The details on the size of the dump that Trump took on Ryan’s head yesterday are still coming out:
President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling, three people familiar with the decision said.
Trump and Schumer discussed the idea Wednesday during an Oval Office meeting. The two, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.), agreed to work together over the next several months to try to finalize a plan, which would need to be approved by Congress.
One of the people familiar described it as a “gentlemen’s agreement.”
The debt ceiling is the kind of stupidity that Ryan venerates and Trump sees, rightly, as standing between him and stuff he wants. Why not team up with Pelosi and Schumer, who have a track record of delivering their caucuses, to get rid of it?
In general, Trump knows the ratings on the Donald J Trump show will be even worse if he can’t deliver hurricane aid quickly. Ryan and McConnell came to the table with a bill that would pass only after days of debate, during which the Freedumb Caca would run their dumb mouths about how people in Houston should just bow before the will of God and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Maybe Trump got rolled by Pelosi and Schumer, but I think he just saw a way to get what he wanted quickly and cleanly, and he took it. He also wanted to give Mitch and Paul a swift kick over the Obamacare repeal fuckup, and they got it.
Who knows if a debt ceiling repeal will really happen, but it’s still nice to see Ryan and McConnell getting some of Trump’s medicine.
Elizabelle
I am glad to see this. Trump is not trustworthy, but the Dems are smart enough to find areas where they can work together for the common good.
The GOP answers only to their buckraking owners.
Lurking Canadian
I still don’t know what magic Trump is planning to use to get McConnell and Ryan to hold votes on these things. As we have seen, they are very good at not doing their jobs when they don’t want to.
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle:
As long as they remember that the GOP thought the exact same thing 8 months ago.
Villago Delenda Est
My Schadenfreude meter is pegged. Suffer, ZEGS and Yertle. Suffer.
Major Major Major Major
My main concern here is that everything trump touches turns to shit.
Ian G.
The debt ceiling is one of the most idiotic things on the books in this country, and there is a LOT of stupidity that is law here.
Getting Shitgibbon to agree to repeal it would be wonderful, regardless of all the horrible things he does otherwise, as no normal GOP president would ever agree to do so, and no Dem president would ever get a GOP Congress to go along with it.
NickM
I honestly don’t understand something. Don’t Ryan and McConnell control what gets put up for a vote in each chamber? So even if a deal is made between Dems and Trump, couldn’t Ryan and McConnell nix it by refusing to schedule a vote for it? Don’t they have to cooperate for the Dems’ plan to work? What am I missing?
TenguPhule
@Lurking Canadian:
Morton’s got them on his fork. And its got barbs on it.
Either ZEGS and Turtle do the three month bill now or they scramble to find the votes for the longer bill they want. And they don’t have the votes for it. And there is no way in the nine hells they can muster out an alternative in less then 3 weeks. The Democrats are only ones with any experience in actually drafting it.
The alternative is a debt default and the whole country going up in flames around them.
Villago Delenda Est
@NickM: Well, yes, but if they refuse to bring anything to a vote, they own it. Personally. The blame will fall on them for being petulant assholes.
This translates into them losing their jobs as the guys who get to determine what to bring to a vote.
dmsilev
Yeah, this. It’s the equivalent of saying “we’re going to run up a big credit card bill and not make the minimum payments”. If Congress passes a budget that includes a deficit, Treasury should automatically have the authority to issue debt notes to cover said deficit.
TenguPhule
@NickM:
A three week deadline and the Rs have no experience in drafting debt ceiling bills and don’t have the votes to pass the bill they’d prefer because of the FreeDumb Caucus.
Its the Democratic option or default. And if they default, they might as well cut their own throats.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
This is true and I share your concern.
Three weeks to see how this all plays out.
Jeffro
@Major Major Major Major:
Yours too, hm?
@dmsilev:
You know, ‘Chuck and Nancy’, there’s no downside to pointing out the sheer stupidity of the debt ceiling to Trumpov and suggesting that he make history (excuse me, MAKE HISTORY!!!) by helping get rid of it. He will, after all, go with whatever the last person tells him.
scav
Certainly complicates the Why don’t they give him a chance obstructionist demoncrats narrative slightly.
