Austin Swafford
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swaffordaustin.bsky.social
Austin Swafford
@swaffordaustin.bsky.social
Longhorns. Astros. Chiefs. Texas Democrat. Star Wars. All things Disney. Marvel. Aspiring Californian. Unashamed Swiftie and dog dad. I like pizza. Not beer so much but other carbonated beverages are nice.
Pinned
Trump’s officially been in office for a month. How’s he doing on that promise to lower grocery prices from day 1?

I don’t think he’s doing anything

Eggs: ⬆️ 8.4%
Bacon: ↔️
Milk: ⬇️ 2.1%
Bananas: ↔️
Reposted by Austin Swafford
We will hear Donald Trump and #Republicans co-opting #VeteransDay.

Remember who cut SNAP, cut #Medicaid for Veterans, used the military as props in Los Angeles and for Trump’s birthday parade, and illegally orders them to kill alleged drug dealers at sea.

Let’s remember our Oath. Trump doesn’t.
November 11, 2025 at 3:19 AM
I think we can all agree nobody deserved to win that game. #Packers #Eagles #MNF
November 11, 2025 at 4:23 AM
I’m sick of rich, clueless, out of touch scumbags going unchallenged when they pretend people are leaving jobs to just take SNAP to feed their families

Someone ask Trump if he thinks he could feed his family on $300 a month. Then ask him how much a gallon of milk costs. Moron.
November 11, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Mike Johnson, who has spent weeks saying that he wouldn’t negotiate during a shutdown, is now saying that we need a deliberative process to end the shutdown
November 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Trump has done more than any other president ever to put violent criminals back on the street. Democrats should talk about this more.
A felon whose sentence Trump commuted in the final hours of his first term has been sentenced to 27 months in prison after being accused of a range of criminal conduct — including physical and sexual assault — since Trump freed him.

Jonathan Braun had a long history of violence.
Felon Freed by Trump Is Sentenced Again, This Time to 27 Months
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Austin Swafford
Phang: These firings were illegal in the first fucking place.

It’s like the Republicans are supposed to think that they’ve now done something right by not doing what is illegal in the first place.
November 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
November 10, 2025 at 5:27 PM
This is what makes it all the more infuriating to watch Angus King and Jeanne Shaheen on TV today talking about how the shutdown wasn’t getting us anywhere
Sure, some wild-eyed leftists like [check notes] Nate Silver and Matt Yglesias think Democrats were winning the shutdown and shouldn't have caved....
November 10, 2025 at 3:16 PM
All of the Democrats’ absolute worst messengers are making the rounds because of how they decided to end the shutdown. This is embarrassing. They couldn’t have picked ONE good messenger to end the fight so they could be the face of this thing??
Shaheen: "We've heard from a number of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle that they're willing to come to the table, they're willing to work with us once the govt is open to get this done. We've heard the same thing from the White House. So now we'll see if they're really gonna work w/us"
November 10, 2025 at 3:15 PM
America deserves better than JD Vance

youtube.com/shorts/fH2_i...
JD Vance gets the ULTIMATE humiliation
YouTube video by Brian Tyler Cohen
youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Well that’s a win on a day we need one
BREAKING: #SCOTUS denies review of former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis bid to overturn same-sex marriage right found in Obergefell, one decade ago. No noted dissent or opinions. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
www.supremecourt.gov
November 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Fact check:

Yes, standing up to Trump worked

www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
November 10, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Finally listened to Angus King on his vote.

Piece of friendly advice: when you’ve spent weeks saying this is Trump’s shutdown, don’t admit that YOU are ending the shutdown because of all the pain it’s caused.

You don’t get to blame him when you just admitted you could have done this AT ANY TIME.
November 10, 2025 at 4:28 AM
@mallorymcmorrow.bsky.social is running against an establishment-preferred candidate for the Senate seat Gary Peters is vacating in Michigan

She rocks. Send her to Washington
This is a bad deal, and the old way of doing things is clearly not working.

We need new leaders in the Senate.
November 10, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Another thing that irks me about the timing of this Dem cave: not only is it demoralizing to a lot of voters who just got up off the mat, but following Trump’s threats on the filibuster, it makes me think that Schumer & co. are more worried about that than SNAP, worker pay, flight cancellations, etc
They caved. Senate Democrats caved. Their voters demanded just one very simple thing: FIGHT. Dammit, just FIGHT. Instead, they caved.
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 AM
There was NO reason to fold now. They could have held out at least another 2 weeks so at least their supporters wouldn’t feel like it was such a massive betrayal after the election. It’s crazy that Democrats did this to their own supporters
"Democrats could have held the line on the shutdown, and spent weeks watching Trump’s approval ratings fall," writes Jonathan Chait. Instead, he argues, they're making a mistake by giving in:
Senate Democrats Just Made a Huge Mistake
The shutdown was hurting Trump. Ending it helps him.
bit.ly
November 10, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Reposted by Austin Swafford
The answer Sen, Shaheen is that since America elected the Black man to be president, the official position of the Republican Party is “not to work together with Democrats to address the problems that are facing this country.”
Shaheen: "When I talk to my constituents in New Hampshire, you know what they say to me? They say, 'Why can't you all just work together to address the problems that are facing this country?'"
November 10, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Joe Walsh on @msnbc.com talking about how this fold depresses Democrats. He gets it! This would have been bad any time but the timing makes it so much worse. Party leadership just does not understand the moment at all
Coming up on @MSNBC in a few. Tune in.
November 10, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Per @msnbc.com : Khanna and Moultom call for new Senate leadership

So this is yet another loss for Democrats. Less than a week off resounding election victories, Democrats are now in a civil war.

The lack of political instincts from POLITICIANS is absolutely mind blowing.
November 10, 2025 at 3:07 AM
If I got asked “why can’t you work together?” I’d say I went to Washington to work together but instead I found a den of pedophile protecting fascists who can’t be reasoned with

What Shaheen said is I’ll just find common ground with fascists and make THEIR dysfunction YOUR problem
Shaheen: "When I talk to my constituents in New Hampshire, you know what they say to me? They say, 'Why can't you all just work together to address the problems that are facing this country?'"
November 10, 2025 at 3:00 AM
The fact that Democrats gave Republicans the exact number of votes they needed - no more, no less - shows the only thing they negotiated was who’d bite the bullet

This was coordinated. This was leadership driven. Schumer and Durbin wanted to fold. This wasn’t a revolt.
so currently defectors are:

Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 AM
These are the people Democrats just folded to
Chuck Grassley is struggling to read on the Senate floor
November 10, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Hassan on TV now saying how outrageous it is that Trump would pit sick kids against hungry kids

Shame on Trump, I agree

But you just helped him choose to screw sick kids

So shame on you, too
Republicans are going to laugh at Democrats and do nothing on healthcare. They will continue helping Trump fulfill Project 2025.

Dems learn nothing.
a black and white drawing of charlie brown and lucy brown from the peanuts comic strip
ALT: a black and white drawing of charlie brown and lucy brown from the peanuts comic strip
media.tenor.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Reposted by Austin Swafford
agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish
November 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM