Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The willow is too close to the house.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Everybody saw this coming.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Infrastructure week. at last.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Soon Your Sugar Daddies Will All Be Gone

Soon Your Sugar Daddies Will All Be Gone

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This classic goes out to Steve King:

In a sign of the potential trouble for the president, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), an immigration hard-liner and early Trump supporter, wrote that if reports of a potential immigration deal are accurate, the president’s “base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.”

And this:

Ryan is already facing growing pressure from House conservatives who have begun to question his leadership and have even floated names of possible replacement as speaker. An agreement between Trump and Democrats on a bill to protect dreamers could potentially put Ryan in the position of having to decide whether to bring it for a vote with the prospects that it might pass with more Democratic support than among the GOP.

Am I the only one who thinks that Ryan wants to be thrown into that briar patch? Instead of spending weeks/months kissing Freedumb Caca ass, he can just say that Daddy Trump cut a deal and his hands are tied, and one more turd moves through the House and Senate colon before Christmas.

Also: Trumplestilskin is doubling down on DACA rhetoric this morning, so maybe this will actually happen.

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  1. 1.

    Served

    Love watching Pelosi and Schumer lead from the minority, simultaneously rolling Ryan, McConnell, and Trump.

    Congressional Rs are still intransigent because they have the numbers, but they don’t have the discipline to make them mean anything. It’s like they’re billionaires, but live alone on Mars. It’s beautiful, golden. It gives me life.

  5. 5.

    Cermet

    For Dolt 45 this is a win; he does not want to deport those teens/kids and said so in the past (so, confused why his base thinks he is doing something he ever said he wouldn’t.) He gets mark’s for working in a bi-partisan fashion and gets something he wants. I say he is acting (for now) in a manner that achieves goals he wants; he might back track/change but this is something he has said for some time as I’ve read his statements the last few months. But with tRump, who knows until it happens but he did sign the dem design budget compromise.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    I think Marshall’s take (linked in OP) is exactly right:

    Let’s begin with some critical first principles: Trump remains the same narcissist and predator he’s always been. He will never change. But Trump is also profoundly needy. He craves attention, affirmation and praise. He rails at the “failing New York Times” but there may literally be no public institution whose approval and attention he’s craved more in his whole life. If Democrats can leverage his desire for praise and “wins” to save 800,000 Dreamers they should grab the chance. And I think they can and will do so with eyes wide open…

    From what I can see, the Dems’ play here is pretty straight forward. Push forward for that deal: DACA plus “border security” minus the wall. If they get it, great. They save the Dreamers. If they don’t, the process will still wreak havoc within the GOP. That coalition damage within the GOP is the second best way to save the Dreamers in 18 months. The first “win” is far more precious. But they’re both important wins in substantive and political terms.

    Yep. It will be puke-inducing to watch Beltway pundits laud Trump’s nonexistent political courage, but the hot, salty MAGAt tears will be a soothing tonic.

  8. 8.

    bystander

    The ongoing warfare ripping the repub party apart has to be counterbalanced with Dems in Disarray! Litmus test! The repubs are splitting into purity factions and trying to rip power from their leaders, but some Dems joined an independent to promote healthcare as a right and party leadership has secured the debt ceiling and shown Trump that with a coalition, Dreamers get at a minimum a return to the sense of security they had under Obama’s EO and Trump gets to say he had a win and his base gets pissed off.

  9. 9.

    Lee

    People also forget how Trump likes to negotiate.

    He asks for what he wants x10. Then when he backs down to just what he wants he scores one in the win column. .

    The wall just got thrown under the bus so he can count a win.

  10. 10.

    randy khan

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think Marshall’s take on the Dems’ play is exactly right – they would like to save the Dreamers, but if it isn’t possible, they still get a good political result.

  12. 12.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Betty Cracker: OTOH, per a piece I saw going around yesterday, Democrats’ main attack may be based on the fact that their best polling advantage is around which party “looks out for people like me.” A clear accomplishment trump could point to, especially if it’s done in a way that distances him from the vultures, might undermine this.