Redshift
@NickM: I’m guessing what’s missing is that this turned it from something they can blame on the Freedumb Caucus to something they’ll each be personally responsible for torpedoing.
Imagine what might have been accomplished if the press had correctly assigned blame every time these clowns refused to bring up legislation unless it had as majority of Republican votes, instead of treating that as the new normal.
Served
I’m sure they Dems full expect Trump to pull the football and are prepared for that outcome. Schumer and Pelosi have completely outmaneuvered McConnell and Ryan here. They get “reaching across the aisle” points, if the deal changes, it’s on Trump, and they’ve driven a big, lasting wedge between congressional Rs and Trump.
Just a nice reminder that Dem congressional leadership are masters at what they do. (Was just reading a bunch of anti-Pelosi tweets yesterday by people who don’t understand that House leadership doesn’t draft the Democratic platform)
SatanicPanic
@Served: yeah I don’t see the downside here. Say Trump gets mad, pulls the deal, and the government shuts down. Oh well. That’s no worse a situation than what we already expected.
patrick II
@dmsilev:
The constitution says we must pay our debts, so the debt limit is probably not constitutional. I say probably because you never know until after a Supreme court with four rwnj’s and a leaner vote on it, and Obama certainly didn’t want to take the chance.
MazeDancer
Trump+Pelosi+Schumer could give Trump lot of things both he and his base want. Middle class tax cuts, Healthcare that works, infrastructure that Trump could put his name on, codified DACA, and Trump feeling like the “Can do” NY biz guy his base thought they were electing. And Trump gets to find things he can “get done” that Mr. Obama couldn’t.
Trump’s base is not conservative. They want stuff from the gov. They also want to hate. So Trump has JeffBo and DeVos to toss ’em the hate and misogyny. Base happy.
Base hates Mitch and Paul. Swamp creatures they will happily attack as “standing in Trump’s way”.
Plus, Trump is a New Yorker. He likes talking to Chuck and Nancy. He likes urbane, smart, lively people who are just more fun than the GOP. You could see Trump’s happiness in the pic with Schumer. And the relaxed way Trump talked on AF1 and in ND. It was almost like Trump was happy not to have to pretend he was a mainline GOP.
Trump may help Dems see economics is not enough. That without Civil Rights there is no progress. Because Trump is not going to be anything than a hater.
TenguPhule
@scav:
Only among those already inclined to be rational people.
catclub
@Ian G.:
also, IN August 2009, Obama did not push it either. Not necessarily an oversight, but a calculation.
Peale
@Redshift: Yeah. The problem though isn’t that they demand a majority of Republican votes. Legislation needs to pass on ONLY Republican votes. They aren’t even looking for the token dozen Democrat votes so that it appears to be “a bill with bi-partisan support.”
Redshift
@Ian G.:
It was a big improvement when it was enacted in 1917; before that Congress had to vote to approve individual debt issuance by the Treasury, from what I understand. It became vestigial after the budget process was reformed in 1974, and then became a budgetary inflamed appendix when nihilists realized they could pretend it was about spending and hold it hostage without the political risk of opposing actual spending.
It definitely needs to go.
scav
@TenguPhule: I was asking a lot of that slightly wasn’t I?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MSNBC is saying the Beast called Pelosi and Schumer to congratulate them and himself on the great coverage they’re getting on TeeVee (I wonder what Fox is saying, or if Ivanka or Kellyanne changed the channel for him). I imagine at some point he’s going to get bored with that, and gloating over everyone saying he pantsed McConnell and Ryan, and tip into rage that people are saying Chuck and Nancy played him
scav
@patrick II: Their bible tells them to love their neighbors, and how’s that worked out for the rest of us?
TenguPhule
@scav:
Yep.
SatanicPanic
@Redshift: can I compliment you on your phrasing there? very nice metaphor.
catclub
@TenguPhule:
I wonder if this could motivate the Freedom Caucus to vote against what the Democrats want and vote for a longer extension of the debt ceiling.
Apparently they are not smart enough to do that.
Redshift
@Peale: Yeah, it used to be the so-called “Hastert Rule,” which like all of their “principles,” they only used when it was useful and did they opposite when it wasn’t. That was bad enough; now it’s even worse.
jl
@TenguPhule:
‘ As long as they remember that the GOP thought the exact same thing 8 months ago. ‘
I trust Dem Congressional coalition will bring Great Deals to Trump that will actually work and have substantial public support.
