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You are here: Home / Can’t fight the seether

Can’t fight the seether

by | 111 Comments

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“Fuming” and “seething” are the new furrowed brow:

House conservatives were fuming Friday morning as the Republican conference voted on a deal President Donald Trump struck with Democrats to fund aid for Hurricane Harvey alongside measures to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling through mid-December.

Who cares? What are they going to do about it, other than whine to Glenn Thrush? Has there ever been administration that was this was this much complained about, by ostensibly powerful people, with so few repercussions?

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    Has there ever been administration that was this was this much complained about, by ostensibly powerful people, with so few repercussions?

    Nope. Uncharted Waters.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Litearslit

    But they took a Ways and Means vote that, if I understand correctly, means the House will pretty much never subpoena his tax records. I think the Senate might, I’d bet Meuller has, but between this and Nunes, trump owns the House. As the Obamabros said yesterday, tax cuts are trump’s impeachment insurance. Auntie Ayn’s Blue-Eyed Boy will never turn on trump until the Kochs and the Mercers, and the fairly weather Mrs Ryan and her very wealthy parents* get their tax cut, and if trump is smart he’ll drag that about. And if he’s mean, which we know he is, he’ll make Paulie dance for him over the next year

    *which I only mention because I know Our Paulie is very concerned about “disincentives to work”. I’m sure with that in mind he’ll move for a stiff inheritance tax as part of “reform”.

    And I recognize the lyrics! I only bat about 200 with Doug’s lyrics

  4. 4.

    CaseyL

    I could not possibly give less of a fine, feathered fart what “House Conservatives” feel, think or say. IMO they should all be tarred and feathered and left on the nearest ice floe.

    PS: Yay, Yutsano!

  7. 7.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    But they took a Ways and Means vote that, if I understand correctly, means the House will pretty much never subpoena his tax records. I think the Senate might, I’d bet Meuller has, but between this and Nunes, trump owns the House. As the Obamabros said yesterday, tax cuts are trump’s impeachment insurance. Auntie Ayn’s Blue-Eyed Boy will never turn on trump until the Kochs and the Mercers, and the fairly weather Mrs Ryan and her very wealthy parents* get their tax cut, and if trump is smart he’ll drag that about. And if he’s mean, which we know he is, he’ll make Paulie dance for him over the next year

    *which I only mention because I know Our Paulie is very concerned about “disincentives to work”. I’m sure with that in mind he’ll move for a stiff inheritance tax as part of “reform”.

    And I recognize the lyrics! I only bat about 200 with Doug’s lyrics

  8. 8.

    efgoldman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    between this and Nunes, trump owns the House.

    Adam mentioned the other night that Nunes has to obfuscate and protect Henna Hairball because he’s trying to cover for himself.
    Another contender in the dumb as a bag of hair congressional sweepstakes.

  10. 10.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Oddly, Trump cannot introduce legislation in the House or force a vote on it. That is solely Ryan’s power, and no one else’s. What actually happened is that Ryan let a clean bill be presented, and Republican moderates and all Democrats voted for it. I’m not even sure what role Trump plays here, except Pelosi made sure Trump wouldn’t veto before she told Ryan that this was the only bill he could get.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    How is Ryan ever going to get his tax cuts? I only see two possibilities. An actual budget passes so there can be another reconciliation – which seems unlikely – or McConnell nukes the filibuster, which he probably does not have votes for. Senators do love their power to block things. Ryan’s ‘tax reform’ will never get 60 votes in the Senate. Ever.

    Theoretically, they might be able to stuff it into an ACA repeal before September is done, but what would they cut to pay for it? McConnell already has spoilers who will not vote for Medicaid or Medicare cuts.

    And is Ryan smart enough to know any of this? He ain’t bright, and his fluffers in the media clearly are not smart enough to have figured it out.

  11. 11.

    ruemara

    Call me if they decide to do anything about it. They’ll follow him right off a cliff, while trying to strangle him and each other. Idiots. They can all choke on it.

  12. 12.

    Kristine

    My favorite Veruca Salt song!

    Can’t believe it’s over 20 years old. But then, most of my fave songs are over 30 years old now. Damn.