    Not that it isn’t the right thing to do, just saying that it complicates the 2018 message. Maybe this will be offset by having his base in disarray.

  13. 13.

    randy khan

    @Lee:

    The wall just got thrown under the bus so he can count a win.

    I agree. And it’s a win that his core constituency will hate.

  15. 15.

    Cermet

    @bystander: And remember, once congress votes such an act into law, they are not just safe but secure relative to their future; they are now permanently protected.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Major Major Major Major: Democrats’ main attack may be based on the fact that their best polling advantage is around which party “looks out for people like me.” A clear accomplishment trump could point to, especially if it’s done in a way that distances him from the vultures, might undermine this.

    I think one of the few things trump actually believes in, and the thing making Ryan eat all this shit, is tax cuts for the rich, and they both think those cuts are so wonderful and beneficial they can sell them. And maybe they can, but I have a feeling anything that gets out of the House especially is gonna be a bounty for Dem ad makers.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    Ryan is already facing growing pressure from House conservatives who have begun to question his leadership and have even floated names of possible replacement as speaker. An agreement between Trump and Democrats on a bill to protect dreamers could potentially put Ryan in the position of having to decide whether to bring it for a vote with the prospects that it might pass with more Democratic support than among the GOP.

    Seriously?
    They think they have a replacement for the ZEGK?
    Uh huh
    Uh huh

    Because, the pedophile rule is ridiculous.

    It’s the reason they never brought up Immigration Reform or 44’s Jobs Bill – both would have passed with a majority of Republicans – just not ALL Republicans.

  24. 24.

    Barbara

    I think Pelosi and Schumer realize in a very up close and personal way just how divided the Republican Party is, and probably no more so than around the issue of immigration. All these people who are hiding from reporters and from their constituents and wringing their hands will vote for this legislation if it gets to the floor. They might not be a majority of Rs, but they are enough. McConnell doesn’t care, and Ryan will basically pay any price if it helps him get his beloved tax cuts.

  28. 28.

    geg6

    @schrodingers_cat:

    My best guess is that, first, Putin is probably just as racist as your bog standard Freedumb Caucus member. And second, and more importantly, it sows fear, uncertainty and chaos throughout the entire US. And that’s his main goal.

  29. 29.

    Duane

    I’d like to be opptimistic about all this, but that requires believing what Trump says.
    Pelosi and Schumer are going to discover what so,so many others have. You can’t trust Trump.

  32. 32.

    germy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    So I have a question, why is Russia trying to host anti-immigrant rallies on American soil in addition to spreading scary memes about immigrants.

    In order to drum up more support for his preferred, anti-immigrant candidate?

  34. 34.

    Jack the Second

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Not that it isn’t the right thing to do, just saying that it complicates the 2018 message. Maybe this will be offset by having his base in disarray.

    If the reason Democrats lose in 2018 is because too much good, progressive legislation is passed in the next year to rile up the progressive base, GOOD.

    I’m not particularly worried that that’s going to happen, but getting Democrats elected is a means to an end, and that end is good, progressive policy that helps make the world less shitty.

  36. 36.

    Frankensteinbeck

    The Freedom Caucus has a name to replace Ryan? Tell me, do these delusional idiots have any support for this person from the rest of the caucus that outnumbers them six-to-one?

    @Lee:
    Trump asks for what he wants x10, gets nothing, and whines and begs. He is the perfect example of why the famous haggling strategy does not work except under very special circumstances. Of course, Trump is used to negotiating with either marks or people vastly weaker he can bully.

    @Major Major Major Major:
    And Hastert barely used the rule himself. This deranged situation is all on Boehner’s head for throwing in with McConnell on total war against the black man.

