The President Elect, Donald Trump, it turns out, is quite a trickster. What is jokester? He’s always making mischief. Now he’s using his cabinet nominations to mess with the media and also, whether he realizes it or not, by extension, mess with the American people, with a Rapid Fire series of laughably unqualified nominees for various positions, each one more absurd than the previous one. Trump is creating distractions and making a mockery of something that Republicans were supposed to consider sacred merit. You remember merit? Sure you do. Republicans invoke that word all the time when they’re trying to deny opportunities to women and people of color and defend the rights of America’s one true victim class, those poor, beleaguered white men, Republicans absolutely worship at the altar of May the best man win, with an emphasis on man, whatever people like Trump whine about the unfairness of affirmative action programs to take race into account in college admissions, or the unseemliness of President Biden promising To choose a black woman as a running mate, or the awkwardness of that same black woman later running for president herself and threatening to break the glass ceiling, or dei programs that encourage clutch the pearls diversity, equity and inclusion. Whenever any of those issues come up, the first word out of the right wing is always the same merit. See in the eyes of many conservatives, particularly white male conservatives, if the job, the slot, the gig, the nomination or the appointment does not go to a white male Well, obviously the game is rigged. Move over God for Republicans seeking to maintain the status quo, their motto has always been in merit we trust. Well, not anymore. That’s over with. There’s no more need for merit in Washington. Trump killed it, and he did it through his Cabinet picks, which looked like they came straight out of the pages of Mad Magazine. You would be hard pressed to find a less meritorious, less qualified bunch anywhere what me worry? Yes, I damn well better worry. And you should worry too if the Republican controlled Senate caves in and gives up on its role of advice and consent, preferring instead to go with acquiesce and confirm see Trump wants former representative Tulsi Gabbard, Democrat from Hawaii, a known Russian sympathizer, to serve as director of national intelligence. He thinks South Dakota Governor Christie, no one whose state is 1400 miles away from the US Mexico border would make a swell Secretary of Homeland Security. Trump loves television and celebrity, so he can’t think of a better choice for secretary of defense than Cable News host and veteran Pete hegseth, and who has a better handle on our criminal justice system than Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, an accused pedophile and sex trafficker who Trump believes would be a perfect fit for us, Attorney General. Finally, the Department of Health and Human Services protects public health, so who better to lead it than someone who made doctors consider a serious threat to public health? Robert F Kennedy Jr, the names kept coming all week long, and they were just getting worse. So I got to say, by the time we got to caddy at the end of the week, Noam was starting to look pretty good. She looked like Mother Teresa Margaret Thatcher and Sandra Day O’Connor all wrapped up into one person. What happened to the sanctity of merit? Where did that go? It looks like sometime during this carnival side show, Merritt caught the four o’clock train to get the heck out of here. It’s pretty obvious by now, the only qualification that Trump really cares about is blind loyalty to Trump and the President Elect’s motley crew of misfit toys is plenty loyal. They’re going to stand next to this guy come hell or high water. They can’t afford to let him get away. After all, given that they all lack merit, where else are they going to go? Who else is going to book this bizarre Act? As far as I know, the circus isn’t in town, or is it i.

