I doubt there is anything especially unique about Richard Burr. GOP leaders would prefer you did not know this, but Republicans are feeling deeply queasy about Trump right now. His manic behavior is increasingly putting them between an impossible rock and a hard place. If we cannot help having a compromised lunatic at the helm then AT THE VERY LEAST we should insist on cabinet-level officials who can find their own department with a map.
Has your Republican Senator heard from you lately? Check in and encourage him or her to stand up for some basic minimum qualifications in cabinet nominees. Yes I know that evil plus competency gives you Dick Cheney. Maybe that does not seem like much of an upgrade, but Trump goes insane when people tell him no. The Republican party could collapse into bloody infighting. Why not help that along? Also let em know that if they mess with Medicare you will personally drive your grandmother to their local ffice and leave her there until she runs out of things to yell.
You know what else is fun? Getting together with twenty five thousand of your best friends and having a dance party. I found out later that Pittsburgh actually had TWO marches; apparently organizers got in a social media fight with each other and the two camps each held their own march. Did any readers attend the one in East Liberty?
Here is the part where I climbed a lamp pole to get a good crowd shot and almost fell off at the end.
Raoul
That was worth watching to the end! :)
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I don’t wish that I had a Republican senator right now, so I could call them and bitch at them about their manbaby president. I almost wish I did… But not quite.
rikyrah
He boarded Air Force One and DID NOT TURN AROUND TO WAVE.
You know…as Presidents have done for DECADES.
PS-Nobody was there to meet him at the airport in Philly.
BWA HA HA HA HA AH AH AH
TaMara (HFG)
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Want my zip code so you can call mine? He’s evil and I don’t think that’s hyperbole.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I haven’t seen a list, but the word this morning is that only 17 Dem Senators have committed to a ‘no’ on Sessions. And even if yours is a good one, it doesn’t hurt to thank them for doing the right thing. I believe they keep a pretty simple tally on these things, too.
also, too
TaMara (HFG)
@rikyrah: Context?
MomSense
At the sister march I attended we sang that song, too. I was with a singing group which was a lot of fun.
kindness
Pretty sad when liberals can’t agree on marching against Trump. See November elections if you need another example.
Mnemosyne
Not enough pink hats! Your Pittsburgh crafters fell down on the job.
I’m already sorting through my stash to find some nice summer weight pink cotton. Maybe in a simple lace pattern for ventilation in the summer heat. ?
Also, leaders of the local activist group I’m joining up with are meeting with Gov. Brown today with the support of our new partners at the National Action Network. Yes, it’s Rev. Al Sharpton’s group, but they know how to do sit-ins and protests.
If having a bunch of middle-aged, middle-class white women in pink hats helps the cops stay calm during a protest, I am happy to go be a foot soldier and support the people doing the actual hard work.
Raoul
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks: Hmm. I might need to call Corey Gardner again. The other day I had a chirpy but stupid Denver staffer try to deflect my ACA concerns.
I’m not technically a voter in CO (and I’m not going to be registering in two states, thank you). But I am a homeowner, taxpayer and job creator here in CO. Looking out the window right now at the current -10F wind chill in the high country, in fact.
My citizen-home is MN, and while Klobuchar can be a bit of a buttered waffle sometimes, we’ve got a decent pair of senators.
rikyrah
@TaMara (HFG):
He boarded Air Force One- on his way to Philly for the GOP Retreat…
When Presidents walk up the stairs to AFO, right before they enter, they turn around, and wave back.
He didn’t do it.
Also, when the President comes to your City, it’s usual that the Governor and Mayor of that city are there, at the bottom of the stairs, to meet the President.
NOBODY WAS THERE to meet 45.
Villago Delenda Est
The more astute among the Rethugs (a very small number of the total) are slowly becoming aware that when Donald falls (and he WILL fall) he’s taking all of them with him.
Raoul
Let’s give this man some love, too
TaMara (HFG)
@rikyrah: LOL. Thanks I needed that today.
crawdad
Oh my! Trump’s approval rating is at 59%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_jan26
Mike J
Since the White House public comment line isn’t operational, some people have just been using the Trump Hotel. (202) 695-1100.
mdblanche
No, because my state hasn’t had one for 10 years. Any advice for those of us so blessed?
Renie
Not just GOP getting hammered with calls, I can’t reach Schumer and Gillibrand’s office
David Anderson
We got to save our country but we can have some fun doing it :)
hovercraft
@crawdad:
And I’m the Queen of Sheba.
Another Scott
Very nice!
Did you shoot that video on a Pixel? The very smooth panning with very occasional jerks seems to be a feature of those phones.
Just curious. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
hovercraft
@David Anderson:
Good for you and everyone else who got out. The only thing better would have been if someone was filming the idiot up on the pole who almost fell off and busted his ass ;-)
The Truffle
@crawdad: Isn’t Rasmussen pretty biased toward the GOP?
Topic? Schumer and Gillibrand are my senators, and lately I’ve been happier with Gillibrand than Schumer. Their phone lines are totally jammed. I tried Schumer’s Hudson Valley office and the mailbox is full.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Yes, our group is talking about doing some similar things. We are also organizing some phone calls and letter writing re: health care.
JPL
I guess we are paying for the wall after all.
Renie
OT Bannon says News Media Should ‘Keep Its Mouth Shut’
Ryan
If you think you’ve seen meltdowns before, just wait until they take away the Presidency in another month and leave him with his twitter.
JPL
@Renie: Was there an or else?
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
The Republican leadership doesn’t care. Trump will be propped up no matter what until at least these two major issues are done: tax reform, featuring major tax cuts for the wealthy and the end of the estate tax; and filling the Supreme Court vacancy. Replacing Obamacare, Medicare and Social Security reform would be icing on the cake, but a tax bill and a new Supreme Court judge are “must do” items.
Trump could start foaming at the mouth and sending Twitter messages out 24/7 and the GOP would make sure that this would be dismissed as a minor incident blown up by the liberal media.
Elmo
@Mike J: Speaking of fucking with his hotel operations, Any idea what the last-minute cancellation-with-no-charge policy is?
Asking for a friend.
Mike J
@Elmo: I was wondering that myself. Even if you had to cancel two weeks in advance, a large number would certainly throw projections and pricing off.
tobie
@JPL: Isn’t the Trump administration inviting the WTO to get involved, if we place a 20% tax on imports? What are the penalties for doing something as bone-headed as this?
SiubhanDuinne
This is a great line from Mr. Charles P. Pierce:
He’s talking about the imperative that every.single.Democrat in the Senate vote against Sessions as AG.
“You didn’t get elected to get re-elected.” I love it.
EDIT: Sorry, forgot link. Here:
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a52607/democrats-senate-jeff-sessions-vote/
Kristine
@Raoul:
And Tim F posted
::laughing::
Balloon Juice, I love you so. Don’t ever change.
zhena gogolia
@Ryan:
What makes you think that’s going to happen?
hovercraft
Trump White House wings it with dubious executive actions
01/26/17 01:03 PM
By Steve Benen
Trump has wasted little time, issuing a series of executive orders, directives, and actions, despite months of rhetoric – from the president and his congressional allies – about the tyrannical dangers of the White House making policy without Congress.
But putting hypocrisy aside, Politico reports today that the situation is even worse than it appears, because the West Wing has made “little effort to consult with” the federal agencies affected by Trump’s latest actions, “stoking fears the White House is creating the appearance of real momentum with flawed orders that might be unworkable, unenforceable or even illegal.”
The White House didn’t ask State Department experts to review Trump’s memorandum on the Keystone XL pipeline, even though the company that wants to build the pipeline is suing the U.S. for $15 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo were “blindsided” by a draft order that would require agencies to reconsider using interrogation techniques that are currently banned as torture, according to sources with knowledge of their thinking.
The report added that members of Congress weren’t consulted or notified, agency experts didn’t review the actions before their announcement, and even White House staffers don’t know what’s in the new orders, which were reportedly written by Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, the authors of Trump’s controversial inaugural address. (As a rule, we wouldn’t expect to see a White House in which political writers are responsible for crafting executive orders. They’re very different kinds of products.)
The only other administration that began with such swift executive actions was Ronald Reagan’s, said David Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former official at the Federal Trade Commission. Those directives were more heavily vetted.
“If you don’t run these kinds of initiatives through the affected agencies, you’re going to get something wrong,” Vladeck said. “A government by edict is not a sustainable idea.”
That maxim is being tested.
Politico added that Trump is relying on his “improvisational style.” Or put another way, an amateur president, surrounded by aides with no governing experience whatsoever, are winging it, taking executive actions without really thinking things through.
Those who take governing and public policy seriously have reason to be alarmed.
Spanky
@Renie: Good! Glad to see the facade start to crack.