  38. 38.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Duane:
    They already know, and you can bet they’ve figured it in. The thing is, Trump doesn’t make the deal. They’ve already won by getting him to say he has, because it puts a gun to Ryan and McConnell’s head, even if Trump backs out tomorrow. And thankfully, Trump has shown he’s too chickenshit to veto anything, even if he hates it.

    EDIT – They may not get the bill, but civil war in the Republican Party? Mission already accomplished. It’s only a question of how big a win this is.

  40. 40.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    @Betty Cracker:

    He rails at the “failing New York Times” but there may literally be no public institution whose approval and attention he’s craved more in his whole life.

    and vice versa.

  41. 41.

    Humboldtblue

    @CAinCA: That story contains absolutely nothing except some sketchy poll results from a Berkeley poll. However, the Bernie Democrats in the state are vociferous and it may be time for Feinstein to retire (although we lose her massive seniority) but this looks from my seat like the normal swing-left push from younger voters taking their first chops at national politics. I bet if you ask the Democratic candidates in 13 CA house races if Pelosi is a help or hindrance they’ll point to their war chests and smile because the woman can raise money.

  42. 42.

    Terry chay

    @Major Major Major Major: Yes, it is a “majority of the majority” but the jury is still out if it has warped into “passed by majority only.” The latter occurs only in the cases where the minority is unified which is on issues like repealing ACA and the like the first two Obama years (though Pelosi doesn’t follow and did “violate” it a number of times). Its origin comes from a demonization “everything a democrat did must be bad” of the Tip O Neil/Reagan years.

    The reality is that it was easy for the Republicans to ahdere to it for a time so they end up thinking it was a real rule.

    The Hastert Rule and immigration specifically have an interesting history. It was the first use of it for example. It’s because of it congressional democrats know they have nothing to fear with respect to DACA. This is one case where adherence to this rule or even expected adherence to this rule breaks the GOP as it has every time in the past. Fiscal cliff, shutdowns, etc. are relatively new, but tactics due to Obama era obstructionism, but this is really about the GOP coalition.

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Humboldtblue: most political observers are commenting on how multimillionaire old lady Pelosi and Wall St hand-holder Chuck Schumer (and I admit I’ve been in that camp) just rolled Ryan and McConnell twice in a week. But Tim Ryan, Nina Turner and the Berkeley DSA have found something they think they agree on.

    I’m conflicted about Feinstein. She was godawful during the Bush years– still can’t believe she never faced a serious primary–, and she sometimes displays a remarkable tin ear, but she’s been pretty damn good on the Russia probe, and I think she’s got a lot of clout in the Senate and in the Beltway that she’s using for the good in that case.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    @randy khan:

    I think Marshall’s take on the Dems’ play is exactly right – they would like to save the Dreamers, but if it isn’t possible, they still get a good political result.

    I happen to agree with him. As it is, the Dems are behind the 8 ball because they control nothing. So, whatever they push for and maybe get is a bonus. As it is, they look rational and what they want sounds normal.

  45. 45.

    Jeffro

    @Served:

    All those people who were screaming for Pelosi to step down are gonna put crow on the endangered species list.

    That is such a great way to put it.

  46. 46.

    catclub

    @Cermet:

    they are now permanently protected.

    No law is permanent, all can be changed. But a law IS much more permanent than an Executive Order.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    They already know, and you can bet they’ve figured it in. The thing is, Trump doesn’t make the deal. They’ve already won by getting him to say he has, because it puts a gun to Ryan and McConnell’s head, even if Trump backs out tomorrow. And thankfully, Trump has shown he’s too chickenshit to veto anything, even if he hates it.

    this this this

  49. 49.

    Amaranthine RBG

    Trump got rolled? Hahahaha

    Two weeks ago there was DACA and no enhanced border security

    Today there is no DACA

    If this “deal” passes there will be DACA and enhanced border security

    That’s a win?

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    So I have a question, why is Russia trying to host anti-immigrant rallies on American soil in addition to spreading scary memes about immigrants.

