What the Senate Might Look Like

John Curtis, the junior Senator from Utah, sent a letter to Chuck Grassley yesterday asking him to hold a hearing on familial influence peddling. I therefore respectfully request that the Senate Judiciary Committee launch an investigation into the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit, preferential treatment, or access by domestic and foreign interests. As part of that investigation, I urge the Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden to testify regarding their past business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts, or other benefits they have received, and any instances in which their relationship to the President was invoked or understood to provide value. The purpose of such an inquiry should be straightforward: establish the facts, determine whether existing ethics, disclosure, or anti-corruption laws apply, and identify reforms necessary to prevent the presidency from becoming a vehicle for private enrichment by those closest to it. Curtis named Hunter Biden in the letter, but the real purpose would be to review Don Jr’s corruption. More recently, questions have arisen about the relationships of President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., with foreign business figures and the acceptance of significant gifts. These include a lavish wedding afterparty, on a private island, provided by Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who reportedly traveled to China as part of a delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin shortly before giving the gift.5 These concerns are compounded by Donald Trump Jr.’s active promotion of family-backed cryptocurrency ventures,6 his continued pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state, and his reported investments in defense contracting.7 This pattern extends to his significant financial and advisory ties to prediction-market platforms8 that depend on favorable federal regulatory decisions being considered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. These reports raise legitimate questions about foreign access to members of a sitting president’s family and whether such relationships can create actual or perceived expectations of favorable treatment. They also may create expectations of a returned favor that would not be in the best interests of the American people or our allies, and could even create national security vulnerabilities.9 It was a cautious letter — a performative bid to make a request of Grassley rather than doing something himself in the Foreign Affairs Committee, on which he is a member. But it’s one of a number of things that lead me to believe Curtis might be persuadable for certain kinds of votes in a new Senate, if Democrats win the majority (and I think Curtis is one of the Republicans likely to vote to convict Whiskey Pete Hegseth when impeachment gets to the Senate). That, in turn, led me to try to envision what the Senate will look like, especially if Dems win a majority, particularly given the certainty the Senate will get at least some impeachments sent their way. Democrats are expected to start with 42 seats plus Fetterman (who will be a nuisance and who probably might flip if he made the difference in the Senate). If they win six or seven of the growing number of swing races, they will get the majority. Once all is said and done, the number of batshit Republicans will be 25 or larger. If Dems get a majority, the big question will be what the remaining Republicans will do. Update: This Politico review of the state of the race quotes a GOP pollster complaining, “The map is hilariously big right now,” Update: Semafor describes issues — in addition to Curtis’ subpoena request and the war, Roger Wicker criticized Trump’s welcome for Xi Jiping — on which Republicans are trying to distance themselves from Trump. Dems - Angela Alsobrooks D-MD] - Tammy Baldwin [D-WI] - Michael Bennet [D-CO] - Richard Blumenthal [D-CT] - Lisa Blunt Rochester [D-DE] - Maria Cantwell [D-WA] - Catherine Cortez Masto [D-NV] - Tammy Duckworth [D-IL] - Ruben Gallego [D-AZ] - Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] - Maggie Hassan [D-NH] - Martin Heinrich [D-NM] - Mazie Hirono [D-HI] - Tim Kaine [D-VA] - Mark Kelly [D-AZ] - Andy Kim [D-NJ] - Angus King [I-ME] - Christopher Murphy [D-CT] - Patty Murray [D-WA] Appropriations - Alex Padilla [D-CA] - Jack Reed [D-RI] Armed Services - Jacky Rosen [D-NV] - Bernie Sanders [I-VT] HELP - Brian Schatz [D-HI] Most likely to replace Schumer if a challenge is made - Adam Schiff [D-CA] - Chuck Schumer [D-NY] Leader - Elissa Slotkin [D-MI] - Chris Van Hollen [D-MD] - Raphael Warnock [D-GA] - Elizabeth Warren [D-MA] - Peter Welch [D-VT] - Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI] Likely Judiciary - Ron Wyden [D-OR] Ugh John Fetterman [D-PA] Safe Dems - Cory Booker [D-NJ] - Chris Coons [D-DE] - Juliana Stratton [D-IL] Don Tracy [R-IL] (Replaces Durbin) - John Hickenlooper [D-CO] - Ben Ray Luján [D-NM] - Ed Markey [D-MA] - Jeff Merkley [D-OR] - Mark Warner [D-VA] Intelligence Swing As Trump drags his party down, this list is getting longer — for example, with two polls showing the megachurch minister challenging Roger Marshall in Kansas leading in the polls. Democrats need to win six (or seven, given Fetterman’s unreliability) of these to win a majority. - Jon Ossoff [D-GA] Mike Collins [Nazi-GA] - Roy Cooper [D-NC] Michael Whatley [R-Trump] - Chris Pappas [D-NH] John Sununu [R-NH] - Peggy Flanagan [D-MN] Michele Tafoya [R-somewhere else] - Mary Peltola [D-AK] Dan Sullivan [R-AK] - James Talarico [D-TX] Ken Paxton [R-TX] (Replaces Cornyn) - Abdul El-Sayed [D-MI] Mike Rogers [R-FL] - Sherrod Brown [D-OH] Jon Husted [R-OH - Troy Jackson [D-ME] Susan Collins [R-ME] - Josh Turek [D-IA] Ashley Hinson [R-IA] (Replaces Ernst) - Roger Marshall [R-KS] Adam Hamilton [D-KS] - Pete Ricketts [R-NE] Dan Osborn [I-NE] - Ashley Moody [R-FL] Angie Nixon [D-FL] (corrected) - Darline Graham Nordone [R-SC] Annie Andrews [D-SC] Who Knows These are all considered safe GOP seats, but for one reason or another (chatter about closer poll numbers than they should be, a possible Callais swing, especially in MS), I’ve put them here. In a crazy year, one or another of these could turn into a surprise, and it looks to be a crazy year. - Mike Rounds [R-SD] Brian Bengs [I-ND] - Julia Letlow [R-LA] Jamie Davis - Tom Cotton [R-AR] Hallie Shoffner Intelligence - Kurt Alme [R-MT] Seth Bodnar [I-MT] Alani Bankhead [D-MT] - Cindy Hyde-Smith [R-MS] Scott Colom [D-MS] - Andy Barr [R-KY] Charles Booker [D-KY] (Replaces McConnell) - James Risch [R-ID] Todd Achilles [I-ID] Safe GOP These are safe GOP seats about which I’ve seen no chatter to question that. - Shelley Moore Capito [R-WV] - Kevin Hern (OK) N’Kiyla Thomas (replaces Markwayne Mullin) - Harriet Hageman [R-WY] James Byrd (replaces Cynthia Lummis) - Bill Hagerty [R-TN] - Barry Moore [R-AL] Everett Wess [D-AL] (replaces Tuberville) Governor Gone Both Blackburn and Klobuchar are expected to win their gubernatorial races. Both would appoint their successor. - Marsha Blackburn [R-TN] - Amy Klobuchar [D-MN] Gettable I consider gettable Senators those who, at least on some issues (war and civil liberties for Rand Paul, anti-trust for Josh Hawley), sometimes break with their party. - John Curtis [R-UT] - Josh Hawley [R-MO] - John Neely Kennedy [R-LA] - Lisa Murkowski [R-AK] - Rand Paul [R-KY] Homeland Security Workable By “workable,” I mean those Senators who take their job seriously (except in the case of Jim Justice who rarely shows up to work), and so might cooperate with Democrats. - Katie Britt [R-AL] - Kevin Cramer [R-ND] - Deb Fischer [R-NE] - John Hoeven [R-ND] - Jim Justice [R-WV] - James Lankford [R-OK] - Jerry Moran [R-KS] - John Thune [R-SD] Leader - Roger Wicker [R-MS] Armed Services - Todd Young [R-IN] Nutjobs These are returning Senators who are stark-raving nutjobs. A number of the likely incoming Senators, like Hagerman and whoever Blackburn appoints to replace herself, will join this list. With other expected GOP wins and people like Hawley who are normally nutjobs, this list will end up being over 25 Senators. - Jim Banks [R-IN] - John Barrasso [R-WY] - John Boozman [R-AR] - Ted Budd [R-NC] - Mike Crapo [R-ID] - Ted Cruz [R-TX] Running for President - Chuck Grassley [R-IA] - Ron Johnson [R-WI] - Mike Lee [R-UT] Judiciary - Dave McCormick [R-PA] - Bernie Moreno [R-OH] - Eric Schmitt [R-MO] - Rick Scott [R-FL] - Tim Scott [R-SC] - Tim Sheehy [R-MT] I think there is zero chance that Hegseth gets convicted. The pressure from the White House and right wing media on Senate R’s would be enormous. What’s more likely is that if the midterms go as bad as it looks Hegseth will get fired like Rumsfeld in 2006. Hegseth is in an ugly place – will MAGA senators throw him under the bus to distance themselves from a Middle