  13. 13.

    ? Martin

    University of California is suing DHS over DACA.

    From her internal memo:

    As president of the University of California, it is my job to protect the students and staff on our campuses. As the author of DACA, I know what the program was meant to do. As both, and on behalf of our University, we are suing the administration because we know that its actions will harm innocent young people, including many members of the community I am so proud to lead.

    You can read more about today’s legal action here. The suit makes three fundamental claims about the recent actions to rescind DACA:

    + The DHS decision to rescind DACA is not supported by reasoned decision-making as required by federal law. It did not consider the impact of the decision on Dreamers – for example, their expectation that they could study, work, and live in the only country they call home – or the costs of the rescission on the universities and communities in which they live, study, and work. And, most fundamentally, the legal rationale DHS provided was wrong. No court has held DACA unlawful and, in fact, the office at the Department of Justice responsible for reviewing the constitutionality of executive branch actions determined that DACA was lawful.

    + In ending the program, the administration also failed to comply with mandatory procedures that federal law requires for a decision of this type and magnitude. These procedures, among other things, require the agency to allow and consider public comment on a proposed action from affected parties, such as from the DACA recipients themselves and institutions like UC that are deeply impacted by the decision.

    + Finally, this action tramples on the due process rights of the University and its students and employees. DHS cannot take away those rights by executive fiat without any process whatsoever.

    Having the former head of the DHS on hand is somewhat convenient in this situation.

  14. 14.

    randy khan

    So, good news.

    The interesting question is whether (I’d prefer “when,” but I’m not sure it will happen) they finally will boil over and revolt against Ryan. That would be fun to watch.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The teabaggers disgust me. They’re like a pack of bratty petulant kids. Whine whine whine.

    Call the Waaaaaaaambluance.

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Frankensteinbeck: And is Ryan smart enough to know any of this? He ain’t bright, and his fluffers in the media clearly are not smart enough to have figured it out.

    Objectivism is his only real religion. You gotta believe!

    @Kristine: Can’t believe it’s over 20 years old. But then, most of my fave songs are over 30 years old now. Damn.

    pull up a rocker, I’m just a’settin here waiting for some of those youths to come by so I can yell at them about their tattoos, skinny jeans and autotunes

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    @CaseyL:

    IMO they should all be tarred and feathered and left on the nearest ice floe.

    Disguising Republicans as Penguins won’t get the Polar Bears to eat them.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    Great Moments of Horrible Marketing Disasters in the Making!

    Starbucks has tried it all: First came cake pops, then truffle mac and cheese, and earlier this year, avocado toast.

    Now the coffee giant is banking on another food fad to drum up lunch and dinner business: The sushi burrito.

    The chicken maki roll — which the company says, is “a classic California burrito with a twist” — comes with cooked chicken, pickled cabbage and avocado, and is rolled in sushi rice and wrapped with seaweed. It is currently part of the Mercato lunch menu at a handful of stores in Chicago and Seattle, where Starbucks is based.

    But first it has to overcome a substantial hurdle: Convincing customers its food is worth eating.

  22. 22.

    ThresherK

    OT: Richard Madaleno is running for MD-Gov as a D. Is he “anti single-payer” as my FernieFros contend?

    (The only other thing they offered about him is that he was a Hillary supporter.)

  24. 24.

    Ian G.

    Ah, Veruca Salt. Thanks for taking me back to high school.

    And in any war between Shitgibbon and the teabaggers, you root for maximum casualties.

  27. 27.

    patrick II

    Trump tweeted the Dreamers have nothing to worry about for six months. For argument’s sake, Let’s say I believe him. Is he not then invoking the exact same presidential executive power he was saying not so long ago (like last week) was illegal for Obama to do?

  29. 29.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Litearslit: NewYorker (reposted quotes):

    In the transcript published by the Post, McCarthy speculates that the Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee’s computers and, in the process, discovered whatever opposition-research materials the Democrats had gathered on Trump.

    “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy said, according to Entous, a superb reporter who heard a tape recording of the colloquy. “Swear to God.”