    I think the most plausible explanation is that Putin and company hate brown people as much as American white supremacists do. That and authoritarianism are the unifying traits of the international scary right-wing movement.

  52. 52.

    Humboldtblue

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Midterm results will be very interesting because if Dems do well (there is very tentative excitement Cali Dems might sweep seven GOP seats, very tentative but it’s there) that will mean they got a lot of help from Pelosi and they won’t turn on her. I agree with your Feinstein assessment completely.

  53. 53.

    catclub

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    And thankfully, Trump has shown he’s too chickenshit to veto anything, even if he hates it.

    So far, he has been too chicken shit to revoke the parts of the Iran agreement he has control over, or the ACA Cost Sharing reductions payments.
    WE just wonder how long it goes on.

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    @schrodingers_cat: Because at a minimum, it adds to our domestic friction/fighting and chaos.

    And because it helps them ‘prep the battlefield’ for when they move to back candidates like Trumpov who see the world the way they do, who will help them wreck the institutions that are keeping them in check.

  57. 57.

    James Powell

    @Cermet:

    Yeah, I’m reading a lot of praise for Dems, but this will be another reason for the Beltway Courtiers to declare another Trump pivot to post-partisan independent maverick glory.

  59. 59.

    Fair Economist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Dianne Feinstein is – OK. Not great, just OK. She has good and bad aspects. Given she’s representing a very liberal state, she’s pretty disappointing. But I don’t think anybody can honestly promise to be in the Senate doing high-caliber work until age 90. It’s time for her to retire.

    If she does run, it will be a wild primary. The main question is whether her main opponent will be a Berner, a standard Democrat, or a Republican. All are possible.

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    @catclub: It seems like conservatives from King to Coulter are already essentially admitting publicly they’ve backed a duplicitous moron.

    I wonder if there are crow-shaped cookies we could send them?

  63. 63.

    JGabriel

    WaPo via DougJ @ Top:

    In a sign of the potential trouble for the president, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) … wrote that if reports of a potential immigration deal are accurate, the president’s “base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.”

    Really, Steve? You’re just figuring out now that any promise Trump makes is conditional based on how much praise or money it nets him?

  64. 64.

    catclub

    @James Powell: The president is NOT Hillary Clinton, so it is baked in that lots of bad things will happen.
    If it takes giving mavericky credit to stop some of those things from happening, that is the price to be paid. It could be worse. A week ago posters were saying that if keeping DACA involved also paying for the wall, they would still do it. Now it is keeping DACA but not much in the way of walls.

    The associated dismay of people like Steve King is gravy.

  68. 68.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @James Powell:
    Which as always, will last about five minutes. Maybe ten, with Kelly playing Mary Poppins, humorless Victorian nanny*. Trump can’t help himself.

    *As always, the Disney movie directly betrays the author’s vision. There’s a whole ugly story about how Walt betrayed her.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @catclub:

    No law is permanent, all can be changed.

    Sure, but the point is that the DREAM act would give them a path to permanent residency and citizenship that the vast majority of them are likely to take. If it gets rescinded in a few years, it will be too late because the DREAMers will have moved from being undocumented to having green cards and/or citizenship. I don’t think a bill that revoked their legal status would fly, so the best it would do is to close the barn door on stragglers.

  70. 70.

    rikyrah

    @Amir Khalid:

    Is there some reason, other than age, that Diane Feinstein should not run for the Senate again?

    To be honest, Can’t stand her.

    And, if I could get someone, say, like the Attorney General of California as her replacement, I’d be willing to throw her over in a nanosecond.

    But, then, we might get someone like Gavin Newsome..which would be a lateral trade, IMO, except for age.

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Amir Khalid:

    Amid, O/T but was just reading about the deadly fire this morning at a Kuala Lumpur school. What a horror for your city and nation. I can’t imagine the pain for the families of those 21 students.

  72. 72.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:

    Is there some reason, other than age, that Diane Feinstein should not run for the Senate again?