East war they should have stopped before it started, or will Trump throw him under the bus because Trump needs someone to blame, as the Middle East conflagration spreads? Either way, the bottom of the bus looks the same, from underneath. I think the question will be about the sound the bus makes. Does it sound like thup-thup as it runs over Hegseth, or thup-thup-thup-thup? I’m thinking thup-thup, pause, beep beep beep beep, thup-thup, pause, thup-thup. I’m pretty sure it will be a lot of thups, since the bus will have to back up and roll forward several times. I suspect that Trump doesn’t have the fortitude to actually fire Hegseth. Despite his TV schtick, he usually let’s someone else do the firing or he does it via Xit. I think he’d rather put up a tepid defense to impeachment and see which way the wind is blowing in the Senate. On the other hand, if there’s a Democratic Senate there will be a real trial and who knows what will come out then. Plus, he wouldn’t be able to get a new lickspittle confirmed so he;d have to rely on Acting flunkies. On the third hand, he likes Acting flunkies since they’re even more dependent on him. “All I ask is for a one-handed economist.” –Harry Truman, but probably apocryphal. There’s no zero chance. There’s a low chance. But that’s one reason I did this list. Some people on the Gettable list would almost certainly vote to convict — Curtis and Paul, for starters. And the people on the Workable might; I think Wicker definitely would. And they’ll likely have two chances to vote, once after the House sends it over in November (Johnson has to schedule a vote the first day back, so November 9), and once in the new year. Lots of people are going to be looking for a scapegoat, and Hegseth is easy in a way Trump is not, yet. Trump will be looking for a scapegoat, and Hegseth is easy in a way Bibi is not. Talked into a bad war by Bibi looks even worst than enthused into one by Hegseth. Two zealots, one a U.S. citizen, the other having a different nation’s priorities first, foremost. Either way, one can say duped, but somehow Hegseth looks like a far more contained skapegoat. RFKJR is Trump’s likeliest scapegoat. There’s a strong possibility he gets referred for perjury during his confirmation hearing about his American Samoa trip, if Democrats don’t outright impeach him. Hegseth, I don’t see Trump jettisoning. I see Trump fighting to retain Hegseth because Hegseth is getting the US military ready for Ziegfeld’s Follies and those nice 1930s German-style parades, while removing any resistance to Trump from within. I don’t know what happens after the midterms because the scope/scale of the election and specific persons losing will have an impact. Also, if Democrats win big, like 55+ net in House, and 55+ seats in Senate, the incentive for Republicans is to turtle up and give Democrats no victories. 2006 + 2008 was a near clean sweep, and Republicans responded by maximizing obstruction on all topics and all fronts. Both RFK (measles) and Hegseth (Yemen and Iraq) are acquiring the stink of defeat and actually are most directly to blame of anyone, as leaders of their departments. They make great scapegoats. Polls show RFKJr is the most popular member of Trump’s cabinet – by far. Incredible but true. JR is onto something, noting that Cosplay Kristi was also seen as a liability when the Ls started piling up for DHS (and she did those ads without giving Convict-1 enough $$$, apparently). Too bad she spent all sorts of money getting the Mar-a-Lago look done…allegedly. There’s nothing Convict-1 likes less in a person than them being a ‘loser’ in his view and even old friends get put into the coffee boy zone. My guess: Medicare thief Rick Scott, though 75 two years from now, will also try for the White House. I did see his picture in an article about running. But holy hell, he’s old and ugly. And creepy! Who the hell convinced him that he has any chance of getting nominated? It looks like it’s between Little Marco and JG Wentworth. Remember Wilbur Mills? (poor guy). What year was that? Real big shot in the House, been around forever, candidate for Democratic nomination, now most memorable, if at all (sadly), for the Argentine Firecracker and the Tidal Basin. Skeletor won’t be president. Also, Chris Christie and Rahm Emanuel. C’mon, now! Curtis’s letter would be interesting if the timing weren’t so close to the election. Now, it’s too late for Republicans to dump Trump. It