Everything the GOP Congress wants is destructive BS as a cover to hide huge tax cuts to rich that the public hated.
Trump has few fixed beliefs or principles. Probably eventually Trump will insist on a huge tax cut for rich, but in the meantime…
with very bad stuff bearing down on the country that can’t be put on hold, like debt ceiling and DACA repeal, the Dems have to try every tool at their disposal. It’s distasteful and hazardous, but finding ways to persuade Trump to do something beside stupid, evil and dangerous nonsense has to be in the toolbox.
TenguPhule
@Redshift:
There was actually a Congressional rule that when spending was passed, the debt ceiling automatically hiked up too.
Naturally it was discontinued by the Fucking Republicans.
Redshift
@SatanicPanic: Thanks, I’m very pleased with how that metaphor worked out.
Tom
@TenguPhule: May we respectfully request that even if ZEGS and Yertle do avoid a default that they cut their own throats anyway? (metaphorically, of course)
clay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ugh. Like Chuck & Nan give a shit what people say about them. But he literally cannot view things in any other way. Pathetic.
Iowa Old Lady
Props to Schumer too, but god I love Nancy Pelosil
TenguPhule
@jl:
Yes, but then we run into the problem of the Freedumb Caucus and the Molester’s rule.
Whatever deals may be initially offered by Democrats can be completely spindled, mutilated and dragged into a dark room by the Republicans to be violated into something that bears no resemblance to what it started as.
The problem of being the minority party with a majority that refuses to follow the rules.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
also, too
TenguPhule
@Tom:
I can live with that.
sdhays
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s why the Democrats have been very careful not appear too happy with this or to gloat on camera.
I wonder how much the situation in Houston affected this. One of the few times during the campaign where Trump was authentically righteous was when he took on the people in his party slagging NYC and called them out how these were the same people who were always humping 9/11. I know he doesn’t care about people, but I do think it’s possible that the damage made during Hurricane Sandy affected him, and he remembers, like all New Yorkers, how the Republican assholes in the South (in particular) didn’t vote for Sandy relief. I just wonder if that memory played into him not wanting to do the dance with these people this time…
It would suggest a hint of a principle, so probably not, but I do wonder.
TenguPhule
@catclub:
The Freedumb don’t want any debt ceiling raise to happen. They’re fucking nuts.
TenguPhule
@scav:
To them sex is love. And they love to screw us all.
gvg
i have wanted this law to go for…..at least 10 years. it used to be we didn’t even hear about it, then we heard nothing but bad news. It does not make any sense. It allows tantrums.
I wonder if they can get McCain to back it. he always claims to want regular rules and normalcy. currently it’s a bomb throwers weapon.
clay
@Served:
Nor do they need to serve as media talking heads, which I also see people complaining about.
Schumer and Pelosi only need to be able to do the following: a) wrangle their caucuses to pass (or oppose) legislation, and b) use parliamentary rules to their advantage. And they are very good at both of these things.
Kelly
This is so weird
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/07/trump-calls-nancy-pelosi-chuck-schumer-news-coverage-242441
raven
I heard it was you. . .
Elizabelle
FWIW, when I heard that Trump had agreed to the shorter debt ceiling deadline — and now this — it occurred to me that he may wonder if his time in office will be short, and might as well act now. No telling if he will be in office a year from now.
Mueller’s sharks are circling. Blood in the water.
Also, FWIW, I trust Pelosi and Schumer to recognize a terrible deal, and walk away from it.
TenguPhule
@gvg:
Because Republicans ditched the rule that made the Debt Ceiling increases automatic whenever new spending occurred.
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle:
Suggests noble nature not in evidence.
Trump is a “If I can’t have it, NOBODY CAN” burn the house down after killing the spouse and kids kind of guy.
catclub
@clay:
c) raise boatloads of money.
Xenos
All Schumer needed to do is to lie to
45 that the debt ceiling issue is always used by radical lefties to mess with the US economy and demand special treatment for “interest groups”.
There is no way 45 knows the actual parliamentary history of matter.
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
Yeah. Please don’t tell me he’s pivoting and is going to do reasonable things for the good of the country.
