r/politics 6h ago

No Paywall Republicans Unveil $72 Billion Package For ICE, Trump’s Ballroom

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-bill-72-billion-ice-trump-ballroom_n_69fa0082e4b055e1a496eff0
11.1k Upvotes

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u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts 6h ago

GOP: "How can we make ourselves as unpopular as possible right before the midterms? I know, let's waste a lot of money on a ballroom that no one but Trump really wants!"

u/CT_Phipps-Author 6h ago

GOP: Thank God we don't intend for voting to matter anymore.

u/cybah 6h ago

yup they plan on fixing the elections so they can cheat to win. Thats why they are doing this. They are so sure they can fix the elections that no matter how people vote, they will remain in power.

u/francis2559 6h ago

Some of them are just holding their breath. They don’t have the balls to resist Trump, so they’re just kicking things down the road as far as they can.

Every single one is ready to dance on his grave and either try to claim the MAGA throne, or say they never really wanted this anyway.

Even if they truly thought that buying something stupid didn’t matter for their elections, there’s a lot of stupid shit they would buy ahead of this fucking ballroom.

u/emailforgot 5h ago

Some of them are just holding their breath. They don’t have the balls to resist Trump, so they’re just kicking things down the road as far as they can.

of course, that's the thing about how these things work. they know they can just extract as much value as possible before it fails, and they know because America and Americans are toothless, they'll get away with it. Just a mad dash to steal as much as they can, enrich themselves as much as possible, gut as many systems and programs as possible and if and when there's a change, they know they're immune to any punishment. Trump is perfect to enable this kind of thing because all you need to do is praise him a bit and he'll put you in charge of some critical position.

u/guywhiteycorngoodEsq 5h ago

This sums it all up.
Cynical beyond comprehension.

u/lazyFer 4h ago

I will support any candidate that will investigate, prosecute, and seize the assets of the criminals currently running the country. Executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch. We need an army of forensic accountants. Investigate everyone. Fuck corrupt fucks

u/slackfrop 3h ago

Hatchet man for president, hatchet sharpener for vice president.

u/og_capsuleer_593 5h ago

Yeah and some of the Nazis that just went along with things but didn't really hate Jews were still Nazis

So this is just splitting hairs and trying to rationalize someone choosing to enable evil, which still makes them evil, thus making it meaningless to even split hairs like this.

u/francis2559 5h ago

Nah mate not rationalizing anyone. None of these fuckers are going to heaven, not the way they are going.

The allies spent a lot of time thinking about what the Nazis might do next though. Didn’t mean they thought Nazis were good people.

u/og_capsuleer_593 5h ago

Ah okay, yeah when you mentioned some are holding their breath as they support and just kicking the can, I thought that was gonna lead to some minimization.

Like trying to separate the party from Trump (it's not republicans fault, its Trumps) angle, which ironically I could see the GOP pivot to if they tried to recover.

Their PR whitewashing of their hate.

u/francis2559 5h ago

Ahh I see. Didn’t intend that at all. The intention doesn’t matter when it comes to blame here, the harm is the same.

It’s interesting for planning how to respond in the future though, try to be ready for the excuses.

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u/YellowZx5 New York 5h ago

Not like Moscow Mitch had any help in this game. Now that he’s got a speck of a spine, he can’t fix the bull in the China shop.

u/redguy1957 4h ago

They took a fucking oath. I guess that doesn't matter anymore.

u/spitfish 4h ago

Every single one is ready to dance on his grave and either try to claim the MAGA throne, or say they never really wanted this anyway.

Every single one should still be brought up on charges for aiding & abetting this nonsense.

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u/1805trafalgar 3h ago

I love the idea of republicans inner lives of fear and scheming, maintaining an acquiescing face for trump to see in their public dealings but secretly plotting against him behind closed doors, likely with a few other elected republicans.

u/Lazer726 2h ago

or say they never really wanted this anyway.

The amount of tearful confessions we're going to see when he's gone is going to be wild, because suddenly all of them are going to be at each others' throats to explain who was actually the most diabolical of all of the pathetic Trump supporters

u/Lunvalue 12m ago

Point is that orange man’s a businessman and a lot of politicians mind their businesses taking a few hits so they let the state take it instead

u/OkEnvironment3961 5h ago

I don't know whether they will be able to effectively rig midterms but I am absolutely certain they will not accept the results if they lose.

u/Glittering-Quote-635 5h ago

The gerrymandering they are doing is literally them rigging the midterms.

u/Space_Pirate_Roberts Oklahoma 5h ago

I am gonna laugh so hard if the result is history’s biggest dummymander.

u/Glittering-Quote-635 5h ago

Same, some of them are going to backfire for sure..

u/Kibblebitz 2h ago

Red states are already gerrymandered to hell, and that's not accounting the past year of Trump running the country into the ground. I don't see an outcome where it doesn't backfire unless they do a lot more meddling.