But I’m not clicking on a NYT link.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
JPL
@tobie: America First
hovercraft
@The Truffle:
Scott Rassmusen is a republican pollster, his polls are heavily skewed towards them, but he tends to smooth them out the closer an election gets. So bullshit, unless and until I see this across several polls, I’ll stick with Underwater Donnie sucks the big one, and we mostly hate him.
Immanentize
@Renie: Bannon looks and sounds like a big drunk….
Spanky
@Brachiator: Actually, “voter fraud” is first out of the gate, trying to ensure a permanent Republican hegemony. You can bet the Republicans in office are on board with that!
Elmo
@Mike J: I travel a ton. I usually stay in Marriotts, and last year I treated myself and my wife to a great vacation in San Diego exclusively with points. Hotel, valet parking, on-site food, even a massage.
Every hotel I’ve ever stayed at only requires that you cancel by 6pm or similar the day before your planned arrival. I’d imagine large numbers of such cancellations would play merry hob with hotel revenue.
Not that I’d ever countenance such a scheme. Because that would be wrong.
hovercraft
@tobie:
He doesn’t know anything so when people tell him the shit he’s doing is going to blow up in his face, he doesn’t believe them.
Another Scott
@Elmo: The reviews at Travelocity are all over the map.
Their Special 10% off deal is to pre-pay the full amount at least 14 days in advance with no refund for cancellation or reduction in the number of days.
What a bargain! :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@crawdad:
Wait, do they always poll “likely voters” for approval ratings? That seems very weird.
Renie
@Spanky: Irony is he said that while giving NYTimes the interview.
rikyrah
UNITED WE STAND
NEA: more than one million letters emailed to U.S. Senate in opposition to Betsy DeVos
— U.S. Senate Update (@USSenateUpdate) January 26, 2017
Miss Bianca
@TaMara (HFG): And to think we dumped Udall for that piece o’ crap. I’m steeling myself to call his office.
rikyrah
Here comes the enemies list.
Virginia group to publish Nazi-like blacklist of businesses ‘openly hostile’ to Trump
rikyrah
Trump moving forward with “the wall” is an all-out assault on our values. Americans of every race, gender & creed will hold him accountable.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) January 26, 2017
rikyrah
@crawdad:
It’s Rasmussen
Miss Bianca
@JPL:
Oh, this is going to end well.
rikyrah
Cheeto Benito still has AN UNSECURED PHONE!!!!
DA EVERLIVING PHUQ?!?!??!?!
M31
a friend sent me a pic from the Pittsburgh march (not sure which one) of someone holding up a sign saying
“TRUMP: Yinz is a Jagoff”
LOL, yup, that’s Pittsburgh alright
Spanky
@Miss Bianca:
Meh. It’s going to “end” as soon as Herr Twittler pukes up another harebrained scheme to pay for his Precious. I’m thinking the shelf life of this scheme is ~48 hours.
Calouste
@JPL: I think the US imports a heck of a lot more than $75 billion per year. Where does the rest of that money go?
A Ghost to Most
@TaMara (HFG): Corey certainly is. I was just thinking about sending him another letter.
nelle
Crafters – someone here made herself a small pink pussy hat, stuck a big safety pin through it and wears it on her coat. It’s not just for marches.
I’ve got my Congressional reps DC and local office numbers in my phone and I’m calling them (all Republicans) so often that not only do they know me, I know how Kay’s cough has come back and how Chad and everyone else in that office is getting worried, though the dr. won’t put her on antibiotics (I’m recommending that cough syrup with codeine). If one line is busy, I call another one. I object carefully to one or two specific things and request that they tally my views, but I treat them as human and some of our conversations have lasted up to twenty minutes.
Yesterday, I was talking to one staffer about the implications that Congress, an equal branch of the government, is not to have contact with the agencies who provide the data that (one would hope) influence their laws. I said that you can have all the alternative facts you want but Kansas farmers deal with the real world and they won’t be impressed with a senator that doesn’t protect them. And that that senator needs and deserves access to real information on the environment and from the department of agriculture. The senator is head of the Senate Ag Committee. I did notice that the gag order on that department was lifted late yesterday.
Today, I had about fifteen minutes with a staffer of my rep, who yesterday announced no more public office runs – she will serve this term and that’s it. I encouraged him to talk to her about the immense opportunity this offers her to make a stand for truth and moderate Republican values (hey, it is Kansas and I truly think the country is better with two or more rational parties) – that she can make a mark on history by leading in this way. I don’t think this will go anywhere – she is rather squishy. But I at least wanted to plant the idea in someone’s mind in that office.