remains to be seen if the idea moves forward after the midterms or not, but whether it does (and who is left to move it forward) will depend on who wins and who loses, whether the Republicans decide to circle the wagons or to shed their skin for 2028. Single-issue cooperation might disappear or a dam might break. Any idea of what happens in Iowa if and when Grassley dies? They, and he, have been hollering about a lack of fertilizer. He could contribute when he kicks the bucket. Seriously, didn’t I hear that he wants his son to fill his shoes? Or was that McConnell? [Welcome back to emptywheel. **FOURTH AND FINAL REQUEST** Please use the SAME USERNAME and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You attempted to publish this comment as “Wayne” triggering auto-moderation; it has been edited to reflect your established username. You have used SIX different usernames at this site — Man with a Lantern, Wayne, Diogenes, Pattelbert, Pattersonw, and Patterson. You changed your name to “Patterson” which complies with the site’s standard. Please check your browser’s cache and auto-fill. **WARNING: After four requests without compliance, you will be banned from commenting.** /~Rayne] Actually, I believe it is Chuck’s grandson, Pat Grassley (currently speaker of the Iowa House), who is expected to get Chuck’s seat after he finally kicks off. So tired of legacy pols-from all parties. Can’t the spawn of politicians do something else? IF he dies? As in, you think he might be immortal? Now *that* is a scary thought. FWIW, I don’t completely see Grassley as a nut job. It’s hard to tell anymore, since his staff does most of the job for him, but he has displayed the ability–on occasion–to hew to the side of morality if and when he stumbles onto it. That might depend, at least a little bit, on who is elected Governor. Dem candidate Rob Sand, the current State Auditor, has a pretty good chance. The current, Repub governor has one of, if not the lowest approval ratings in the country. That letter is a loaded preemption package. Don Jr. and Hunter, and that’s enough, the problem is bipartisan. There’s no mention of Jarad and Saudi money, or Eric Trump investing in an Israeli drone company with a US gov contract, (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/2/17/us-presidents-son-eric-trump-invests-in-drone-maker-with-govt-contracts). It’s the classic red herring dragged across a path to obscure the smell. TY very much for the Senate name grouping. It helps my understanding, and seems a good guess, being conservative about how well the Dems could do. (Putting Peggy Fleming as swing, where Minnesota has not elected a statewide Republican since Tim Pawlenty seems conservative, but the others I would need to research.) Sideline Susie Tafoya has name recognition, but what’s her background expertise, really? A mic and a sideline, and so what? The MN GOP has a history of being good at getting out their vote, but not having enough appeal to take statewide seats, recently, since Pawlenty. Peggy Flanagan (not Fleming) [Welcome to emptywheel. Please choose and use a UNIQUE username with a minimum of 8 letters. We adopted this minimum standard to support community security. Because your username is too common, your username will be temporarily changed to match the date/time of your first known comment until you have a new compliant username. **PLEASE choose a username which does NOT include the word “dude” as we have had far too many users using a variation of “[some modifier] dude.”** /~Rayne] Does anyone else see Curtis’ ploy as a ruse? IANAL but it looks like a planned perjury trap for Hunter Biden, which I assume that his pardon does not protect him from. Biden must plead the Fifth to avoid this. It’s exactly that since Hunter will be hauled in via subpoena (it’s better TV) and DJTJ will politely decline his invitation to testify. Others have already picked up on the Hunter hook, and the opportunity it presents to bothsides the problem plus Biden bashing. Only DJTJ has ongoing corruption many orders of magnitude higher than any so-called Burisma scandal, but Convict-1 won’t like prosecution of his namesake even if he did snub the wedding. Hunter has said he will testify, and has dared Junior to do the same. Of course, Hunter called their bluff but expect the GOP to demand a closed-door hearing while limiting Hunter’s lawyer like they did the last time. No word as yet from DJTJ, let’s see what barfs