Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

In after Baud. Damn.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Second rate reporter says what?

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / The Republican Conundrum

The Republican Conundrum

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Amusing piece in the Hill about how the infrastructure bill is stuck:

The timing and fate of President Trump’s infrastructure plan may depend on whether the GOP enacts major tax reform — a task that could prove challenging amid the struggle to pass a healthcare bill.

Republicans are signaling that a massive rebuilding package, which has long been one of Trump’s top priorities, will most likely have to wait on the sidelines until lawmakers overhaul the tax code.

But with that process likely to be just as time-consuming and daunting as healthcare, infrastructure could be pushed to the back burner.

“I’d like to see infrastructure get done,” Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the Senate’s No. 3 Republican and chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told reporters Wednesday. “But I’ve always said, that in terms of how things are sequenced, it’s more likely that they would do tax reform first. And that might push infrastructure into sometime next year.”

First, let’s point out that infrastructure week was June 6th, six weeks ago, replete with all the pomp and circumstance including an official signing ceremony:

Two problems- he had no plan or bill, congress had passed nothing, and he was actually just signing a potemkin bill. Adding to that minor detail was the fact that Comey was testifying and it sucked all the oxygen out of the week.

Second, let’s note that the Republicans don’t really care about infrastructure. They just don’t. All they care about is cutting taxes for their rich buddies. That and winning elections. That’s ALL THEY CARE ABOUT. So the infrastructure bill simply is not a priority and won’t be. Ever.

The only reason they are still going on about health care is because Trump wants to replace Obama’s signature legislation and health care is where the money is at for tax cuts. That is it. They want to “reform” health care so they can get down to what they really like, which is cutting taxes for rich people. And if they can gut ACA and get a couple trillion for tax cuts, they can pretend to fiscally conservative because they are not “adding” to the deficit and debt.

But even if they don’t gut the ACA, they are going to try to cut taxes for their rich buddies. Because that is WHAT THEY DO and the ONLY THING THEY CARE ABOUT. Even if it raises the deficit and debt. They’ll just lie that growth will lead more tax revenues mumble babble Reagan laffer blah blah blah. It’s a fucking lie, of course, but lies don’t matter anymore because their base is a bunch of clueless numpties who just repeat what they are told.

So iffin’ they even actually get around to writing an honest to god infrastructure bill, it won’t amount to jack and shit because all of a sudden they will become fiscal conservatives and deficit hawks and we can’t add to the deficit even if it keeps bridges from crashing down. Because an infrastructure bill benefits everyone, and not just their rich buddies in the form a tax cut.

If Republicans wanted to really do something about infrastructure, there was a really good time to do that. When we were in the middle of an unemployment crisis and interest rates were almost negative. We could have borrowed trillions on the cheap, rebuilt our roads and airports and power grid and maybe even had enough left over to make sure the people of Flint, MI don’t have to drink bottled fucking water for the rest of their god damned lives. That actually might have led to a robust recovery, because you would be putting money into the hands of people who would spend it instead of addled old billionaires stashing it in whatever fucking derivatives the Wall Street boys are creating a bubble with right now.

The end.

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    It all goes back to tax “reform” with them. That’s the alpha and omega with them; everything else is an afterthought.

  2. 2.

    piratedan

    and if we’re ever lucky enough to stop these fuckers and actually have a Democracy again, one of my first priorities would ask them to increase taxes on rich people and get all of this dark money out of our politics…

  3. 3.

    Fester Addams

    Expecting the infrastructure plan to be selling all the roads and bridges to rich people, who will then charge us to use them. Seems obvious.

  4. 4.

    Dolly Llama

    Second, let’s note that the Republicans don’t really care about infrastructure. They just don’t.

    Respectfully disagree, Mr. Cole. Many of the rich dudes will get WAY richer off those projects. I’m frankly surprised a make-everything-a-toll-road/bridge-type giveaway wasn’t the first thing those fuckers did. I’m doubly surprised a grifter like Trump wouldn’t have front-burnered that and figured out how to extract tribute from every project, no matter how small. Like Vlad. Or the mob.

    ETA: And Fester got there first.

  5. 5.

    Yarrow

    addled old billionaires stashing it in whatever fucking derivatives the Wall Street boys are creating a bubble with right now.

