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You are here: Home / Politics / America / If Only There Was Something That Senators Corker or Flake or Collins Could Do…

If Only There Was Something That Senators Corker or Flake or Collins Could Do…

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This was Senator Corker today, bemoaning his inability to achieve anything in the US Senate:

This was Senator Flake on Sunday:

And this was Senator Collins on Sunday:

And last week:

There is something that Senators Corker, Flake, and Collins could do, today, to force Senate Majority Leader McConnell to actually bring their legislation up for a vote and to force enough of their Republican colleagues in the Senate to vote for cloture so that it can proceed to a simple up and down majority vote: THREATEN TO CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATS! And if Senator McConnell calls their bluff, then: CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATS! If just Senators Flake and Corker, both of whom are retiring at the end of this Congress and are not running for reelection, did this they could force Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s hand. He only has a two senator majority and one of those senators, Senator McCain is out for cancer treatment. Senators Corker and Flake have nothing to lose, as opposed to Senator Collins who is up for reelection in 2020. However, given that Senator King, her colleague from Maine, does just fine electorally as an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, this type of political move would likely not cost her her Senate seat. And if it does, that is the price for doing the right thing, not the expedient thing.

Senate Majority Leader McConnell is only going to respond to these types of actions because he really isn’t a politician or like any politician who has ever served as Senate Majority or Minority Leader. Rather than view him as a politician, it is more appropriate to understand Senator McConnell as an insurgent, albeit a non-violent one. He recognizes no legitimacy but his own. When out of power he’ll do whatever is necessary using asymmetric, irregular, and/or unconventional means to achieve power. And once he achieves power he will do whatever he can to achieve his objectives to consolidate his gains as quickly as possible using any means necessary as he believes his actions are self justifying – that his achievement of power justifies his by any means necessary strategy. This is, by the way, the basic argument of the premier Italian fascist (national-syndicalist) theorist Sergio Panunzio, who delineated the fascist theories for the use of political violence and low intensity warfare in the 1920s. As a result, there is no law, rule, tradition, norm, ethic, promise, and/or deal he won’t violate or renege on. This also makes him an unreliable interlocutor and makes it impossible to negotiate with him in good faith as he doesn’t believe in good faith negotiations.

Since Senators Corker, Flake, and Collins, let alone anyone else, cannot negotiate with Senator McConnell in good faith, because Senator McConnell doesn’t do anything in good faith, if they want to get anything done, then they need to rely on their leverage as senators in a very slim Senate majority caucus to force their initiatives through. This means threatening to and/or actually caucusing with the Democrats. The last thing that Senator McConnell wants is to lose control of the Senate. Whether now because of the defections of a pair of his retiring members using it as leverage to achieve their own objectives or in the mid terms because enough voters want a check on the President to override the partisan Republican advantage in this senatorial election cycle. It is why he’s ground everything in the chamber other than handling nominations, specifically judicial nominations, to a halt. It is why he doesn’t want to do the legally required annual budgetary resolution so he can avoid having his members take tough votes before the midterms. And it is why he’s cancelled most of the August recess under the pretense that it is the only way he can move judicial nominees because of what he alleges is Democratic obstruction. Nominations that only exist because he prevented President Obama from seating almost any judicial nominees during his final two years in office. The Democratic minority has no tools to stop these nominations, regardless of what Senator McConnell says because Senator McConnell in conjunction with Senator Grassley has gotten rid of the blue slip rule and refuses to recognize Democratic senators holds on nominees. Senator McConnell’s cancellation of the August recess is really just a thinly veiled attempt to keep incumbent Democratic senators up for reelection off the campaign trail. Every Senate rule, tradition, norm, ethic, and even law (Congressional Budget Act) has been bent or stretched to breaking or just outright ignored by Senator McConnell in his quest to consolidate his power and achieve his revanchist and reactionary objectives. As an insurgent, albeit a non-violent one, Senator McConnell only understands and recognizes the application of leverage and force. Senators Corker, Flake, and Collins have the ability to apply significant leverage and force. The question is whether or not they have the will to do so. The sad reality is the answer is almost certainly not.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

202Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    There is something that Senators Corker, Flake, and Collins could do, today, to force Senate Majority Leader McConnell to actually bring their legislation up for a vote and to force enough of their Republican colleagues in the Senate to vote for cloture so that it can proceed to a simple up and down majority vote: THREATEN TO CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATS! And if Senator McConnell calls their bluff, then: CAUCUS WITH THE DEMOCRATS!