You may recall that in the immediate aftermath of the election, there were many people using the words landslide and mandate to signal an overwhelming victory by Donald Trump, a victory so massive, in fact, that now he gets to do whatever he wants to do. Now, of course, anybody who looked at the data was suspicious of this, as we suspected that millions of votes had not yet been counted, and a lot of those votes were not going to go in favor of Donald Trump. Now I want, I want to be clear Trump won Trump one, fair and square, after looking at every claim I’ve received about different irregularities, they do not seem to have been substantiated empirically. And Trump won, and nothing I say here changes that. But I want you to think back to Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012 genuinely larger victories, winning both the Electoral College and popular vote, and the total lack of respect for whatever mandate Barack Obama might have been able to claim. And now consider the latest data from the 2024 election, Donald Trump has now dipped below 50% of the popular vote. He won the popular vote, but he won it with most voters voting for someone else. Trump won what’s called a plurality of the vote, not a majority of the vote. It’s very difficult to argue that you have a mandate and that you won in a landslide when most of the voters voted for someone else, that’s number one. Now number two, it’s also important to compare the latest numbers to those of Hillary Clinton in 2016 now, of course, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton lost electorally in 2016 whereas Donald Trump won electorally both in 2016 and in 2024 but recall that Hillary Clinton won by 2.1 percentage points in 2016 in the popular vote, and Trump’s lead right now is only 1.7 percentage points. Trump’s victory in the popular vote is even smaller than that which Hillary Clinton had in 2016 and even in the raw vote totals, Hillary Clinton won by about 2.8 million votes back in 2016 Donald Trump winning right now by somewhere between 2.5 and 2.6 million votes. What does this say? Well, it says two things. Number one, any policy, any executive order, any appointment, any you’ve got to let me get Matt gates confirmed at any justification, any claim whose justification is the mandate or landslide victory that Trump obtained, which supposedly says that everybody wants Trump to do whatever he wants must be rejected out of hand, because, empirically, it’s completely bogus, just completely and totally bogus, And we just say most of the people who voted voted for someone else. But there’s another sort of aspect to this, which is that I know that there are people who are demoralized and despondent, people on the left as a result of what took place in this year’s election, and I get that that makes sense. A lot of us say those four years under Trump were so crazy. We were globally humid, humiliated. He was the laughing stock of the world, and our fellow Americans have now chosen, he didn’t steal it, right? He won. Our fellow Americans have now chosen to give him another four years. That is demoralizing and depressing, and you would be right, but there is still great reason to stay engaged and to resist what it is that he is doing. And even though it can be difficult, even though it can be exhausting, we have to remember that even among voters, most of the people who voted voted for somebody else, other than Trump. So we set our sights on 26 we start to think about 28 but we don’t forget that we can still do a lot, even right now. And you know it some of these nominations that Trump made, it’s not clear they’re going to be confirmed. Continuing to turn public opinion against some of these unqualified selections is a worthwhile activity that could have real, tangible results. People will suffer if Matt Gaetz is Attorney General, if Robert F Kennedy Jr becomes Secretary of Health and Human Services, there will be real world suffering as a result of that. Now we’re already starting to see some voters regret their Trump votes. He’s not even been sworn in yet, and there are people saying Elon Musk seems to be in charge, or at least having a voice. I didn’t vote for Elon Musk. There’s a great media piece about that. Or people who were saying, you know, I voted for him. I didn’t think he was really going to start deporting anyone I know, but it’s. Seems like he’s really going to deport people. I know I regret voting for Trump. We’re going to hear more and more of these anecdotes, but we don’t need the anecdotes, because once again, if you zoom out with Trump, Trump dropping below 50% of the popular vote, most voters voted for someone else, and that is a very good reminder that we stay engaged and we stay active. Here. I.

Yeah. Okay. So Matt Gaetz selected by Donald Trump to become the Attorney General of the United States of America. However, Matt Gaetz then decides to withdraw, claiming that he is going to do this for the good of the Trump Vance team, and the DOJ needs to be ready on day one, sir, come on, let’s be real. Number one, you left the Congress so that you can avoid them having jurisdictional authority to release the investigation that they had done on you in reference to the alleged sex trafficking of minors and the alleged alleged cocaine use, so we know good damn well why you did it now you have successfully. Mr. Gates avoided that kind of smoke this week, and the news is about the Ag selection, because Trump decided to pick you. You have now withdrawn from consideration,

so you have no job in the Congress. You’re not going to be the AG, I’m sure, knowing you, Matt, you have made some kind of sweetheart deal to possibly avoid prosecution, maybe a Trump pardon, maybe something from the DOJ office, whoever actually holds the rank in the future. But that report, sir, is coming. It’s going to come out, obviously. And here’s the other dynamic, here’s what’s interesting.