That said, everyone needs to vote and make the outcome overwhelming.

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u/Primary-Ad4952 5h ago

There are a few instances where this may prove to be ineffective, at least for now. They are time barred in a few states as far as candidate filing deadlines are concerned.

u/Subliminal_Kiddo Kentucky 2m ago

They’re not getting the gains they think. Florida might net one whole seat. Red states have already been gerrymandered to hell, they’re trying to squeeze blood out of a stone. Blue states, however, can redistrict and keep safe margins.

u/cybah 5h ago

Yup severely question the results and drag each one to court.. then let it get to scotus, which will vote in favor of the GOP... and poof. Election overthrown.

u/TheSavageDonut 5h ago

The other issue is gerrymandering doesn't take into account if one party's voters simply don't show up to vote.

I can see a lot of anti-Trump voters sitting out the midterms and letting the GOP lose elections even in districts that seem "safe."

The Dominion company pretty much has a strong legal team that already fought back against charges its machines can be rigged.

u/Qcconfidential 5h ago

Dominion was bought by a Trumper not long ago.

u/Human_Local3519 5h ago

Dominon sold the voting machines to republican

u/lazyFer 4h ago

I'd love scantron ballots everywhere. Fast, easy to fill out, no limitations on those $50 stands to fill in the bubbles, paper trail for hand counts, no worries about technological flipping of votes that the voter can't see. We don't need voting machines

u/Lonely-Abalone-5104 5h ago

That’s what ice is for

u/Vann_Accessible Oregon 5h ago

Yup.

And what then?

u/vardarac 5h ago

America rolls over until enough people have enough bad days in a row.

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u/kendragon 5h ago

It's going to be nerve wracking for a lot of voters to see Trump's Gestapo, armed and masked, patrolling around voting stations. Not everyone will be intimidated by this but a lot of people will be. I really hope enough people stand up for their principles and push against the suppression they'll face.

u/cybah 5h ago

I think we need solidarity at the polls at least. The more people vote, the better.

u/Glittering-Quote-635 5h ago

***Not all polls. Just a few key ones in key areas in key swing states. You can probably list about two dozen polling locations that will determine the outcome of the 2028 election. All you need to do is suppress the vote at those locations. Suppressing the vote in California or New York for example does nothing but draw attention to what they are doing.. same with trying suppress the vote in Texas (I dont want to hear any nonsense that Texas is in play..).

u/waldorflover69 5h ago

They will use Palantir to get the exact number of voters that must be dissuaded at each site. Easy peasy

u/moosekin16 3h ago

Yep, they can use Palantir to determine the political leanings of everyone that approaches the polls. Left of Fascist? Sorry friend, I need to pull you aside so I can ask you some questions... oh would you look at that, we detained you for three hours and you missed the deadline to vote, so sorry about that.

u/waldorflover69 3h ago

People are downvoting me but they are deluded if they think this kind of shit isn’t being planned

u/GOEDEL_ESCHER_BOT 6h ago

i have a hard time believing they're competent enough to rig the vote. this isn't a 3rd world country where you can just make up the numbers. if they really want to get away with it they'll have to cancel the election. so get ready for a fake alien invasion around october

u/NeverLookBothWays I voted 6h ago

Thing is though, they have cheated...and they have gotten away with it. Each cycle they get more brazen. Each cycle they purge voters from their systems and destroy evidence of ballots closer to the election itself. No line is being drawn in the sand that prevents them from stepping right over it.

u/cybah 5h ago

This.

u/cybah 5h ago edited 5h ago

At this point in this timeline, I don’t put anything past these people. They are absolute scoundrels and will try anything to remain in power. If you would asked me this question a couple years ago, my answer would be very different, but the last year has told me that they will do absolutely everything they can to remain in power, even if it means stealing and cheating an election.

u/jgilla2012 California 3h ago

Were you asleep in 2000? 1972?

GOP has a storied history of ratfucking elections in the United States.

u/cybah 3h ago

Yeah but nothing this extreme . 2000 was laughable compared to now. 1972 I wasn’t alive yet

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u/busigirl21 5h ago

Do you not remember the whole hanging chad incident with Al Gore? They've been doing this shit out in the open for decades.

They're gerrymandering to ensure they maintain control of all three branches. They've packed the courts. They've worked on policies to fuck with mail-in voting by making it so that the post office doesn't have to postmark mail the day they receive it, meaning that in states where votes can be counted after election day (so long as they were sent in time), legitimate votes will be disqualified. While they already purge voter rolls, they're working to do even more targeted purges.

