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

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

they should just make it a straight-up tit-for-tat and call his bluff: the wall in exchange for DACA.

isn't this exactly what he wants? the DACA/dreamer thing is despicable (in part) because most people (apart from the far right) agree that they shouldn't be deported. the wall in exchange for DACA is a dream scenario for trump and (almost all of) the right - they get their big stupid prize in exchange for protecting dreamers, something that shouldn't have been up for debate in the first place.

No matter of the outrage, the Democrats are still the minority party. And their powers extremely limited right now. The real gamble is the elections in 8 months. Talk about representative democracy in action, a vote for Democrats in November is a vote for impeachment, DACA, pretty much anything the Democrats want. Though even if the Democrats got the Senate and the House, they still need a veto-proof majority, I don't know what that number is.

The flip side is, if the Democrats fail to make significant gains in November, then pretty much game over.

for that matter, a vote for the Democrats in November is a vote to undo or limit any compromises made before then.

Schumer probably gonna negotiate a deal in which the Dreamers physically build the wall in exchange for a clean DACA vote

afaik there have been a number of bipartisan proposals put forth that won protections for Dreamers in exchange for the wall PLUS onerous changes to legal migration, and those offers were still rejected by the White House.

that's insane

every Congressional Democrat needs to have "DACA has the votes. The wall does not" tattooed on their foreheads

Immigration reform has mostly been rejected by GOP house leadership because of the Hastert rule, iirc. If Dems take the house, comprehensive immigration reform should be first priority.

the wall in exchange for DACA is a dream scenario for trump

Maybe it was, but now he, Miller, Kelly, Freedom caucus and others also want legal immigration cut in half, diversity immigration ended, family relative chain migration changed, etc

do these idiots ever spend one second thinking about the pure logistical nightmare of apprehending and deporting nearly a million people who pay taxes and have families

Thousands of ICE agents just achieved simultaneous climax thanks to that post.

hey, if any of you ever hear about someone that is deported and is not a criminal, please let me know. there is a very close family member that has pledged to apologize to me if she ever finds out that someone was deported that isn't a criminal. trump only cares about deporting the criminals, he doesn't want to deport the non-criminals (says she)

I'll save you the time and just say "they were here illegally, so technically they were criminals the whole time"

Any right-thinking children of undocumented immigrants would immediately leave their criminal families and start crawling toward their home country as soon as they're ambulatory.

(And, naturally, report their parents as soon as they've mastered basic sentence construction.)

i can see how you guys stay high on the Dems, zero expectations makes it easy peasy.

Sorry, which strawmen itt are 'high on the Dems' again?

I mean yes, when two options are proffered, I prefer a gutshot to a (explicitly racist) headshot but not by a whole helluva lot.

the Dems are basically useless but they're not pure evil so yes I will be voting and canvassing for them every time

I mean, you've been beating that drum for years, Morbs, but rarely do I see much in the way of actual excitement about the Dems around these parts.

let me rephrase; i see "but but but" above for last night instead of deserved castigation

Morgan Stanley analysts expect companies to pass only 13% of Trump tax cut savings directly to workers, vs 43% to share buybacks.

For manufacturers, it's 9% / 47%. pic.twitter.com/J3RCJjPJhr

— Jim Tankersley (@jimtankersley) February 9, 2018

woohoo, about $92 more in take-home per month for me. I am winning.

nah Morbs I totally support tossing out Pelosi, Hoyer, and everyone else in this party more obsessed with decorum than basic humanity. this party needs young blood, they need attack dogs, and most of all they need people with actual conviction. feel like the entire party clapped so hard at Michelle's "when they go low, we go high" line that it damaged their brains and now we're in a situation where Dems have to apologize profusely for accepting Harvey Weinstein's money while Steve Wynn (who *actually* worked for the RNC) can step down without any such scrutiny. bring on the Randy Bryces, I say

https://media.giphy.com/media/gFwZfXIqD0eNW/giphy.gif

I still have an attachment to Pelosi (a) the only Dem with any power to call bullshit (b) the only one who can hold a caucus together. Wednesday's performance hasn't really soured me. Hell, if someone wants to challenge her, by all means.

Even if every Dem voted no (including red-state ones), and the government was shutdown (for however long), I don't think Ryan would have moved on DACA.

Breaking —> In this morning’s senior staff meeting, Kelly offered account of Porter exit that some White House aides consider untrue. My latest with @jdawsey1https://t.co/pIUEDmL2vE

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 9, 2018

"some consider untrue"

That is a perfect story/photo combination.

Even if every Dem voted no (including red-state ones), and the government was shutdown (for however long), I don't think Ryan would have moved on DACA.

Exactly. Ryan is a cultist. Nothing will change his mind about anything, so he - not Pelosi - must be removed from power.

BREAKING: Trump says he wishes aide accused of domestic violence well, hopes he’ll have a great career ahead of him.

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) February 9, 2018

also: very sad time for him, remember he said he was innocent

unsurprisingly, no mention of the ex-wives

Wait, that's not a joke?

NEW: President Trump says former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter is "innocent and I think you have to remember that ... we absolutely wish him well." Porter resigned from his role amid allegations of abuse https://t.co/qVQ3I3Yo8t pic.twitter.com/MikaC2ZaBA

— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 9, 2018

^ i don't believe that's correct, he said "he said he was innocent" not that it makes any difference

true, which i imagine is why that tweet's been deleted

ah

I think that, in ordinary times, I'd characterize the whole Porter affair as a sign of moral turpitude. (Antique phrase.) But today, I'm inclined to shrug -- which I know is wrong. Deviancy has been defined down, down.

— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) February 9, 2018

Oh Jay, whither your standards.

aw pep up jay, i'm sure your sense of morality will return as soon as it's politically convenient

actually might as well tweet that at him, i'm back on twitter, that's what it's for