I don’t think this is so much about you, Matt. It’s about the judgment of the

incoming commander in chief. You see Donald Trump is the one who made the selection. It is Matt Gaetz who decided to withdraw. You have to ask yourself the question,

the judgment of Donald Trump

is to blame, correct? Why would someone make such a decision? Why would a President of the United States literally appoint a man to be the top cop, knowing credible allegations are against him for some of the most horrific crimes you can imagine in the United States of America, why would that guy ever be considered to be in charge of the largest law enforcement apparatus in the nation? That is the actual question. You.

Today, let’s take a break from all Trump all the time, both because I think we could all use a second, and also because there is something else making me quite mad today, perimenopause. Wait, I know you’re thinking, this is a political opinion. Show what do the hormonal fluctuations experienced by middle aged women have to do with politics, sit down. Okay, so for the duration of well, my life anyway, menstruation has been a very dirty little secret held by half of the global population. I grew up tucking tampons into my sweatshirt sleeves. Girls, you feel me absolutely mortified by the mere thought that someone might know I was having my period, aka, a thing that literally has to happen for the perpetuation of the human race.

Menopause. I don’t know, we talked about it a little, I guess, but mostly in the well, that’s when women dry up and lose all their cultural value. Context, perimenopause, that’s what myself,

that’s what myself and many of that’s what myself and many of my friends are going through. It’s basically the multi year lead up to the cessation of your period. And again, it is something that fully half the global population will likely experience in one way or another. And yet, until recently, I have never heard it mentioned in polite company or on social media.

Now I drag social media a lot, but with the aging of the first wave of internet overshares, of which I’m a proud member, comes an interesting side effect. Women are talking about perimenopause loudly, celebrities, including Oprah, Gwyneth, Halle, Berry, Michelle Obama, they’ve all spoken openly about their experiences with perimenopause and menopause, and brands are starting to realize that all this newfound openness, of course, presents an opportunity to make money, so they’re busy creating all sorts of menopause targeted products, which is great, really, but what took so long historically and even now, the medical industry skews heavily male.

But what took so long historically and even now, the medical industry skews heavily male, and let me tell you, if men were dealing with hot flashes, reduced sex drive and the flotilla of additional potential health issues that come along with menopause, I’m guessing it would be more of a thing. There’d probably be a pill to stop it or delay it, and it would probably be readily available and free.

Now, thanks to all this new research, it turns out surprise that ovaries might actually be important, like beyond the baby making part, they’re really the only organs that we expect to one day just essentially shut down, creating a whole host of problems, including elevated risk of osteoporosis and heart disease. But we’re okay with that, because, come on, women,

except scientists, are discovering that studying ovaries may unlock exciting new developments in longevity research, money power, living forever, like a god. Obviously, ovaries have now become deeply deserving of our attention. The gender gap in health care in this country, exacerbated, of course, by the additional gap in the quality of care provided to minority women is 1,000%

a political issue. We’ve made strides in the direction of addressing women’s specific health care needs, sure, but the recent election, I think it showed just how far we have to go in.

Fight to be treated like,

well, like our bodies actually matter. I.

