Devin Nunes returns home to protests over his Trump ties

Garance Franke-Ruta
·Senior Politics Editor

A CALIFORNIA CONGRESSMAN, AFTER ALL. Republican Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, represents Fresno and the agricultural Central Valley of California, a district he won over his Democratic challenger in 2016 by a whopping 36 percentage points. But he’s still a congressman from California — and that means protests in his home district over his actions.

“Embattled Republican congressman Devin Nunes was met by about 300 angry protesters when he returned to his California district on Friday for a speaking engagement,” reported ABC News. “Armed with signs that read, ‘Get out of bed with Trump,’ ‘What are you hiding #Russia,’ ‘Nunes step down now,’ and ‘Recuse or replace Nunes,’ Nunes’ detractors were very vocal about their disdain for him.”

Fourth-generation Central Valley farmer Suzanne Fortier told the Fresno Bee, “I have very serious concerns about Nunes. He has not been on the right side of a lot of issues as far as I was concerned for a long time, but now with his antics on the Intelligence Committee, I’m very concerned.”

Kay Bertken, 70, protests Rep. Devin Nunes
Kay Bertken, 70, protests Rep. Devin Nunes, who visited Fresno, Calif., on Friday. Nunes, a Republican, is facing intense criticism as chair of the House Intelligence Committee for his handling of an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. (Photo: Scott Smith/AP Photo)

A small group of seniors calling themselves the “Raging Grannies” sang, “Our congressman just doesn’t get it. He wasn’t elected by Trump. He better learn we are his bosses, and stop kissing Trump on his rump.”

“Nunes was there for a private meeting, to talk about water issues in the valley. Many of the demonstrators said they want the local politician to recuse himself from the Russian probe, and said he’s too close to the President to be effective,” reported YourCentralValley.com. Protester Charles Markham told the site, “We need to get Nunes to step down. He’s not qualified to do his job because he’s tied in too deeply with the White House.”

A group affiliated with the Indivisible activist network is planning to hold weekly vigils outside his office on Tuesdays.

PROTEST PARTY AT IVANKA’S. Ivanka Trump’s neighbors in the Kalorama area of Washington, D.C., were already miffed by Secret Service intrusions — and disruptions — to their exclusive, quiet, residential neighborhood. Saturday night’s “Queer Dance Party for Climate Justice” protest in the street outside her residence did little to help smooth those ruffled feathers. It may have quietly amused those of her neighbors whose front yards spot pro-immigrant signs in what seems like a clear rebuke of her father’s policies. But protesters twerking for change and chanting “Ivanka Trump, come dance!” led to a confrontation with at least one neighbor, who told the boisterous young crowd to scram.

During the transition, it appeared that Ivanka might emerge as the administration point person on climate change issues, having invited Al Gore to Trump Tower for a meeting. But the Trump administration, now that it has taken office, has aggressively sought to roll back Obama-administration measures designed to slow the advance of human-created climate change.

THE BATTLE AGAINST GORSUCH. A coalition of some of the more leftward leaning of the new activist groups, along with some older ones, is pressing the Democratic Party to abandon support for senators who say they will vote to confirm U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch.

“Liberal activist leaders plan to deliver a petition Monday to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) urging party leaders not to give campaign funds to any senator who votes for Gorsuch or strikes a deal to advance his nomination,” reported The Hill. It added that activists heading to DSCC headquarters Monday include Claire Sandberg, co-founder of #AllofUs and WeWillReplaceYou.org; Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action; Kurt Walters, director of Demand Progress; Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of Ultraviolet Action; and Sabrina Williams of #VoteProChoice.

That meeting comes on the heels of a strong anti-Gorsuch push from a different coalition of progressive groups over the weekend, which held small rallies in a dozen cities around the country under the banner of The People’s Defense over the weekend. The campaign, using the hashtag #WeObject, aims to filibuster the Gorsuch nomination, and follows a six-figure ad buy by the coalition of groups urging Senate Democrats to filibuster Gorsuch.

“Activists are now vowing to make Republicans pay a political price if they decide to rip up Senate rules to push Gorsuch through with a simple majority vote,” reported Politico. “And if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does kill the Supreme Court filibuster to confirm Gorsuch, liberals say they’ll still come out on top — having further emboldened a base that wants Democrats to brook no compromise with Trump.”

It would take forty-one senators opposing Gorsuch to block his nomination or force Republicans to trigger the “nuclear option,” doing away with the Senate filibuster for Supreme Court votes. The People’s Defense vote tracker counted 36 Democrats opposing as Monday dawned, with 3 supporting his nomination, and the rest still undecided. By midday Monday, the count had grown to 40 against.

And Indivisible — as well as a number of other groups — are tying Gorsuch’s nomination to the ongoing investigations into Trump’s campaign ties to Russia, arguing that until those investigations into the campaign are settled no Democrat should back a lifetime appointment made by the president.

TAX MARCH PARTNER LIST GROWS. The April 15 Tax March on Washington now has more than 100 sister marches planned across the country, up from 80 less than a month ago.

Last week the march planners expanded their partner organization list by a whopping 27 groups as well. They are: Change.org, 32BJ SEIU, Demos, the National Domestic Worker’s Alliance, Alliance for Democracy, Center for Economic and Social Rights, Coalition on Human Needs, Coming Clean, Demand Universal Healthcare, Endangered Species Coalition, IOWA CCI, Moms Rising, Money Out Voters In, National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center, NELP Action, Other 98, Patriotic Millionaires, People’s Action, People for the American Way, ProgressNow, Roots Action, State Innovation Exchange, UltraViolet, Urban Citizens for Social Justice, and Workmen’s Circle.

Groups that signed on earlier to back the Tax March — and that provided early organizing or material support — include the American Federation of Teachers, Americans for Tax Fairness, Center for Popular Democracy, Indivisible Project, MoveOn.org, Our Revolution, and the Working Families Party.

BILL NYE SAYS MARCH. The popular science star wrote a blog post for the Planetary Society announcing he will help lead the Earth Day march: “The Planetary Society will join the March for Science on April 22, 2017. I am serving as an honorary Co-Chair for the March, and The Planetary Society is an official partner. I will march at the main event in Washington, D.C., but there will be upward of 400 sister marches around the world. We will assemble with citizens everywhere, whether they are formal scientists or thoughtful citizens from other walks of life, to march in support of science.”

IT BURNS. Someone built a robot that prints Trump tweets and then burns them.

The latest from @BurnedYourTweet:

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