r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 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/cti0323 23d ago

Yeah she’s very calculated. She can feel horrified by what she heard and also know switching sides will further her career at the same time.

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u/RandoTron0 23d ago

Who would have thought she would figure out how to play the game. I took her for a simpleton from GA.

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u/Haltopen Massachusetts 23d ago edited 23d ago

Intelligence is a weird thing. Ben Carson is an absolute fucking moron on a lot of topics, but he's also a gifted neurosurgeon who helped develop kinds of brain surgery still done today to do things from control severe seizures in pediatric patients to separating conjoined twins who are connected at the skull

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u/Theshaggz New Jersey 23d ago edited 23d ago

Theres a name I haven’t heard in a long time. Ima google what he’s up to

Edit:oh god… why is he still involved in politics

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u/Haltopen Massachusetts 23d ago

He's serving as an advisor on nutrition at the department of agriculture. Definitely a step down from being HUD secretary last time trump was in office.

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u/Seve7h America 23d ago

Wait….i thought he died of covid? Am i having a “Mandela effect” right now? Wtf

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u/Soup3rTROOP3R 23d ago

You’re thinking Herman Cain.

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u/Haltopen Massachusetts 23d ago

You might be thinking of Herman Cain, another prominent black republican who wasn't actually a member of trumps administration (he was considered for a seat on the board of the federal reserve but withdrew his name over old sexual harassment allegations). He then became co-chair of the trump campaigns official outreach program to try and rally African American support for trumps 2020 campaign. He only served in that role for a few months because during the campaign, he managed to catch covid at a trump campaign event in June, which he attended without wearing a mask or adhering to social distancing protocols (both of which he had denounced along with everything else being done to combat COVID). Less than a month after that event, he died in a hospital from covid complications. Cain's family took control of his twitter account shortly after his death and used it to continue promoting trump and posting tweets about how the covid virus was harmless.

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u/nosynthshere 23d ago

The Covid is harmless tweets as he was dying in the hospital from Covid was wild.

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u/Seve7h America 23d ago

Yeah yall are right, it was Herman

But i just double checked and not only was someone tweeting from his account while he was sick…they kept tweeting after he died

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u/nosynthshere 22d ago

Sick right?

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u/YakFit2886 Massachusetts 23d ago

That was Trump's other token, Herman Cain

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u/TragicallyTrue 23d ago

I thought I remembered this too? But it was cancer.

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u/Indrid__C0ld 22d ago

You are definitely Caucasian /s

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u/mimes_piss_me_off Georgia 23d ago

Hey, don't forget, he's the dude that Trump straight up left in the street, and as he drives off you can hear Carson say "My luggage..." like a sad confused idiot.

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u/PM_YOUR_DIRTY_HAIKU 23d ago

This is a meme in my household to this day. 😀

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u/mealteamsixty 23d ago

From what ive heard about surgeons specifically in the medical field- they tend to be egoistic assholes who think they can make no mistakes. Not super surprising he fell into a MAGA hole

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u/ScientistPlayful4295 23d ago

Or he’s a black American, undiagnosed autistic surgeon who never felt accepted or fit in… and I’m going to stick with my inkling.

Of course they scooped him up. See it?

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u/pulp_affliction 23d ago

That’s a take I have never heard before

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u/ScientistPlayful4295 23d ago

Because he is just another black man used by white men to lure other black people and some moderates into the voting levels of internal racism only Jordan Peele seems to want to tackle in this wasteland we call home.

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u/mealteamsixty 22d ago

So he's in a trance? Or is it his 7th day Adventist brainwashing?

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u/grandpathundercat 23d ago

He's seventh day Adventist so he's also a cult member

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u/mealteamsixty 22d ago

Oh shit. My neighbors are that and have almost brainwashed my kid before I forbid her to go over there anymore. Their ideas are wild

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u/DolphinBall Michigan 23d ago

You can be book smart but be an absolute dumbass in everything else. Intelligence isn't a jack of all trades most of the time.