Now with Donald Trump heading back to the White House, it’s fair to say that much of America is bracing for impact, but some are doing even more. Namely, one gavid Newsom, once it became evident that Trump took the win, California’s governor took swift action, calling for a legislative special session to help protect the state’s policies ahead of the impending administration, and specifically, it’s the policies on climate change, immigration policy and even reproductive rights. Newsom’s actions to protect California from Trump’s project 2025 agenda are not just political posturing. They’re wise and statistically supported decisions that confirm how critical this leadership style is. More governors who wish to protect their constituents should be making moves like Newsom is right now, let’s look at the facts. First, California has a long, long history of being a leader in progressive policies, especially on issues like climate change, healthcare and immigration. Under Trump’s first administration, California, efforts to lead in these areas were consistently challenged and undermined. For instance, in 2019 Trump revoked California’s authority to set auto emission rules that were stricter than the federal rules, even though California standards were proven to be extraordinarily successful. In fact, according to the California Legislative Analyst Office, California had reduced carbon emissions by 13% 13% between 2004 and 2017, the national average during that time increased by 1% the numbers do not lie. Tail pipe pollution is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. In California, maintaining a strict policy is a form of action. Those standards were critical to reducing harm to the climate, yet Trump sought to roll them on back. Why? So he could benefit big companies by taking action now, Newsom is helping California maintain the forward momentum it has built on climate leadership. Also, the California governor is wisely looking to shore up immigration protections, given Trump’s promise to deport undocumented individuals and even to try to boot out denaturalized citizens. California is home to more than 10 million immigrants, and the state has long been a safe haven for those seeking a better life. According to a 2020 Pew Research Study, 73% of Californians said that they supported creating a path for citizenship for undocumented immigrants. This shows a strong consensus that the state values and protects its immigrant population. Newsom’s push to maintain California as a sanctuary state is not just a moral imperative, but also a practical one. Immigrants are the backbone of California’s economy. It also happens to be what the fifth largest economy in the world. So we’re doing something right. The Public Policy Institute of California estimates that immigrants account for approximately 27% of California’s workforce, contributing more than 400 billion to the state’s GDP. So by ensuring that these contributions are not undermined by hostile and racist federal policies. Well, Newsom is protecting California’s economy. You know, those of us who’ve been paying attention, we know that Trump’s impending policies will do far more harm than good for the American people, and that includes the people in California. So nuisance proactive steps here. They’re not just political strategy. They’re backed by solid, good reason and also the will of the people protecting California from the anticipated overreach of a Trump administration and its project 2025, mission is crucial for maintaining the state’s democratic values, environmental leadership and our commitment to protecting vulnerable communities. And research shows that a majority of Californians support Newsom stances on these issues, from everything from climate change to immigrant rights. He is fighting to ensure that these values continue to define our great state and our governor’s leadership. Well, I would say it’s all about defend defending Californians and what we care about, freedom, opportunity, fairness. What is your governor doing? Hopefully it’s more than just bracing for impact

Her had she won vice president, Kamala Harris would have broken two barriers at once, becoming the first woman and also the first Indian American to be elected president. And so naturally, when the Democrat was defeated, there were those in the Republican Party who couldn’t wait to deliver last rights to so called Identity Politics. A quick definition identity politics is what happens when you take a personal characteristic, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and construct a political strategy around that one characteristic. For instance, if a woman candidate makes everything about gender, or if a gay candidate builds a political campaign around his orientation, basically, anything that makes a straight white male feel displaced, uncomfortable, nervous or irrelevant, that’s identity politics, and it’s real bad. At least it is according to straight white men. Now, already those of you who studied US history in college, as I did, should be hearing familiar overtones. You may have read about how in the 1700s Benjamin Franklin used identity politics to try to rally the English to help keep out German immigrants who were flooding into Pennsylvania, or how in the 1800s Chinese immigrants felt the bite of identity politics when racists passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to prevent their kind from entering the country, or how in the 1900s anti Catholic Nativists played on the fears of the English and the German to spread the fear that Italian immigrants were invading the country and taking jobs from other groups. See that’s the dark side of identity politics, but there’s a bright side too. In the 20th century, identity politics, as practiced by the Irish made possible the election of John F Kennedy to Congress, to the Senate and to the White House, when wielded by the Italians. Identity Politics fueled the rise of Fiorello La Guardia as mayor of New York City and Mario Cuomo as governor of New York. For the Jews, identity politics helped shape the careers of New York City Mayor Ed Koch and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. Now that I think about it, the definition I offered earlier of identity politics is much too broad. You see, no one ever accuses white men of practicing identity politics, even though they do it all the time, and they do it better than anyone. Donald Trump is a great example. He’s the nation’s victim in chief. He’s constantly aggrieved because as a white man, life has apparently been unbearably difficult. Imagine how much more he could have accomplished in this world had he been born a Latina with a disability, man, some people just have all the luck. But let’s go back and examine what’s happening in the aftermath of Harris’s defeat. In a word, it’s opportunism. You see, there are those on the cultural right who oppose anything that gives a leg up to anyone who doesn’t look like them. They oppose affirmative action, dei multiculturalism, race based scholarships, critical race theory and yes identity politics, those folks were chomping at the bit to make the case that when Americans voted against a woman who was half black and half Indian American, well what they were really doing was delivering a vote of no confidence in identity politics. Hmm, that’s taking the long way home. All right, I’m not sure those dots connect anywhere other than in Mega world. Also, I gotta say, I would find the argument that Trump’s victory repudiated identity politics much more persuasive if the Trump campaign hadn’t printed up all those cool Latinos for Trump yard signs organized so many events targeting Latinos, put Trump before a town hall organized by Spanish language network Univision, and moved quickly to disavow an anti Puerto Rico joke by A racist comedian at a Trump rally, I’d also find the identity politics is dead argument much more persuasive if Trump and the entire Republican Party were not currently gloating over the fact that all that Latino pandering seems to have paid off handsomely. Trump got 46% of Latino vote in the 2024 election, the largest share of the Latino vote earned by any Republican presidential candidate in history. But who’s counting? Why that would be identity politics. See, the Republicans message is clear as mud. Identity Politics is dead for thee, but it’s alive and well and hey, quite useful for me, I.