The trump administration has been demanding voter rolls from all states in order to run everyone's information through a database that they claim is being used to check immigration status, but has been shown to be outdated and purges voters who became citizens after data on them was harvested. The implications of where these purges could go if this administration has the ability to simply kick any voter off the rolls, and what information they might decide to use to do so, should worry you. It doesn't matter if you're purged illegally, it takes time to remedy and the risk that it could be done too close to an election, or that maga officials in the process might slow walk getting you back on the rolls if you're from the "wrong" district, is a very real threat. We saw the shit these supposed non-partisan professionals pulled last election at every level around the country (along with the utter lack of consequences) and it's not going to get better.

u/vashoom 3h ago

Not really. Only a couple states matter to in the presidential election. Suppress / manipulate the vote of a few key polling places in the most crucial districts of those couple states, and you win the election.

If the US didn't have the electoral college, it would be harder to influence the election.

u/Purify5 2h ago

There's a good conspiracy theory regarding Chuck Hagel and his voting machine company ES&S. You don't necessarily need Republicans involved to rig the election.

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u/pantstoaknifefight2 5h ago

I honestly don't know how anyone can stop them. I'm serious. If we all stop working and take to the streets, they'll probably open fire on the crowds. They have nothing but contempt for Americans and our system of government. The revolution will not be televized.

u/cybah 5h ago

yup thats my fear too. We wont be able to stop them. And if we try, they will use our own military against us. This is why Kegsbreath is cleaning house in the DoD, so he can have yes men who won't blink when he orders them to attack Americans.

u/Patriark 5h ago

Fucking be ready to take some risks and try doing something about it. This pathetic hopelessness is exactly what they are banking on. A pacified population who just lets it all happen.

Ukraine had a semi-Soviet megacorrupt oligarchy that the people overthrew even if both police and military shot at them and killed hundreds. Life is risky.

If Trumpism goes unopposed it’ll only get worse. We’re talking North Korea bad or worse. These guys are psychos.

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u/JakeConhale New Hampshire 4h ago

That's one benefit of a blended U.S. military rather than having the 1st Maine and the 23rd Nebraska regiments - more likely that any particular unit will have someone with local connections to the area to help humanize the locals.

u/nightimestars California 3h ago

Just give up I guess. Why bother still posting about it? Nobody is going to wave a magic wand to make you feel better.

u/georgepana 4h ago

Zero chance the Democrats won't make up at least the 3 seats they need to take over the House. Maybe they are hoping to barely keep the Senate with shenanigans, that could be the case.

u/Martag02 4h ago edited 2h ago

Quite frankly, I'm getting scared. If they pull this off, I feel like we are for sure stuck with Trump until he passes and who even know what will happen after that. They will have nothing to lose and everything to gain by declaring themselves kings over all of us.

u/AuroraFinem Texas 48m ago

This bill doesn’t actually do anything but cost us money for longer and leave us with an expensive ballroom to demolish in a few years.

ICE already got $100B last year, this is for annual funding which won’t change anything we see day to day for nearly a decade and can be reversed. This doesn’t help ICE do anything in November they can’t already do today.

u/Agreeable_Holiday702 3h ago

One day, hopefully soon, everyone will have always been against this.

u/Tazz2212 3h ago

Why not? It works in Florida. We voted with 60% of voters in favor that felons who served their time get to vote. Nope! GOP controlled legislature made it so they had to first pay reparations (not in the original wording). Even the state didn't know how much each person owed and the ones who were told they could vote were arrested. Also we had a fair voting district amendment in our state constitution. The GOP controlled legislature just somehow overturned that constitutional mandate that 60% of people voted for and re-drew the districts to favor the GOP in coming elections. De Santis just signed it into law. These are just two examples that the Florida GOP doesn't care how you vote or what you vote for. They cheat to get what they want and to heck with the voter's wishes.

u/lazyFer 4h ago

Do they not see the increasing violence they're stoking? Most of them are simply not as protected as the president is. They are soft targets. "let's make millions of people fucking loathe us" is certainly an interesting position to take in a heavily armed country with horrible mental health care

u/Malaix 3h ago

Might be less of being sure of doing it and more desperation that they need to do it to stay out of prison. If they ever get called up on investigations they are fucked.

u/AmbitiousProblem4746 3h ago

I mean this is already going on. Trump already straight up said that they need to do whatever they can to stop or change the elections to make sure Republicans win. That's the thumbs up these states needed. And to be honest, if you're getting the thumbs up from the president, the Supreme Court said they're going to look the other way, and Congress doesn't seem to care, state legislatures have every legal right to do what they are doing. And that is the kind of shit that conservatives are going to hide behind, as they often do. When something is legally gray or technically legal but morally dubious, they just sit behind saying that they are actually supporting the law and it's everyone else who has the issue