    Now you’re just talking crazy here.

  2. 2.

    Bobby Thomson

    The question is whether or not they have the will to do so.

    It’s not a question of will. They’re just lying partisan right-wing apparatchiks who pretend to be something else to make the party look better to the usual gullible saps in the media.

  3. 3.

    condorcet runner-up

    I mean … they have already gone with pensively stroking their chins and vigorously shaking their heads in concern. What more can they do? Oh wait …

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    it is more appropriate to understand Senator McConnell as an insurgent, albeit a non-violent one. He recognizes no legitimacy but his own. When out of power he’ll do whatever is necessary using asymmetric, irregular, and/or unconventional means to achieve power. And once he achieves power he will do whatever he can to achieve his objectives to consolidate his gains as quickly as possible using any means necessary as he believes his actions are self justifying – that his achievement of power justifies his by any means necessary strategy.

    I’d argue that once he threatened to destroy the US government over President Obama revealing Russia was meddling in the election, he crossed the line of non-violence into literally anything goes.

    McConnell has become a bigger clear and present danger then OBL ever was. The IC needs to respond accordingly.

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    Every Senate rule, tradition, norm, ethic, and even law (Congressional Budget Act) has been bent or stretched to breaking or just outright ignored by Senator McConnell in his quest to consolidate his power and achieve his revanchist and reactionary objectives.

    That’s not a man, that’s a rabid animal.

  6. 6.

    sukabi

    Adam, it could be argued that McConnell’s actions ARE violent, as they WILL ultimately cause harm to many, and he knows this.

    Adding, that his actions are undermining the constitution, and aiding and abetting foreign adversaries.

  8. 8.

    MJS

    Republicans uber alles. Fealty always to Republican leadership, regardless of what that leadership is or does.

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Paul Danaher @ pdanahar
    Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Trump would suspend US war games with South Korea before Trump announced it himself at the press briefing. That suggests Kim’s people were on the phone to Beijing straight after the meeting cos they recognized how big a concession it was.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: Glad to see you with a twitter account. And Korra.

    Primary result out of Virginia’s 10th (NoVA; Herndon; Leesburg, area near Dulles): State Senator Jennifer Wexton has won a 6-way primary to challenge Barbara Comstock. I’m delighted; Wexton is a wonderful person and quite electable.

  15. 15.

    Spaniel

    Flake, Collins, and Corker are all hat and no bull. Them and Johnson, and Kennedy, and a few others had made stands to only crumble (with little dignity).

  17. 17.

    sukabi

    @MomSense: suggest if she really is concerned that she caucus with the democrats and push back against the insanity.

    I would but I’m not signing up for Twitter.

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    Rene Boucher, 60, didn’t like where his neighbor of 17 years, Paul, was putting his yard debris.

    In September 2017 the junior GOP senator from Kentucky stacked a 10-foot-wide mound of branches near the line separating his property in Bowling Green from Boucher’s.

    Boucher found the pile of tree limbs and other flotsam “unsightly,” according to new court documents first reported by The Associated Press. Even though it wasn’t on his property, Boucher could see the pile from his back patio.

    It sat there for weeks.

    In October, Boucher had the branches loaded into portable dumpsters and carried off.

    But then, other piles appeared — two of them.

    Boucher poured gasoline on the woodpiles and incinerated them, giving himself second-degree burns in the process.

    But Paul’s autumn yard work was not complete.

    The next day, the senator blew leaves into Boucher’s yard with his lawnmower. He made another branch pile in the same spot as the previous ones.