Although, I guess it would be a good thing, if true. Just too incredible.
Mary G
I am torn. On one hand Twitler’s an idiot, on the other hand he’s got a bit of salesman’s shrewdness about the mood of the ignorant and be able to see that ZEGS and Yertle can’t herd their cats and will lose the House or at least most of their majority next year. Plus Bannon is busy getting the band back together now, meeting with Jenny Beth Martin, Brent Bozell, Mark Meadows and all the dregs of the right to take out Ryan, McConnell, Gary Cohn, Kelly and all the establishment RINOs that are leading Dear Leader astray.
Might as well schmooze the new guys a bit now. Plus Chuck probably speaks his language in a way that guys from Wisconsin and Kentucky don’t.
zhena gogolia
@scav:
Yes, that’s the beauty of it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kelly: you really can’t understate the extent to which the man’s worldview is shaped by what my father used to call the idiot box
@Elizabelle: Fredo I offered up yet another reason for taking the Russian meeting– he wanted to know if they had information the American people needed to hear in order to judge HRC’s fitness for office, which sounds to me like yet another admission of intent to collude. IANAL but I can’t imagine he ran that by an L. I’m sure he fucked himself in ways he’ll never understand in his testimony today. I hope Feinstein makes good on her intention to get him to testify in public.
jl
@TenguPhule: That is true. But if Don Trump can be dragged into supporting some of the lip service he gave to populist economic policies, and fantasy BS that he could or would bringing businesslike realism and efficiency to actually solve problems, that is a good thing.
The Dems can come into his office, persuade him something is really his idea, a Great Deal, and, damn, he sure makes that Mitt Romney look like a dumbass CEO politician wannabee, then Trump will bite on a lot of things. Because Trump doesn’t know and doesn’t care about a lot of things if he can see nice and exciting stuff about him on TV. And even if it doesn’t get passed, it gums up the works and makes the Congressional GOP con game harder to sell next year. So, something that has to be tried.
We don’t want to forget that Congressional GOP in Congress is just as bad as Trump, in some ways worse. Just a different kind of bad and worse than Trump.
Need to try this approach until Trump goes so far on something (DACA catastrophe, for example) makes even trying to work with him too toxic.
Major Major Major Major
@clay: That’s hilariously pathetic, lol
catclub
@TenguPhule:
That is kind of my conclusion. Ryan could tell them: “The debt ceiling is going to be raised one way or another, but if you do it with the rest of the GOP you can skunk the Democrats out of a win” and they have no interest.
sdhays
I’ll bet what Trump likes most about this is how easy it is. Negotiating with Democrats is easy. They’ve already discussed what they want and their leadership can actually deliver the votes. As long as you negotiate in good faith and don’t demand poison pills, a deal is possible and pretty straightforward.
That’s not how the Republicans operate. The Freedumb Caucus can’t ever be caught saying “Yes”, no matter how awful the legislation is, it’s just not awful enough, so there’s always drama and hand holding and “you said this yesterday, and now you’ve changed your mind??” It’s exhausting. And it’s embarrassing.
If Trump were smart, I’d say this was actually a brilliant warning shot to get the Freedumb Caucus in line – if you want to make everything all about you, then I’m going to look for votes from the Democrats and let you sit at home. But Trump’s not that smart. I think he was just tired of the drama and sick of McConnell and Ryan’s incompetence, and possibly just not in the mood to do this all while Houston empties.
jacy
@NickM:
People who aren’t political junkies (meaning especially not people here) aren’t necessarily as partisan as the MoC that represent them. They’re the people who “want stuff done” and keep expecting the fabled “bi-partisanship” to happen. They don’t care about the machinations of the Republican party. If McConnell and Ryan just keep being obstructionist while being unable to corral the Freedumbers, there will be a price to pay at the ballot box. And the Trumpers aren’t Republicans anyway — they’d support whatever Trump did. I dipped my toe into the swamps they inhabit — they all thought this was a brilliant move by Trump and are thrilled he’s sticking to Ryan and McConnell. It really is a cult of personality with them. If Trump made a proclamation enshrining free abortions on every corner, they’d still cheer. The pretzels they twist themselves in are breathtaking.
catclub
@TenguPhule:
Wow, what a useful rule, and sensible. No wonder the GOP would want to kill it.