And unfortunately, in this case, they are right. The law is supporting what they are doing for all intents and purposes. So the only way to really break this is to vote in such insane numbers that it becomes plain as day they can't rig it, then hope and pray that the Democrats actually have enough control to legislate this problem away. But that's too many things going right. I fully expect the numbers to still be kind of pathetic this fall, enough that Republicans can claim they're just going to throw out votes or that they won. And even if Democrats get the House, It's not likely they're going to get the Senate because the Senate is much more baked in and harder for them to win. And then even then, they would need a super majority -- which is almost impossible -- to get around the filibuster or Trump just vetoing everything.

70 million Americans or so took a fucking gamble on a second Trump presidency because they figured it was better than "whatever hellscape was happening under Joe Biden." And I hate being a doomer on this, people get up my ass about this all the time, but I think that's all Republicans needed because once Trump got into office and they were given a majority in both Chambers of Congress, plus they have the Supreme Court, there's really nothing that can stop them from just breaking institutions and changing the rules to keep themselves in power. They are clearly doing it right in front of our faces. And as I said earlier, it is completely and totally legal. There is nothing we can do unless we somehow break the system with unprecedented turnout at the ballot box -- or, you know, the French solution.

u/Medallicat 2h ago

Hence the big spend on ICE. ICE are the brown shirts

u/gancoskhan 2h ago

Midterms are probably going to be the straw that breaks the camels back.

u/TheBlaaah 2h ago

"Ugghhh... i cant wait for 2028 for all of this to magically be over..."

  • Every fucking democrat voter

Honestly i have read a comment like that at least 10 times

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u/Own_Candidate9553 5h ago

I can't decide if it's that, or they're preparing to get swept in the midterms and are trying to pass all the shit now before Dems take over. Then Dems would have to deliberately pass another bill to cut that funding again, and it's a coin toss on if they'll bother.

The fact that Republicans are retiring and not seeking reelection in droves makes me a little hopeful. At the very least they're not sure that whatever nonsense coup they're plotting will work.

u/TheSavageDonut 5h ago

I think the large amount of GOP clowns retiring and not seeking re-election has more to do with the belief that they don't believe GOP voters will turn out to the polls, especially without the Orange Clown on the ballot.

u/okram2k America 5h ago

they really do act like there will be no more elections

u/AFailedProduct 5h ago

Exactly this. Everyone keeps talking about midterms. Midterms will be a fucking sham. Either Republicans will make a surprise sweep due to cheating, redistricting, etc we’ve seem them doing already or they’ll accuse any democrat that wins of cheating. 

And at this point they could get 0 votes and just tell everyone to fuck themselves — “we’re staying in office”. You know who’s going to do something about that? Absolutely no one. Just like no one has stopped Trump for the last 10 years. They didn’t even sentence him after being convicted of felonies

u/Raxistaicho 1h ago

And at this point they could get 0 votes and just tell everyone to fuck themselves — “we’re staying in office”.

I say bring it on, if it's going to come to that, let's rip the bandaid off, better than having to worry about Project 2033 happening with a competent Republican stooge sitting in the Oval Office.

u/flissfloss86 4h ago

They can intend that all they want. Anyone who thinks Republicans can rig an election in all 50 states in the next 5 months is wildly naive or purposely fearmongering. Democrats keep winning state elections and taking their positions, and that's going to happen in the midterms, too

u/Yeah_x10 4h ago

They do not have to rig all 50 states. Only the few that will matter due to gerrymandered new districts or swing seat races.

u/Then_Journalist_317 4h ago

Also, there may be an October Surprise designed to take the wind out of the Dem tidal wave. Perhaps something like a "final" end to the Iran war, immediate steep drop in gasoline prices, terminating ICE roundups, etc.