Many Democrats are eagerly seeking a fresh face for the party for 2028 to go up against whoever the Republicans put forward, of course, in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory, whoever they put forward in 28 Republicans, that is, will probably be some kind of a maga figure. And I understand it. I understand the reason for it. I want to run down who some of the top people would be today. Of course, bearing in mind that we often when we are four years out, have no idea who the natural air apparent candidates are going to be. That all being said, the name that most naturally jumps to the forefront right now for many Democrats is Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, tremendous on his feet, good optics, but very much a target of the right. He’s a known target of the right, and even some Democrats don’t like the guy. They say he’s not progressive enough. He should he’s not. Republicans say he’s wildly left because he’s from California, and some progressive say he’s not progressive enough. And so although there’s some sense in which Gavin Newsom is an obvious choice, he also brings with him some baggage, which could be problematic, Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, I think he’s awesome.

Good speaker, good on policy, good at dealing with both hecklers and right wingers,

younger than some of the other options which many Democrats say they want. My hesitation on Shapiro is, and I say this as a Jewish person myself, given all of the anti semitism in the country, do you want to take the chance with a candidate whose identity alone might make him

a bad candidate. Too many Americans, we see anti semitism left and right right now, and so that scares me. I don’t have any problem with them. I think he’s fantastic. He would make a fantastic president. Pete Buttigieg, who was a presidential candidate then became Joe Biden, Secretary of Transportation. I’ve interviewed him, young, youngest of this list, tremendously smart, good at debating the right wing clouds, good on Fox News. I hate that. I have to ask this, will the country that just elected Trump vote for a gay guy for President. It’s horrible that we’re in a situation where we have to ask this question. I wish we were beyond it with Josh Shapiro’s Judaism and Pete Buttigieg being a gay man, but we have to ask it,

and I don’t know what the answer is. Personally, I would vote for Bucha judge. I think it’d be a fantastic president. Some people are talking about Kamala running again. I don’t know that this is a good idea, just being totally honest. Maybe it’s too soon to say, because we just had the election. She’s brilliant. When I met Kamala Harris in March at the White House, I was completely impressed with her ability to take on any issue on her feed, and