    She’s too far to the right. California could elect somebody a lot more liberal than DiFi if they were on the ballot instead of her.

  74. 74.

    Major Major Major Major

    One of the reasons this will be pissing off the people who know how the charade works, like Ryan and Mitch, is because ‘enhanced border security’ was always fake policy (I think its last iteration was some fencing and more officers) and this takes that away as a nice-sounding pound of flesh to demand, in addition to the hostages.

  75. 75.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah:

    But, then, we might get someone like Gavin Newsome..which would be a lateral trade, IMO, except for age.

    Newsome would also have a much higher chance of being indicted. I can’t look at the guy without wondering what really nasty skeletons are lurking in his closet. In any case, though, he’s looking far more likely to run for governor than senator.

  76. 76.

    rikyrah

    What Would Donald Do?
    How evangelical Christians got to the point where they could embrace a Hugh Hefner–like president.

    by Samuel Buntz

    During the 2016 presidential campaign, it became common for some evangelical leaders to defend Donald Trump by comparing him to King David. Sure, King David may have committed adultery and arranged the death of his mistress’s husband in battle, but despite these considerable failings he had still retained the full favor of God. (Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. first made the David comparison after revealing that he’d enjoyed a pleasant repast of Wendy’s cheeseburgers with Trump.) The then candidate, according to this line of thought, was not what he so baldly appeared to be—a personality cut from the same cloth as Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt. Rather, he was a warrior for righteousness tragically beset by unpredictable appetites. (Perhaps these apologists also recalled King David’s penchant for insulting disabled reporters and accusing debate moderators of being premenstrual?)

    This strained analogy certainly raises questions about the state of evangelical Christianity in America today: how could evangelical authorities pound such a resolutely square peg into such an obviously round hole? After a campaign season marked by unusual theological justifications for supporting Trump (with some notable exceptions), King David the Second won 81 percent of the white evangelical vote, more than any other presidential candidate in history. Coming at exactly the right time, Frances FitzGerald’s mammoth history of the evangelical movement in America, The Evangelicals, helps shed light on conservative evangelicalism’s transformation into a quasi-political institution.

    FitzGerald, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her classic study of the Vietnam War, Fire in the Lake, provides an immense chronicle of fundamentalism and evangelicalism in America, delving into the movement’s anti-intellectualism, narrow literalism, and focus on sexual restrictions—characteristics with which we’re all familiar. At the same time, she highlights oft-overlooked evangelical history and figures who far transcend the more familiar “religious right” mold. There is, for example, the great nineteenth-century evangelist Charles Finney, who made abolitionism a central part of his mission; we also have William Jennings Bryan, whose brilliantly awakened social conscience was undercut by his misguided opposition to Darwinism and cultural defeat during the Scopes Trial; and then there’s Billy Graham, whose political moderation and essential decency seem like ancient history next to his son Franklin’s more aggressive conservatism. (Graham was a southerner who befriended Martin Luther King Jr. and opposed segregation before the 1950s were over.) Additionally, FitzGerald discusses the historical countermovement away from fundamentalism—liberal Christianity—in a way that kindles admiration for theologians like Horace Bushnell and Reinhold Niebuhr.

  78. 78.

    catclub

    “It’s only reasonable and fitting that we also address … borders that are not sufficiently controlled while we address this very real and very human problem that’s in front of us,” Ryan said last week.

    I am sure Obama’s anger translator would be saying: “You racist fuckers sure didn’t look at this problem this way when I was President.”

  79. 79.

    randy khan

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    If this “deal” passes there will be DACA and enhanced border security

    That’s a win?

    Yes. As somebody noted above “enhanced border security” is a fig leaf. More important, it’s not The Wall.

  80. 80.

    scav

    @Jeffro: The US looking like an overt shambling disfunctional racist xenophobic mess on the international stage is also likely counted a win by the Russians. A systemic overt shambling disfunctional racist xenophobic mess at all levels and not just in its theoretically temporary choice of leader — not exactly the poster child for leader of the free world hyperpower blahblah (not that the place was as universally and uncritically loved and admired as many assumed).