out of ‘T’Soc tonight. I’m still down rabbit holes at your post about TRUMP’s media ban, but I think part of that relates to your post here. On the day of the media ban, TRUMP sent out a bunch of TS posts of support for various candidates. This is the first one, but they were all the same [the VIDEOs were probably different, and I’m wondering exactly when they were recorded]: 2:09 PM September 18, 2026 https: //www.trumpstruth.org/statuses/41783 This is the list of candidates TRUMP seems worried about: [And all nine senate candidates are on Marcy’s list of 14 SWING seats] 2:09 PM Dan S. Sullivan [House] 2:09 PM Ashley Moody [Senate] 2:14 PM Mike Collins [Senate] 2:16 PM Roger Marshall [Senate] 2:17 PM Mike Rogers [Senate] 2:25 PM Laurie Buckhout [??] 2:26 PM Michael Whatley [Senate] 2:26 PM Pete Ricketts [Senate] 2:27 PM Jon Husted [Senate] 2:27 PM Stacy Garrity [PA Gov] 2:28 PM Monica De La Cruz [House] 2:29 PM Tano Tijerina [House] 2:29 PM Eric Flores [House] 2:30 PM Carlos De La Cruz [House] 2:31 PM Ken Paxton [Senate] [3:04 PM TRUMP announces media ban] 4:46 PM Ashley Hinson [Senate] Laurie Buckhout is running for NC-01 Thanks, Peterr! I realized I hadn’t filled that in just as I was about to hit submit. On El Sayed’s campaign, Kamala Harris traveling to co-appear is the establishment Dems wanting the seat more than wanting to quell this particular progressive. Cautious to not poison the Isamiist vote, to the extent there is a bloc feeling. Of interest, searching for web reporting of the co-appearance, MSM is carrying a number of items from other sources, as if their content choosers feel it important. It’s not just a matter of so-called establishment Dems wanting to ensure the Dems retain Sen. Peters’ seat; Harris’ visit addresses a more specific issue. El-Sayed didn’t poll as well with Black Michiganders versus Haley Stevens because Stevens was perceived as having Obama’s blessing. National news media may not grasp this issue as they certainly weren’t reporting on it during the primary. They generally don’t understand how minority communities operate including Black communities. They vote for those they trust or the proxies of those they trust, and national news media can’t be bothered to look more deeply into this to learn how it works. Michigan politics, a fascinatingly complex conundrum, seems hopelessly beyond the so-called national news media. They mostly just ignore the nuances until the tallies are done. Then they make sweeping statements that continue to ignore the nuances. It’s not just Michigan. Same lack of highly local expertise combined with inadequate diversity led to national news media blinded to Angie Nixon winning the FL Dem primary. I’m sure nearly every state has an example. Thank you for that insight Rayne. It also buys Harris some credibility with a key demographic in a battleground state with whom she had substantial difficulty in 2024. Golly… Now why would Harris have credibility issues with a key demographic in the battleground state of Michigan. I just can’t quite put my finger on it. /s ====== I’m glad Harris is trying to make amends – better late than never. I firmly believe that failing to embrace this key demographic contributed to people of that demographic staying home across the country, along with the young progressives who support them. That lack of enthusiasm helped pave the way for Trump’s narrow 1.5% victory. I truly believe she could have been POTUS today. Just my opinion. So far, Hunter has enthusiastically offered to testify in response to that letter, and challenged Don Jr to as well. So far as I have seen, no response yet from Don Jr. Don Jr. has yet to respond to Hunter’s cage match challenge, also. And will not. The Trump’s are a multi-generational family of draft and military dodging cowards. Going back at least to Donald Sr’s grandfather Frederick, well over 100 years ago. If the midterms are a huge blowout for Dems, it may have an effect even on GOP nut jobs. Are they really going to stick with a wildly unpopular president and his wildly unpopular policies while their “loyal” voters are deserting them in droves? If Trump tries insane schemes to avoid seating a Dem Congress, including using armed ICE agents? If oil prices skyrocket and Trump still refuses to negotiate (afraid he’ll lose) and launches a criminal attack on Iran, possibly using a tactical nuclear weapon? You really think Ted Cruz and Chuck Grassley and Tim Scott will stick