Elizabelle
@TenguPhule: I think you put too negative a spin on a LOT of things. Get tired of the constant doom and gloom and everyone is 100% terrible.
Mind you, I am not enthused at all at Trump, but the constant Manichean shit here gets me down, and stops me from participating as much. I am not speaking of you personally.
Someone may have a very small glimmer of self-awareness, or even common purpose, and it’s good to use it.
TenguPhule
@jl:
As Majorx4 pointed out, Trump’s track record is less then optimal.
So still very very leery about this. But we’ll see how it goes one way or the other in 3 weeks.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
what an asshole– just… what an asshole
jl
@sdhays: I agree. Collectively, the Congressional GOP, particularly the House, have a lot in common with Trump’s psychological peculiarities. Except more of them, so harder to handle.We need to make life, and election next year, as hard as possible for either Trump or GOP Congress. Might get some good done, and at least stop catastrophes that the GOP Congress has planned out.
Villago Delenda Est
The @scav: The Freedumbers are not followers of Jesus of Nazareth. They are followers of Mammon.
sdhays
@jl:
True dat.
TenguPhule
WP is going mad and eating posts!
scav
@Villago Delenda Est: That certainly is their essential chunky core — the baby jebus and his book is the glistening thin veneer they nevertheless project as branding.
John Revolta
I’m not so sure that this is some big Repub defeat though.
If this business gets taken care of quickly, then the GOPsters have got three weeks to push through the rest of their agenda- the stuff they really really want, like tax cuts and, yes, Obamacare reform. And Yertle and ZEGS surely realize this.
Roger Moore
@Served:
Yep. Nancy and Chuck may not be the best people to lead campaigns, but they’re excellent legislators. I think this is actually an important part of a much bigger picture. In general, the Democrats care about things like legislating competently, so they’ve focused on picking candidates for office who will do a competent job if/when they’re elected. Republicans don’t really care about making the government work, so they’ve focused on candidates who run a good campaign and maximize their chance of getting elected. This is a big problem for the Democrats because it makes them less likely to control the government, and a huge problem for the country as a whole because when the Republicans are in charge the country is run by a bunch of incompetents.
jacy
@jl:
I think that’s the thing that hasn’t been pounded enough — Democrats actually hold the positions that are popular with the American people on a whole. They’re the ones that can get things done. They’re the ones that have workable plans. Trump just wants “wins.” He wants to be able to say that he accomplished the pie-in-the-sky things he promised: middle-class tax cuts, healthcare, infrastructure. He’s thinking right now that the Republicans can’t get him any wins, so why not go with the Democrats? Best outcome is it starts to become apparent that Republican ideas are both unpopular and unrealistic and that becomes a narrative. I’m not holding my breath necessarily, but eventually it’s got to happen. They can’t keep presenting an empty cupboard. The one bright spot is that the true believers in the Republican leadership are too dumb and too intractable to manipulate Trump effectively. They’re not agile. Pelosi and Schumer are agile. If luck is on their side, they may be able to get some things done.
manyakitty
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah. I don’t trust him for a MINUTE, and I hope that Chuck and Nancy are smarter than to take him at his word.
feebog
I’m thinking this has more to do with Harvey and Irma than anything else. Trump has already been down to Baja Oklahoma twice, and aside from the hideous gaffs (have a good time everybody) he at least got some good photo ops in. And he understands he has to come through moneywise or the press coverage will be terrible. Now he has Irma about ready to extinguish the East coast of Florida as we know it and he is being told there is going to be a need for a shit ton more relief money. It’s all about the optics and press coverage for him, and he wants to be able to fly down to Florida and do a repeat of his performance in Texas.
Kelly
This is what makes me tear my thinning hair out when amongst Republican relatives and old friends.
jacy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Kennedy is a terrible human being. And I use the term human being loosely. You should hear some of the stories about him from down here. He’s both dumb and mean.
Chyron HR
@NickM:
Says who? If Pelosi stands up and announces that they’re voting on the No Debt Ceiling Bill, followed by a majority of Dems/not-insane-just-evil Reps voting yes, and it “passes” the Senate in the same way, what the fuck is the Freedumb caucus going to do about it? Cry?