just excellent in so many ways. I voted for her. She would have made a great president. Has that bullet been fired already? And it’s not a good idea given the fact that she was so recently defeated. We have seen situations where you are defeated and then you win. We’ve seen situations where you’re defeated and you never win anything again. I don’t know, but I do think that there’s an appetite right now for something different. And as much as Kamala Harris is brilliant, I don’t think she was the best candidate. Tim Walz is name is being floated walls is great because he fights the image of the sissy democratic man. Republicans love to take a monopoly on patriotism, athletics, hunting, fixing, cars, all of this stuff, fast food. Tim walls knows about all of it, so he really was great in terms of pushing back against that narrative. Same question is with Kamala Harris has he failed out already by losing last week and then in general, with Harrison walls, they’re both 60. They’d be 64 into 65 next time around and at the time of inauguration. Is that the generation that Democrats want right now? Obviously they would be way younger than Biden is as president, then Trump will be at the end of his term. But is that generationally what Democrats are looking for? I don’t know.

JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is mentioned sometimes. He’s a billionaire, and I think he is intelligent and good on policy. R Democrats looking for their own billionaire. Are we going to go from billionaire to billionaires? President, I don’t know. I don’t know. And then you’ve got Andy Beshear. Andy Beshear is perpetually mentioned because he’s a southern Democrat. And the idea is, if you pick a southern Democrat to be your nominee, you appeal to people in red states. That’s been repeated since, like, the year 2000 at least. I just don’t know if that matters at this point in time. And then the other guy who I would add is.

Is Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland. He’s a veteran, he’s young, he’s got a business background, super interesting to me. He’s black. And then we get again to will Republicans call any black, Jewish or female candidate, a, d, e, i, affirmative action choice? They probably will do we care? Will it make a difference? I don’t know. So those are some of the names on my mind right now. I have no idea whether any of these names are actually going to be in the running two and a half years from now, when the next primary gets going. Let me know what you think i.

Yes, okay, let’s talk about these Trump appointees, nominations, right? In particular, not the controversial ones. All of them will have controversy. But let’s talk about the one that is completely 1% utterly insane. Matt Gaetz, Congressman out of Florida. Well, former congressman out of Florida. He just resigned. Why did he resign? Because he’s now the pick, the de facto for Attorney General of the United States of America. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump is selecting a man who has credible allegations of sex trafficking, a minor cocaine use and other stuff

on his back,

Matt Gaetz, who was already under an investigation in the house, as a matter of fact, they were just about to release information on Matt Gaetz, but Matt Gaetz resignation makes it null and void, because no longer does the committee have

investigatory jurisdiction to release this damning information.

But according to the new update, Donald Trump will appoint Matt Gaetz Now, Republicans are saying no, no, no. Multiple Republicans in the Senate have said they are not going to support Matt Gaetz, well, guess what? Probably won’t matter. Here’s here’s why Donald Trump can make what’s called a recess appointment. A recess appointment allows for the President of the United States to appoint a person in a position, a cabinet position, like a G while the Senate is in recess. According to the rules, you need 10 days, at least 10 days of recess in the US Senate. And according to the Congressional Research Service, that recessed appointment can last for up to two years, then you can vote and actually have, well, a more formal Senate approval, or you could just make another damn recess appointment. So if a president can just make recess appointments, why does it matter

if the Senate, which is supposed to be a co equal branch,

why should they have to prove anything if you could just make a recess appointment? Also remember, recess appointments are allowed in the US Constitution, Article two, section two, clause three, states the president shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, an individual like Matt Gaetz who barely escaped being in federal prison himself, and I’m sure the fact that he was in charge of the budget that the Department of Justice needed had nothing to do with the fact that the charges and the investigation all of a sudden disappeared. It was a no go. Even though multiple members of the Congress, multiple Republican members of the Congress, they believe he did, in fact violate federal law. They believe he is, in fact someone who engaged in illegal activity with a minor and multiple Anonymous members of Congress said he is, in fact, a horrible human being.

So far, the Trump administration’s assignments have been predictably controversial. Terrifying? For the sake of my blood pressure, let’s stick with controversial. 

