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Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Sunday, August 24, 2025

Chris Armitage: The legal foundation for soft secession was written by conservative justices who never imagined blue states would use it. Yale Law Professor Heather Gerken calls it "uncooperative federalism." States don't have to actively resist. They can simply refuse to help. And without state cooperation, much of the federal government's agenda becomes unenforceable.

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The infrastructure is built. The legal precedents are established. The money is there. Blue states have spent two years sharpening these tools. Next week, the governors meet again. The agenda, according to three sources, includes a discussion of whether to coordinate state tax policy to offset federal cuts.

As blue states prepare to deny federal agents access to their databases, their highways, maybe even their airspace, the soft secession isn't coming. It's here.

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More from the cited article ...

... Behind closed doors, blue state leaders are planning. They're war-gaming scenarios where federal agents show up and continue to transgress further and further past what is "legal." Daily the courts are showing that that something is legal when Trump wants it to happen, and illegal when he doesn't. How does a government function under these circumstance?

For many state Attorney Generals and Governors, the legal briefs are already drafted. The strategy sessions have been running since December. "We saw this coming, even though we hoped it wouldn't," former Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum told The 19th days after Trump's inauguration. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-08-24 10:59 PM | Reply

@#1 ... We saw this coming, even though we hoped it wouldn't," ...

Looks like a total 20/20 back vision of what has happened.

Stated differently, why have Democrats not reacted to it?

Even now, after they seem to admit they saw it coming?

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-08-24 11:01 PM | Reply

@#2 ... Even now, after they seem to admit they saw it coming? ...

No wonder Democrats seems to view their current representatives so poorly...

Chuck Schumer: Favorable/Unfavorable
www.realclearpolling.com

...
RCP Average 5/3 - 8/3
Favorable: 27.7
Unfavorable: 47.0
Spread: -19.3
...

Yeah, a new group seems to be needed.


#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-08-24 11:29 PM | Reply

Careful, Chuck is drafting a strongly worded letter at you, lamp.

#4 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2025-08-25 12:33 AM | Reply

"Blue states are finally learning what red states have known all along: you don't need federal permission to govern."

Wow, its as if they just discovered the 10th Amendment.

#5 | Posted by Miranda7 at 2025-08-25 12:52 AM | Reply

Wow, its as if they just discovered the 10th Amendment.

Does that apply in a national state of emergency?

#6 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-08-25 01:02 AM | Reply

@#5 ... its as if they just discovered the 10th Amendment. ...

How is that comment applicable to the current situation?

thx.


#7 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-08-25 01:26 AM | Reply

Wow, its as if they just discovered the 10th Amendment.

Does that apply in a national state of emergency?

Posted by REDIAL

Eh, he read something about a comment regarding the 10th amendment and is being a good parrot.

That's all.

#8 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2025-08-25 02:15 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

#9 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2025-08-25 02:15 AM | Reply

Nice catch! :-)

#10 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-08-25 02:31 AM | Reply

Finally!!! I'm so happy they are starting to realize that when you survive only because you have daddy to run to, it's not going to last forever. Reps have been waiting for Dems to finally realize this. Please, for the love of country, continue down the road until you get to a point where your entire survival is only dependent on Federal defense. Everything else can and should be done at the state level. That's how this country was founded and how Reps want to govern.

Now, all we can hope is that, during the transition, you don't inherit the greediness of Reps because typically when you have to start actually fending for yourself, you can start to get greedy because you know there aren't many safety nets. You don't want to help people as much because you are busy trying to make sure your situation is sustainable.

Man, all of these lessons that liberals can start learning now is exciting! Before they were too close-minded and hiding in their "everyone can have everything they want at all times" reality of unicorns and rainbows to ever learn things in actual reality. But it seems maybe some minds are open. And, it's not a bad thing everyone. Just change your ideologies in a smart way so you don't end up like Reps.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of doubts that will happen considering politicians are in play here.

#11 | Posted by humtake at 2025-08-25 11:46 AM | Reply

"Please, for the love of country, continue down the road until you get to a point where your entire survival is only dependent on Federal defense. Everything else can and should be done at the state level. That's how this country was founded and how Reps want to govern."