Brachiator
@Spanky:
The Republicans already have this. They have gerrymandered districts and soon a compliant Justice Department that will drop all voter suppression investigations. The “voter fraud” nonsense is just Trump’s ego running wild.
But states will freely use the “voter fraud” myth as an excuse to increase their voter suppression efforts.
Renie
@Miss Bianca: Trump’s supporters won’t understand this will increase consumer prices here in US; so it’s all good PR for Trump to his base.
Spanky
@M31: (Trump, scanning news pics about the demonstrations): “Steve, what language is this?”
(Bannon, peering over his shoulder.) : (Pause) “I have no idea, sir.”
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
I know TPM had the story via the Vichy Times, but there’s been barely a peep about it in the media today. As I said yesterday, given how the e-mail server was the biggest security threat in the history of the nation to the media, where the hell are they now? Asshole, Benedict Arnold’s. Steve Benen has a piece about it.
oklahomo
@Immanentize: Sometimes he looks like he just crawled out of an alley after spending the previous evening huffing paint.
PPCLI
@M31: Did any sign say “Trump needs impeached!” ?
Gelfling 545
@JPL: Did anybody tell him that the President doesn’t just get to say 20% tax and it becomes law?
hovercraft
@Miss Bianca:
I saw somewhere, can’t remember where that Mexico is actually looking at getting out of NAFTA. Between nixing the TPP, and his vow to renegotiate NAFTA, who knows we may soon be living in the America First paradise. Too bad if the side affects are crippling, he’ll have completed the purist dreams of the far left and his followers. WIN !
Iowa Old Lady
@Miss Bianca: OMG, these people have no idea how the economy works.
Immanentize
@oklahomo: He really does — but now he has that super excellent free socialist health care which might land him a new liver.
Immanentize
@PPCLI: With a picture of a sweet kitten?
NotMax
Have never heard of Red Rabbit, but I heartily applaud their integrity and forthrightness.
Never heard of Twelve Rounds either, but a mental note now etched in stone to avoid their product.
Kay
My daughter went to one in Pittsburgh. I’ll ask if she was with the “east liberty faction”
Sounds like something she’d do :)
She said it was 60 degrees so turned into a bit of party. I approve of that. No one will come back if it’s too grim.
oklahomo
@Immanentize: It worked for Cheney…
trollhattan
@M31:
Yinz made me dive for da Googles and I wasn’t disappointed.
Shana
@hovercraft: Forgive the vagueness of this, but while I was listening to one of the NPR shows earlier today, the host was talking to a Mexican Economic official who said that actually, Mexico really likes NAFTA, it’s been good for the Mexican economy.
Kay
The New York Times now basically exists to assure us that Donald Trump is an okay President.
They’re the explain-away-Trump paper. “What he MEANT was..” and then something all tidied up and oddly …mind-reading.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@rikyrah:
Any word it was they snubed Trump or Trump’s people simply forgot to tell anyone the president was coming?
Immanentize
@oklahomo: Liver transplant, heart transplant — if they only had a brain!
Richard Mayhew
@rikyrah: OK, I know where to shop
Richard Mayhew
@rikyrah: OK, I know where to shop
sloan
If you’re on the phone ask about EPA Superfund sites too!
My wife works for an EPA contractor working on those sites and they can’t get a straight answer as to whether their contract will be renewed next month. Which is in 5 days.
These sites need to be actively managed and staff needs to be kept in place in order to function. People are already quitting left and right. This is everyone’s drinking water and the water used to produce all the food you eat. It could be randomly contaminated if the sites are not cleaned and monitored on an ongoing basis.
If not, I’d start drinking bottled water.
Fucking third world bullshit.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
You in Sac? This really blew up Tuesday and now I’m wondering if he’ll be in bidnez by Sunday.
Hasten to add it’s possible wingnut beer fans could keep him afloat (heh). Back when Limbaugh was here a fan opened “Dittos” cafe where the acolytes ate lunch and listened to ol’ Rush. One never knows….
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@crawdad: Daily approval tracking, WTF? Rassumun says NOT ENOUGH NOISE! They need to do hourly approval polling. It’s the information age. Do it in real time!