Kelly
Many of my Republican relatives and old friends want the outcomes of Democratic policies. Just don’t want them from icky Democrats.
TenguPhule
@Chyron HR:
Unfortunately only the Speakers can introduce legislation for a vote. Rules of the Chamber.
Kelly
Ahh, this makes sense to me.
Alain the site fixer
@TenguPhule: I see them in the trash; not sure why it happens. I’m investigating.
TenguPhule
@Kelly:
I see your problem, you should be tearing their hair out.
gene108
I don’t get the angst. The Democrats have nothing to lose here. Nothing.
Either the House and Senate pass what Dems want and Trump has agreed to sign or we default on the debt and crash the global financial markets.
Republicans don’t have the votes, in their own caucus, to pass a budget or raise the debt ceiling. They need Democrats to keep the government running and not crash the global economy.
And if McConnell and Ryan decide to be stubborn and only pass a budget or raise the debt ceiling with Republican votes and it fails, well that’s on them. The Democrats had a proposal out that even the Republican President supported.
raven
@gene108: You’re not from around here are you?
Kelly
Off for a nice walk in the rapidly improving air.
Alain the site fixer
@TenguPhule: Thank you for saying that – I moved a deleted post to spam folder so I could investigate instead of just releasing it. I see others, but I’m ignoring them as I’m onto something. I’ll let you know shortly that it’s solved or will email you if I need further investigation.
Thank you – this was well-timed for me to really see what happened.
Xantar
Booman has a very persuasive piece which argues that actually everybody (Trump, Democrats, and GOP Leaders) got what they wanted.
Nobody actually wanted the debt ceiling to be breached. Even McConnell and Ryan understand that. But McConnell and Ryan couldn’t be seen as willingly going along with a clean debt ceiling raise. So when Trump agreed to the Democratic proposal, McConnell and Ryan got to whine about how they were betrayed by the President while not actually having to hold the debt ceiling hostage.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
I’m almost happier dealing with true believers like the Free Dumb Caucasians than hucksters like McConnell who shovel shit they don’t believe because it helps them get what they really want but know is too unpopular to sell on its own merits.
Yutsano
@sdhays:
A narcissist never tires of drama. It was bothering him that he wasn’t getting positive coverage and the adoration he craves.
He doesn’t calculate like this. Everything he does is meant to be for the greater glory of him. ZEGS and Yertle weren’t providing his ego boosts so he went with Chuck and Nancy. The gave him his needed fix.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT: I see around twitter that Peggy Noonan got her drunk on last night (as always, the most charitable explanation for the Dolphin Lady) and made a tweet storm about the Civil War. Anybody get out of that particular boat?
paul lukasiak
@NickM:
what you’re missing is that Trump will label Ryan/McConnell and everyone who supports them as hyper-partisan obstructionists. And it will stick.
Chyron HR
@TenguPhule:
And? Short of permanently adjourning Congress, what mechanism exists to actually stop a simple majority of Representatives and Senators on the floor from “passing” bills and then giving them to President Doofus to ignorantly sign into law? I guess someday a case contesting it would reach the Supreme Court, but that would still give us years of no debt ceiling bullshit.
Alain the site fixer
@TenguPhule: Just sent you an email, please let me respond to it ASAP so I can get this figured out.
CaseyL
Maybe someone else has already said this, but it occurs to me that Nancy Pelosi, besides being NANCY SMASH and maestra of the Dem House Caucus, is also a grandmother.
Between herding the Dem Caucus and grandmothering, she knows a thing or two about how to manage obstreperous adults, and how to cajole/coax/scold unruly toddlers.
Be interesting to see how this plays out.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: @Chyron HR: There’s always the discharge petition.
jl
@gene108: And we can’t see some things that might have made a big difference. How disastrous is the situation inside the GOP Congress in getting anything at all done? These sad sacks have screwed up everything when they had an open field and a president who would sign any kind of crazy BS that they sent to his desk. And they can’t wipe their own asses.
Maybe there has been some news I’ve missed. Everyone assumes that the chill between Trump and GOP leadership is driven by pique and Trumpan BS. Might be a lot GOP Congressional Fail too. As a commenter said above, Trump the reality show star understands how he has to deliver in terms of PR wrt to disaster relief. Some things he does understand. I wonder what kind of clustercraps Ryan and McConnell have been bringing to the WH.