    Wonder when the next crash is coming and if the crazy traitor in the White House will have anything to do with it.

  7. 7.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I’m in the “roll the tumbrels and grease the guillotine rails with the rendered fat of the condemned” camp.

    The product from Chuck Todd alone should assure about 15-20 slides.

  8. 8.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Fester Addams:
    @Dolly Llama: Exactly, this is what Trump said when he got back from KSA; they were going to fund infrastructure, see, no problem. I’m sure the Saudi’s know how to do a Return on Investment, so there’ll be a return for them. Even if not, when the hell did we become a charity case?

  10. 10.

    But her emails!!!

    As others have said/hinted at, the “Infrastructure” bill isn’t about actually repairing, upgrading, or building new infrastructure. It’s actually:

    1. Selling off existing infrastructure to rich people at below market rates
    2. Giving rich people tax credits and tax breaks to do whatever remotely infrastructure related projects they had already intended to do anyway

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    “If only that RINO Eisenhower and a compliant Democrat Congress hadn’t rammed the interstates down our throat, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

    /upcoming RWNJ talking point

  13. 13.

    oldster

    “That actually might have led to a robust recovery, because you would be putting money into the hands of people who would spend it instead of addled old billionaires stashing it in whatever fucking derivatives…”

    When you and I get a little extra money, we buy food and a few goodies.
    When the rich get a lot of extra money, they buy politicians.

    And they make damned sure they stay bought.

  14. 14.

    smintheus

    It’s not our imagination that Republicans think tax cuts are the solution to every problem. Here’s Nathan Lewis, “Tax Cuts are the Solution to Everything”:

    Left-leaning commentators always like to make fun of the Wall Street Journal op-ed page and other such right-leaning outlets who are often quick to recommend a tax cut in the face of virtually any economic problem. Whatever pops up, the “rich people” are there with their tax cut plans. What a bunch of sleazeballs!

    […]

    Actually, a tax cut usually is about the best thing a government can do, in virtually all situations.

  15. 15.

    ? Martin

    Lost in all of this is that all of these things would actually be easy if the first requirement of accomplishing them wasn’t that they had to pass a majority of the majority. Every single thing in the Senate has a minimum bar of 96% of the Republican vote, and it’s not that much better in the House. Legislation that enjoys that level of support is rare, and it’s even rarer when the minority caucus which was excluded can beat the bushes and protest against it. It’s just a really incredibly stupid way of trying to govern. But the GOP has institutionalized this kind of autocratic rule. I’m not sure they can operate without it.

  17. 17.

    PPCLI

    Selling off previously government-owned property at bargain basement rates to well-connected insiders created a comfortable clique of multi-billionaires after the fall of the Soviet Union.

    Trump and his pals just want to reproduce that success story here.

  18. 18.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    Don’t forget the upcoming debt ceiling limit. No coherent budget yet, and what little of one there is, it’s a disaster that cuts millions and billions from crucial services, like Medicaid.

  20. 20.

    jl

    First of all, is not Cole supposed to be on vacation?

    Second, I disagree with Cole’s conclusion at the end of his post. There is a third thing the GOP loves, and that is getting on the government protected crony capitalist gravy train. So, I think there is still a good chance of some action on infrastructure. If that happens the problem is that it will be a pure 100% GOP partisan tax credit, subsidy and public asset give-away.

    If a GOPer sees a chance to get him or his funders or his buddies on the government funded and protected crony capitalist gravy train, the he or she will give some lip service and put up some window dressing about fiscal responsibility, but then will bust the budget wide open on a vast scale. And later on, getting the money back will be tough. And in the mean time, nothing useful will be built, that wouldn’t have been built anyway. It will just be more expensive, and poor and middle class will pay for almost all of it, and almost certainly pay more than once.

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    For Want of a Nail

    For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
    For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
    For want of a horse the rider was lost.
    For want of a rider the message was lost.
    For want of a message the battle was lost.
    For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
    And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The only way you could get the GOP interested in infrastructure is if there were some way to immediately plunder it for fast cash.

  24. 24.

    trnc

    Second, let’s note that the Republicans don’t really care about infrastructure. They just don’t.

    That’s not completely true. For instance, Hastert really wanted the interstate routed by land he owned in the middle of nowhere.