Immanentize
@trollhattan: yinz, yous, y’all… We really do want a “you” plural, don’t we?
hovercraft
@Shana:
It’s been great for all three economies, no matter what the protectionists say. I think the move to look into leaving is being driven by the noises coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., if he does what he claims he will do, or tries to re-negotiate it to the detriment of Mexico, they will look to pull out. Yes it is good for them now, but what will it look like after he mauls it?
evap
@Brachiator: I don’t understand this argument. Pence would sign all of these as well.
Kay
This is such a good question. They can’t actually believe that Trump promoting them constantly as “tough!” is intended to harm them, right? It’s obviously flattery. He sees this as an alliance- he plays one role, they play another and both entities benefit. It’s a variation on good cop/bad cop. They’re both COPS, is the thing in that scenario.
The Moar You Know
@NotMax: I would have bet money it was one of my local idiot brewers (hundreds of brewers here and not a one of them can brew a decent beer, wtf) but no, it was a likely equally incompetent brewer from San Diego Norte instead.
Being able to grossly over-hop a batch of wort does not a professional brewer make.
NotMax
@Shana
Linked to this a while back, but worth another look-see.
Mike J
March to release Trump’s taxes, April 15.
http://taxmarch.org/marches/
stinger
I called my 2 R senators this morning. Made sure I had something I could commend them for, and then told the staffer that I hoped they’d vote against De Vos–education is too important and this nominee is completely unqualified. Both staffers took my name and sounded like they were recording my opinion. I’ll call them again before the vote on the 31st.
Lizzy L
NYT Breaking News: T is proposing a 20% tax on Mexican imports to pay for the wall. He intends that it should be extended eventually to all imported goods.
I wonder if someone has told him that he cannot impose taxes by fiat, that taxation is Congress’s job, specifically, the job of the House…
A Ghost to Most
@Immanentize:
I attended college in PA, and my wife grew up next to Hershey. The language they used amongst themselves always eluded me.
MCA1
@rikyrah: Typically shortsighted, however. They’ve unwittingly probably helped the businesses who go out of their way to express their Drumpf hate because they fail to recognize two things: (i) that right now there’s a helluva lot more people out there who would take their list and use it as a handy-dandy “support these businesses” guide, and (ii) Trumpanzees generally live lower on the socioeconomic scale than the Resistance, so their withholding of revenue isn’t going to amount to much, anyway. That’s the thing that’s always amazed me about the valuations of the Trump brand going up recently – the people who support him are by and large people who could never afford to stay in his shitty hotels, anyway, and/or people who are literally afraid to go to the big city. Half of the people who have stayed in his hotels have vowed never to do so again, and hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses have already cancelled group and conference center reservations after their workers have risen up in objection to staying there. His brand is shot in the one business where it was lucrative.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Slightly to the west – by approximately 2400 miles. ;)
Another Scott
@Mike J: Ah, it’s another Saturday. No excuses not to have a big turnout!
Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
@Calouste:
Into the actual cost of building the wall. All the kickbacks to Trump aren’t going to be cheap, you know.
Brachiator
@evap:
Pence is a dull little religious freak who does not have Trump’s juice with the voters. And for some reason, Balloon Juicers and others think that displacing Trump would be a piece of cake. I don’t think this is true.
A Ghost to Most
@efgoldman:
Yeah, I’m sure that even inn Cali, there’s no shortage of bigoted beer drinkers.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Ah, in the suburbs then. :-)
Don’t worry, I can boycott him IN PERSON for both of us. He’s a block or two away from my PT.
Roger Moore
@Immanentize:
Unfortunately, too much of Washington needs a courage transplant.
Mike in NC
@oklahomo: Kathleen Parker wrote that Bannon looks like somebody who sleeps in his clothes, possibly on a street grate.
Peale
@Lizzy L: We’ll have to see. Right now, auto companies seem to be responding by stopping some future projects, which really doesn’t do anything. I don’t think this is legal under NAFTA. Marc Thiessen was writing stuff about how Mexico can’t do anything about it because it has an import tax, but I don’t think that’s on US or Canadian goods.
For now, I’m fine with this and it should be encouraged. It actually isn’t “Mexico” paying for the wall. Its US companies paying for the wall, with the expense passed on to US consumers, who voted for the wall. I don’t think Mexico should respond with its own taxes on US products that are meant for its consumers. That just hurts Mexican who might need those products.
If we are going to elect a nut, our voters need to pay for these things.
JPL
@NotMax: This is good news for China.
