Schumer Rushes to Put Up Safeguards Against Trump’s Insanity

The race is on for Senate Democrats to confirm President Joe Biden’s final nominees for federal judge positions, before the party loses the chamber majority.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that he would focus on confirming judges, according to HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery. “We will work to get as many confirmed as possible,” he said.

There are currently 47 judicial vacancies, including 45 in U.S. district courts and two in appeals courts. Biden has 31 nominees still in the pipeline to be confirmed, and only 22 days left in session before Republicans are set to take over on January 3.

The Senate voted 51–44 on Tuesday to confirm April M. Perry as a federal district judge for the Northern District of Illinois.

It’s essential that Senate Democrats approve as many Biden nominees as possible before Donald Trump enters office next year. The president-elect made a whopping 234 judicial appointments during his first term, some of whom proved to be fierce Trump loyalists willing to upend his legal battles—such as Judge Aileen Cannon, who used an insane technicality to toss out charges that Trump mishandled classified documents.

Other Trump appointees, such as Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, simply sow nationwide chaos by using the legal landscape to push conservative, sometimes Christian nationalist, agenda items like restricting abortion access.

Republicans will retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives by a narrow margin, promising more lengthy fights to pass legislation.

The GOP holds 218 seats to the Democrats’ 208, NBC reported Wednesday. Six races have yet to be called. Republicans have also taken control of the Senate.

Republicans gained control of the House two years ago during the 2022 midterm elections. While there was no “red wave” as had been predicted, they were able to flip 19 districts from blue to red.

The House currently has 220 Republicans, 212 Democrats, and three vacancies, two of which were held by Democrats who passed away, and one by a Republican who sought greener pastures working at a weapons and AI contractor (after sowing plenty of anti-China sentiment), resulting in a tight race for his seat as both parties scrambled to claim an incredibly slim majority margin.

Only about 49 of the House seats were truly in play to be flipped. Democrats were able to flip two seats in New York, which are currently held by Republican Representatives Brandon Williams and Anthony D’Esposito.

A whopping 45 House members decided not to seek reelection, not including those who left office partway through the current term.

Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville thinks that Democratic Senate wins in battleground states are suspicious. 

On Tuesday, Tuberville was on The Sean Spicer Show, a podcast hosted by Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary and communications director. Spicer asked Tuberville how he’d fulfill his promise to be a “legislative sledgehammer for President Trump.”

“One of the things I really want to do is straighten this dang voting up across our country,” Tuberville said. 

“We didn’t get killed downballot, but let me tell you something: Donald Trump pulled out more people to vote for him” than Harris, the Alabama senator added. “And how in the world can some of these senators … receive more votes—the Democrats—than President Trump? It doesn’t add up to how this all went about.”

Trump won the battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona in the presidential election, but Democrats won the Senate races in the latter four states. Though he didn’t come out and declare fraud, Tuberville still hinted that something was off with those results. 

“We need to get this straight: voter ID,” he said. “You know, Kamala Harris won every state that was no voter ID. She did not win one that wasn’t voter ID. So think about that.” (This claim has already been disproven, as Harris did in fact win some states with voter ID laws and Trump won states without them.)  

Tuberville’s claims seem to be sour grapes in an election where Republicans have taken the presidency as well as the Senate, and are close to retaining control of the House of Representatives. Like losing Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde in Wisconsin, Tuberville doesn’t seem to understand split-ticket voting.

Elon Musk has made himself right at home by Donald Trump’s side, much to the chagrin of everyone else in Mar-a-Lago.

The New York Times has reported that the world’s richest man and the president-elect have been absolutely inseparable since the latter’s election night victory. Musk has joined Trump for every meal, interview, golf hole, and political meeting at Mar-a-Lago over the past week, often with his 4-year-old son in tow.

Musk’s role has been bigger than some Trump aides anticipated. He chatted with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey alongside Trump, and plans on meeting with President Javier Milei of Argentina at Mar-a-Lago later this week. The billionaire attended “at least” one national security meeting with Trump and aide Stephen Miller, as well as another meeting on Wednesday between Trump and House Republicans. He’s even helping the Trump transition team vet potential Cabinet nominees.

That’s in addition to his plans to head the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with Vivek Ramaswamy, which Trump proudly announced Tuesday evening.

Musks’s growing role in the Trump transition coincides with reports that those who actually worked in the Trump campaign have grown tired of Musk’s constant presence. Tech journalist Kara Swisher said that Trump’s inner circle views Musk as the “guest that wouldn’t leave.”

“He definitely inserts himself all the time, that’s his style,” Swisher told CNN on Monday. “I’ve heard from Trump people, calling me saying, ‘Oh, wow. This is odd.’ And it is.”

Politico also reported that those closest to Trump are beginning to see Musk’s presence as a “comical distraction” at Mar-a-Lago. “Elon is getting a little big for his britches,” an insider told the outlet.

Yet as Trump’s largest funder this election cycle, Musk will continue to receive this uninhibited access, even as MAGA loyalists grumble behind the scenes. Only Trump can change that.

Another judge has ruled against a January 6 defendant attempting to have his sentence delayed until Donald Trump is sworn in as president.

On Wednesday, Judge Jia Cobb denied a motion to delay Antonio Lamotta’s sentence. The 2021 insurrection participant was sentenced in September to six months in prison, 24 months in supervised release, and $2,000 in restitution, after being found guilty of a felony and two misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. Citing the possibility of a presidential pardon from Trump after his election victory, Lamotta hoped Cobb would delay his sentence, but the judge said that wasn’t a valid reason, citing legal precedent.

“Defendant has pointed to no authority supporting his request to delay a valid sentence on the grounds that he may receive a presidential pardon in the future,” Cobb wrote in her ruling.

Another D.C. federal judge, Amy Berman Jackson, also denied a January 6 participant’s case on Tuesday, ruling, “The Court is not inclined to postpone the conclusion of this matter based on events that may or may not transpire with respect to some or all of the January 6 defendants at some unspecified date in the future.”

Several January 6 defendants have attempted to delay their trials and sentencing, claiming that Trump will just pardon them anyway after he is sworn in on January 20 next year. Some have even cited Trump’s statements during his campaign in their legal motions. But the D.C. Circuit Court judges in their cases seem unconvinced. On Monday, a Trump-appointed judge, Trevor McFadden, also denied a January 6 defendant’s request to have their trial extended.

There have been over 1,500 federal criminal cases in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, with about 950 defendants pleading guilty and 200 being found guilty at trial. Several cases are still pending, and some may not begin proceedings between now and Trump’s inauguration. If Trump follows through on his promise to pardon some rioters, many of their cases may never see the inside of a courtroom.