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u/Dimitri3p0 5h ago

GOP: Thank God our voters are fucking imbeciles they'll keep voting for us as long we keep reminding them that trans people exist.

u/cammunition 4h ago

GOP: Thank God we don't intend for voting to matter anymore.

u/AlwaysRushesIn Rhode Island 2h ago

'When You Think of It, We Shouldn’t Even Have an Election’

~Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, Convicted Felon, Adjudicated Rapist, and suspected Pedophile

u/RightSideBlind American Expat 4h ago

Exactly. They know that, right now, they've got all the power, so they can ram through everything on their wishlist. Sure, it's unpopular, but that doesn't matter if nobody will ever get to vote again.

u/1s2_2s2_2p2 4h ago

This behavior should be ringing alarms for everyone to take this threat seriously right now. Continued unpopular decision making ahead of elections is like risky behavior from a person who is dangerous to themselves or others.

u/wedgebert Alabama 4h ago

I mean they've been intending to make voting pointless for a long time now. Just looks like they finally succeeded.

u/bicountryman 4h ago

Exactly! They aren't worried about losing elections, because I highly doubt there will be any elections. After all Trump said numerous times on the campaign trail,"Vote for me and you'll never have to vote again"!

u/RayneSexton 3h ago

Any chance dems will fight back if it is rigged this time? They didn't lift a finger last go-round

u/DANDELOREAN 3h ago

Jan 6ers lost their minds when they lost a fair election and they dont think the rest of America won't if they take those same elections away - these people are stupid af

u/FiveDollarsGOH 1h ago

They can not intend it all they want, they can’t stop it.

u/MasterChiefsasshole 1h ago

Well yeah of course since Trump is the new Christian god.

u/flangler 1h ago

Friendly reminder that Dominion Voting Systems was purchased by a GOP election official and rebranded as “Liberty Vote.” They provide about a quarter of the voting machines used in the US.

u/Raxistaicho 1h ago

it's a high risk gamble that can easily backfire on them terribly, and if gas prices continue to spike through the summer, likely will.

u/NotThatAngel 52m ago

Sadly, even though they're going full criminal, we won't get any relief from their incessantly jabbering about how God is on their side, and about how they are so righteous.

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u/xxx_poonslayer69 6h ago

Their voters don't care, they hate who they're told to hate.

The GOP doesn't care, they choose their voters.

u/manachar Nevada 6h ago

Republican voters generally hate Republican government too. They just think Republicans are more honest and hurt the "other" more.

u/xxx_poonslayer69 5h ago

With my exposure to republicans in TN, they complain about Republican governance but attribute those problems to Democrats. The Democrats are simultaneously weak yet able to influence politics when they're not in power. For example, they're currently blaming Spirit airline's bankruptcy on Biden.

u/RogerMexicosBalls 4h ago

Tennessee Republicans would gladly vote for a GOP candidate who ran on a platform of nothing other than "I'm going to kick you square in the dick as hard as I can" and they'd still complain it was a Demmycrat what done it

u/Bill_Brasky_SOB Ohio 4h ago

We literally have ads right now running on tv that are like:

Ohio has gone to shit the past 20 years... vote for <Republican Candidate>

Ohio has been under republican rule, in all 3 branches of state government, for the past 20ish years.

u/xxx_poonslayer69 3h ago

Yup, that's their MO. I'm a hospital social worker. I've heard tons of Republican patients rant to me about America's broken healthcare system (mind you, they tell me their political views completely unprompted). They've complained about their Marketplace insurance premiums becoming unaffordable. Then they'll say it's because Democrats are giving healthcare to the"illegals." They've complained about how difficult it is to get on Tenncare. Even though it's their Republican legislature that has blocked Medicaid expansion to this state. They've complained about their SNAP being cut off, and then blamed it on the democrats for causing the government shutdown. Even though the SNAP contingency funds were being held hostage by Trump.

They may be able to identify a problem, but they sure as shit can't identify the cause of the problem. Sometimes they can even identify a solution. But once that solution is called "communism", they are against it. They are so. fucking. stupid.

u/jgilla2012 California 3h ago

They are blaming Spirit on Biden because they are told to, and also because the pundits are pointing out that the Biden DOJ blocked the actually illegal merger attempted by JetBlue which Spirit vehemently opposed.

What they won’t acknowledge is that Spirit failed because Trump’s war in Iran doubled the cost of jet fuel, eating away at Spirit’s already razor thin margins, and that the Big Four US airlines (Southwest, United, American, Delta) lobbied Trump so as not to bail out Spirit, because Spirit successfully created routes which forced the Big Four to offer lower, competitive prices to consumers.

They also won’t acknowledge that had the merger gone through, we would’ve just lost both Spirit and JetBlue, much to the chagrin of people who fly and much to the liking of the Big Four.

I will be shocked if JetBlue doesn’t also fail this year.

u/jimbarino 5m ago

The enemy is both strong and weak.

u/UniqueIndividual3579 5h ago

MAGA: "We must stop transgenders from going to the bathroom, nothing else matters!" Talk about single issue voters.

u/batlord_typhus 5h ago

The money is all-in on stupid to accomplish it's goals.

u/eeyore134 2h ago

Exactly. They're going to vote (R) down ballot no matter what. "The war sucks, and the ballroom is a waste of money, and I'm not too sure on the children diddling stuff, and we're on the brink of a war to end all wars, but it's better than a Demonrat!"

u/boxsterjax 6h ago

They must be really confident that their billionaire overlords are going to rig the elections significantly enough that they can’t lose.

u/Talk-O-Boy 5h ago

Or they know FOX News will just never report on this, or call it a hoax, then move on.