with him? What would be the upside for them or any of the GOP? I think it’s entirely possible they’ll realize the only way to save the Republican party for the future is to help the Democrats impeach an insane, criminal president and remove him from office. That’s my thinking. If November is an absolute blowout for Dems (like taking all or most of the Swing list above and maybe one or two of the Who Knows group), I think that Vance may decide that his best game theory play to become president is to pull 25A. His pitch to Congressional Republicans would be that it’s manifestly obvious that Trump is unwell, and if they play ball he’ll do everything in the Executive Branch’s power to sweep Trump’s misdeeds under the rug. Sure, Congress will investigate, but they can cry “old news” if Trump’s out of office in a way that they can’t in an impeachment trial. You can always count on Vance to do what’s best for Vance. If he has two more years of Trump’s literal and figurative stink on him, he’ll be utterly unelectable. 25A after January 20 also allows him to run for re-election twice. Vance can’t do the 25A by himself. He needs a majority of the cabinet and I don’t see those toadies and idiots leaving Trumps side ever. Not going to happen. But I predict that if Vance DOES, by chance, become president for any reason that he will pivot hard away from the current course. He’ll show Stephen Miller and RFK Jr and Hegeseth and the rest of the idiots and liabilities the door. He’ll focus on consolidating power and whatever he thinks it takes to make himself electable. If he thinks the Democratic party is the sure bet to him holding onto power, he’ll switch parties. I’m not predicting what will be in his head or that would happen, but I’m saying he has no scruples and is not an idiot. Trump used to have a very good media sense. Got himself elected twice. Vance doesn’t have that, so it’ll be a very difficult climb for him to gain any sort of support. But if he thinks he needs to reinvent himself as a full blown Nazi or as a Bernie Sanders knock off, he’ll do it, or at least try. I expect that the pitch to Cabinet members is that he’d pardon them for their misdeeds and Trump might sell them out if he decides to fire them before he issues the pardon. I suspect that Vance knows fairly well what grifts they’ve all been involved in for the last two years and knows what their exposure is. And, of course, anyone who wants to have a political career after Trump needs to break with him at some point. I can see a majority breaking if it profits them. That’s literally the same calculation that Vance has to make–what profits him most. As for the higher bar for triggering 25A, if Vance can get half the cabinet he’s pretty likely to pick up the required support in the House and Senate. Particularly since the cabinet will be singing about how much he’s lost his mind. They can do the sanctimonious “Trump isn’t the man he was when he was elected” schtick. Except the bar for removal under 25A is much higher than impeachment requiring both a majority of the cabinet, and 3/4 of both the house and senate, instead of 3/5 of just the senate for removal after a simple majority of the house for impeachment. I think that that was the plan all along. Everyone has known for some time that DJT has been losing it. I suspect it was the plan too, but Trump surrounded himself by sycophants to stave off exactly that. And for most of these folk, they wield MORE power while Trump is debilitated. I do not expect any of them to go along with a 25A removal effort. Imagine that he falls into a coma and they hide him away, which cabinet member would be first to out him and push for the 25A? Bessent? Duffy? Rubio? Blanche? I can’t name any. I just don’t see it. They’ll shuffle and lie and post AI videos for as long as possible. For years if that’s what it takes. Nobody’s going to do 25A. First, it requires Vance plus half of the Cabinet lapdogs. THEN, if Trump contests it (of course he will), it needs a 2/3 vote in both House and Senate. Fail any of those steps, and Trump stays, and spends the rest of his term seeking revenge on anyone who voted for it. And they all know that. If he’ll kill Carib fishermen, it’s not even a terribly long stretch to think he’d come up with an official reason to do the same to “traitors”. Nobody’s going to paste that kind of target on their own back. [Welcome to emptywheel. Please choose and use a UNIQUE username with a minimum of 8 letters. We adopted this minimum standard to support community security. Because your username is too common, your username will be temporarily changed to match the date/time of your first known comment until you have a new compliant username. **PLEASE choose a username which does NOT include the word “dude” as we have had far too many users using a variation of “[some modifier] dude.”