Josh Chafetz

Trying to approach 2025 the way St. Margaret is approaching Beelzebub

hear me out

what if we *neither* unconstitutionally accepted jets from a foreign nation *nor* kept throwing the jets we already have in the ocean?

There is simply no plausible argument that the president has the constitutional authority to refuse to spend appropriated funds because he doesn’t like how the money is being spent.

The legality of policy impoundments is just not a close question.

1/ It's not just that unilaterally paying TSA agents is illegal.

It's that Trump has now repeatedly undermined the core of the congressional power of the purse. He's not spending money that has been appropriated by law (impoundments) and he's spending money that has not been appropriated.

1/ This is wildly illegal. That is not a question on which reasonable legally informed folks can disagree.

It doesn't fucking matter that he ran on doing illegal things. They are still illegal.

And striking at Congress's power of the purse is worse than illegal. It's anti-constitutional.

Every now and then I just pause and think that … we could have just elected Kamala Harris, and we’d still have an economy that was the strongest in the world; we’d still have an American-led trans-Atlantic order; we’d be assured that our universities would remain the envy of the world; … (1/x)

Someday, we're gonna find out that the decisionmaking went like this:

Mamdani proposes city-run grocery stores. Conservatives say it'll never work. Mamdani supporters point out that DOD runs a bunch of grocery stores. Hegseth decides to close them to own the libs.

Chicken Puppet 🏳️‍⚧️ @chickenpuppet.online

I know these guys are all dumber than a sack of hammers, but it is fascinating to see the military decide “logistics are gay” in real time

If the president can't constitutionally sign something with an autopen because autopens didn't exist in the eighteenth century, then of course he can't constitutionally sign a bill with a Sharpie, either.

This is a nice move in an interview www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/u...

Mike Johnson compellingly making the case for abolishing ICE ...

No better way to tamp down the conspiracy theories on Epstein than to fire the Epstein prosecutor

Oklahoma receives about $3 billion more in federal spending than it pays in federal taxes. That's nearly $8,000 per Oklahoman--only 9 states have a higher per capita balance of payments. Subsidies from MA, NJ, WA, CA, and a few others are how OK remains a "low tax state."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com

Sen. Lankford: "The Senate is not really excited about the SALT deduction piece ... we want to be able to say if you live in a high tax state, the option for you is to move out of a high tax state."

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1/2 This memo identifies absolutely no source of legal authority for paying TSA. It does not point to an appropriation that is available for this purpose, nor does it point to any legal authority to transfer some other appropriation to TSA. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Paying Our Great Transportation Security Administration Officers and Employees

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET SUBJECT:       Paying

I will once again remind folks that a very sizable chunk of what looks like Congress not doing anything to push back against the president is in fact a consequence of the Court disabling/destroying all the ways Congress has tried to push back.

Adam means that she is the daughter of immigrants, but it is worth emphasizing that *every* U.S. citizen who has not been naturalized is a birthright citizen, either by the 14th Amendment or by statute.

Reply to @joshchafetz.bsky.social

The claim that the destruction of essential civilizational institutions is being done in the name of the Jews is itself a form of antisemitism—cultural vandalism carried out in our name.

That, my friends, is rank bullshit.

Very important piece by Cerin Lindgrensavage and @davidasuper.bsky.social. This behavior by the administration is not only illegal, it is anti-constitutional. thehill.com/opinion/cong...

Congress rejected some of Trump’s proposed budget cuts. OMB is making them anyway.

President Trump and the Office of Management and Budget are accused of violating the separation of powers by attempting to unilaterally withhold funds that Congress specifically appropriated.

Last week: SpaceX ship explodes, shutting down a huge chunk of Florida airspace.
Today: X completely down.
The last month: Tesla stock price down by a third.

Gotta hand it to Musk: He really is running the government like he runs his businesses.

The fact that her reaction is almost certainly opportunistic makes this more, not less, significant.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social

GOP Sen Lummis says she’s changed her mind after the new Epstein revelations today: “Initially my reaction to all this was, I don’t care. I don’t see what the big deal is. But now I see what the big deal is. The members of Congress who were pushing this were not wrong!”

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Feels like a statement from a bipartisan group of former first ladies about the destruction of the east wing could capture some attention ...

Every few years I feel compelled to post about the best hotel hack ever, because every time I post about it, it turns out to be new to lots of folks …

1/ I wonder if there's a complement to Mettler's _Submerged State_ thesis: the successful state thesis. In brief: American government has *in many ways* been so successful for so long that Americans have forgotten why they need it, making anti-government rhetoric more appealing.

Just a reminder that in Shelby County, Roberts told us not to worry about the loss of VRA preclearance, because we’d still have VRA sec. 2 suits.

That was, of course, disingenuous nonsense even at the time. Now, with Brnovich and Calllais, it’s all the more so.

I'm actually shocked. Good on Dana Bash for asking the question, and I genuinely would not have expected Greene to answer the way she did.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com

BASH: We have seen these attacks from the president at other people. It's not new. And I haven't heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I think that's fair criticism. And I would like to say, humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.

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