    The yard debris allegations are a “false narrative,” said Paul’s Deputy Chief of Staff Sergio Gor. In the decade preceding the incident, Paul had never spoken with the man who attacked him, Gor said.

    But Boucher attacked.

    “As Dr. Boucher has stated throughout, he lost his temper and tackled Rand Paul as Paul was carrying branches from another location on his property and placing them on the property line,” the court memorandum from Boucher’s defense team said.

    Now we know for sure. Rand Paul is an asshole of a neighbor.

  20. 20.

    hueyplong

    Between the Collins/Flake mewling and Trump’s meeting with Kim, this week is bidding fair to become quite the stomach-churner.

    Kind of makes you hope Cohen gets arrested tomorrow, just to inject a little levity into the proceedings.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Have they considered tweeting their concerns? I am sure that would help.

    The tweets are right there on the post up top.

    /uncertain if you were trying for sarcasm.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    @hueyplong:

    Between the Collins/Flake mewling and Trump’s meeting with Kim, this week is bidding fair to become quite the stomach-churner.

    Is it still only Tuesday?

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sukabi: I’m using violence in the sense of physical application of force to inflict harm. I’m not saying he’s not setting the conditions to inflict harm or actually inflicting harm. He is. I’m just making the clear distinction that he’s doing it without personally engaging in (physical) violence himself.

  25. 25.

    JMG

    Come on, Adam, you know damn well the three Senators you cited are complete gutless losers who will never do anything but fret and even do that very seldom.

  27. 27.

    sukabi

    @TenguPhule: Paul just thought that the “free market” was taking care of his yard waste for him, ie, he got shit removed without having to pay for services rendered.

    Yes, he’s a horrible neighbor, a cheap son of a bitch, and a douche.

  29. 29.

    Nicole

    Someone needs to get this entry to Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow and ask them to do to McConnell what they did to Schneiderman. They would be performing a great service to their country.

    Judging from the mystery surrounding McConnell’s discharge from the military, I’m sure there’s some there there.

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m just making the clear distinction that he’s doing it without personally engaging in (physical) violence himself.

    Mob bosses still get the death penalty for the murders done in their name..

  31. 31.

    jk

    Flake, Collins, and Corker can go fuck themselves. I’m sick of their pathetic, half hearted critiques of Trump that is never backed up by action.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    The last thing that Senator McConnell wants is to lose control of the Senate.

    I think you yourself argue against this.

    The last thing that McConnell wants is to not force every single horrible thing through the Senate that he can before January 2019. He knows that Trump is destroying the party. He knows that the House is probably going to flip, and a big enough wave will flip the Senate too. That’s why, as you later say, he has to act now. The clock is ticking and he’ll never have this opportunity again – even if he stays Majority Leader.

    If he wanted to keep the Senate, he could do lots of popular, sensible things to make things better. Things that aren’t even that controversial (a criminal justice bill, a DACA bill, a universal background check bill, a sensible bill on tariffs, tweaks to Obamacare, strengthening Medicare and Social Security, etc., etc.). He doesn’t care. He wants to pack the courts, continue to gut civil rights, etc., even if it means losing the Senate.

    And the actions of McConnell’s colleagues show that they are mostly perfectly fine with that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    @Nicole: Great idea. Treason McConnell has skated, under the radar, far too long. Fucker stole a Supreme Court seat. Burn him. Bring on Mayer and Farrow.

  36. 36.

    PsiFighter37

    None of them have even an ounce of integrity that Jim Jeffords had (Arlen Specter switched purely because he thought he would lose his seat). So fuck them all.

  37. 37.

    marcopolo

    @Elizabelle: And continuing the trend, all four primary contests in VA in vulnerable R held house districts were won by the woman. Wexton, Abigail Spanberger, Elaine Luria, and cannot find the fourth name so sue me.

    In other good news, turnout for last week’s CA primary election looks to be the highest in over a decade and only about 1 million votes off of the 2016 general election turnout figure.

