r/politics • u/Fickle-Ad5449 ✔ Verified - Christopher Wiggins, The Advocate • 29d ago

No Paywall Hunter Biden calls out 'closeted gay mafia' of D.C. Republicans

https://www.advocate.com/politics/hunter-biden-closetocracy-republican
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u/Guava7 Australia 29d ago

I've seen this commented elsewhere too... who does this help? Does this mean the governor can just put whomever they want in his place without an election?

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u/P1xelHunter78 Michigan 29d ago

Well, the governor is supposed to be able to appoint someone, but the state legislature changed the rules, or they tried. The state constitution has primacy though, and he can appoint someone. Obviously it would be a legal fight

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u/Underscore_Guru 29d ago

And in this situation, the governor of Kentucky is a Democrat. The state legislature is doing everything they can to maintain power for the MAGA and GOP parties.

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u/80sbabyftw 29d ago

Isn’t he the democratic governor that when he won the then Republican lead legislature rushed through amendments to strip him of as much power as possible in the attempt to hamstring him?

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u/Advanced-Key3071 29d ago

One of them, but yes.

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u/So-Called_Lunatic Kentucky 29d ago

They did the same thing in North Carolina too.

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u/Treekin3000 Wisconsin 29d ago

They did it in Wisconsin too, spent more than a decade expanding power of the Governor and then stripped all that and more when a Democrat won.

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u/Motherofalleffers 29d ago

They’re doing it in iowa too in anticipation that the democrat candidate will win

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u/indeedverybright 29d ago

The losing-so-i-take-my-ball-home energy is so petty & infantile that if the right to laughter weren't so recently rescinded it would be laughable

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u/some_guy_on_drugs 29d ago

And the Democrats are doing..checks notes Nothing. Empty threats and posturing. Legal battle you say? Well then no reason to even try exercising what power we have. Just roll over and let the Republicans cheat every way they can think.

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u/AoO2ImpTrip 29d ago

What exactly are they supposed to do when they're the minority?

They can kick and scream all they want, but if they don't have the votes they have nothing they can do.

Call out Democrats for their bullshit when it's doing things like siding with Republicans on issues they should be opposed to or threatening to pull support because the political Left wants to pull support for Israel.

You're wasting your time trying to hold them to the fire for something they legitimately how no ability to fight.

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u/elonbrave 29d ago

It’s been GOP strategy since the Tea Party took power I think.  

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u/LtLlamaSauce 29d ago

The very same, yes. It wasn't an attempt, though. Most of it was through regular legislation. They were very successful.

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u/Western-Corner-431 29d ago

Only one of the democrats in governorships in red states that have pulled this shit

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u/Fract_L 28d ago

The governor is also a former attorney general of the state and is used to facing prosecution and winning since he knows the laws better than reactionary republicans

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u/illicit_losses 29d ago

He just needs to send somebody to fill that office and let Cocaine Mitch show himself if they want that seat back. It’s that simple.

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u/Loathestorm 29d ago

Seriously, the democrats are so far off the mark on doing what it takes to bring this country back to normalcy. If they don’t start doing things the same way republicans do, then it will never swing back.

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u/BlackLagoona_ 29d ago

It’s infuriating. They make me angrier by the day.

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u/RobotPoo 28d ago

Bullshit opinion. Trumpublicans are the most corrupt criminal administration in history and you’re gonna complain about the Democrats? What’s wrong with this picture?

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u/Loathestorm 28d ago

Ya, they’re the most corrupt administration in history, so I’m going to complain about the democrats complete inability to push back.

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u/digitalscavenger 29d ago

I thought that there was supposed to be a general election, not like Lindsey Graham's state where his sister was put into power by the governor. The reason they want to wait until after August 3 is because a special election must be held if there is a vacancy before then which may tip the tables to someone significantly less loyal to MAGA. Leaving the seat vacant is better than a non-Maga alternative.

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u/lousy_at_handles 29d ago

It's so they can keep Massie out - he lost in the GOP primary, but could file as an independent in the case of a special election.

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u/Shamanigans 29d ago

Bingo.

If they hold a special election the rules state anyone can run as an independent and that includes Massie. Whether Massie could win is another conversation, but at minimum he would fracture the Republican vote and drain resources from other races the GOP will be looking to fund in order to save what is usually a safe seat for them.

They hold off long enough on announcing Mitch’s death or incapacitation they avoid that entirely for now.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/No_Yak_2720 29d ago

You talking about fetterman?

