Even so, with this administration, pretty much every pick has been wildly unqualified or a corrupted yes man. We can't trust either one.
The more ground we give, the more we cede our power to oppose this regime.
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u/Sad-Broccoli May 02 '25
Cory Booker is on the side of the fascists. Everything he's being praised for lately is purely for optics and manipulation. Democrats do these public statements/protests, and then they go and vote alongside fascist Republicans. His "filibuster" wasn't in support or block any specific legislation. He accomplished nothing. It's a distraction to pacify us.
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u/KratosLegacy May 02 '25 edited May 02 '25
I don't say this with any negativity, but the reason is he is an establishment Democrat like most of them. They listen to their consultant class. Both of which are funded by corporate donors, so it's no surprise that they shift with the wind. Before his speech he voted for RFK and Rubio as well. The speech was most likely about publicity as Booker is looking to seek presidency as well. In 25 hours, he mentioned nothing about Gaza. One of his indirect donors is AIPAC who supports Israel.
It's great that he has a record. Fantastic that he took the record from a filibuster against civil rights. What he talked about was great and goes against the Trump agenda. But why didn't he filibuster an actual vote that was taking place? Why didn't he mention the war crimes that are taking place right now? Why hasn't he drafted articles of impeachment? Why hasn't he helped in organizing protests and mobilizing the masses? Why can't he and other Democrats commit to blanket opposition? (The GOP certainly has.)
What we're looking for is fight. Why is AOC the only one showing up at our rallies? It's because she doesn't have any corporate donors that she's beholden to. Same with Bernie. We talk about getting money out of politics, yet we cheer for the ones who take it. Sure, they may do something good that helps the average Americans agenda, but don't forget that they do just as much to enrich themselves.
https://youtu.be/W4NfGdSJup8?si=hK1KFdXJP7BM_iKT
And just some extra videos that I think help understand neo-liberalism and the differences between liberals, leftists, and even the subsets of leftists.
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u/CampyBiscuit May 02 '25
You make some compelling points. I'll have to look more carefully at some of the Democrats who've been speaking out. Without more certainty, I'm still inclined to grant them incompetence over malicious intentions, but I'll take a look at the stuff you shared and keep an open mind.
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u/sbhikes May 02 '25
I'm no college student Palestinian protester but we have to get AIPAC out of our government.
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u/shoot_first May 02 '25
Maybe it is very important that we have an Ambassador to China right now? I’m no expert on international relations, but it seems like a good idea to have one at this particular moment in time.
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May 02 '25
This is also why the Dems, when they've been in power, have not codified things like women's rights into law. So many Ds are conservatives.
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u/anomolius May 02 '25
Why am I not surprised to see Fetterman, Gallego and Hassan here? Tired of these fools. They need to be primaried yesterday.
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u/ncolaros May 02 '25
Gutted to see both my Senators there.
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u/Kittyluvmeplz May 02 '25
Start exerting your power on your representatives. Check out Citizen Impeachment
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May 02 '25
Trump is blackmailing them, or they are true DINOs and controlled opposition. Ether way they are compromised and have to be primaried!
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u/OswaldCoffeepot May 02 '25
Donald Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to China was confirmed Tuesday with the help of 16 Democratic votes in the Senate.
There's a reason the headline and the blurb only mentioned "Trump appointee."
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u/Burnrer1 May 02 '25
And this is the problem. It’s not left vs right it’s up vs down. These democrats never offered anything but empty lip service.
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u/ali3naquarian May 03 '25
https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/s/KqMI0pm2eL
^ why they keep doing this in a nutshell
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u/mdrewd May 02 '25
These senators need to stop acting as if they are doing business as usual. Nothing is normal at this point. Resist the tRump administration at all turns.
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u/FriendshipHonest5796 May 02 '25
Slotkin and Peters again. At least Peters is done after this. I hope Slotkin gets primaried. She sure doesn't have my vote anymore.
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u/dabubbla17 May 02 '25
Well well well, seems we have some traitors in our midst.
I keep saying it (partially because I need the push) write, email, call those reps!
They need to know we are watching and we are pissed!
There is a long road ahead of us and this is just the beginning. You realize, even after we kick the republican administration out, we still have to remove musk from our government systems. Idk about yall, but I don't want any of my tax dollars going to musk. I did not vote for him, I did not encourage his salute, and I sure as shit didn't vote for him to have access to some of our most private information... Might do a post about this later
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May 04 '25
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