    Dana Rohrabacher is a Republican from California with a peculiar amalgam of views: pro-marijuana, dubious about climate change, pro-torture. For this last position, in 2007, Keith Olbermann awarded him his periodic “Worst Person in the World” award, on his old MSNBC show. Like Trump, Rohrabacher has been highly solicitous of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last year, Politico ran an article on Rohrabacher called “Putin’s Favorite Congressman.”

    In the Post piece, McCarthy’s remark is met with laughter, and Ryan cautions his colleagues, “This is an off the record . . . No leaks! . . . All right?”

    And then, amid more laughter, Ryan says, “This is how we know we’re a real family here.”
    “That’s how you know that we’re tight,” Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, says.

    “What’s said in the family stays in the family,” Ryan concludes.

    Spokesmen for the various parties at first denied that the conversation took place. But when the Post apprised them of the audiotape, they went into an oh-well-it-was-just-a-joke mode. Another participant, Evan McMullin, an ex-C.I.A. operative, who ran for President last year as an independent, confirmed to the Post that the conversation took place. He attended as the policy director of the House Republican Conference.

    In fairness, Entous makes clear in his report that there was laughter throughout the exchange, and it is entirely possible that McCarthy was not serious at all about his conjectures. And yet the tape and the transcript do deepen the impression of blithe hypocrisy when it comes to the business of electing an obviously erratic man as President. Almost everyone in the room endorsed Trump. McCarthy was so ardent in his support that Trump referred to him as “my Kevin.” Ryan made distancing gestures from time to time, expressing oblique disgust at Trump’s hosannas for Putin and his pussy-grabbing braggadocio, but those faint stirrings of a moral conscience soon passed, and his endorsement of Trump before the nominating Convention and his fealty ever since have been consistent. Ryan—like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—could hardly assume a position in immediate opposition to a President of his Party, and the leaders of the Republicans in Congress decided to muffle their misgivings and moments of revulsion in service of their conservative agenda: tax cuts, “repeal and replace,” and a generalized rollback of the Obama years.

    Of course Trump has the Republicans in the House on his side. It’s been that way for a year or more…

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    jl

    The performance of the House GOP damn nearly matches that of Trump and the Trumpsters.
    I don’t understand the lack of appreciation for their historically and spectacularly hideous and over the top political performance art.

    I got a few chuckles yesterday reading news items about reactionary House GOPers’ shock and horror at the Trump/Dem deal.
    Like Trump, they thought it was all about them. They are toddlers throwing toys, rolling around on, and pounding the floor, suddenly screaming in horror that people decided to go ahead and ignore them.

    Who knows whether Trump/Dem deals will lead to anything other than the train wreck that would have occurred otherwise? But good to know the Dems are going to try something to salvage the many bad situations we face.

  32. 32.

    The Moar You Know

    Starbucks has tried it all: First came cake pops, then truffle mac and cheese, and earlier this year, avocado toast.

    Now the coffee giant is banking on another food fad to drum up lunch and dinner business: The sushi burrito.

    The chicken maki roll — which the company says, is “a classic California burrito with a twist” — comes with cooked chicken, pickled cabbage and avocado, and is rolled in sushi rice and wrapped with seaweed. It is currently part of the Mercato lunch menu at a handful of stores in Chicago and Seattle, where Starbucks is based.

    But first it has to overcome a substantial hurdle: Convincing customers its food is worth eating.

    @TenguPhule: I worked for them a LONG time ago. There’s a lot of mythology about the company, #1 bullshit myth being that it’s a good place to work.

    Starbucks has three hurdles:

    1. Their coffee is burned shit;
    2. They treat (and most importantly pay) their employees like shit;
    3. They keep trying to ignore #1 and #2 with stupid ideas like a chicken sushi burrito. Or microwaved breakfast sandwiches. Or any number of ideas I’ve seen come and go over the years which have been abject failures.

  36. 36.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @jl:

    Like Trump, they thought it was all about them.

    For six years, Boehner and Ryan have given them absolute power over the House by refusing to allow anything to be voted on that might require Democrat votes. Of course they think it’s all about them. They’ve been artificially catered to as an excuse for the Speaker to be an obstructionist hyper-conservative asshole. They don’t even know their power exists solely because of a fake rule Boehner made up.

