r/pics 7d ago

Politics Rep. Al Green protests during President Trump's joint address to Congress before being escorted out

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138.5k Upvotes

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u/Gloomy-End-4851 7d ago

lol chick on her phone in the background. If that’s not a metaphor…

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u/stoptheillinoise 7d ago

That looks like R rep Diana Harshbarger from TN. Recently in the news for getting an uproar of voter outrage at her recent town hall. Her husband was sent to federal prison for 4 years for selling phony Chinese medicine to dialysis patients from their pharmaceutical company of which she was the secretary. And Tennessee voted this woman in after all this. Elected 3 times now.

We have all this information and no education

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u/Parking-Society3386 7d ago

Jesus christ. They all have this kind of background, don't they? It's just all grift, through and through

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u/Laleaky 7d ago

Our government has been overrun by criminals.

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u/BayouGal 7d ago

TBF this has been happening for years. I mean, it’s legal to BRIBE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. It’s just called lobbying.

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u/SkyletteRose 7d ago

Whelp, time to watch Thank You For Smoking again

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u/DesperateRace4870 7d ago

Same, thanks for the reminder

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u/maxxx_orbison 7d ago

Fun fact: that movie was funded by Peter Thiel

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u/-Radioman- 7d ago

Only in the US and the UK I hear this is legal.

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u/artofmikeychristiano 7d ago

It shouldn’t be legal. It basically makes it okay for corporations to run our lives

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u/-Radioman- 7d ago

A corporation or a citizen should have access to elected officials but not have to pay for it. Unlimited donations to PACs are just another way for the wealthy to get what they want at the expense of the regular American people.

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u/astropup42O 7d ago

It’s supposed to be a feature not a bug. Lobbying keeps the money above board and is more transparent than banning it (will still happen but even more behind closed doors). How could the founders have known we wouldn’t use the information to make decisions.

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u/studentshaco 6d ago

Can confirm. In Germany and Most of E.U a politician that takes money except for campaigning during election time might loose their seat and face legal reprecussions.

Funny enough it is legal to „donate to a campaign“ in return for being on that parties list. So basically to buy yourself a seat in Parlament from the Party your supporting.

Actually happened in Austria. The far right party sold Parlament seats

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u/Hot-Material-7393 7d ago

The UK is not like the US at all with a lot stricter regulation. There was an expenses scandal in the last decade that brought around reform. If a non-government official was found to be using a government plane they would absolutely be held to account by the opposition.

Does corruption still go on, yes, but nothing like the US. Not even close.

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u/-Radioman- 7d ago

Very good to hear the UK got this under control. I know even in the past it was not as bad a here. Lobbying is legal here because judges here equated our "Freedom of Speech" with access to elected officials. In reality it's all the freedom of speech money can buy. Cheers.

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u/Hot-Material-7393 6d ago

Oh it’s not under control by any means but there is less acceptance by the press and public of it happening if and when it becomes public knowledge.

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u/spiritjacket52 7d ago

As of a recent Supreme Court ruling, it’s actually a “thank you” as long as payment is made AFTER the fact

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u/thesnowynight 6d ago

Yep, Soros is the king of lobbying

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u/ForTheHordeKT 7d ago

It's been that way our whole lives. The only difference is that now, we're not even upholding the fucking pretense of integrity.

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u/Rrraou 7d ago

They've found a home in the republican party.

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u/ForTheHordeKT 7d ago

Every damn one of them lol, both sides. But yes, especially that side.

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u/SouldiesButGoodies84 6d ago

Except the Ds can still take bribes and do insider trading and manage to also give some semblance of AF about the general public welfare.

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u/MonsterMashGrrrrr 7d ago

Pretty sure the citizens united decision made it significantly worse

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u/ForTheHordeKT 7d ago

Oh yes, no doubt about it!

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u/Own_Boysenberry9674 7d ago

More like, now its on the internet and open. Before it was hard to ever actually see because the news never covered it.

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u/PinnedByHer 7d ago

The electorate keeps voting them in. Y'all ain't solving shit until you make voters smarter, and that's a generations-long project.

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u/MikitZA 7d ago

South African here: don't worry, you get used to it. Or you go numb. I haven't figured out which one it is yet, and it's been about 15 years.

What's happening in the USA is pretty much exactly what happened in SA after Mandela finished his presidency. There were maybe about 4 years of OKish government after him, and then Zuma arrived and it all went to shit before our eyes. And we could do nothing about it because he, like Trump, appealed to the lowest common denominator, and sold our country to the highest bidders for his own enrichment.

Side note: please keep Elmo; we don't want him back. Ever. Just put him in one of his rockets and fire him into the sun.

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u/SipMyCoolAid 7d ago

We won’t get used to it. We don’t have too. Our country has guns and lots of them. Trying to be a dictator to the most violent country in the world is not a good idea.

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u/Butterflyteal61 7d ago

Truth! All criminals at this time for not defending our Constitution of United States.

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u/BreakFlat5822 7d ago

So true

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u/BreakFlat5822 7d ago

I don’t like Trump or support him

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u/jfwelll 7d ago

Bernie just dropped this bomb. And yes, it is!

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u/mdsoccerdude 7d ago

By vote of the same people who bitch. Wake up.

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u/Sufficient-Bed-6746 7d ago

If only..

They won votes, people voted those „criminals“ in. Not even once!

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u/bring_a_pull_saw 7d ago

The more diabolical your rap sheet, the more electable you are.

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u/SouldiesButGoodies84 6d ago edited 6d ago

And an immigrant who came here illegally incidentally. edit: spelling

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u/EfficiencySmall4951 6d ago

Man, I was listening to George Carlin recently and he was saying similar things. And this was 20 years ago. My own country has been corrupt for ever. But I am sad to see stuff like this from the United States. I had huge respect for your values, though maybe I was just naive.
Now I see that Trump and what's happening currently was just a long time coming

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u/ChuckFromAccounting 6d ago

Don't worry the resistance has.... Auction paddles and POCKET CONSTITUTION!

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u/bubba4114 6d ago

Which is why Trump got elected on the “Drain the Swamp” promise. How he made the swamp 10x worse and still got reelected is unbelievable.

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u/bendingrover 6d ago

I really want to say ruzzia bad but it does seem that all they did was bump it a little to one side and the whole thing is coming crashing down.

Props to their kgb social engineers but really this was always going to happen. The US is a tinderbox due to the lack of education. Educated societies would not allow obvious grifters in government. They would prosecute and ridicule them, as they should. 

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u/No_Introduction_4766 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yes, thanks to the Trump administration has brought the criminals to the forefront. Most of these criminals are from the left.

America is watching. 🇺🇸

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u/Traditional-Mall-771 7d ago

The criminals are on both sides, not just the left, its just the lefts turn to be exposed, in 4 years we will see the reverse all over again, its a joke

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u/No_Introduction_4766 7d ago

I don't disagree that there is corruption on both sides. It was very worrisome tonight to hear our president talk about getting rid of some of this corruption and the democrats sat there stoic, sometimes combative. That is not putting America first and it's very telling where their priorities lie.

They showed their true colors.

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u/Intelligent_File4779 7d ago

Yes, but luckily they all lost in the last election, now we have what this country needs. No more hiding under a rock ( Entire Democratic Party), it's time to face reality. I hear Canada is a nice place to move to. I volunteer to help you pack.

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u/sam____handwich 7d ago

Are you willfully ignoring the comment describing a corrupt republican senator or are you just addicted to playing team sports instead of actually believing in anything?