https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1920318945732837672.html

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1920328683421872230.html

Not a bit: they know their real interests much better than we do. We have a narrative, derived from legacy media, about Team Red / Team Blue and the different directions they try to take our country. But what politicians actually spend most of their time doing is taking money from our pockets and putting it in the pockets of their connections. Policy and legislation are sideshows to them.

Short sighted politicians or those who speak one way and act another? Our founders knew about such human foibles but could not ensure they were not going to make their appearance now and again. Only try to restrain the worst impulses that might otherwise come forth from such scallywags. Part of our discomfort results from the fact that we no longer live in a 3 to 6pmh world for travel, transport, or communications. We know change can happen much more quickly than we can stop it – witness so many successful disinformation campaigns.

They are very much interested in appropriating. I would say that lack of attention to appropriations is the biggest blindspot of the right-leaning blogosphere: we’re too easily distracted by the Red Team / Blue Team drama which largely concerns policy and legislation. But appropriation is of much more consequence and flies under our radar. The GOPe has had no qualms about shoveling money into the pockets of people we think of as their enemies, provided they get to shovel some to their cronies.

Because the GOP Senate leadership wants him there.

why (if that appointment predated Trump 47)

He’s been there since 2015, but what has Trump to do with it? Trump doesn’t pick Senate committees, the Senate does.

https://thefederalist.com/2025/05/06/today-in-republicans-being-useless-thom-tillis-plans-to-sink-ed-martin-nomination/

While speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, formally announced his opposition to the nomination of Ed Martin to serve as the next U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. With a 12-10 Republican majority on the committee, Tillis’ opposition likely nullifies the body’s ability to favorably move Martin’s nomination to the full Senate for final confirmation.

The post contains a huge example of a Democrat serving as a nominal Republican.
Did his voters know that he would, or did he lie before his election?

https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1919955108575748320

I’ll post a full thread on this tomorrow, but the short version is:
@SenThomTillis
rose quickly to powerful foreign policy positions right after being elected to the Senate (his first federal role) despite having no military background. The reason why is he is a True Believer in the “Open Society” agenda from the very beginning.

@SenJohnCurtis
is headed down the same path.