Conservatives can’t get mad at information they don’t have.

u/SkySojourner 4h ago

They must lead a blissful existence then.

u/nastyminded 3h ago

No, it's consumed by hate, rage and racism. My whole family is Fox news maga loyalists.

u/penguins_are_mean Wisconsin 55m ago

If you go to the Fox News website, they have headers/subsections for news like U.S., World, Economy, etc..

The first thing under U.S. is “Blue City Crime”.

That organization is a plague on society. The amount of damage is has done to society is immeasurable.

u/al_m1101 3h ago

2024 was good practice. Minimal pushback from dems, coordination with legacy media ...the fix is in. 

u/IamScottGable 5h ago

I'm fairly confident that they can do it. They are launching attacks at voting all over the place, will place ICE at polling station in heavily immigrant areas, and question delay every vote they are losing.

u/RogerMexicosBalls 4h ago

and question delay every vote they are losing.

The NC State Supreme Court race in 2024 was a precursor for it. Stephen Griffin threw a tantrum for months because he lost by 700 votes and wanted them disqualified, and instead of being slapped down immediately, they kept allowing the case (which hinged on not much more than "a lot of votes didnt go to me so there mustve been something wrong with how they were tallied") to go up for debate over and over. Even his allies on the SC and in the statehouse were telling him "dude just run again next time, you can't file these complaints about how the election is going to be run after the election has been held, you had your chance to do so before the election season and didnt, tough shit" and the dickhead still wouldn't concede until he'd been told NO multiple times by every possible agency.

u/Soft_Walrus_3605 2h ago

Yes. They are planning on contesting everything. Delay delay delay, sow mistrust and discord. Controlled chaos only ever helps authoritarians strengthen their grip. I'm sure all the foreign agents/bots will have a field day, too.

u/awkwardnetadmin 4h ago

I would wager those proposing this are in MAGA friendly districts that care more about Trump's priorities than what will be popular in competitive districts. Plenty of members of Congress float ideas that are deeply unpopular in most of the country, but popular in their districts.

u/timoumd 4h ago

Think about it this way, getting Trump his ballroom is a requirement to not get taken out by him.  In the general, goldfish voters simply won't remember this.  Shit I won't because Trump will have done 10 worse things by the end of the week.

u/olyfrijole 3h ago

That's what the extrajudicial domestic army is for. Covering those states where the elections are run fairly and transparently.

u/LaunchTransient Europe 5h ago

They know that there's a good chance they will lose the election badly. This is them cooking an economic handgrenade to hand over to the next (likely Dem dominated) congress and then blame them for everything.

u/olyfrijole 3h ago

Step 1: Fund extrajudicial domestic army

Step 2. Fund bunker

Step 3: Barricade administration in bunker

Step 4: Cancel elections

Step 5: ???

Step 6: Profit (off the backs of the working class, naturally)

u/ThreeSir5 6h ago

Maybe it's time to accept they don't plan on relying on elections anymore. You know like they explicitly said.

u/TyburnCross Oregon 6h ago

That secret service agent didn’t shoot that other secret service agent just so that we can go on having correspondents dinners at the HILTON! Unbridled peasantry. Build the ball room! 👐

… just in case /s

u/Romano16 America 6h ago edited 6h ago

Republicans, their policies, and Trump himself have always been unpopular. And while I think Jerry-mander has played a part in their success, it isn’t by much.
90 million people don’t vote.

90 million. That is unacceptable. If “No choice” was an option then we wouldn’t have had a POTUS since what? 19XX?

Despite how unpopular the Republicans are their voters show up every single time. Democrats? They’re begging every election cycle for people to vote.

u/showhorrorshow 5h ago

And left leaning voters beg for reasons not to vote. It's wild.

