Summary

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell reportedly warned that there will be no recess appointments, directly opposing Donald Trump’s plan to bypass Senate confirmation for controversial cabinet nominees, including Matt Gaetz.

Gaetz has faced allegations of drug use and sexual misconduct.

McConnell’s stance sparked widespread discussion about a looming constitutional showdown.

Critics argue recess appointments could undermine Senate authority and pose national security risks.

Observers question McConnell’s influence, noting potential leadership changes, while others see this as a critical test of Senate integrity against Trump-aligned Republicans.

298 points

Just a reminder that Mitch McConnell could have prevented this not once but twice.

Good luck (seriously) trying to keep the monster you created and continuously enabled under control. I also hate that I’m implicitly rooting for McConnell here.

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88 points

Don’t worry, Trump now will see him as The Enemy and use everything at his disposal against him.

McConnell just might be the first one to draw the ire this term.

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73 points
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Don’t worry, Trump now will see him as The Enemy and use everything at his disposal against him.

I mean, probably. Unfortunately, McConnell’s actually right for once. Whether he’s right for the right reasons is irrelevant at the moment.

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28 points
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The enemy of my enemy.

We can agree with him and root for him. Just keep in mind who he is and what he’s done. Don’t allow a short memory to curb that perspective.

In the meantime, while the monsters fight we should be collectively working to shore up things in our communities. I’m working on mine.

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10 points

Accidentally right is still right!

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8 points

Any chance McConnell will fall out a window in the near future?

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2 points

I’m with you, but I don’t see Trump going after anyone on his personal revenge list before Obama and Biden. Won’t start the deportation/concentration camp bullshit in earnest until after a few of those because he has to prove to the legislature that he controls them before he does anything too unpopular or evil.

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Just thinking back to how easy it would have been to never have Trump in our lives again, to get off this worst timeline, if just a handful of people had a tiny bit of courage at the impeachment trials.

Maybe they all thought he was cooked and they could once again forget about doing the right thing one more time, to endear themselves to his rabid supporters. It’s dizzying to think they could have protected the Constitution with a single word, and failed to do even that.

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24 points

Stop depressing me with a historically accurate recounting of events that happened.

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11 points

The impeachment vote shouldn’t have been a public ballot. If it had been private I have little to no doubt he’d have been gone the secondtime, possibly the first. Pence was middling but he knows the game.

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4 points

Hear me out, people could not have voted for this bullshit.

We get what we deserve. I can only hope we manage to preserve our republic and we don’t become an autocracy. An oligarchy is bad enough as is.

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6 points

Moscow Mitch took hundreds of millions in Russian ‘investments’ for I think an aluminum plant.

He’s dirty as fuck and just needed a call from his handler to remind him which way to vote on that.

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21 points

The good news is in party fighting is s good sign that they won’t be able to consolidate power as quickly or completely as they wanted to. The bad news is, they now know who to come for on the night of long knives.

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5 points

There is consensus that the current nominations for cabinet are heavily oriented to separating the disloyaistlls in order to define targets. McTurtle in his prime was a competitor, but I imagine it will be easy to move against him these days

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16 points

When the worst guy starts fighting a twice as worst guy, you have a relative good guy to root for.

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11 points

The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, but I want to see the former hurt the latter first.

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2 points

If my enemies destroy each other, I’m certainly saved some effort. Go for it, champ!

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5 points

This enemy of my enemy is not my friend, the moment is merely a temporary truce for the greater good.

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12 points

Bad people can do good things sometimes, and you should never interrupt or shame them for doing it. Many people on the internet forget that.

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4 points

No one is entirely good or entirely evil.

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7 points

Never thought I’d see the day where I hoped a McConnell plan would work in any capacity.

He’s allowed Trump to exist so project 2025 can happen.

Moscow Mitch will do anything to make project 2025 happen, maybe he was convinced the “normal” Republicans can mitigate Trump’s penchant for treason and sedition against America and that mitigation risk was worth the project 2025 payout.

Hopefully he is right about mitigating Trump. Otherwise, I hope McConnell is the first Republican publicly executed because Trump absolutely wants to be able to publicly execute anyone he doesn’t like.

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3 points

As much as he probably wants to please Big Daddy Trump I think he also wants to assert himself a little by saying, “Here’s your McDonald’s. I took a few fries and yes, I’ll do it next time too.”

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67 points

If McConnell is saying this then I believe he’s planning on retiring VERY soon. Republicans o Lt grow a spine when their walking out the door.

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81 points

The next 4(?) years:

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11 points

Please tell me Trump isn’t Bugs.

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26 points

My take is Bugs is the embodiment of society as a whole, but since Trump is bigger and heavier than Sam, the edge of the cliff will break off and we all go off the edge together.

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9 points

Oh, yes. This makes sense.

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2 points

Sam’s hands are to big though.

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55 points

Also McConnell: Votes to confirm

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13 points

He likes to be in the same room and watch while we all get fucked.

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48 points

The Senate can’t turn down too many Trump appointees until they are looked on as an obstruction to their own party. So, you’ll definitely lose Gaetz, but Trump has flooded the zone with incompetence.

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30 points

Donnie boy is always testing the waters, testing the limits. It’s an extreme version of what the GOPers have been doing for years. Ask for a 150% of what’s reasonable, and then act all butt hurt when they only get 125%. We’ve seen this game before. There’s nothing new coming out of the “grand” Old party. smh.

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-8 points

Well those are just basic negotiation skills.

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5 points

If so then the Dems need to learn some basic negotiation skills. But I don’t agree. The two parties are supposed to represent all of the US, and what they should be negotiating for is those policies that are in the best interest of all US citizens. I hope you’ll agree that is not the case.

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Yup, Gaetz and (if the GOP does the minimum of trying to protect this country) Gabbard are the sacrificial lambs to get through Hegseth, RFK and already too many others to count.

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7 points

I am starting to believe the theory Trump is putting up the worst possible people so when one gets rejected he can try to force Congress to adjourn and then appoint whomever he wants which will be 100% worse.

Not that Trump thought of this but someone, Miller, is pulling the strings

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4 points

It’s negotiating 101. Open with the hoop dream so the next option isn’t near as bad. If you get your first option, you win, and if you get the second option, you win a little less.

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3 points

Senators are very different in many ways. They are very powerful, and feel a responsibility to their position for the most part. That includes advise and consent, part of the Constitution. It takes just as many Republican votes to call a recess as to confirm a nominee. Don’t forget, also, that until DeWine and DeSantis do their bit, they will be two votes short.

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2 points

As shit as Roberts’ SCOTUS is, I don’t think even they’d go that far. Their entire argument hinges on one phrase from Article Two:

he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper;

Supposedly as long as neither the House nor the Senate alter their scheduled appointment dates this clause can’t be invoked.

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6 points

We can only hope for incompetence, the real danger is a malicious and competent appointment.

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2 points

Fair point, however, incompetency at Secetary of Homeland, for instance, makes you less safe.

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4 points

Incompetence in Trumps first term usually led to not much being done and retention of the status quo.

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