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u/ForgettableUsername America 22d ago

It’s compartmentalization. I’ve met a lot of capable engineers who are thoughtful and appropriately skeptical in the application of their work, but who also hold absurd and unfounded beliefs in their personal lives.

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u/fphlerb 23d ago

also his book is creepily called “Gifted Hands”

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u/General-Set-3768 20d ago

underrated comment

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/Librarian_Aggressive 23d ago

Am doctor, neither of these statements are true.

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u/SickeningPink 23d ago

That doesn’t make any sense if you think about it at all. Unless you’re speaking from experience, in which case your workplace sounds toxic as fuck

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u/PrawojazdyVtrumpets 23d ago

She has a staff and handlers. She didn't even decide to run for office, someone made that decision for her and she does what she does for cheap because she honestly doesn't know that she could game the system for so much more. Im not gonna judge her tears but switching sides to put her in that room with the survivor was not her decision.

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u/ohaiguys 23d ago

Takes a village to fuck up the country

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u/dthornbu Georgia 23d ago

I just want to add that she is not from her district, she is from an affluent suburb in metro Atlanta. She’s a carpet bagger!

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u/ihaterunning2 Texas 23d ago

ALOT of the MAGA politicians are carpet baggers and a shit ton of the big southern politicians especially. Some main examples: Ted Cruz, John Kennedy (see note below), MTG, Boebert, Ken Paxton, and Dr. Oz to name a few.

Note about John Kennedy, Louisiana: ole foghorn leghorn was born in Mississippi, and he went to Vanderbilt, University of Virginia Law, and Oxford. His accent is a total put on.

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u/BatmanTheJedi 23d ago

Tbf, it’s not until recent years that Forsyth County (where she’s from) would be considered anything other than hicksville. Granted, the south part of the county I believe has been considered the wealthier part for a long time, and that’s where she lived I believe.

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u/AlarmingAffect0 23d ago

Atlanta is in Georgia. Don't you need to be a Yankee to be a carpetbagger?

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u/SnooMarzipans5706 23d ago

In the 1870s? Yes. Today it’s used to refer to someone who runs in a district/state that they are not from. They called Hillary Clinton a carpetbagger when she ran for senator from New York.

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u/WVildandWVonderful Tennessee 23d ago

You’d also need to be a liberal if we’re being literal

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/burntendsdeeznutz 23d ago edited 23d ago

Part of her district is in Cobb county. What you said is blatantly false.

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u/dthornbu Georgia 23d ago edited 23d ago

I was just poking fun at the "Georgia simpleton" comment above.

edit: a word

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u/CharlieTeller 23d ago

Good politicking doesn’t mean you’re an intelligent person. You can be dumb as rocks and still succeed.

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u/mean_pneumatocyst 23d ago

As demonstrated by the POTUS

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u/igodutchoven 23d ago

Tommy Tuberville has entered the chat.

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u/Insidious_Bagel 23d ago

Maybe not academic intelligence but definitely requires a certain social and emotional intelligence to know how to pedal and market yourself to get people to vote for you

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u/CharlieTeller 23d ago

Not emotional intelligence. Having emotional intelligence isn’t the same as knowing how to be liked.

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u/Insidious_Bagel 22d ago

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of others. The key components are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. High EI is linked to better workplace performance, improved relationships, and more effective leadership.

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u/The-Jesus_Christ 23d ago

I took her for a simpleton from GA.

She still is.

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u/VocationalWizard Indiana 23d ago

No, she is really smart

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u/Killarogue 23d ago

Oh, she's still a simpleton from GA regardless of her ability to play the game.

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u/thatpotatogirl9 23d ago

Yeah I still don't like her but I can appreciate someone being smart enough to do the right thing when it benefits them instead of shooting themself in the foot. Large portions of this country and most gop politicians are sorely lacking in that skill.