    The other thing I’m interested in is in Maine they are using instant run-off voting for the first time. Curious to see how that shakes out.

    The only solution to the problem we face is to vote these effers out in November. Still seems to be looking good with less than 100 days to go.

  40. 40.

    chris

    Great news! Jason Chaffetz has written (haha) a book-like object. My quetion is, can he collect royalties in prison? I still think he resigned and ran away because he has or had Russian ties.

  42. 42.

    JPL

    Corker’s friend is running for the democratic seat, and after saying he wouldn’t campaign for Blackburn he attended her rally with Trump. They truly don’t care.

    @Elizabelle: That is good news.

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense: I’ve known her family for years. She’s a lost cause.

    What do you think her deal is? Dumb as a stump? More conservative than she appears/pretends to be? Just stunned to find herself with a fancy important job that gives her raging imposter syndrome and doesn’t want to trouble the waters?

  45. 45.

    gene108

    All Flake and Corker are doing is angling for the reasonable Republican slot on the wingnut welfare circuit.

    If the really cared they would already be Democrats

  46. 46.

    B.B.A.

    @Nicole: Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and vampire killer.

    But even if all the unsubstantiated rumors I’ve heard about McConnell are true, he still knows where all the bodies are buried and he has absolutely no shame. If anyone can ride it out, he can.

  47. 47.

    Platonailedit

    Learned helplessness Corrupt cowardliness.

    Unlike other democracies, US voters get golden opportunity every two years to kick out corrupt bums who hurt their own interests in every possible way and yet they keep electing the same corrupt thugs election after election. Amazing.

  48. 48.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)

    What the fuck are these people so scared of? What do Corker or Flake have to lose? Not their seats. They could go down in history as two of the baddest, boldest, most patriotic motherfuckers in history–undeservedly, but that’s how they’d get remembered–but something keeps them from doing this. What are they so scared of?

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    He knows that Trump is destroying the party.

    I would say that Trump is destroying the country, but exciting the GOP. The Republicans will happily go down with him.

  50. 50.

    marcopolo

    @marcopolo: Correcting myself–the CA primary figures for this year look like they will only be 1 million fewer votes than the 2016 CA presidential primary (not the general).

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Is flashback Tuesday a thing?

    Mercedes Schlapp @ mercedesschlapp
    #Cuba #obama shakes hand with dictator Raul Castro. next shakes hands with NK dictator Kim Un Jung?
    8:16 AM – 21 Mar 2016

  54. 54.

    MomSense

    @TenguPhule:

    No. Her uncle was an old school Republican, supportive of LGBTQ rights, and a well respected Justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. I think she is more ideological and power hungry than people want to admit.

  57. 57.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator: Yes, the country too, of course.

    But… The NewYorker from November 2016:

    McConnell’s basic perspective is that political movements recede, and change is fleeting. “I think it is always a mistake to misread your mandate,” he said. “Frequently, new majorities think it is forever.” McConnell said flat-out that some of Donald Trump’s proposals—a trillion dollars in new infrastructure projects, a Washington reform bill that includes term limits for members of Congress—would not be priorities for Senate Republicans. He spoke more warmly of other ideas—tax cuts for corporations and a correction to “overregulation,” which he said was the reason the country never achieved three-per-cent annual economic growth under President Obama. Of Trump’s voters, McConnell said, “They might not have put it this way, but the lack of growth is the reason for the lack of opportunity.” Of plans to repeal Obamacare, he said, “I would be shocked if we did not move forward.” McConnell said that the election had given Republicans a “temporary lease on power,” and that he was concerned about overreach. That, he said, was the mistake the Democrats made after 2008, when they controlled a super-majority in the Senate. “And then they paid a big price for it two years later.”

    Emphasis added.

    On that last bit, we need to work to Make It So.

    147 days to go…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  58. 58.

    Mai naem mobile

    @TenguPhule: my old neighbor would do with his palm tree fronds. He would even tell us he would come over to our backyard where we have a wall and take them and never take them. The front was what would upset me though. N9 wall to worry about the fronds are easily visible. We have no palm trees so they were not ours.

