Indies/self-pub, this includes you!

I have thoughts, and they aren’t going to fit neatly into Bluesky posts. Briefly:

1. The deal sucks.
2. Probably not as much as you think it does.
3. It’s good to be mad.
4. FFS, be madder at the GOP.
5. Strategy is hard.
5b. Timing matters.
6. The fight isn’t over.
7. Go pet a cat. (Or a dog.)

It is not a coincidence that the Nevada and Virginia delegations voted for the deal. The major federal employee unions (AFGE, NFFE, NTEU) were no longer supporting the shutdown. And this bill reverses and blocks the illegal RIFs.

You too can move on from electoral politics. Release the farce and play acting. Put your energies into helping each other and building new systems of care. I believe in the people, not politicians.

More worried about primarying 7 Democrats than voting out Republicans. I see you.

I'm honestly not sure Johnson will be speaker long after the house reconvenes.

It would not surprise me in the least if the GOP ousts him because it's pretty easy to tie his actions to their asswhooping last week and he's refusing to do his job.

But you keep dooming.

This isn't getting anywhere NEAR enough attention 👇

So starvation would be off the table for Rs to weaponize against Dems. They got federal employees paid. And they got a clean path to fight the ACA battle in like March, is it? But the meltdown driven by leftists was an inevitable outcome.

The thing that people are going to remember is that the shutdown happened under a Republican trifecta. That’s it. No voter is going into 2026 thinking about arcane senate procedure. I don’t think most people even remember the previous shutdown fight just 8 months ago! A year is a LIFETIME.

All of this is downstream from a theory of politics that dominates this country which says that only Democrats have agency

The "touch the stove" site all of a sudden forgetting what the thing theyve been braying for for months actually entails.

Morally its a bad deal that is gonna hang millions of ppl out to dry on their healthcare. Strategically its a deal that pisses of a lot of the D base. But politically? Politically Rs fought tooth & nail to do a really bad thing while voters hold them accountable bc they have a trifecta government.

The Republicans shouldn't be left off the hook either. They are the ones trying to take healthcare away and starve the hungry. Dems who agree to this aren't doing us any favors and should be ousted for it, but hold the Republicans accountable too.

Your incandescent rage is damn true. I've been dealing with the fact that people I knew didn't take the threat of R's seriously and I spent god knows how many hours trying to motivate them to vote to just no movement. Strangers were worse.

And it *fucking suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.* Sending ya love.

the fundamental problem is we need everyone who ostensibly caucuses with the democrats to get anything good done at the federal level, because every member of the gop is at their core actually fucking evil. so many folks ignore that fact because of their gop-voting family/friends/neighbors etc

It’s never a fair fight when you’re forced to legislate with evil, soulless bastards.

I feel like whoever won last Tuesday should get to make this decision.

Not stupid, spineless moderates who pathetically still fantasize that one day they’re gonna be able to ”do bipartisanship!” again.

Oh look, here’s a winner.

Exactly. And I have had it with people saying that the Demcorats just wanted to kill their own momentum because they were sad that the party won last week. That's just stupid and conspiratorial. They were looking at a SCOTUS who would let Trump starve people. We don't have power - yet.

I think most of the Dem base is red hot angry but I agree that semi swing voter - the partisan you have to work to turn out - is fatigued for better or worse. let alone snap and fed workers