IF we end up 48-52 in the Senate (after GA) and IF McTurtle goes 100% full block on EVERYTHING

[Celerity]

and the Biden Cabinet nominations come up, what are the odds that Collins and Murkowski (or any other Rethug) break ranks and get some of his cabinet approved?

What about any major legislation that is nationally vastly popular?

I think Moscow is going to try to break Biden on the wheel from the very start, not give an inch on any vote of import, no matter how small and/or petty, so we will need 2 Rethug defectors on every major issue.

Do you think they (Collins, Murkowski, or any others) will defect at times or not?

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. Lots of "Acting Department" heads. Trump did set a pdecedent.

EO'so too within reason. No one seemed to mind.

[onenote]

11. Very limited in who can be named an acting cabinet secretary

This has been pointed out many times in the last week. While Trump appointed more "acting" officials than anyone, he actually did it within the terms of the Vacancies Act (with one possible exception, which the courts reversed).

Specifically, sunder the Vacancies Act, a president has three options for filling a cabinet level vacancy:

Option one: name the "first assistant" to fill the position as "acting" secretary. While there is some uncertainty as to who the "first assistant" is, it typically is a deputy secretary, who likely has had to be confirmed.

Option two: name someone who is currently serving in a Senate-confirmed position. Someone up above suggested Biden could satisfy the statute by nominating former Obama-era officials who had been confirmed. But the statue makes clear that one has to be currently serving in a Senate-confirmed position to be named as an acting cabinet head.

Option three: the President can select a senior “officer or employee” of the same executive agency, if that employee served in that agency for at least 90 days during the year preceding the vacancy and is paid at a rate equivalent to at least a GS-15 on the federal pay scale.

The problem Biden would face is that the First Assistant and any currently serving Senate confirmed persons are going to be folks appointed by Trump. The third option would require Biden to find someone down the organization chart that he could trust and had the expertise to run a department.

[Kablooie]

2. No. McConnell,has a ruthless iron hold on all of them.

No Republican will turn on him.

[Celerity]

5. so you do not think that Collins and Murkowski would even vote to a approve a Rethug as VA Sec for

instance, if Biden nominated one?

[onenote]

13. Romney will support confirmation of Biden's nominees.

He has many failings, but complete disregard for the institutions of government isn't one of them.

I don't think McConnell will try to shut down every nomination -- he will lead the charge against specific nominees, however.

[Celerity]

18. I so hope you are right!

I still think the fucker will go 100% steel door block, start out day one going for the kill shot and try to make Biden a 1 termer via scorched fucking earth methodologies. It may backfire, and I think the ultimate safety valve would be 2022, IF McConnell feels the 'in-power POTUS's 1st midterms curse' will NOT work if he goes full boat blocker.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. How about criminal investigations into every Russiapublican in the Senate?

How about investigating McConnell's wife and that aluminum plant?

It is ludicrous that one corrupt, evil, slimey man can veto the work of Congress. It's time to put a stop to this idea of being nice to the opposition when the opposition is hell-bent on the destruction of government.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Ditto!

[onenote]

14. How about listening to what Biden has been saying

I can already foreseeing sizable portions of DU turning against Joe by January 30.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. Biden says his DoJ will be independent. That's a wonderful change to Barr's Dirt Services.

I expect President Biden to piss me off more than once; I cannot foresee him "turning against" me or me "turning against" him.

[OnDoutside]

6. Collins just got another 6 years so, no. Murkowski maybe but look at her overall record. This is a

different situation because now McConnell is going to be attacked from the House AND the White House, with a favourable Dem Senate map in 2022.

I like the suggestion that i heard here previously that since Pat Toomey is stepping down in 2022, let Biden offer him a cabinet post, which would allow him to appoint a Dem replacement....it's worth a try. Plus, we still haven't heard about the Gross-Sullivan race in Alaska ?

[Celerity]

9. 2022 Senate breakdown

I can see picking up (as long as we lose no seats) 3 to 6 seats, We need good candidates! I am still raging that in 2020, we only had THREE (AZ, CO, MT) out of 13 remotely flippable races with the best candidates running. Schumer and Cortez Masto were so poor in recruiting and it cost us 5 seats or so. Some of it is deffo on the people who refused to run as well. Unless we pull big upsets in both the GA runoffs, the Senate under Moscow McTurtle is going to fuck us bad for the next 2 years at least.

2022 US Senate 'in-play' races

At-Risk (even if marginal) Dems

In order of risk

Georgia (IF Warnock wins the runoff with Loeffler)
Nevada Catherine Cortez Masto (Brian Sandoval would be by far the toughest Rethug to beat)
Arizona Mark Kelly (It will not be McSally running against him, lolol)
New Hampshire Maggie Hassan (her two strongest opponents would probably be Former Senator Kelly Ayotte and Governor Sununu)
Vermont Patrick Leahy (IF he retires, the very popular Rethug Governor Phil Scott may prove to be trouble)
Colorado Michael Bennet (I see little chance for him to lose)


Possible Rethug Flips

In order of risk for them

Pennsylvania Open Seat
North Carolina Open Seat
Wisconsin Ron Johnson (asshat deluxe, I fucking hate this clown)
Georgia Loeffler (unless we win it in the runoff)
Florida Marco Rubio
Iowa Chuck Grassley (may retire he will turn 90yo in the first year of his next term if he runs, if he retires we have a good shot, Vilsack should run, he should have ran in 2020!)
Kansas Jerry Moran Only shot we have, and it would be a good one, is if Sibelius runs this time, she should have ran in 2020!) If she refuses again, forget winning this seat.
Ohio Rob Portman
Kentucky Rand Paul (fucking berk)
Indiana Todd Young (no clue if Buttigieg would try, Indiana is SO Red now, ffs)
Missouri Roy Blunt

[OnDoutside]

10. That's exactly it. Good candidates is the basic building block to victory.

Russia Ron, Pat Toomey and Richard Burr are retiring (Burr probably to an upstate penitentiary).