  81. 81.

    Gelfling 545

    @rikyrah: Well, not exactly. Gingrich and Santorum were mentioned. I honestly could not remember for a bit who Santorum is. I was going to Google, but then I thought “Google? Santorum? Ohhhhh, that guy.”

  82. 82.

    Humboldtblue

    @Fair Economist:

    or a Republican. All are possible

    There were no Republicans on the ballot for national races in 2016 and that won’t change immediately. the California GOP is in deep trouble and it’s actually shocking to see how quickly its lost any sort of influence. Hell, we elected Arnold and then re-elected him (03-11), and while he isn’t your Beltway standard GOP man he was still a Republican. Since he left office Dems have obtained a supermajority in the legislature and dominated the open primaries.

  83. 83.

    Amir Khalid

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Unfortunately, these private religious schools have a way of being firetraps. When something like this happens, it’s usually a Muslim religious school. I suspect something in the institutional culture encourages laxity in safety practices. I remember another school fire some years back, which started in a girls’ dorm where, if I remember, the school also stored cooking fuel. I find myself wondering who the hell is in charge of conducting safety inspections at these places, since neither the Ministry of Education nor the Fire and Rescue Services Dept seems to be on top of it.

  84. 84.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Amir Khalid:
    I haven’t seen that movie, but in the books Mary Poppins is a loving but hard-nosed, stone-faced, arrogant disciplinarian. Travers signed with Disney under the agreement she be directly involved in production and have veto rights. She told him no way on the musical numbers, because they showed Mary Poppins being silly. The moment Travers left the country because the movie was supposedly finished, Walt put back in all that silly stuff. She only found out at the premier, and was enraged.

    This is 100% consistent with Walt’s style, and Disney as a company followed in his footsteps. Peter Pan, Rescuers, Fox and Hound, pretty much every Disney movie adapted from a book is the opposite of the book. When he wasn’t rewriting the books to match his syrupy conservative morals, he was screwing the IP holders out of their money, ala Winny The Pooh.

  86. 86.

    Gelfling 545

    @Duane: This will not come as a surprise to them. There are still advantages to having done this. Sowing discord in the GOP is a fine thing in itself.

  88. 88.

    The Moar You Know

    And yup, he just oozes a serious financial/sexual/bribery scandal risk.

    @Humboldtblue: I understand the NeverTrump Republicans, because Newsom is someone who I simply will not vote for. Period. I lived in SF while he was mayor. He’s a black hole of self-serving bullshit, useless grandstanding, and his behavior towards/with women is so awful that if given a choice as to who to leave my little sister with for an hour was between Trump or Newsom, I’d happily leave her with Trump.

    I also suspect he’s a phenomenal blackmail risk without any of the strength of character you’d need to effectively counteract that.

  90. 90.

    catclub

    @rikyrah:

    but despite these considerable failings he [David] had still retained the full favor of God.

    Not exactly

    9 ‘Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 ‘Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun”

  91. 91.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @randy khan:

    If you compare the deal with the status quo ante, it’s not a win

    Esp since there’s nothing -preventing- the wall In the future

    Trump gave up nothing.

    Take something other side already has (or will get anyway) off the table and then give it back to get a concession–classic negotiation technique

  93. 93.

    Duane

    I do enjoy the turmoil this is causing the Repubs. Feathers for the caps of Pelosi and Schumer. Perhaps they should have dinner with Trump more often.

  95. 95.

    Bruce K

    @Amaranthine RBG: The Democrats in Congress are kind of limited in what they can accomplish; policy-wise, about all they can do is somewhat mitigate the damage that Trump and the Capitol Hill GOP can do.

    And I suspect – and I doubt I’m the only one – that Pelosi and Schumer’s primary objective in negotiating these deals was to catalyze an internecine fight on the other side of the aisle, making it easier to slow down the march of evil in the short term and quite possibly improving the odds of at least one chamber of Congress flipping in ’18.