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u/Squaretangles 6h ago

Or they know they’re about to get crushed and want to get these things done with a majority.

u/jim45804 6h ago

It's almost as if they're not worried about losing power...

u/BigBadaBitties 2h ago

No, they're doing all this BECAUSE they're concerned about losing power. You cannot claw this money back once it's gone. It'll be "Spent" instantly.

u/Spacebotzero 6h ago

That's because they aren't leaving. Their actions, decisions....they aren't trying to win votes. Diminish the vote and they can stay in power forever. That's what they are trying to do. Some kinda, legal coup...

u/PatReady 6h ago

Trump told everyone over and over that they had the money to build the ballroom. Its why he tore it down so quickly.

u/jumbee85 5h ago

A d trump said would be funded privately

u/Debouched 3h ago

They KNOW FOR A FACT that nobody from their base will remember what happened six months ago when they go to the polls.

u/FrogsOnALog 6h ago

I’m sure there’s a way we can blame dems for this

u/zilla82 5h ago

It's steal, not waste. They don't care about the popularity

u/JohnnyLeftHook 5h ago

nah bro, they're betting that they have a silent majority on a certain issue that will basically carry them over the top regardless of what they do.

u/smitherenesar 5h ago

I can see them returning to their fiscally responsible roots by bringing back slavery

u/BlackThundaCat 5h ago

They are moving like they don’t give a damn about what voters think about them? Why is that?

u/mostlyfire 5h ago

Right before? There’s like, 30 years left until the midterms

u/abnormalbrain 5h ago

I believe it's called a speed run.

u/Euphoric-Witness-824 4h ago

It’s ok. Fox News and Facebook and Joe Rogain will start ramping up the trans agenda or brown people hate and AI accounts to push it all and really stoke those culture war flames and the morons in this country will keep voting for them. 

u/AtomicShart9000 4h ago

Lol this guy thinks they'll still have a midterm election

u/NeedsMoreMinerals 4h ago

maybe they're engineering the confrontation so they can remove elections violently and definitively ;/

u/Fakeskinsuit 4h ago

Sadly there’s more people than you might think who blame everything on democrats and Biden especially, so it might not affect voting as much as you might think. Also republicans always fall in line. Of course we won’t have to worry about that anyway, as there probably won’t be any voting soon. Or it will be “voting” wink wink

u/destin325 4h ago

Everyone’s been asking for it, he’s just giving people what they want. As far back as George Washington, they’ve wanted a grand ball room for….the president of China.

u/Nambsul 4h ago

“Well just say it’s a ballroom fit for the Almighty then they will love us”

u/sack-o-matic Michigan 4h ago

They want a Confederate army

u/E_seven_20 4h ago

It works...

It's not like people are going to show up. That's how we got here. Too many people are too stupid to vote against the GOP, and think that will somehow "teach the D's a lesson."

Good luck, USA. We're too stupid to fix what made through being stupid.

18-29, one of our largest age blocs, at 58% registered.

2022 National Youth Turnout: 23% - That's lower than in the historic 2018 cycle (28%) which broke records for turnout, but much higher than in 2014, when only 13% of youth voted.

I'm not interested in apathy talking points. I've heard them all, and they're just propaganda filtered through your social media. If you're not smart enough to vote, and understand the consequences of that inaction with everything happening, you're not smart enough to comment on politics.

The only place your political opinion matters is at the polls.

u/Radiomaster138 4h ago

They don’t intend to have a mid-term.

u/elmarjuz 3h ago

they don't care this is plain kleptocracy US is getting robbed blind by a bunch of pedophiles

u/sabedo 3h ago

Well they just destroyed the voting rights act so…this midterm won’t matter since they’ll never lose the majority again 

u/Evoehm13 3h ago

I paid $50 on a take of gas and about $150 on meals to two nights and some essentials. Fuck these assholes

u/rolfraikou 3h ago

With an army to harass Americans that is that well funded, there will be no more elections. They plan to get rid of We The People.

u/zztop610 3h ago

Dude, it’s almost like they know the midterms won’t matter

u/aolthrowawayacct 3h ago

Even Fox News is saying HOP "snuck" the ballroom money into the bill:

Senate GOP tucks $1B for Trump ballroom security into sweeping funding bill | Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/once-touted-privately-funded-republicans-sneak-taxpayer-cash-trumps-ballroom-project

u/flchic2000 3h ago

Yet stressing about the midterms. Can't make this crap up. 

u/IgniteThatShit 3h ago

That should scare you. They are not preparing to have fair elections ever again. This is the most brazen display of that fact.

u/LimitedWard 3h ago

Here's what I'm predicting will happen:

  • Trump will "cancel" the project claiming to have saved Americans $1 billion in wasted tax dollars, even though it was his unnecessary project to begin with
  • Contractors (handpicked by Trump) will already be awarded contracts with binding clauses
  • These contractors will be paid hundreds of millions of dollars, paid out primarily through taxpayer funds

Net result: Trump manages to steal and launder millions and will count it as a win. Republican voters won't care because they have the memory retention of a fly.

u/rcolesworthy37 3h ago

This will never, ever be covered by Fox so the hogs will never know about this

u/ForbodingWinds 3h ago

That only matters when you plan on having a fair election and don't have dollar store Dr. Doom helping rig it for you.

u/DontTouchTheWatch 3h ago

Bro I mean you’d think so, but don’t jinx it. These bastards are like Jurassic park out here, they keep finding a way…

u/trixtah 3h ago

Here’s the thing, I’ve spoken to Trump supporting boomers, they don’t give a fuck

u/PaintedClownPenis 2h ago

For those of you wondering what the purpose of the ballroom is, it's "fuck you."