  59. 59.

    Shell

    In the old British sit-com , “Yes, Minister” , the worst/scariest thing you could say to a politician was “Thats very brave of you.”

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    Just catching up with the news. I didn’t realize Infrastructure Week was going to be condos on North Korean beaches.

  63. 63.

    karl

    They don’t have to caucus with Dems — they could just abstain. And what do the near-retirees fear? Flake doesn’t want to alienate too many (important) prospective primary voters/interests in 2020; but Corker? hmm (I wonder how strongly these people value extremely lucrative sinecures over merely lucrative ones).

  64. 64.

    marcopolo

    So according to this tweet,

    Lamar Alexander said that when McConnell met Bill Gates, they both just sat there in silence, “making other people in the room uncomfortable.”

    This, combined with what we know about Gates meetings with Trump–basically that Gates thinks he is an idiot–makes me kinda like the original nerd-billionaire.

  66. 66.

    Raoul

    It turns out it was probably 90-100% gaslighting, but it wasn’t that long ago that principled conservatives would have been horrified by the idea of “achievement of power justifies his by any means necessary strategy.”

    The mask really has just fallen completely off. And we shall see if there is a price for this unveiling. I hope it is swift and costs McConnell dearly. But hope needs a big does of action to help it along.

  67. 67.

    eemom

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    condos on North Korean beaches.

    Actually, I have a little fantasy about that. The trump family are vacationing together at the TrumpKim Golf Resort; something goes sour between the two “leaders”; and, pursuant to NK “law,” three generations of trumps are arrested and sent to the gulags.

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    It’s almost 100 degrees, my kid just headed off to soccer practice and I told her “Remember to hydrate!”

    See, I do learn things here.

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @karl: Corker is worth IIANM tens of millions. I suspect it’s mostly pure tribalism on his part, though given his reported ambitions he may see himself as spending a few years as a Very Reasonable Elder Statesman on Sunday mornings and at Davos, then taking State in the next Republican administration.

    to your other point, yeah. They could monkey wrench McConnell by just not showing up for work in August, then– if I recall the google results and math done here last week– one Dem could stay behind and deny McConnell his quorum

  74. 74.

    Raoul

    @Adam

    Senator McConnell’s cancellation of the August recess is really just a thinly veiled attempt to keep incumbent Democratic senators up for reelection off the campaign trail. Every Senate rule, tradition, norm, ethic, and even law has been bent or stretched to breaking or just outright ignored by Senator McConnell

    When I heard about McConnell’s cancellation on the radio late last week, my immediate thought was that this was to keep the many Dems off the campaign trail. Are they really going to follow norms and traditions and stay in D.C. for this shitshow? Yeah, the pundit class will faint dead in horror, pearls spilling from broken necklace threads in their panic clutching, but another of the norms that needs to be smashed is Dems giving even a single flying f–k what pundits do or say.

    Walk out, democratic caucus. En masse at the end of July. McConnell is going to ram thru the judges anyway, why stay and yell impotently (or worse, believe that giving occasional yes votes or asking ‘tough’ questions in hearings will get you any positives from that selfsame corrupt pundit class).

    Shit is broken. Walk away and leave it broken while you go campaign on how g-ddammned broken it is.

  76. 76.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Situation report from the former director of the Office of Government Ethics. Read the whole thing. This is what McConnell is enabling in parts and directly responsible for in others.

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Just wait for the Cox for Governor campaign telling us what a hellscape we’re barely surviving in. Mr. Cox, he fix it good.

    We should be more like Alabama, then we could have a Mercedes plant, too!

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    How’s the weather up there in mid-July?

    Dependably hot, broken up with heat spells. Mid-July–mid-August are kind of the sweet spot for those who crave wearing as few clothes as possible. Good for tomatoes, too.