  37. 37.

    jl

    I also read WH leaks that Trump is suddenly acting like he is in ‘The Apprentice’ mode. I guess ratings and PR is one thing he does understand. If he Dems can bring him good deals, and they can deliver actual disciplined votes reliably, that get good press and especially good TV, good chance it might work. We need to cross our fingers. We know that on DACA, Sessions doesn’t care about ratings or TV. He knows ‘focus’, and is getting ready to commit him some cold blooded human rights crimes. Sessions has to be stopped on this.

  38. 38.

    patrick II

    I have never understood the freedom caucus. Not increasing the debt limit was always going to cause the country great damage. But at least when a democrat was in power, they could blame him for not coming for terms. But now, with a republican president and two hurricanes causing the absolute need for government action, shutting down the government and expecting to blame democrats seems politically suicidal — not to mention in the real world (which they seem only dimly aware of) death and economic loss is what we will be facing. So, Trump made the deal he had to to get reasonbly sane people to continue governmentin’ , moderate republicans go along with dems, and turtle and Ryan who at least pretend to be in dismay that our government has dodged a bullet — for three months.

    Acknowledgement: Trump is more sane than Freedom Caucus. That sentence just feels wrong.

  39. 39.

    TenguPhule

    @Chyron HR:

    I always assumed that living in a corporate cyberpunk dystopia would at least be interesting.

    You too? I at least expected to get some razzy motorcycles out of this whole deal.

  40. 40.

    TenguPhule

    @patrick II:

    I have never understood the freedom caucus. Not increasing the debt limit was always going to cause the country great damage.

    They are true believers of Ayn Rand and Red Dawn. In that order.

  41. 41.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @patrick II:

    I have never understood the freedom caucus.

    Assume that GOP voters elect people who roughly resemble themselves. A half a dozen corrupt schemers, another half a dozen MBA Randian ideologues, a large chunk of pig-ignorant, lunatic, bigoted zealots who know nothing but dogma and hate, and a slightly larger chunk of not all that bright selfish, mean-spirited assholes. Republican politics will make perfect sense.

  42. 42.

    ThresherK

    @The Moar You Know: I don’t, but my FernieFros do, apparently. Oh, and they think he’s “hiding” behind the fact that he’s an out gay man to cover for his neoliberalism.

    For them, it’s

    Out gay man + Hillary supporter = Just not pure enough.

    (My FernieFros used to live in MD. I never have.)

  43. 43.

    jl

    @Frankensteinbeck: @patrick II: To be fair to the House GOP toddlers, Trump did lead them on, with his ridiculous hints that maybe government shut down would be a good thing, he could use to get some of the toxic nonsense on his wish list.

    I’m not sure why that is being ‘fair’ to them, since only a fool would believe a word Trump said (which is why we have to have back-up plans if the Dem deals fall through). From what I read, additional shit hit the fan between Trump and Congress GOPers when Ryan and McConnell told Trump he had to wait up on finalizing a deal because they needed to wait out the various tantrums the Freedom Caucus was throwing. Probably pissed off Trump since throwing tantrums and making people wait is his prerogative. And probably Trump has the PR sense to understand how he needs to come off in front of the country in the face of the weather disasters.

  44. 44.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @ThresherK: one of the reasons I’m nervous about the future. WE’re supposed to believe that That Individual is changing the debate, moving the Overton Window, et cetera, et cetera. The trouble is his weaponized sanctimony has become contagious, and we now have litmus tests rather than goals or positions.

  45. 45.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @jl:

    And probably Trump has the PR sense to understand what how he needs to come off in the face of the weather disasters.

    Trump is harrowingly stupid, but ‘I need to do something to look presidential about these hurricanes’ sounds within his tiny limit. Someone else has to tell him what that something is, and probably remind him five times a day about the hurricanes, of course.

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    @Ian G.:

    Ah, Veruca Salt. Thanks for taking me back to high school.

    If you missed it, they put out a pretty good record a year or two ago, Ghost Notes. Tells the ‘Saga of Nina and Louise’ pretty well…also just good rock and roll fun!