    So it may not be a solid win, but it’s a step in the right direction, and I, for one, am rather glad that Pelosi and Schumer have figured out how to take advantage of the fact that the President of the United States is suffering from advanced late-stage Dunning-Kruger syndrome.

  96. 96.

    Mandarama

    @The Moar You Know: This thread may be dead, but I am interested in the story on Newsom from Californians. Here in a galaxy far far away, I taught Jennifer Siebel’s documentary in a women’s studies course I was teaching–and Newsom appears in it, espousing feminist ideals. (I did not initially realize he is the director’s husband.) I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that his real self might be different– I have been a Democrat long enough to know about the zipper problems –but y’all are vehement here and I trust you. What’s the scoop, and should I be looking more askance at Siebel as well? (Other than the obvious criticisms of her work, common to all of our contemporary texts.)

  98. 98.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Bruce K:
    Agreed. It’s better to have DACA then to not have it. But, the unspecified enhanced border provisions are worrying – we’ll just have to wait and see if there is an teeth there.

    The thing I object to is the inane triumphalism – its no better than WINNING type rhetoric.

  100. 100.

    Greg

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    If you compare the deal with the status quo ante, it’s not a win

    Not true. The difference between an executive order DACA and passed legislative DACA is _enormous_. A huge win.

  104. 104.

    NorthLeft12

    I dunno guys. If this means more money and resources for the modern American gestapo [ICE], I don’t know if this is much of a bargain.
    But yeah, I get that there are +800K people who are facing a potentially disastrous fate if something is not done.
    I keep waiting to wake up and learn that for the last ten months I was in some kind of coma.

  106. 106.

    Origuy

    Never forget about Putin’s primary audience — the Russian people. One of his purposes in stirring up trouble in the USA and EU is to be able to say to the Russian people, “See, these Western countries aren’t so great. You like stability and strong government, don’t you? Don’t get involved with my opposition. They’ll only cause disruption.”

  107. 107.

    The Moar You Know

    I taught Jennifer Siebel’s documentary in a women’s studies course I was teaching–and Newsom appears in it, espousing feminist ideals. (I did not initially realize he is the director’s husband.) I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that his real self might be different– I have been a Democrat long enough to know about the zipper problems –but y’all are vehement here and I trust you. What’s the scoop, and should I be looking more askance at Siebel as well? (Other than the obvious criticisms of her work, common to all of our contemporary texts.)

    @Mandarama: Although Newsom is most famous for carrying on an affair with the wife of his best friend/campaign manager, the bigger picture is that she was not the only one by a longshot. He did a quiet stint in rehab for “sexual addiction” (also pills of many sorts, because he had/has a whopping multi-drug addiction issue) after getting caught with her, but there have been many others. If any wife of Newsom’s is pimping him in a film as some sort of feminist, in my opinion that woman is just as much a dishonest sack of crap as Gavin is. He’s a user and a sociopath who has no business being in politics at all.

  108. 108.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Amir Khalid: There was a review of “Saving Mr. Banks” that pointed out that Disney was both the only studio that could have made it, and the last studio in the world that you’d want making it.

  110. 110.

    Waratah

    Trump wants bragging rights on this and the Republicans know they will lose minority’s support. Ryan knows he cannot pass this without the Democrats.

  111. 111.

    Bitter Scribe

    As much as I dislike Paul Ryan, I can’t forget that he pretty much got drafted into the speaker job after John Boehner just couldn’t deal with the idiocy anymore and there was no one–at least no one who could walk and chew gum at the same time–who wanted it. If Ryan were obliged to send me a dollar every time some version of “Why do I need this insanity?” has gone through his mind, I’d probably have half his salary. I can’t believe that he wouldn’t react to a real revolt with “Fine, fuckers, put in whoever you want. I’m done with you.”

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