The Moar You Know
@Brachiator: Seconded, also, Pence does not have Bannon writing all this crap for him.
But yeah, actually removing Trump from office would be a GOP civil war, and it’s one I think Trump wins easily. He can get the flying monkeys revved up like nobody else in the partei can.
ETA: what we all see as insanity the core GOP voter sees as vindication, and a long-overdue delivery on promises made 40 years ago.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Lizzy L: Estimates are that close to 5 million Americans would lose their jobs if the 20% tariff is imposed on Mexican goods.
Ian G.
@Renie:
Call the local offices. I got through to both Schumer and Gillibrand’s Long Island staffers to tell them that Sessions must be opposed no matter what. I told Schumer’s staffer that Chuckie needs to use whatever procedural tricks he had to gum up that nomination.
Gillibrand, I know is going to do the right thing. I still worry about Schumer sometimes. He’s too chummy with the GOP, Wall St, Netanyahu, etc. for my taste. He’d better vote no.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brachiator:
I’d agree with you but there is this whole Death Watch vibe over Trump. I keep on dismissing it as I am liberal and hear what I want to hear but there the small inauguration crowd, his leak like a sleeve staff who are scapegoating each other already and the guarded comments from Republicans in Congress. And it’s just in the first week, this is truly strange to watch in action.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
I just saw the craziness of Trump’s proposed 20 per cent tariff on Mexico’s imports. He claims he discussed this with the GOP leadership.
Damn. He definitely plans on taking them down with him.
Mike in NC
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Not to mention a trade war with China would leave the shelves of WalMart stores empty and their employees holding pink slips. Looking forward to the Great Trump Recession of 2018.
Spanky
I’ve been told and told by my financial betters (sic) that what Wall Street hates most is uncertainty. Yet here we are in the middle of all this upheaval, and the Dow sails placidly along above 20K. If I didn’t know better, I’d be tempted to believe that they don’t really care, as long as they’re promised moar monies.
oklahomo
@Mike in NC: He’s like a living example of “the Pigpen” trope.
Renie
@efgoldman: I email them too but always get that standard ‘thank you’ back. tried calling instead. my daughter interned in gillibrand’s office one semester and said they just mark on a list what your position is on a topic but I like that tons of people are calling.
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
Yep. I’m in Southern California. Trump supporters here (and probably those in Arizona as well) got a tingle to their very soul when Trump finally announced the wall construction. These people have felt betrayed for years by a GOP that only gave lip service to their concerns.
And Trump’s supposed jaw boning with Big Business to keep jobs here is a repudiation of the Wall Street and Chamber of Commerce GOP that never gave a shit about workers, and never even pretended to give a shit, except for blowing free market nostrums up their asses.
The Moar You Know
@Mike in NC: Wouldn’t be a “recession”, I’m not sure there’s a word for how bad it would be. We can live without Walmart’s cheap crap. What we can’t live without are computers and phones, and the vast majority of the parts for those are made…in China. And it’s not like you can just throw up a factory and start churning them out, even without all the regulatory stuff a fab plant takes 5-6 years to plan and build under ideal circumstances.
Captain C
@rikyrah: All the better for his puppeteer to listen in. Or, more likely, he doesn’t know or care why that may not be a good thing for a man with his job.
Calouste
@The Moar You Know: China mines 95% of the world production of rare earth minerals. You wouldn’t even be able to build certain electronic parts without those, so besides the manufacturing plane, you’ll have to start up a mine somewhere.
Brachiator
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: RE: Pence is a dull little religious freak who does not have Trump’s juice with the voters. And for some reason, Balloon Juicers and others think that displacing Trump would be a piece of cake. I don’t think this is true.
I don’t totally understand the Trump phenomenon. I don’t know that anyone does, completely.
But I do know this. We watched Trump take on the entire GOP establishment, from the dull Jeb Bush mainstream, to the New Age Rubio, to the Tea Party Ted Cruz crazies, and crush them. Trump rebuffed every weak Republican demand that he play by their rules and be nice to them, or even take the pledge that he was a true Republican. Instead he bent them to his will, even though they had every opportunity to dump him in favor of a safer candidate before the was fully embraced by GOP voters.
Now it is too late to stop him. He is a freaking political Keyser Soze. And whenever the oh so wise pundits declare “surely, Trump cannot get out of this jam, surely he has gone too far,” Trump manages to rise up again to cause more havoc.