  47. 47.

    jl

    @patrick II: ” Trump is more sane than Freedom Caucus. That sentence just feels wrong. ”

    Don’t worry. I think that is true only in certain situations where Trump’s understanding of good reality show PR and story arc gives him a good sense of what needs to happen politically. And Freedom Caucus probably already maniacally focused on grand standing for primaries next year, so they have their logic too, except they are stupid and as self-indulgent and solipsistic as Trump. They have zero situational awareness.

  49. 49.

    ThresherK

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Weaponized sanctimony”…I am soooo lifting that.

    The wikis tell me other folks have declared for the D-Nom but I don’t know which one is pure enough to lay on the mattress and feel the pea.

  50. 50.

    ruemara

    @ThresherK: Even if he is, is that the entire hill to die on, as assaults on POC, LGBTQIA, Muslim and immigrant rights as well as the environment are going on every day? Fuck your friends for being such piss poor allies. Either they have a viable candidate or they can pound sand.

  52. 52.

    Dave

    @patrick II: What he is is less idealogical. Which given the insanity of the Freedom Caucauses idealogy means he can stumble into saner actions from time to time. Whereas they are locked into what seems to be a wholly oppositional setting. Now he won’t stay there he won’t become a better him and the longer you deal with him the likelihood of him screwing you over increases to certainty (something I think Nancy and Chuck are well aware of) but it does mean that on some transitory issues you can cajole him to a non insane position.

  55. 55.

    ThresherK

    @TenguPhule: I was going to avoid a Grandpa Simpson incontinence joke there. Try to give the place a little bit of class.

    (I forgot where I was, didn’t I?)

  57. 57.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    @The Moar You Know: Ha ha. Even the dumbest redneck in WV knows that if you want to stick it to the Dems you vote for a Republican no matter what. Too bad the brilliant Sarandonistas aren’t that smart.

  59. 59.

    cain

    @jl:

    Who knows whether Trump/Dem deals will lead to anything other than the train wreck that would have occurred otherwise? But good to know the Dems are going to try something to salvage the many bad situations we face.

    Oh.. he might be doing more deals with the Democrats because, he looks good now.. a deal maker. Got this one thing going. He’ll use that success to try to do more deals with the Democrats. That should make his base somewhat pissed off.

    Meanwhile, all four of Texas’s house members voted against funds for Texas. The attack ads will write themselves. Maybe enough to flip those 4 seats to dems.

  61. 61.

    Another Scott

    @Frankensteinbeck: Add in a big helping of “I’m Right and I’m Strong and the Democrats are Wrong and Weak. We just have to be Strong and we’ll get our way – they’ll blink before I do.”

    I don’t think they really want to default or shut down the government. They do, however, want the Democrats to cave first, and they’re convinced they will. And if they haven’t it’s because their own leadership is too Weak. There’s no other thought process going on; no introspection (“Could I be wrong? Could they have a point we can agree on even if I can’t get all I want?”). It’s a fatal flaw for a functional legislature.

    I think we see the same dynamic with Donnie and Kim. Donnie thinks that enough bluster will make Kim back down. Of course, Kim sees right through Donnie, and Vlad understand him all too well….

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @cain: I’m guessing that at some point trump will thing Nancy and especially Chuck are his pals, and he can talk them out of this fake news Russia (Rusher) thing, and Chuck will equivocate and Nancy will laugh and the Beast will rage and seethe again.

  65. 65.

    patrick II

    @Dave:

    are locked into what seems to be a wholly oppositional setting.

    “Wholly”. That’s the part I’m not getting. Opposing their own party and president? Are they going to try and run the Koch brothers as they turn the south into smoking ruins? Who do they imagine would vote for shutting down Hurricane relief? Hell, if it was California maybe, but we’re talking Texas, Florida and other Trump states yet to be named.

  66. 66.

    chris

    As promised yesterday I just sent the blogmaster an ALLCAPS email about that fucking ad.
    Adblock back on but I’d really like to turn it off.

  68. 68.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Another Scott:

    I don’t think they really want to default or shut down the government.