Some things, even Trump can figure out. And probably he has little patience for other people, let along a whole Congressional caucus throwing tantrums and diva snits. He does those, and besides not coming through for him, unlike is ‘You’re Fired’ flunkies who did, he doesn’t like punks like Ryan and McConnel and loser Congressschlubs thinking they can act like their boss.
Gelfling 545
@clay: But they got him what he wanted: good press. It is the first time since, well, ever, he has not looked like a total asshole. In his little rodent brain he is now associating reward with Chuck and Nancy.
Bruce K
Part of the beauty of this is that anybody with any sense knows that Pelosi and Schumer know damn well that Trump can’t be trusted as far as either of them can throw him, but if he reneges, they’ve got the moral and political and popular high ground. They’re the ones who reached across the aisle.
At the moment, they’re humoring him, with the added benefit of getting the right thing done. Cracking open a rift in the GOP, if they can manage it, is the icing on the cake.
TenguPhule
@gene108:
Nothing right now. To be precise.
Thoughtful David
@Served:
I think this is the crux of it. What the Democrats want may not happen; in that case it wouldn’t be a win-win, not even a win. Except in the sense that they’ve just put the Republicans in lose-lose situation. If the debt ceiling increase doesn’t get passed, Democrats look reasonable and wise, and Republicans get blamed. If it does pass, the Democrats look reasonable and wise and the Freedumb Caca goes after ZEGS and Yertle hammer and tongs. No upside for the Republicans, no downside for the Dems.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Xantar: Yep, pretty good outcomes for the Dems (and the country), and effective kabuki theater for Trump and the R leadership. I just hope that any real tensions between T and the Rs will be exacerbated by the positive reception Trump is getting in response to appearing to work with the Ds.
TenguPhule
@Alain the site fixer: Done.
Yutsano
@CaseyL: Never. Mess. With. A. Nonna.
TenguPhule
@Alain the site fixer:
Glad to be of service.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
You still need 218 votes to pass a discharge petition.
TenguPhule
@Thoughtful David:
This.
No upsides for the Republicans anywhere in this. Which is something to be savored.
TriassicSands
A “gentlemen’s agreement?” With Trump, no agreement of any kind — until it is signed into law — is worth anything. Even then, depending on the issue, I wouldn’t trust Trump to faithfully execute the laws.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Good follow-up/response to Booman’s take from Nancy at WaMo. Here’s the final paragraph, worth reading the whole thing:
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: I was naming a way you could bypass the speaker.
LAO
Possibly, the oddest arrest story of a woman who’s husband is tied to Trump. I mean, laugh out loud funny. I hope it’s true.
divF
Two things:
(1) I keep wanting to read “Chuck and Nancy” as “Sid and Nancy”.
(2) I think that with Trump and the neoconfederate GOP congress, we truly have realized Kennedy’s characterization of Washington as a “city of southern efficiency and northern charm”.
jl
From reading some of the commenters links, looks like what happened was that the GOP Congressional leadership had a boring drawn-out process planned to get their ginormous tax cuts through before preparing for the midterms interfered. Then the dumbass Freedom Caucus had a tantrum and wanted more goodies and insisted on hostage taking (from their own leadership, which was striving mightily to get them huge tax cuts!!!).
Trump is pissed at both Ryan and McConnell, and now more crap.
Democrats come in and offer a quick win and good press. Trump doesn’t understand enough to know the deal has thrown a big wrench into schedule for passing tax cuts. Probably, really, he doesn’t care all that much about it if he can get good TV coverage. Until he does someday…
Jamey
Q: How can one tell where Trump’s dump ends and Ryan’s head begins?
Roger Moore
@Jamey:
A: The dump stinks less.
Mel
@Major Major Major Major: Yes. Nancy needs to outfit in a Hazmat suit and Gris-Gris bags, sage the shit out of the room, and have interns continuously tossing handfuls of salt over her left shoulder during any contact.
To be followed immediately by a Silkwood shower and a pitcher of Harvey Wallbangers. (Or perhaps a Moscow Mule or a White Russian, just for the liquid irony of it…)