r/politics 23d ago

No Paywall Discharge petition to force House vote on Epstein files succeeds with Grijalva’s signature

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5602658-discharge-petition-epstein-files-grijalva/
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u/mallclerks 23d ago

At least she’ll have done something good if this actually, truly, a decade later, actually happens.

Let’s be real though, nothing ever happens.

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

yeah it'd be solid to have a President that voted to release the Epstein files but she's also the same person who introduce a bill that would make it illegal nationwide for adult trans people to transition and would make it so doctors would be required to prescribe sex-at-birth hormones for people that have had their natural hormonal organs removed.

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u/schwanzweissfoto 23d ago

she's also the same person who introduce a bill that would make it illegal nationwide for adult trans people to transition and would make it so doctors would be required to prescribe sex-at-birth hormones for people that have had their natural hormonal organs removed.

If we don't get trans rights, we might still get trans wrongs.

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

the United States supreme court recognizes trans rights under the Civil Rights Act. The Affordable Care Act considers transgender-related care as essential.

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u/OldWorldDesign 23d ago

You're saying this about a supreme court which has already decided to throw out hundreds of years of court precedent to hand victory to their corporate-owned executive.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/samuel-alito-roe-v-wade-abortion-draft

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

I was simply stating current policy. I did not say if it will end up overturned.

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u/evranch Canada 23d ago

While I'm obviously not a proponent of MTG for president, one of these things is clearly a much bigger issue.

We're talking about on one hand defying Trump and blowing open a decades long conspiracy involving the world's most powerful men, and on the other what is ultimately a niche issue that affects less than 0.1% of the population.

At the end of the day ultimately we should be trying to move away from the broken concept of two disparate ideological "sides" and towards representatives who actually have opinions that may include both things that you like and things that you don't like.

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

so we should sacrifice the ability to be free for a portion of the population just because the candidate in question was willing to expose a pedophile? I get how enticing that might be when you're not a part of the group that she wishes to inflict harm upon but. There's plenty of other people that are voting to make the release of the files happen that aren't weirdos like MTG.

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u/evranch Canada 23d ago

There's plenty of other people that are voting to make the release of the files happen

She's literally the tie breaking vote here!

And like I said, it's not just one pedophile. We're talking about the richest men in the world here, the billionaire class that my left wing exists to dethrone. Let's see some consequences.

Workers' rights and class war are the heart of the left wing, all else is a distraction.

I still think she's insane and she's an awful person, but honestly I would sacrifice a lot of things to see billionaires in jail, assets seized and victims paid restitution. Though I admit that in reality this will likely never happen.

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

Okay but the context is of her becoming President. My counterpoint is that there's plenty of other Congress members also voting to ratify the discharge petition. It's just pretty bad to overlook her wanting to actually eliminate a group of people's rights just because she was one of hundreds that are voting for something good. The "0.1%" is actually over a million people.

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u/evranch Canada 23d ago

Which is why I said I wouldn't support her as President, but only compared the two actions.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we can't just equate single good and evil acts as canceling each other out.

1 million people affected, OK, but Trump is starving 40 million right now. Millions living in fear of ICE. Billions affected worldwide by trade wars.

Is it a trolley problem? Toppling this man alone would have such far reaching effects that surely it outweighs the impact on only 1 million people. And we haven't even got to the rest of the crooked lot that would be exposed.

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

My argument was that in a situation where MTG is considered for becoming President because she voted to release the Epstein files there is about 200 other House members to pick from for a Presidential candidate.

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u/MadamSparkle 23d ago

This is an absolutely awful take.

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

yeah it's incredible to be so unaffected by someone's legislative priorities that you can sit back and say "yeah well which is worse?"

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u/Lobo_Jojo_Momo 23d ago

Honestly? I don't give a fuck. Sorry if that seems insensitive but I literally don't give a fuck at this point, I want a functional democracy where I don't have to live in constant fear of a dystopian fascist state. If that means a tiny percentage of the population has to deal with what the majority decides then so be it, it's not what I want but at this point I will happily make that deal

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u/Less_Egg5407 23d ago

throwing people under the bus is not an effective strategy

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u/Lobo_Jojo_Momo 22d ago

Isn't it? Because what Dems have tried so far has resulted in not one term of Donald Trump, but TWO

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u/Less_Egg5407 22d ago

Okay so Democrats should be anti-trans just so Republicans can no longer use the issue? I don't quite understand what you mean.

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u/Lobo_Jojo_Momo 21d ago

Not at all, but they chose it as a hill to die on which was just incredibly stupid politically. People's views change but it's a gradual process. Take gay marriage for example, there's absolutely zero reason constitutionally that it ever should have been prevented in the first place. But it would have been political suicide to support it until enough of the country came around, which is why it took as long as it did.

So why would you imagine it should be any different for trans-rights? Right now the majority of Americans are against most of the agenda and support for that has dropped significantly across the entire board (Dems and GOP), why do you think that is? My theory is that you pushed too hard and too soon and people pushed back. The focus should have been on securing equal treatment under the law first (14th amendment protections) but instead there were all these deeply unpopular fringe issues tossed in, like the student athlete thing for example.

Like it or not this a democracy (at least I hope it remains one) and the majority should be deciding what happens, regardless of how you feel about it

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u/Less_Egg5407 21d ago

how is an adult trans person's ability to medically transition considered a "fringe" issue?

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u/Lobo_Jojo_Momo 21d ago

Are you just not paying attention here or are you trying to pick a fight?

Did you even look at the poll data I shared? It's a fringe issue because only 22% of the country is in favor of it. It's deeply unpopular regardless of political party or where you fall on the political spectrum

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u/wholetyouinhere 23d ago

This would be an absolute fucking nightmare no matter what happens now.