Ted Cruz wants to use $14 billion seized from El Chapo — to pay for the wall https://t.co/psJworoZBv
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 25, 2017
… even less useful, and not quite as popular!
That money’s already earmarked for the tunnel that’ll go under the wall. https://t.co/sjzBeNlWjk
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) April 25, 2017
Some people are too clever for their own good, Ted Cruz is not clever enough https://t.co/Qp5d9I17bs
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) April 25, 2017
After all, he got his GOP arse kicked by *this* mook…
… The wall, of course, was the biggest applause line for Trump throughout his campaign — often taking the form of a call-and-response with his approving crowds. And given how divisive it is, inserting it into must-pass legislation like a government funding bill seemed to be the best way to get what Trump wants…
Fast forward a little more than 24 hours, and Trump apparently abandoned that demand. With still four days to go in the funding battle, he showed his hard-line stance wasn’t so hard-line, after all. Basically, he had his bluff called — again.
He took what is likely his best chance at getting funding for something he promised to voters dozens upon dozens of times, and he didn’t even bring it close to the finish line to make Democrats sweat. Indeed, the likelihood that Congress is going to agree to fund the wall at a later date seems considerably less than it would be this week. Trump has essentially taken his wall and turned it into a metaphorical wall — substituting increased enforcement — rather than a brick-and-mortar one.
This kind of bluffing and having it called is undoubtedly something Trump is used to in the business and real estate worlds. But in the political world, you are negotiating with the same people over and over again. And the lesson of the first two big congressional debates is that when Trump says a bill must contain XYZ, he doesn’t really mean it; it’s just posturing. And that doesn’t bode well for future Trump demands….
From the Washington Post‘s pages to Murphy the Trickster God’s ever-cocked ears, she said piously.
TenguPhule
I don’t even know where to start with the stupid that is Ted Cruz.
JGabriel
WaPo via Anne Laurie @ Top:
I wonder how the Trump-supporting Creationists – who demand a literal interpretation of everything – are feeling about this newly metaphorical wall.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Trump didn’t have his bluff called. He claimed he had pocket aces, and then folded before flop.
bystander
@TenguPhule: Start by pulling his toenails out and work your way up. We all know how you like to devise special beauty treatments for these guys, so some of us are a little disappointed in your lack of imagination in Ted’s regard.
Tony J
Glancing at the Guardian site I see they’ve taken to calling him Humpty Trumpty, and it fits. Cracked and helpless at the foot of a fictional wall, all the G.O.P.s fascists and all the G.O.P.s moneymen can’t put Donnie together again.
Elizabelle
Who gives a shit about this topic? Really.
I think about those suffering the limitations of mortality (hello there, dear greennotGreen, and others and their loved ones and friends) and wonder why anyone would want to spend any lifeforce talking about Ted Cruz and thinking about chili farts.
Anyone else up at this hour?
Alain the site fixer
@Elizabelle: I am. And like you, greennotGreen is heavily on my mind.
Elizabelle
@Alain the site fixer: Insomniac? Do you live on European time? Did we hear any further about green? (I’ve missed about 85% of threads; did see a report that the family had relented and would pay for the beloved parrots’ care and thus no GoFundMe.)
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Awake, yes. Up is debatable.
Elizabelle
@NotMax: LOL. It’s raining very lightly here. Gloomy day, but have some good hot coffee. Would actually be a perfect time to work on my Spanish, which is horrible. Last summer’s lessons did not stick. Think I will subscribe to “News in Slow Spanish.”
ETA: And the actual rain is rare in Barcelona. It was grey and gloomy a lot of yesterday, with some clearing …
Alain the site fixer
@Elizabelle: woke up before 5 and decided to just go with it today. Like so many here I do have sleep issues, but got a pretty good night of sleep. I’ve heard nothing about green but will search the comment archives once I get to my upstairs office a bit later this morning and I’ll see what’s up. Hope the day goes well in Spain and sad about the rain! And yes there’s a rhyme in there but I’m not awake enough for wordplay!
Mark
Sell some bonds to the rubes to pay for the wall. Mexico can repay the bond holders. That should work out real well.
Patricia Kayden
@JGabriel: Actually increased enforcement is a more sensible way to stop illegal migration than a literal wall but who knows if Trump supporters are smart enough to figure that out.
Joyce H
@Mark:
No, better yet, have them buy the materials! Like the brick walkway leading to the local library, with bricks inscribed with the names of the donors. Run an infomercial, telling supporters of the wall that they will get THEIR VERY OWN NAME inscribed on a piece of the wall. And then build the wall as the funding permits. That would take… a while.
Mark
@Joyce H: Sounds like a good idea. Thinking outside the box is fun.
NorthLeft12
The other part of negotiating that Deadbeat Donald is particularly inept at is completely self inflicted. His addiction to publicity and self promotion only broadcasts how miserably he is failing.
Private deals between a few parties are fairly easy to keep quiet and controlled, but when you openly state your bottom line, then get forced off it time after time in prime time across the world……well, there is no place to hide.
Although Donald then just lies through his teeth and claims previous reports were false/fake. What a maroon.
Ian
@Elizabelle:
Ted Cruz is talking about civil asseture forfeit. Many give a ”shit” about this because it is police departments stealing money from the people they police. Now calling for an international arms and drugs dealer’s money to be seized and used for the public good may seem popular, the legal principle is fucked.
Hey you- you just got a DUI? Hand over all the cash in your pocket. The police need that, for evidence or something…
JoJo
@TenguPhule: Well, Jim Sensenbrenner wants to introduce a bill to seize money from Mexican drug dealers to pay for the wall, which is pretty much the same idea. I’m sure we will here more such innovative ideas in the near future.
satby
@Elizabelle: @Alain the site fixer: I’m sure we’re all thinking of greennotGreen, I know I have been too. Sending love gnG!
JPL
@satby: So sad.
laura
@TenguPhule: It’s best not to start . . . .
laura
@satby: GreennotGreen, you are present in our hearts.
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: one of green’s last posts indicated her prognosis gave her only days. She may just not be feeling well enough to post. She did indicate that she had told her sister to communicate with us, after she had passed. I’m guessing that that hasn’t happened yet, however…
Uncle Cosmo
@satby: I’ve been debating whether it would be appropriate to share this story, but…here goes:
I don’t want to hold out false hope. But things like this happen. Not often. Not nearly often enough. And no one knows why, or when, or to whom.[2] So unless & until the saddest news comes (as it comes for us all eventually), let us think positive thoughts for greennotGreen & hope that somehow it helps.
—–
[1] Maybe for some reason the light suddenly went on in his immune system: hey, that’s how we can tell the bad guys from the good, now let’s go git ’em! But no one knew, & still no one knows, how to turn on that light.
[2] If they did they’d bottle it, & probably (in this vicious everything-for-sale world) trademark it & charge a king’s ransom.