  25. 25.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @NotMax:
    Every true patriot knows that the Articles of Confederation were what the Founders really wanted but socialists made them adopt the oppressive Consitution!

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    @PPCLI: Yup. We need to remember that there are lots of people out there who think that the Interior Department needs to sell off (or give to the states) all the national parks and more.

    And half the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

    Grifting opportunities galore!! :-(

    They’ll take everything that’s not nailed down (and even stuff that is) if we don’t keep an eye on them and fight them every single day.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  31. 31.

    TenguPhule

    @smintheus:

    Actually, a tax cut usually is about the best thing a government can do, in virtually all situations.

    I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that this man’s head would be equally intelligent detached from its neck and mounted in front of a business college on a giant pike with a sign saying “Do not behave like this guy.”.

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The only way you could get the GOP interested in infrastructure is if there were some way to immediately plunder it for fast cash.

    Their current infrastructure “plan” is tax cuts to businesses combined with selling off federal assets to private ownership and paying those private owners to do so. Seriously, that’s their actual plan.

    These people are idiots. Idiots in positions to do enormous damage to us all.

  36. 36.

    PPCLI

    @Another Scott: LOL about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, etc economies are suffering badly because of the low price of oil. What to do? I know! Flood the market with a tsunami of more cheap oil! That will solve all the problems…

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    Don’t forget the upcoming debt ceiling limit. No coherent budget yet, and what little of one there is, it’s a disaster that cuts millions and billions from crucial services, like Medicaid.

    What’s driving me to screaming madness about this is that the STUPID FUCKS HAVE NOT EVEN SCHEDULED THIS FOR A FUCKING VOTE. These idiots have been in government for years now and should be well fucking aware of the law of government inertia. It takes time for things to proceed because of the process and this lag is built into the whole fucking system from top to bottom.

    If these suicidal morons don’t wake up soon, it will be TOO LATE no matter what they do to stop the unthinkable.

  39. 39.

    lgerard

    Republicans are signaling that a massive rebuilding package, which has long been one of Trump’s top priorities, will most likely have to wait on the sidelines until lawmakers overhaul the tax code.

    trump’s only interest in infrastructure rebuilding was due to his private plane experiencing a delay in landing in NJ and then noticing a few ceiling tiles were missing in the Lincoln Tunnel from the back of his limo

  40. 40.

    TenguPhule

    @smintheus:

    These are the kind of people we’re up against.

    What I would condemn that DA who would say and try to do that to a 12 year old rape victim is literally unprintable here.

  42. 42.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): 70% should be the minimum we settle for as a top marginal tax rate. It’s widely agreed by economists to maximise government revenue, and expropriating the money they’ve stolen from the middle and working class (because let’s be honest: that’s what they’ve done over the past forty years) is at this point the least our government can do. I’d even be open to arguments for higher tax rates for the wealthy (government revenues be damned; restricting the super-wealthy’s economic power is arguably a more important ethical concern), a maximum wage, or a flat-out restriction on the maximum total amount of money/property one person can control.

  43. 43.

    TenguPhule

    Republicans are working to keep you from your day in court

    Its just one of those days ending in Y again.

    Once upon a time, Congress recognized that the proliferation of mandatory-arbitration clauses was a problem.

    As part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, Congress gave the newly created CFPB the authority to ban or limit forced arbitration in connection with consumer financial products or services, though the law said the agency had to do a study first.

    Since then, the CFPB has conducted two studies examining the prevalence of these clauses, and their effects on consumers and the financial system. After an extended comment period, the agency issued a final rule this month saying such clauses can no longer be used to block class-action suits.

    Consumers can still go through arbitration if they wish. But they also now have the option of banding together with other consumers if a lot of people have been hurt similarly.

    In other words, the CFPB gave consumers more choices.

    Which, again, sounds like something Republicans should support.

    Instead, on Thursday, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) announced legislation to kill the CFPB rule using the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to nullify executive-branch regulations by a simple majority vote, so long as they act within 60 legislative days.

    First the cops, now the banks are free to start robbing us.

  44. 44.

    TenguPhule

    Asshole vs. Asshole.

    Treasury officials fined ExxonMobil $2 million Thursday morning for signing eight business agreements in 2014 with Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Rosneft, an energy giant partially owned by the Russian government. The business agreements came less than a month after the United States banned companies from doing business with him.