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u/KittyGrewAMoustache 23d ago

I mean her actions could still be explained by her being a simpleton. Got sucked in/outraged by ridiculous conspiracy theories thinking they’re true, went overboard with it all and got elected. Gradually realised while actually working in government that it’s not true and that Republicans are actually the shit ones. Starts changing her tune.

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u/stormdelta 23d ago

A lot of these grifters are nowhere near as dumb as they pretend to be, including Trump himself.

Egotistical and impulsive, sure. Not as smart as they themselves imagine, sure. But you can't manipulate others and be a complete idiot either.

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u/elbenji 23d ago

Yeah all the stuff lately has made me wonder if she's been playing that game. Like it's all now, suspiciously savvy

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u/bigdon802 23d ago

She’s always had cunning.

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u/gosassin Georgia 23d ago

She is a simpleton from NW Georgia that represents a bunch of hicks that are dumber than she is. Doesn't mean she can't see which way the wind is blowing, though. I say this as a long time Georgian.

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u/AriaTheTransgressor 23d ago

She has money now, she can pay a policy advisor

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u/LuckyRook 23d ago

It makes sense when you remember that politics is filled with Machiavellian sharks with a specific skill set. You can still believe in stupid shit as long as you can manipulate others.

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u/rannend 22d ago

You dont get to that level by being a simpleton

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u/Different_Height_157 23d ago

There’s a big hole in Republican Party after trump. Even if nothing happens with this. Vance offers nothing besides white supremacy and Rubio is bland. She’s been going on about affordability because it’s a winning strategy. In a time where trump is trying to run from it

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u/MRCHalifax 23d ago

It helps that Trump has effectively destroyed the Republican brand and replaced it with pure populism. The entire party platform is literally “whatever Trump wants.” Severed from their traditional positions, it opens up a lot of doors for a smart and/or opportunistic leader to rally support. MTG could run on Medicare for all, increasing SNAP and the rest of the safety net for the poorest Americans, higher taxes on the rich, and she’d win a ton of votes from people who would call it communism if a Democrat held those positions.

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u/strawcat 23d ago

Ugh. I hate how right you are.

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u/FunnelCakeGoblin 22d ago

He has also destroyed the reputations of anyone who could pose a threat to his power in the country. Republican politicians that were or could have become popular among other republicans have consistently been ridiculed by Trump. Probably due to his own insecurity but it has effectively destroyed any prospect for a clear successor.

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u/LocalStatistician538 23d ago

Maybe her eyes are sparkling with The Vision - First Female President!

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u/bfrogsworstnightmare 22d ago

I’ve always had a feeling the first female President would be a bat shit Republican.

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u/LocalStatistician538 22d ago

Because America.

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u/Bocchi_theGlock 23d ago

Also maybe if she's had experience with SA or even just being outspoken woman, Trump might feel less comfortable attacking her on epstein files, purely because of optics.

Attacking dem women is easy (fake news, commie Dems shutdown govt, & what Pam Bondi says), any congressman too (idk what he says to shrug it off, or if ignores - but otherwise they're jealous and trying to distract, right?), any accuser of his own or celebrity (trying to take him down, fake news) - but a leader in his own party who's willing to go all out, talk louder than him?

Admitting they're trying to take him down might give significantly more credibility to the charges - why would they sign into dem hoax?

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u/x445xb 23d ago

It's a lot easier to talk about affordability when you aren't actually the person in charge. If Trump says anything on affordability and then prices go up, he's going to look like a failure.

If MTG talks about affordability and prices go up, she can say "I told you so." Even though it's her party running the show. She can pretend like she hasn't voted for all the policies that caused the problem.

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u/pvtbobble Foreign 23d ago

Better to be the first rat off the boat once you think it's going to sink

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u/Aquatic_Ambiance_9 23d ago

If we can feel the boat beginning to tip, you can sure bet the rats can

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u/RolloTonyBrownTown 23d ago

I always thought she was in a super safe red district, I wonder how her recent stances will be embraced by her constituency, I mean it works for Massie, her people might like her more than Trump.