So, let’s see, as of this taping we have:

Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff, 

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as the heads of the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency, an appointment that I’m sure will not be used in Musk’s favor at all;

Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, 

Marco Rubio as Secretary of State,

Kristi Noem as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security…

Oh, MATT GAETZ as ATTORNEY GENERAL. To head up the same executive branch of government that has spent years investigating him for, among other things, having sex with a minor. It feels like we’re living in an SNL skit.

Just to return to Marco Rubio real quick, because this is fun – here’s what he’s said about Trump in the past: 

One can only imagine the level of ego-swallowing Rubio had to do to get that appointment. And that’s just such a consistently gross quality of the MAGA world: None of these people –

with the possible exception of Stephen Miller, because who knows what’s going on behind that bat mask – like Trump. 

Most of them have said terrible things about him in the past, whether privately or, in many cases, very publicly. 

And yet. 

And yet. 

When presented with the opportunity to gain proximity to power, that ring apparently starts looking pretty kissable. 

Donald Trump has never made any bones about his desire – and apparent willingness – to go after his opponents, whether on Twitter or in a court of law. 

On the campaign trail, he spoke frequently about his desire for retribution against those who would disagree with him. 

And now he’s doing precisely what he said he would do, which is filling his cabinet right to the tippy top with diehard MAGA loyalists, many of whom have been put in place specifically to disrupt the very institutions their appointments require them to protect. Matt Gaetz as attorney general. Buckle up, I guess.

Ever since justice, Sonia Sotomayor joined the US Supreme Court, she has been a powerful voice for justice, but now that Donald Trump is heading back to the White House, well, there are some out there who seem to be pressuring Sotomayor to retire so President Biden can appoint a replacement before leaving office. Let’s be real here, people, this pressure is sexist ablest and downright foolish Given the timing, Democrats really need to leave that woman alone and focus on their own problems first. Although, as you know, I am not a fan of lifetime tenure for judges or justices. For that matter, Justice Sotomayor should be allowed to serve as long as she wants just like her male counterparts, the woman isn’t even that old, really. She’s 70, if it weren’t for Amal George Clooney be in her dating pool, and Sotomayor is younger than justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, plus her soul is intact, and I hear that that enhances youth, yet no one’s pressuring the men to retire. Historically, justices have served well into their 80s and beyond. Justice John Paul Stevens, for example, retired at 90, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist, well, he served until he died at 80. The idea that sotomayors health should end her career, while that’s also unfounded, she has had type one diabetes since she was a child, and sotomayors managed it without any issue in her 15 years on the court, Holly Berry has the same thing, and the woman still does most of her own stunts. So get real here, this pressure to what ask Sotomayor to step down over diabetes that’s rooted in ableism, plain and simple, her diabetes do not prevent her from doing her job, just as it does not stop millions of Americans from doing theirs and coming at. Sotomayor simply confirms that there is a double standard when it comes to women serving in the judiciary. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was pressured to retire constantly in her later years, even when she was only in her early 80s, it wasn’t her fault that a minority of America chose Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. And speaking of gender based double standards, what about the men here, Justices like William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall and even Antonin Scalia, they served into old age without the same pressure to step down for this greater good. Yet Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman who was appointed to the US Supreme Court, well, she faced similar pressure as Sotomayor is getting now, women are often expected to make sacrifices, even if there’s no sacrifice to be made. Justice. Sotomayor earned her seat on the court just like her male colleagues, and she deserves to decide when to pack it up on her own terms and at her own time, not based on when gendered expectations come calling. And let’s be honest here, this last minute push for her to retire is foolish Given the timing. There are less than 75 days until Trump takes office. When President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the court, that was what March 16, 2016, well, there were over 300 days left in his term, and we all remember how that ended. Trying to force out Sotomayor now would likely end the exact same way, with no appointment, and Trump would get to fill the seat anyway. Trying to force her out for political convenience is both unrealistic and risky. Justice. Sotomayor deserves the same respect and autonomy as any other justice receives without added pressure based on her gender or her health. So to those out there talking retirement for Sotomayor, all I have to say is, go be silly elsewhere.