    Hours after the fine was announced, Exxon filed a legal complaint against the Treasury Department — naming Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as the lead defendant — while calling the actions “unlawful” and “fundamentally unfair.”

    Tillerson vs. Mnuchin, may the worst one lose.

  46. 46.

    encephalopath

    If their tax cut scheme adds to the debt and the deficit they can’t pass it under reconciliation rules, and the Democrats can filibuster it.

    They absolutely need to steal that 1+ trillion from the healthcare system to do anything else on their agenda. If they don’t get that money, they will end up with nothing.

  47. 47.

    TenguPhule

    @p.a.:

    We can’t not be living through a Twilight Zone episode.

    Worse, its an Outer Limits Episode with a cruel twist premise.

  49. 49.

    encephalopath

    And as Booman says, the only way they get that infrastructure bill is if they get the Democrats to write it, otherwise there is no way to get the votes to pass it.

  51. 51.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @p.a.:
    Imagine if you will a poor, ignorant person’s idea of what a rich person is like. That person is Donald J. Trump. Traitor, tax cheat, and jerk.

    Enter a world in which this boorish, stupid, idiot is President of the United States. Enter the Twilight Zone

  52. 52.

    Spanky

    @p.a.:

    We can’t not be living through a Twilight Zone episode.

    Well, so far as we know, Trump hasn’t sent anyone to the cornfield. So we got that going for us.

  53. 53.

    Patricia Kayden

    Well said, John. I expect any infrastructure plan eventually proposed by the GOP will be rife with multi-billion contracts to companies with Trump connections.

  56. 56.

    TriassicSands

    John Cole wrote:

    Second, let’s note that the Republicans don’t really care about infrastructure. They just don’t. All they care about is cutting taxes for their rich buddies. That and winning elections. That’s ALL THEY CARE ABOUT.

    C’mon, John, you know better than that. Hurting and humiliating poor people is right up there, too.

    Republicans feel obligated to cut taxes on the rich, but they enjoy hurting poor people. It’s the difference between business and recreation.

  57. 57.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @encephalopath:
    DINGDINGDINGDINGDING
    We have a winner:

    If their tax cut scheme adds to the debt and the deficit they can’t pass it under reconciliation rules, and the Democrats can filibuster it.

    They absolutely need to steal that 1+ trillion from the healthcare system to do anything else on their agenda. If they don’t get that money, they will end up with nothing.

    I was thinking earlier today, “Why don’t they just pass a budget?” It’s not that hard, and there doesn’t seem to be major disagreement that the budget should look pretty much like last year’s, not at all like what Trump proposed. And then I realized that everything depends on stealing all that money from healthcare. That means that nothing else – not infrastructure, not a budget – can be considered until they gut healthcare.

  60. 60.

    Aleta

    @WaterGirl: They want to force a person who can’t afford maternity and childbirth to bear a child who will not get needed medical care.

  61. 61.

    encephalopath

    @Aleta:

    Would they could they use the nuclear option to pass an increase in the debt/deficit?

    Yes… certainly. But destroying the filibuster so that Republican can blow a giant hole in the nation’s finances. Who is that supposed to play to?

    They keep saying that the worst thing ever is that we pass the national debt on to our grandchildren even if half the worlds coastal cities are are underwater due to not doing anything about global warming. Well at least we didn’t increase the national debt. They really seem to believe that.

    Conservatives are all about tribal identity and loyalty above all else, but who would that that budget busting move play to? Billionaires would love the giant tax cut. What is the Republican brand if you kill the filibuster for a billionaire tax cut?

  62. 62.

    Mnemosyne

    @smintheus:

    If you read the comments, for once you will gain a little faith in humanity. Even the avowed “pro-life” commenters say that the court made the right decision not to victimize a child any further.

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    @Aleta: And what does it do to your body to have a child at 12? And I’m not talking about stretch marks!

    So let’s summarize. A little girl of 12 is raped, they want to force this child to bear a child of the person who raped her. They don’t care what happens to her body, her psyche, her soul. She is nothing. No one gives a shit about this girl or about the baby once it is born. These people are being creepy, and interestingly enough that is the mentality of a rapist, to see women as a thing not a human being.

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