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    lots of interesting, and some scary, stuff going on in the primaries tonight

    Dave Wasserman @ Redistrict
    Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) is up 59%-41% vs. Shak Hill (R) in #VA10 w/ 78% reporting. That’s astonishingly weak for this two-term incumbent.

    Dave Wasserman @ Redistrict
    Katie Arrington (R) leading Rep. Mark Sanford (R) 16,043 to 13,990 per @DecisionDeskHQ count in #SC01. He’s in *deep* trouble.
    Rep. Mark Sanford (R)’s increasingly probable defeat in #SC01 means vocally Trump-skeptic Rs essentially have two choices: 1) retire or 2) lose your next primary.* *except in Utah
    Now might be a good time for folks to start paying attention to ocean engineer/yoga studio owner Joe Cunningham (D), who just won #SC01 nomination. CookPolitical recently moved from Solid R to Likely R.

    Wasserman is a good follow for these elections, as is @Taniel

  84. 84.

    Zinsky

    The GOP reptiles in Congress will do anything to protect the Rapist-in-Chief Trump. They are invertebrates without a conscience.

  86. 86.

    JPL

    @TenguPhule: The president who is a serial cheater accused mocked Sanford for cheating, so to answer your question.. yes they are fine with this.

  89. 89.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @different-church-lady: Yup, and Neo-Confederate Corey Stewart won the VA-SEN primary. People are saying this guarantees re-electin for Kaine, but at the very least Stewart will lose ugly.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):

    What the fuck are these people so scared of? What do Corker or Flake have to lose? Not their seats. They could go down in history as two of the baddest, boldest, most patriotic motherfuckers in history–undeservedly, but that’s how they’d get remembered–but something keeps them from doing this. What are they so scared of?

    Well, generally, they are scared of the current Republican base – slack-jawed and drooling Trumpzombies. They’re still in partial shock – “oh, how did this happen? How did we ever get here?” They actually think that their stupid speeches will somehow cause the majority of the GOP electorate to wake up out of its stupor (as if that stupor wasn’t abetted by Corker, Collins, etc with a wink and a nod all along).

    Newsflash: Corker, Collins, Flake, it ain’t coming back. The only hope is to pull a Michonne and sever the head, and then work to build something decent out of the ruins.

    Great…one of my country’s best hopes for recovering is for fucking US Senators to follow my stupid WALKING DEAD metaphor…and I had to LEAD THEM TO IT SINCE THEY CAN’T EVEN FIGURE OUT WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THEIR OWN PARTY!

  91. 91.

    Kay

    Russian intelligence agencies are trying to meddle in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections much as they did two years ago, special counsel Robert Mueller’s office asserted on Tuesday in a court filing.
    The claim of active election-focused intelligence operations came as prosecutors moved to block more than a dozen Russians who are charged criminally in the prior effort from gaining access to evidence gathered as that case was assembled.

    So what do we do? I don’t mean “OMG, WHAT do we DO!” but, I don’t know, do we get some kind of info at some point, so we could do or not do something?

    What would it look like, this propaganda? Facebook posts? Anything out of Donald Trump’s mouth? All dispatches from Wikileaks? Can they narrow it down a little? Give us a teeny little clue? Will we know it when we see it? I’m not sure I will.

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    @karl: No, they need to actually vote (caucus, whatever) with the Dems. Merely abstaining sends not even half as strong a message.

    Show the country you’ll put party first, Flake/Collins/Corker! For once in your life, stand for something that wasn’t bought with big-money donations to your campaign.

  95. 95.

    TenguPhule

    @Jeffro:

    and I had to LEAD THEM TO IT SINCE THEY CAN’T EVEN FIGURE OUT WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THEIR OWN PARTY!

    You can lead the elephant to water, but he’ll just sit on you.

  96. 96.

    TenguPhule

    @jk:

    My dream is that rat fucker Mitch McConnell becomes Senate Minority Leader after the mid term elections.

    Your dreams are humble.

    Mine involve steel headed pikes.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @Jeffro: I wonder about getting #IfOnly going as a hashtag, or barring that, just chaining myself to Mitch McConnell and then jumping into the ocean depths. If I go with the latter, you’re all welcome and I hope the crabs eat him first.