    I do. I see no reason to think that there aren’t at least 30 House members too ignorant of how the world works to know that these are bad things.

  69. 69.

    glory b

    Speaking of assholes, Bolling is out at Fox News.
    They thank him for the time was there and wish him luck.
    Another one bites the dust.

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Of course. And the cycle will repeat as long as Donnie is in office. (He went through the same thing with Obama.) It’s ultimately all transactional with Donnie – “Be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you. Firetruck with me, and I’ll firetruck with you 10 times harder!”

    In the meantime, his cabinet continues to do their best to destroy the federal government…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  72. 72.

    Dave

    @patrick II: It doesn’t make much sense but yes. They seem unable to take any position but that of mindless conflict… I’m sure it’s a bit more complicated than that at least for some of them. Maybe it’s a PR strategy they are too foolish to deviate from maybe they thought Trump was in on it, as if he gives a damned about their PR strategy unless it makes him look good, I don’t know but it works out to defacto opposition of anything that isn’t exactly what they want and even if it is they will still opposse it fairly often.

  73. 73.

    ? Martin

    Latest on Irma is that it is strengthening. Forecast is for it to hit as a Cat 5 with 160-165 MPH winds. Someone go airlift Betty out of there.

  76. 76.

    Dave

    @Another Scott: I think that a fair number of them really do. Most don’t but a solid portion do. The right has reached the stage where the are electing people that really believe the bullshit. They grew up on it, swam in it, drank it down and never realized that much of it was only meant for the marks.

  77. 77.

    Roger Moore

    @patrick II:
    The debt limit is a hostage, plain and simple. The Free Dumb Caucasians want to cut government spending, but they don’t have the votes to do it because too many people’s oxen would be gored by the kind of deep cuts they want. So the only way they have a prayer of getting what they want is to take a hostage and demand concessions in exchange for letting the hostage live. The debt ceiling is a convenient hostage to take because A) it absolutely has to pass, so it’s a hostage people absolutely need to protect and B) it seems plausibly related to spending. Their biggest problem is that the hostage is so valuable their less crazy Republican colleagues are willing to cut a deal with the Democrats to protect it, rather than letting them get their way.

  78. 78.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Wingnuts just got kicked in the balls:

    The Hill‏ @thehill

    #BREAKING: Eric Bolling ousted from Fox News

  79. 79.

    TenguPhule

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I see no reason to think that there aren’t at least 30 House members too ignorant of how the world works to know that these are bad things.

    Seconded.

    No sane rational educated adult would be playing chicken with the federal debt ceiling or the government’s budgeting process.

  81. 81.

    jl

    @cain: One way of looking at how Trump makes decisions, is that he is a very ‘greedy algorithm’. What makes the most sense for some payoff or gratification that will come asap. So, he is inherently unreliable. Everything is going to be ad hoc, and may change tomorrow or next week. Inherently risky to deal with him for plans that take more time than that to execute.

    I think the Dem bargains so far are good so far, even if they are vaporware. They were over resolving crises that cannot be postponed (debt ceiling and DACA human rights crimes). Status quo meant train wreck. For DACA, plenty of governments, companies and interest groups are pursuing multiple strategies to block and delay criminal acts by feds if the deal falls through and Congressional legislation doesn’t happen, or Trump gets a bug up his ass and decides not to sign something. Not sure what that could be. His base will only get smaller, and will be far far more, and splashier, press and pubic approval if he signs something that Congress can shit out on DACA.

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    @ThresherK:

    I’ve been to CNN and there’s no news yet of the Welcome Abroad cake.

    Wasn’t one of his many misdeeds Tweeting pics of a welcome abroad cake? (Sounds Sinatraish)

  84. 84.

    ThresherK

    @trollhattan: I have no idea.

    Not to explain (kill) humor, but I was swinging for the T-ball-easy joke about how disgraced Foxfckers always land at “respectable” outlets for the all-too-underrepresented viewpoint of the “right-wing intellectual” or “the right-winger who knows Trump voters”.

    ETA: I see from C&L what Bolling did. “Welcome Abroad” indeed!”

