DL Open Thread: Monday, November 17, 2025

Ya Wanna Be The Senate Democratic Leader?  You say things like this every day:

Sen. Chris Murphy: “He wouldn’t be acting this way if he wasn’t so deeply worried about what sits in those files…Clearly, Donald Trump was at the center of a child sex ring.”

That is heartbreaking—that the president of the United States was involved in that kind of gross, craven immorality. And it stands to reason that he wouldn’t be fighting so hard to spin against this story or bullying Republicans in the House to prevent the release of these files if there wasn’t something especially and specifically incriminating in that information.

Now, I think the scandal in and of itself could bring him down, but we also do have to contextualize it, because what Donald Trump is all about is protecting the rich and powerful and stealing from normal people—regular, middle-class, and poor folks—in order to enrich the rich and powerful. And this is very much part of that story. Yes, I am sure that there are both Republicans and Democrats named in those files. There are powerful people on both sides of the aisle. But what Trump is all about is not really playing a game based on politics, but playing a game on wealth and influence.

If you have wealth and influence, Donald Trump is going to protect you, and that is consistent through everything he has done during the first nine months of this administration.

The Miami Herald’s Exhaustive Investigation Into Epstein.  This was reported back in 2019, but, if you want to know the full story, it’s all here.  Including the disgusting ‘non-prosecution agreement’.  Read. Learn.

Isn’t Chris Coons a Self-Styled Foreign Policy Expert, Or Something?  Then why haven’t we heard a peep from Sen. Gore-Tex on Trump’s Sabre-Rattling In The Caribbean?:

President Donald Trump says the US “may be having some discussions” with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a potential diplomatic avenue as the US further builds up its military presence near the South American country with the arrival of its most advanced aircraft carrier.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the US Navy in a statement, marks a major moment in what the US administration insists is a counter-drug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Mr Maduro.

Mr Trump did not offer details about the possible discussions with Mr Maduro, but he said “Venezuela would like to talk”.

The Trump administration has carried out a series of military strikes against boats it says, without providing any evidence, are suspected of transporting drugs.  (You OK with that, Chris?)

When asked what he meant when he said Mr Maduro wants to talk, Mr Trump said: “What does it mean? You tell me, I don’t know.

“I’ll talk to anybody,” he added a few moments later.

Which Sniveling Rethug Senator Plans To Sue Jack Smith?  All good things come to those who wait:

House Republicans are furious about the 11th hour payout provision Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) shoved into the continuing resolution (CR) that ended the shutdown earlier this week.

So much so that Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) voted against reopening the government on Wednesday, saying he “could not in good conscience support a resolution that creates a self-indulgent legal provision for certain senators to enrich themselves by suing the Justice Department using taxpayer dollars.”

House GOP leadership is now working on bringing a standalone bill to the floor that would repeal the provision that would allow senators to sue the government for $500,000 or more if they discover their electronic records were seized without notification. 

Thune’s provision comes as congressional Republicans have, in recent weeks, attempted to create a conspiracy theory out of the fact that former special counsel Jack Smith properly subpoenaed eight Senate Republicans’ phone records as a part of his investigation into President Donald Trump’s role in Jan. 6. As Politico noted earlier this week, the D.C. judge who approved the subpoenas did so with certain measures that blocked phone companies from notifying the senators that their data was requested as part of the investigation. 

That hasn’t stopped…, wait for it:

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Republicans are largely distancing themselves from Thune’s provision.

Only one — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — of the eight known GOP senators whose phone records were seized, has publicly said they are planning to take advantage of the measure Thune snuck into the bill.

“It bothers the hell out of me and I’m going to sue, and I’m going to create opportunities for others to sue that weren’t in the Senate,” Graham recently told reporters, per the Post and Courier.

Which reminds me–does Trump still invite Lindsey on those golf outings?  And, if so, is it so Lindsey can play golf or just perform diaper duty?

Trump’s Trade Deal Wasn’t Worth A Hill Of (Soy)Beans:

OMAHA, Neb. – New data the Agriculture Department released Friday created serious doubts about whether China will really buy millions of bushels of American soybeans like the Trump administration touted last month after a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The USDA report released after the government reopened showed only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit in South Korea that totaled 332,000 metric tons. That’s well short of the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to purchase by January and nowhere near the 25 million metric tons she said they would buy in each of the next three years.

You may have seen that Walgreen’s has been gobbled up by a private equity firm.  Here’s the inevitable result:

Pharmacy giant Walgreens will no longer give most of its workers paid vacation time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other major holidays, just after being bought out by a private equity company for $10 billion.

First reported by Bloomberg, the pharmacy chain eliminated six paid holidays for hourly store workers, informing them of the change in early October. The move came about a month after it was bought out by Sycamore Partners.

Walgreens, which has been struggling in recent years, announced in 2024 that it planned to close about 1,200 underperforming stores across the U.S. as part of a strategy to offset declining profits driven by low drug reimbursement rates and sluggish retail sales.

The clock is ticking on Walgreen’s.  The epitaph will be the same as it has been for so many companies that Private Equity bought up:  The company died, but the profits to the private equity shareholders were astronomical.

What do you want to talk about?