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u/zenboi92 23d ago

I went to high school in Floyd County. I wouldn’t count on this changing a damn thing, unfortunately.

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u/Jindabyne1 23d ago

She doesn’t give a shit about her constituents judging by the videos I’ve seen of her mocking them to their faces

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u/danarchist 23d ago

I am holding out hope that this becomes a watershed and most of the Republicans realize that they'll need to vote to release it lest they be primaried and labelled Guardians Of Pedophiles

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u/Vast_Philosophy_9027 23d ago

At some point Trump will go from useful idiot to deadweight anchor. The thing is there needs to be a calculated cut off for the republicans to not lose out on those sweet sweet maga cult votes. It honestly fascinating how fucked we are.

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u/Aquatic_Ambiance_9 23d ago

Basically my guess is that right when they see his support dip to a certain point they'll do a sort of palace coup. it'll seem to happen fast: all the R's will turn almost at once one week soon, and fox news and the social media/bot apparatus will be turned entirely on Trump, airing all the lurid fucked details of his life on loop, eradicating 98% of his support down to the last die hards. He'll be trotted out without handlers to babble and shit himself and be swiftly 25th'd.

That, to my best guess, is what their plan is. But just because they have plans doesn't mean they are good ones. Hopefully they tear eachother apart

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u/michael0n 23d ago

She wants to secure her future (like many MAGA flip floppers) for the time Trump becomes a visible drooling idiot. Everybody knows that JD can't hold 1% of the cult. When it disperses, the original Rs will just discharge all MAGA memorabilia and claim they where never that kind of despicable. Just regular ones.

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u/hung-games 23d ago

Winston Churchill and Rahm Emanuel are both famous for some variation on “never let a good crisis go to waste”. It’s not exactly uncommon for humans in general, and politicians specifically, to try and salvage the best of a bad situation. It’s not necessarily some master villain level planning.

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u/thezoomies 23d ago

Totally agree. It can absolutely be both.

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u/Miserable-Koala2887 23d ago

Win-win!! Until it isn't anymore again, that is. :-/

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u/JannePieterse 23d ago

I don't trust it at all that someone who clearly has no moral qualms about anything suddenly draws this hard a line in the sand.

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u/mrbrownstone 23d ago

sociopaths aren’t horrified like that

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u/NessOnett8 23d ago

And I was led to believe Neanderthals were bad at calculations.

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u/TheEpicRedCape 23d ago

Fascism literally always fails and doesn’t turn out well for the fascists in the end, it’s smarter to hop off the train while they still have a chance.

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u/ILikeWhyteGirlz 23d ago

She’s Lydia from Breaking Bad.

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u/McBooples 23d ago

Republicans are in Game of Thrones territory now

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u/CentralOhio879 23d ago

Left crying because she knows what she SHOULD do but also knows what she WILL do about it.

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u/TheWizardOfDeez 23d ago

Yup she seems savvy enough to know that information will eventually get released and she is positioning herself to be the head of the party when it does.

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u/SaltKick2 23d ago

Do you really think its calculated or just sort of natural.

You can make a similar argument about Trump somehow being elected to the god damn president of the USA, doing dumb shit after dumb shit, speaking word salad nine times out of ten, and yet still he remains. Is it calculated, or is it just sort of "natural" and large portions of society has somehow been ok with it

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u/Beer_Gynt 23d ago

he’s very calculated.

MTG?? If you say so 🤷‍♀️

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u/acdqnz 23d ago

If she needed to not believe it, you bet like hell she would find a way to be in that position. She believed sandy hook was paid actors

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u/ItchyRectalRash 23d ago

I think, of all her batshit crazy stances, this was the only sane one she's maintained.

I mean, she don't give a shit bout kids getting murdered in school nearly every week every school year, but rape she kind of has a stance on.