** /~Rayne] With a Democratic majority, what becomes of the handful of Republican senators who were once compos mentis and effective legislators but who went full MAGA? These were relatively standout politicians albeit conservative but conservative institutionalists often emphasizing separation of powers, congressional prerogatives, and limits on executive power. Take as representative Mike Lee, who is a useful case study in the transformation of the Republican Party during the Trump era. I agree that Lee is now one of the nutjobs who will very likely stay a nutjob and engage in glorious, performative obstructionism in the remaining two years of any Democratic senate. Are there though enough gettable and workable senators who can help put a significant enough dent in this polarization mess we’ve found ourselves in? Somebody needs to interview Lee and find out if he was compromised and forced to an about-face. Susan Collins (R-ME) is the perfect example of this mechanism at work. All the compromised GOP need to understand it’s better to air it out collectively as soon as it’s clear Trump will not have the power to lean on them any further. Otherwise it will go worse for them in the future on an individual basis. WOW ! What a great working resource summary. I’d like to add that the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee (with their direct public access office phone contact numbers) are: Dick Durbin (Illinois) – Ranking Member | (202) 224-2152 Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) | (202) 224-2921 Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota) | (202) 224-3244 Chris Coons (Delaware) | (202) 224-5042 Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) | (202) 224-2823 Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) | (202) 224-6361 Cory Booker (New Jersey) | (202) 224-3224 Alex Padilla (California) | (202) 224-3553 Peter Welch (Vermont) | (202) 224-5141 Adam Schiff (California) | (202) 224-3841 And the Capitol Switchboard is (202) 224-3121 and the Operator will connect you to your individual Senator if needed. Hope that’s useful. Borrowing liberally from Pearl Jam: So it looks encouraging for November 3rd. What’s everybody thinking about January 3rd? [Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the SAME USERNAME and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You attempted to publish this comment as “TPAkyle”; punctuation and letter case matter. I have edited it this one time to match your established username. Please make a note of it and check your browser’s cache and auto-fill. Future comments may not publish if username does not match. /~Rayne] To sum it up: Nobody knows. My opinion is we need more kids like Jesse. He’s had the attention of Willie, Neil, and John for awhile now. Hope to see good weather in Virginia Beach this weekend for Farm Aid 2026. It’s relevant this year. Take it away, Jesse… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1YSNulC05o I agree with your assessment. No legislation will be signed by Trump, so any ‘bipartisanship’ will have to go to oversight and impeachment proceedings. Heather Cox Richardson RePosted this: https://bsky.app/profile/angrystaffer.bsky.social/post/3mwa7owo2as2p 10:32 PM · Sep 23, 2026 Here it is: China is holding sensitive F-35 parts diverted to Hong-Kong https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-23/china-is-holding-sensitive-f-35-parts-diverted-to-hong-kong [11:01 PM · Sep 23, 2026 < this is when it posted to Bluesky. I can’t tell when it published.] I’m still working on the TRUMP’s 9/18/26 3:04 PM media ban TL. Look what POLITICO published at 11:55 AM that day: Hill investigates after F-35 parts diverted to Hong Kong The incident raises the possibility that top secret weapons technology may have been exposed to a foreign adversary — including China. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/18/congress-f-35-china-investigation-01083647 Audrey Decker, Mark Satter 09/18/2026 11:55 AM Maybe HEGSETH impeachment or firing will be on the table.