All the poor Red states, which is about 2/3 of them, would go bankrupt if we governed like that.

All the rich Blue states, which is about 2/3 of them, would have a huge economic surplus from not supporting the aforementioned Deadweight Red States.

#12 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-08-25 02:11 PM | Reply | Funny: 2 | Newsworthy 2

"written by conservative justices who never imagined blue states would use it. "

"Let me tell you what you were thinking"
-Carnak the lefnificent

Bonus* two more freshly minted linguist treats. For when "quiet quitting" isn't quite fitting...

#13 | Posted by easy_meat at 2025-08-25 03:50 PM | Reply

Love hearing people who don't work call other people who don't work "quitters."

#14 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-08-25 04:12 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

Blue States Prepare for 'Soft Succession'
~Quitters.

Newsom is taking the lead here.....

People: We want, and voted for less crime ..
Newsom: Best I can do is more homeless.

Governor Gavin Newsom leaves Prop 36 funding out of revised budget
www.capradio.org


Love hearing people who don't work call other people who don't work "quitters."
#14 | POSTED BY SNOOFY

Who isn't working? Just making stuff up again?

#15 | Posted by oneironaut at 2025-08-25 04:58 PM | Reply

Think Tank Urges Dems To Drop These 45 Terms That Turn Off Normies

A left-leaning think tank is urging Democrats to stop repelling normal human beings with the use of a deep grab-bag of woke words and phrases. The road to electoral Hell is paved with good intentions, writes Third Way: "The intent of this language is to include, broaden, empathize, accept, and embrace. The effect of this language is to sound like the extreme, divisive, elitist, and obfuscatory, enforcers of wokeness."

www.thirdway.org

#16 | Posted by easy_meat at 2025-08-25 05:22 PM | Reply

All the rich Blue states, which is about 2/3 of them, would have a huge economic surplus from not supporting the aforementioned Deadweight Red States.

#12 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-08-25 02:11 PM | Reply | Flag:

LMAO Sure thing. California, the richest of them all is running a deficit so big they started cutting school and community college money by $15 billion.

#17 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2025-08-25 06:19 PM | Reply

Yeah, poor California with it's 4th largest economy in the world.

#18 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2025-08-25 06:22 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

"California, the richest of them all is running a deficit so big"

Trump's richer and his deficit is bigger, my little dancing boy.

#19 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-08-25 06:24 PM | Reply

Trump hasn't taken a 10% share in NVDA, AAPL, GOOG, and META yet?

Can't he afford to buy the top California tech companies?

#20 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-08-25 06:40 PM | Reply

Is the democratic party showing signs of life?

No balls but life.

#21 | Posted by fresno500 at 2025-08-26 11:31 AM | Reply

Finally!!! I'm so happy they are starting to realize that when you survive only because you have daddy to run to, it's not going to last forever.

HUMTAKE

You mean how red states get back MORE from the federal government than they send to the Treasury, as opposed to blue states, right?

#22 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2025-08-26 12:37 PM | Reply

LMAO Sure thing. California, the richest of them all is running a deficit so big they started cutting school and community college money by $15 billion.

#17 | POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

Laugh it up yucker. $12 billion dollars is a rounding error in California's budget.

California had a $12 billion deficit in an overall $322 billion budget in a $4 trillion dollar economy.

(This deficit is because revenues are lower than anticipated based on federally created economic turmoil and expenses in some areas such as Medi-Cal are higher than anticipated.)

#23 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-08-26 12:57 PM | Reply

$20b deficit. They lied about the $12b. $1.6 trillion in total debt based on current liabilities.

"Persistent structural deficit"

Like the Fed.

#24 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-08-27 09:20 AM | Reply

Unless they rug pull everybody in the state on those pensions. That'd save a trillion.

#25 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-08-27 09:21 AM | Reply

in an overall $322 billion budget

#23 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-08-26 12:57 PM | Reply | Flag:

Fed funding is 50% of that budget.

Have a nice succession.

#26 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2025-08-27 09:24 AM | Reply

California actually provides about $83 billion more to the federal government than it receives [3].
factually.co

#27 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-08-27 09:31 AM | Reply

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