  86. 86.

    efgoldman

    @Dave:

    The right has reached the stage where the are electing people that really believe the bullshit.

    Professor Pierce nailed it several years ago: that are True Believer vandal nihilists; their ethos such as it is, is burn it all down. They are a parody of Calvinist “government” – we have to hurt your to make the country stronger.
    You’d think the ads write themselves, but their districts are full of bible-banger racist redneck flying monkeys who are addicted to Fox and Breitbart.

  88. 88.

    Aleta

    “You could hear the murmurs in the room.”

    The cowards weren’t selected and put in there to make independent brave decisions. The ones who came out of certain frats don’t even know how.

  89. 89.

    jl

    And, on DACA, I think the Dems are making a bet that while Trump is a racist, he is not the same kind of racist that people like Sessions and Kobach are, The last two are cold blooded knowing racists. Trump is more like the white bigot racist who has persuaded himself that he is not, he’s just ‘fair minded’. The results are often the same in terms of bad things that will happen and policy, but inside their heads, different sorts of rationales operate.

    Trump can be fine with non-whites if they play their proper roles. If they can make themselves useful to him, they deserve some perks. They’ll even get some photo ops.

  91. 91.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    WE’re supposed to believe that That Individual is changing the debate, moving the Overton Window, et cetera, et cetera. The trouble is his weaponized sanctimony has become contagious, and we now have litmus tests rather than goals or positions.

    In other words, Democrats are starting to resemble Republicans. Well done, us! : /

  93. 93.

    germy

    Florida gun owners encouraged to ‘shoot the storm’ and fire their guns at Hurricane Irma

    The Telegraph · 9 mins ago

  94. 94.

    sukabi

    @TenguPhule: that’s a high hurdle, their “food” is mostly tasteless, prepackaged, over priced, vending machine food with an upscale “bistro / bakery” branding.

  97. 97.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Roger Moore:

    The debt limit is a hostage, plain and simple. The Free Dumb Caucasians want to cut government spending,

    This is Rand Paul’s old game, they want to cut other people’s goverment spending while getting every penny they can for their own district. That’s why the budgets been a mess for years now, pure short sighted greed.

  98. 98.

    Citizen Alan

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Apropos of nothing, but teabaggers and Bernie Bros discuss me equally now. I’m convinced that they’re really just the mirror image of one another. Both of them are authoritarian cults, but they disagree on what they want the God-Emperor to do once he takes over.

  99. 99.

    randy khan

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    And replace him with who? Boehner had to lobby Ryan just to be able to retire. He was the only person the Republican caucus could agree on… barely.

    That’s part of why it would be fun.

  104. 104.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @jl: Trump always comes off to me like my relatives – working class Archie Bunker know nothing types, so the “economic anxiety” is the bases for their racism, anxiety that equality means more competition for their jobs and they might have to actually put in an honest day’s work, as opposed to the Sessions kind of class based racism were the Others are supposed to be an underclass for the rich to exploit. So I suppose “And you will kill the US economy if this happens Donald” will get threw to Trump, though I suspect “You will piss off the Republican Congressional leadership” is more important to Trump.

  108. 108.

    cain

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    @cain: I’m guessing that at some point trump will thing Nancy and especially Chuck are his pals, and he can talk them out of this fake news Russia (Rusher) thing, and Chuck will equivocate and Nancy will laugh and the Beast will rage and seethe again.

    There will be a knife behind everyone’s back for Trump everywhere he looks.

  109. 109.

    Major Major Major Major

    @ThresherK: I have a gender-nonbinary libertarian acquaintance who thinks that the PC police are ruining America, and that all you special lefty snowflakes and your lefty snowflakitude are Why Trump Won, and gets very very mad if you refer to them by a pronoun other than they/them/etc. Bay Area libertarianism in a nutshell.

  111. 111.

    Stan

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    another half a dozen MBA Randian ideologues, a large chunk of pig-ignorant, lunatic, bigoted zealots who know nothing but dogma and hate, and a slightly larger chunk of not all that bright selfish, mean-spirited assholes. Republican politics will make perfect sense.

    Ouch. As a not all that bright MBA myself, I resemble that remark!

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