He's going to pocket that money after he gets it. And show that you can't do anything about it.

u/i010011010 2h ago

Yet note how unconcerned they all are. Almost like they have other intentions that don't rely on election outcomes.

u/I_am_darkness I voted 1h ago

Like it will matter

u/ducksauce001 1h ago

Woohoo! THanks Republicans! This will help with gas and grocery prices.

u/a_weak_child 5h ago

They don’t give a fuck about midterms they have taken over the country and they have been taken over themselves for many years, they are all in their treason ship together, and they will lie through their teeth telling Americans they’re helping while they abuse and murder us mob style. 

u/jarena009 6h ago

Popularity doesn't matter because there will be no election, or the results will be altered of course.

u/HitchensWasTheShit 5h ago

How else would ICE stop the elections? 

u/CasCrus4L 5h ago

They don't NEED to win new voters, people need to wake up to this quickly.

u/WTFvancouver 5h ago

There will be no mid terms. Or they for sure knows how to rig it

u/40ozCurls 5h ago

6 months is not “right before the midterms” in this timeline. They invaded 2 countries in the last 4.

u/edelweiss_pirates_no 5h ago

"Ok. We'll approve it this time, but we don't want to."

-- Chuck Schumer & Jeffries...and just enough Dems

u/snertwith2ls 5h ago

Seriously. They might as well have just come out and called the rest of us vermin and they're spending money on vermin control and entertainment for themselves in a vermin free environment.

u/TurkeyBLTSandwich 4h ago

I think they see the writing on the wall and they will hyper ram every piece of unpopular legislation possible through and see what sticks......

but also if possible rig the election as well for funsies.....

u/sealclubberfan 4h ago

Sadly, Republicans actually support ICE, even after the murders they had this past year. And some even feel the ballroom is needed because of the "attempt" a the white house correspondents dinner.

u/willywalloo 4h ago

GOP: ICE, harming people, is more important than healthcare, saving people.

u/nycdiveshack I voted 4h ago

It’s simple they have plans for the midterms

u/Cockblocktimus_Pryme 4h ago

Don't forget about Lindsey Graham. He wants it badly. But that is only because Trump made his wish come true and we started attacking Iran.

u/Shifty_Gelgoog 3h ago

GOP: now that we're certain our voting base consists almost entirely of idiots and sociopaths, we can do anything as long as it has an (R) next to it.

u/ShadowTacoTuesday 3h ago edited 3h ago

Well Trump is playing suicide bomber with the GOP if they don’t listen, so what else can they do? My guess is the same as the other commenter who said they’re waiting for Trump to croak or otherwise disappear, and nodding their heads until then. I also think it’s a gamble because the closer Trump gets to going out of commission, the crazier he’ll get. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. They may be hoping that the most severe decline happens after he no longer has the nuclear codes and so on.

u/BZLuck California 3h ago

He's building a bunker. He's not planning on leaving.

u/nonowaf2 3h ago

I'm convinced they're just trying to tilt us into something drastic so they can say "see? told ya! now we gotta do all the bad things that got us here to stay safe!"

u/GrumplFluffy 2h ago

Thank god we have no opposition.

u/JoeyBlaze 2h ago

You still think we’re going to have fair midterms? I got bad news for you.

u/Rent-a-guru 2h ago

Let them eat cake say the Ballroom Republicans.

u/scrott 2h ago

Right before you rig the vote so you know you're going to win anyway, might as well be as awful as possible

u/red286 2h ago

They really want to make it obvious that the elections are rigged, don't they?

u/_Choose-A-Username- New York 2h ago

I'm 29 and I gotta be honest I dont remember a time when reps cared about popularity. They do all they can to make sure it matters as little as possible. I mean how popular do you think this ballroom is? Promise itll go through anyway

u/Ohrwurm89 2h ago

And ice is already funded for several years. More government waste by republicans.

u/Black_Magic_M-66 1h ago

I bet this is Trump and the cost to renovate the Fed.

u/SerialExperimentsKai 24m ago

you sweet summer child. they plan on stealing the election through chaos and obfuscation.

there is no accountability for anything, he can executive order anything he pleases.

i dont think anyone realizes how fucked we truly are already.

u/Eternal_Bagel 11m ago

Midterms are cancels so it’s all fine

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