US Politics, February 2018: Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots

I don't get what they're so worked up about? Are they pissed about a deal that might get a few Dem votes?

Trump griping to Priebus about Kelly and asking others what they think of Mick Mulvaney as chief of staff. https://t.co/xRzspSsjFB pic.twitter.com/tHbvnRtAMP

— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) February 9, 2018

Doesn't he have two jobs already?

pic.twitter.com/ba6epQY2PI

— Dave Weigel 🦅 (@daveweigel) February 9, 2018

Make sure to click through for the punchline.

oh man

someone really wants kelly out https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/08/john-kelly-rob-porter-security-clearance-400987

we have a shutdown btw

Just to recap:

This week: spousal abuse
One week ago: the memo.
two weeks ago: Trump moved to fire Mueller, against lawyer's wishes
three weeks ago: shutdown!
four weeks ago: "shithole" and porn star payoff
five weeks ago: "Fire and Fury" and Bannon excommunication
six weeks ago: New Year's Day

you have to kind of admire rand paul's commitment to pissing people off

I bet he got in a bit of golf, too.

we also have a "stock market correction" so the shutdown of the government isn't even the top story on nyt, whattatimetobealive

#shutdown2electricboogaloo trending

i do appreciate him making a grand show of calling out the GOP's hypocrisy on the deficit (even if he didn't have any problem passing a massive tax cut and adding to the deficit a few weeks ago)

I love how the stock market correction is just kind of an addendum to this nonstop bullshit. "And to top it all off ... "

btw in case anyone missed it, this ran in The Albuquerque Journal today; they had to issue an apology almost immediately

DACA, Dreamers, Illegal, Immigration, Trump, Delonas, Sean, Cartoon, pic.twitter.com/X4NrNTeBLR

— sean delonas (@seandelonas) February 4, 2018

Senators are still expected to vote in favor of a far-reaching budget deal in a series of votes that will begin around 1 a.m. The House is to follow before daybreak, though the outcome in that chamber is less certain. If the House approves the deal, the government would have reopened before the work day begins.

So ... if the House approves and Trump signs, this is over by morning. If the House punts or Trump fucks it up (again), more shutdown.

Didn't Groundhog's Day happen already?

wow that cartoon wtf

some very fine cartoonists on both sides

Hicks has been dating disgraced former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter.[31]

sean delonas is fucking gross. he was in-house at the new york post for more than 20 years. extrapolate from that.

Insane that that was published

Hicks has been dating disgraced former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter.[31]

― "Taste's very strange!" (stevie),

Do white house colleages usually date one another? When I was an RA in college I was dating another RA and we had to keep it a secret and that job was considerably lower stakes than this

I don't know whether I'm more offended by the cartoon, or by the cartoonist tweeting a string of SEO keywords.

Gotta respect the hustle

Back to Porter though. He’s obviously a fucking monster. The White House’s equivocal response to this is stunning.

It is?

their equivocal response has, frankly, grabbed me by the pussy

It’s in character but it’s fucked up. I think people should note that Kelly’s response has been one of the worst, saying he felt privileged to have served alongside him, etc. people think these military guys are the voice of reason in the admin but kelly is a noted misogynist — he made a reallt weird series of comments in the wake of Weinstein too

recognized in 2017, 2016, AND 2011 by misogynists' monthly

John Kelly is as big an asshole as his dad and nothing these creatures says surprises me anymore.

Pentagon got more dough than Yam asked for so THAT's good!

Had no idea Gene Kelly had such a poor reputation.

Re: the budget, it seems on first scan that the Dems did get a lot out of this, a lot of what they wanted in their so-called "better deal," like a much longer extension of CHIP and lots of other domestic spending. That's in part what pissed off Rand Paul. Have no idea, strategically, what separating immigration does, except rid the Dems of leverage and make it harder to pass any positive immigration legislation.

Heh:

“When Rand Paul pulls a stunt like this, it easy to understand why it's difficult to be Rand Paul's next door neighbor,” Dent told Politico.

Yeah, I'm still surprised about all the dark mutterings and conspiracy theories around that altercation. Paul getting into a fight with his neighbor over lawn maintenance is just about the most believable thing ever.

you're not going to live next door to Rand Paul for any reasonable length of time without having a go at him

I bet he has bad breath.

I want to not think about these people any more than necessary but I'm a little curious if Hicks and Porter are going to keep dating. "Hi honey, how was work?"

Good luck to those crazy kids.

The bit where she had to draft the WH statement that Kelly wanted to defend Porter made me feel sorry for her for a bit.

btw congrats to the Dems for more meaningless grandstanding before ultimately caving yet again, I'm sure they won't pull the football away next time

eh, there was meaningless grandstanding on both sides this time. and I'm not sure it's fair to call it caving, when they was little doubt it was going to pass. With Democrat support.

Pleasant bunch of people

a) senior WH officials, incl. Porter, were blaming Lewandowski, fairly or not, as they were reaching out to Hatch to get a statement (w/out telling Hatch exactly what the allegations were)

b) Corey has indeed been trying to ratfuck Rob on other things!https://t.co/cbUU05ed8q

— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) February 9, 2018

he's talking about the FEMA contract for 350 million meals in Puerto Rico that went to the clueless person who went to a wedding caterer for help.

― Karl Malone, Thursday, February 8, 2018 11:13 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ok i hadn't heard about this but have now discovered this delightful detail on this unfortunately in-over-her-head individual

She is the an author of several books: Daily Reflections of Life: A Book of Affirmations for the Ambitious (2010), Prayers of a Faithful Woman (2011), Anger: How to Control It So It Won’t Control You (2014) and Beware: The Risks to Faith Based organizations regarding political advocacy and corporate sponsorship (October 2018 Release).

beware indeed

Corey seems like the Trumpiest of them all. He hits people, too.

Well, they preserved their leverage on DACA.

And then they successfully created a situation where Dem votes were needed in the House so the threat of using it was credible.

So the plan was looking good.

And then they … didn’t do it. https://t.co/6pgTBqKPS5

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 9, 2018

I guess the only leverage the Dems still have is that Trump really really wants this wall. they should just make it a straight-up tit-for-tat and call his bluff: the wall in exchange for DACA. I know it's really shitty to gamble with people's lives like that but at this point the only other scenario I see is the GOP just asking for more and more concessions until they get everything they want.

i'm not a master negotiator, but i don't see why the wall is acceptable for any dem under any circumstances -- dude spent two years screaming about how mexico was going to pay for it, let him work it out

exactly