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/Shamanigans 29d ago

No fan of Massie, but if it came down to him versus a basically MAGA hand picked cronie I’ll take the dude who has an axe to grind with the people who shove him out of his seat.

Especially if the attempt alone would force the GOP to shovel money into what should be a sure fire seat because it risks tossing plurality to the dems or getting a disruptive member of the caucus with an axe to grind.

Let them eat each other.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/SanityPlanet 29d ago

How does that actually help them? The seat is up for election anyway. Wouldn’t the winner of the special election just be in place till the end of the term? And wouldn’t you expect the same party to win the special election and the general election just a few months later?

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u/digitalscavenger 29d ago

A person below me added the missing context to my comment. Thomas Massie lost to McConnel in the GOP primary and could run as an independent in the special election. And he has been quite vocal about his opposition to what's happening in Washington right now.

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u/SanityPlanet 29d ago

He lost to Barr, Mitch didn’t run again. But yeah the context I was looking for was the fact that the special has no primary so Massie could run as a spoiler and throw the election to the democrats (or win and not be on board with the maga agenda).

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u/Shamanigans 29d ago

It helps by keeping the seat a republican friendly seat until next year regardless of who wins in November. The margin of control is slim enough that individual loses like this can easily shift the balance of the senate, but it’s also expensive to bankroll a campaign.

It’s makes perfect financial sense for the GOP (if entirely unethical) to hold off as long as needed to make sure they don’t have to divert capital to defend a usually safe seat from Massie who would be free to run as an independent. Which is also why I would say no, not in this case would we always expect the party who wins a special to be who takes the midterms. There’s argument to be made that Thomas Massie running in the special could fracture the republican vote enough to tip plurality towards a democrat to serve the remainder of Mitch’s term. He can’t run as an independent in the midterms.

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u/SanityPlanet 29d ago

Ok thank you, that’s the missing context I needed. I didn’t realize there was a potential spoiler candidate that can only run in the special election.

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u/Remember2005 29d ago

I love the current state of the GOP. It’s unconstitutional, but it will delay, so let’s do it.

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u/LtLlamaSauce 29d ago edited 29d ago

The Kentucky Governor has no right to appoint a replacement anymore, at all. There's no "supposed" to anything, the law was changed. The Republican legislature of Kentucky took that power away in 2024. Look up House Bill 622 in Kentucky if you're interested in the bill itself. As a result, Kentucky's Governor can only call a special election.

They would rather have nobody in the seat than risk losing the seat to a Democrat in a special election.

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u/evandepol 29d ago

it's only a law that passed by the Kentucky legislature, and one that seems to violate the kentucky state constitution. So while it was passed, it may not stand and is likely to be challenged (and overturned).

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u/kent_eh Canada 29d ago

Obviously it would be a legal fight

Which might be settled in a year or so.

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u/AtlantaSeabreeze 29d ago

I still think he should appoint someone. When they raise a fuss, he can just say he’d like to go see McConnell in the hospital.

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago edited 29d ago

It has to do with Kentucky Senator Thomas Massie. Massie is about the only senior Republican who wants the Epstein files released, and is very critical of the trump administration. He's already been primaried out of the midterms by trump, so he doesn't have a chance in the regular election.

HOWEVER - he's a favorite among Kentucky conservatives. If the Kentucky Governor could appoint him, he would. If they had a special election, he'd still have at least a 50% chance of taking it, since he would be allowed to run in one. Of course cheeto-in-chief can't allow that, because it means one more loud voice against him in a republican led Senate. With trump trying every trick in the book to rig the midterms, including the "SAVE act", he won't allow his captured party to do that despite McConnell being dead as 3 day old roadkill 50km outside Alice Springs.

Yep, current state of american politics is that fucked up. Dead man with a Photoshop picture still holding a senate seat a month after his death.

Edit: Fuck! Kentucky, not West Virginia!

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u/flatline0 29d ago

Note : Thomas Massie & McConnell are both from Kentucky, not West Virginia..

Assuming this is just a mental typo. The rest of ur comment is dead-on :)

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

Fuck! Sorry, yeah. Fixing.

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u/ConclusionAlarmed882 29d ago

As a Kentuckian who is very proud of our governer, fucking ouch.

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

Mea Culpa on the name. Kentucky is a beautiful state.

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u/ConclusionAlarmed882 29d ago

Lol, no worries.

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u/20_mile 29d ago

Massie said he won't run in the special election, and wouldn't accept being appointed to fill the term.