[Celerity]

17. I am just beside myself on the fact we only had 3 races with our best candidates this go round.

The Senate was my thing for the past two years. I was warning about poor recruiting for ages.

Tim McGraw in TN especially drives me in full aggro territory. He would have cruised to victory in 2018. Open seat, Blue Wave, Trump on the rocks, and a SHIT opponent (Marsha Blackburn). Then he turns down an pen seat again in 2020. If he has never promised he would run when he was 50, then fine, but why talk about for the last 10 plus years and then refuse TWICE on open seats. He might be in his 70's by the time he gets another open seat race.

The other one I am most upset with is Sibelius in Kansas. She was our only shot, and she would have been the favourite (I really dove into thsi race early on), and it was an open seat as well.

Next up are Stein and Foxx in NC. They KNEW Tillis was there for the taking, and Cunningham was not a strong candidate (he had lost once before) and that was before his fucking sex scandal. GRRRR

Susan Rice in Maine would have taken out Collins (especially as all she need to do was hold her under 50% and then ranked choice voting would have taken Collins out). Rice is a pitbull who would have lit into Collins far more than the fairly meek Gideon did, and she polled far better than Gideon the whole time before she refused to run. It still just enrages me that Manchin endorsed and said he would campaign for Collins. She used that in so many adverts and mailings (the whole weird 'Maine wants only only moderate Rethugs or indies who are bi-partisan' dross). BULLSHIT on the bi-partisan claptrap, that POS enabled McConnell just as much as any of the near 100% Trumphumper Senators on EVERY massive vote where it actually mattered.

IA is another one, as between the 4 main candidates (including popular ex 2-term governor Vilsack), we ended up with the weakest in Greenfield. Vilsack would have been so hard to slam as a wild-eyed socialist, he has 16 years as gov and Sec of Agriculture that proves he was nowhere near that.

I will refrain from commenting on GA (both races) until I see what happens, but there are two names who would have been stronger I think, although one is complicated.


smdh

The Senate really has me in a horrid mood, as my mind always is in future-forward analysis mode and I see so much shit ahead (McTurtle is going to try to rip Biden's head off and kneecap him for good measure from day one), plus we can now get none of the giant things done (especially SCOTUS expansion and the Public Option) which are goig to long term just fuck the nation (unless we somehow overcome the 1st midterms curse and flip at least 3 or more seats (again that number changes if we win one or both of the runoffs, but even 50-50 means no big programmes passed and no SCOTUS expansion (Manchin for sure will never go along with it, and there are others too), and the same (probably) for the Public Option as well.

sorry to rant

I am just beside myself

[kansasobama]

20. Thank you Celerity agree 100%

I have tried to post several negative things about Democrats in the past. Purpose was for a positive change. I used to get hammered. I agree 100% with you. In addition to bad candidates, endorsement component was poor. With due respects to President Obama, First Lady would not budge an inch about even showing up with several women candidates. Very poor. I tweeted and wrote several times about us losing Maine if she did not go. Obama himself wasted too much time in Florida. Miami Dade fiasco was obvious several weeks ago. Biden campaign made the only error in this regard. They should have used him more elsewhere. I tweeted and wrote vigorously about a similar issue in Detroit. Of course, I wrote and tweeted privately. I did not want this in public. Here they may have listened to ground troops and Biden was also savvy. Barring Biden Obama campaign in Detroit, Gary Peters would have been history.

In short, top Democrats did not bother to run or endorse visibly in critical states. They gave Maine and North Carolina away. I think NC loss is partially USPS issue.

If I were Biden, I would focus on COVID and police reform for 2 years. Take the stupid Defund the police slogan off the table. Build goodwill and win in 2022. Moscow Mitch will not change. If SC rules against Obamacare, use that to decimate GOP in 2022. Hope Georgia helps us in January. But Manchin will be a problem. Also AOC and Bernie needs to be under the radar. They are making it very hard for liberals to win in Midwest. Here we have to run middle of the road. We have to first win Bernie.

[pfitz59]

7. Joe can always address the American people

and call McConnell what he is, a would-be Dictator. The Dems must stop pussy-footing around the prick. Tell the American people McConnell is the reason the Government is failing...

[Cosmocat]

8. Scorpion and frog

You know the snswer.

[uponit7771]

15. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾

[Brainfodder]

12. I expect Mitch to die in office.

...from tripping over all the stacks of papers that make up all the laws he has already fucked off?

Lying sack and all his burns, scrapes, and such, he is starting to look like walking rigor mortis?

I'd pay to watch him suffer.

[sunonmars]

16. Start investigating those GOP moscow senators in Jan and watch the attitude change

[Celerity]

19. +1000