I don’t know that Trump can keep this up for a full presidential term. But I don’t know what it might take to finally slow him down.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: At this point, I’m just watching the whole thing like it’s a play. Or a horror movie. Doing my bit – picking my battles, contacting my reps – but I’m not going to get into the prediction game because, as Adam S has pointed out: we know it’s going to be bad. What we have no way of knowing is how bad it’s going to get.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
In the thread above, I linked to an essay by a Venezuelan about the long fight to get rid of Chavez. It seems a little more on point than some of the comparisons to Russia.
ETA: Also, too, I still think our best option is to swing the House and Senate back to the Democrats because even if Trump manages to get himself thrown out, we’re still stuck with Pence, who is less flashy but creepier.
catclub
@Spanky: I always thought it was confiscating remissions of money to Mexico – at least in Trump’s head – why not?
catclub
Trump had a list of things he was going to do in the first 100 days, and he is going down the list checking them off.
The interesting one to me is a Constitutional amendment for term limits. I wonder if that will just be dropped.
the list is here. [pdf if you care] the wall, banning muslims, federal hiring freeze, are all there.
catclub
my posts with https pdf links get dropped. any reason why?
Trump is going down his list of things for the first 100 days (google seach trump contract america for the item)
build the wall, muslim ban, federal hiring freeze, …etc
the funny one is a constitutional amendment for congressional term limits. I wonder if that is going to just get dropped.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
His body. The man is 70 years old and not in good physical condition for a man his age. His mental condition is extremely questionable, too. He’s already shown signs of strain from the campaign. I suspect that he’s going to have a very hard time keeping this up for a whole term, even barring a serious medical event like a heart attack or stroke.
catclub
@Roger Moore: You could be right, but we have been saying he won’t live until the convention and he wont live until the election. I think he is much more durable than you and I would hope.
Amadan
Cross-posting from LGM:
… to which Scott P responded with the delightful:
Make it a meme, people! Dems have to OWN the #25AmSolutions hashtag.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore: RE: I don’t know that Trump can keep this up for a full presidential term. But I don’t know what it might take to finally slow him down.
Interesting speculation, but at best woefully incomplete and lacking in any real knowledge about Trump’s health.
I wonder, though. As president, can he still avoid an honest and comprehensive medical checkup?
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
I took a look at it, but I am not sure how it applies. The main opposition in Venezuela were racist, entitled Deplorables. And they were ineffective. Chavez outlasted them politically and was only stopped by dying. Since then, the country is plunging into slow chaos.
Hmmm. Maybe this IS applicable to the damage that Trump might do if left unchecked.
Bill Arnold
@Immanentize:
Friend said that he “looks like he lives in a van to make abductions easier”.
However, Bannon has respectable talent IMO. Entirely misdirected talent, but still.
(That was a quizzical comment on Bannon’s dress and grooming mainly; normally Trump has a thing about personal appearance, e.g. Bolton rejected because of his mustache; for some reason Bannon got a pass. It would be irresponsible not to speculate, as is said. Not sure why Trump trusts him so much. )
Bill Arnold
@Renie:
I’m wishing for audio of that interview at the moment.
Kathleen
@oklahomo: He looks like he never takes a shower. My eyeballs itch just looking at his picture.
BItter Scribe
Would those be the Republicans who have been in a coma for the last two years?
EJ
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
Fortunately one of my Republican senators is Rand Paul. Now, Mitch McConnell is hopeless, but Rand, for all his many faults, seems to be as aghast as any other sane person is at Trump, and his office has been pretty responsive.
Gretchen
I live in Kansas. Somebody is organizing Tuesdays at Pat Robert’s office every week. He had 15 people last week. 147 people are interested this week. In Kansas. I’m willing to bet that this has never, ever happened before. So if I go, what should I say? Which of the many issues out there would you present if you were to go to Pat Roberts’ office hour?
I went to Rep. Kevin Yoder’s last office hour for the first time ever. I waited in line for more than an hour, and then had to get back to work. It had never occurred to me to go to one of his office hours before. The line was out the door and around the block, and I got the impression that people weren’t there to tell him that he is doing a terrific job. I’ve called his office multiple times, and his office help sounds sick to death of constituents.
Gretchen
@Mnemosyne: Really, who could be afraid of a middle-aged white lady in a pink hat?
Gretchen
@BItter Scribe: No, those are the Republicans who thought they could ride this tiger to victory, and are suddenly realizing that they are the tiger’s lunch.