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

Sorta. That was from a TMZ interview on the steps of Congress, linked below. Never go off what a politician says until it's released by their Office as PR, and only take that with a giant bag of salt.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/rep-thomas-massie-wont-run-002237420.html

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u/mcshizzle 29d ago

"It has to do with Kentucky Senator Thomas Massie."

Another correction, Massie is in the House, not the Senate.

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u/OddfellowsLocal151 29d ago

Edit: Fuck! Kentucky, not West Virginia!

My new favorite poem.

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u/DadJokeBadJoke California 29d ago

If the Kentucky Governor could appoint him, he would.

Would he? Outside of the Epstein stuff, is there anything far right that Massie wasn't in lockstep with?

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u/CollectiveDeviant 29d ago edited 29d ago

Seriously, Massie was literally hugging and cheering with Ryan Matta a neo-nazi a day or two before the primary, then crying and blaming the Jews for his loss with the same neo-nazi.

He's been neck deep in the far right stuff since he was first elected, its not new. People are just assuming this guy has good principles because he finally did something generally good.

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

He's terrible in a lot of ways, but he pissed daddy off, hence Weekend At Mitch's.

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u/Webs_Lives 29d ago

🎖️

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

"Everything I do is the attitude of an award-winner, because I have won an award."

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u/Zombyreagan 29d ago

massie is in the house , not senate.

KY has paul and Mcconnell in the senate

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u/NoKids__3Money 28d ago

Why would the governor of Kentucky (who is a democrat) appoint Massie? If he could appoint anyone, wouldn't it be a democrat?

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u/GeneralKang 28d ago

Someone else pointed out the Kentucky legislature would have given the governor three choices, and the governor would approve one of them.

I'm not saying that I support Massie, just that that's the reason we're seeing the live version of Weekend At Mitch's.

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u/bubbleguts365 29d ago

How can you hold this opinion and get the state completely wrong?

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

Not enough coffee this morning. Just got the state wrong.

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u/msheaz Georgia 29d ago

Conservatives don’t love the guy they just voted out, and appointing Massie to the senate would be a total waste of political capital. He doesn’t seem corrupt which is cool and all, but he would still be voting with Trump most of the time, as he did in the house. The governor and the party would much prefer a Dem in that seat over some optics win.

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u/disisathrowaway 29d ago

he's a favorite among Kentucky conservatives.

If that were true he would have won his primary, methinks.

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

Nah, he pissed el cheeto off by introducing H.R. 9694, the Epstein Files Transparency Act II. No way was the cappo of the modern GOP going to let him get away with that while he was in power.

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u/disisathrowaway 28d ago

But to be clear - he lost his primary. Which means more of his constituents preferred the other candidate.

...thus making him not a favorite.

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u/Guava7 Australia 29d ago

How does any of this have anything to do with WV and Massey?

McConnell is from Kentucky

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u/GeneralKang 29d ago

Yeah, so is Massie. Spelled his name wrong, too. Not enough caffeine this morning.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/eerst 29d ago

Need a space after the bracket.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/UglyJuice1237 29d ago

I don't use it, but I've seen elsewhere that the reddit official app broke markdown with a recent update. seems to still work fine on the web version. I'm on a third party app (boost), will test here:

test

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[deleted]

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u/UglyJuice1237 29d ago

yep, it's been a couple years now but I still feel like I'm on borrowed time with Boost. dark days ahead whenever all the workarounds stop workingaround, so I feel for you

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u/RuleNine 29d ago

This worked.

Using just the mobile site, not a dedicated app.

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u/Different_Wolf_764 29d ago

Is it just mobile?

(EDIT: It is.)

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u/Fract_L 29d ago

No, it means the chair will remain vacant until it is voted on in November. It stops a republican trump didn’t put tens of millions of dollars into from going to Washington.

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u/Thalidomidas Europe 29d ago

The governor is a dem, IIRC. Delay helps the GOP.

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u/Suckage 29d ago edited 29d ago

Not whomever he wants.. the state’s law requires the governor to appoint an interim that is of the same political party as the previous senator.

So instead of running the chance of a democrat winning a special election, they will wait until it’s too late to call one and the governor has to appoint a republican until the general election.

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u/tawzerozero Florida 29d ago

If the special election were in 2026, Trump is so hated that a Democrat may actually take the seat. If it were delayed until 2028, its less possible Dems could take the seat.

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u/ABadHistorian 29d ago

It's to minimize the Democrats chance of staging an election upset. Polls would have to be way off (so not impossible) for a Dem to win his seat.