  98. 98.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    do we get some kind of info at some point, so we could do or not do something?

    No. Because the IC must protect their sources, even if the country must be sacrificed to do so. //

    All kidding aside, this election is going to be the mother in law of all shitfests.

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    @Jeffro:

    Show the country you’ll put party first, Flake/Collins/Corker! For once in your life, stand for something that wasn’t bought with big-money donations to your campaign.

    Appealing to a better nature not in evidence.

  100. 100.

    chris

    Rachel has a graphic showing Trump and Kim from behind. Kim’s hand is on trump’s back ushering him through the door. The whole thing is labelled JACKPOT.

    In William Gibson’s “The Peripheral” Jackpot is the name given to the die-off of 80% of the world’s population, damn near the end of the world.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Poor Tim.

    Corey (Confederate!) Stewart is promising a “vicious” campaign. Although maybe that will be good, in the long run. Remind people how vicious the Republicans can be.

  102. 102.

    Gin & Tonic

    Home from a really crappy trip, so I’m drinking some alcohol. I’m with DeNiro.

  103. 103.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro: I love Jennifer Wexton. She could definitely have a future in national politics. And very approachable.

  105. 105.

    Gin & Tonic

    @trollhattan: While I’ve never flown into or out of Long Beach, up until a few years ago, the city of L’viv, in western Ukraine, had an airport that would have been perfectly cast in a movie from, say, 1937.

  106. 106.

    Kay

    @TenguPhule:

    If they would tell us what, specifically, was done in the 2016 House races they interfered in we would know something about what we’re likely to encounter in the midterms, right?

  108. 108.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Elizabelle: Kaine is just pretty near bulletproof here in VA, imho. And frickin’ Gillespie tried to ‘go horrible’ against Northam and lost handily. Kaine’s as native a son of VA as you’re gonna get. I think no matter what he does, Stewart is going to lose big, the question is does he go super-negative and lose BIG?

    @Elizabelle: Glad to hear it! Barbara Comstock needs to scramble for some wingnut welfare and see how that goes for her.

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Stewart’s appeal may be at its apex, this very evening.

    Fairfax County (!) put him over the top. He is a jerk’s jerk; former county chairman of board of supervisors of Prince William County, a rural county turned exurb that has a lot of Latinos and rednecks, kinda co-existing …

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @TenguPhule:

    “The discovery in the present case also contains thousands of communications and documents involving uncharged U.S. persons who were, as alleged in the indictment, unwittingly recruited by certain defendants and co-conspirators to engage in political activity inside the United States, such as attending Russian-organized rallies inside the United States,” they wrote. “In certain cases the discovery includes [personally identifying information] such as telephone numbers, addresses, and other indicators that were collected by defendants and their co-conspirators during their operations.”

    “Russia-organized rallies” seems to be a safe bet in the midterms, then. Not that we’ll know – they’ll look exactly like Trump rallies.

  111. 111.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Dems really ought to slam it home…

    Voiceover: “a RESPONSIBLE, PATRIOTIC, AMERICA-FIRST administration would long, long ago have put out advisories about a) what to watch for on social media, b) where to go to get accurate information, and c) ways to check your voter ID/registration/polling place well in advance of the election. Republicans, egged on by Trumpov, don’t seem to want to do that…anywhere. Are they ok with the Russians doing it…again?”

  113. 113.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: That’s just sheer numbers – even in dark blue Fairfax, there are still significant numbers of wing nuts – and late reporting.

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    You all were busy while I was off refueling. I’ll go up top and work my way down. Please stand, sit, lie, and/or lounge by. No leaning or loitering though!

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    If they would tell us what, specifically, was done in the 2016 House races they interfered in we would know something about what we’re likely to encounter in the midterms, right?

    Which major media organization would spend the time and resources needed to do a useful report to the public about this?

  118. 118.

    Kraux Pas

    @Zinsky:

    The GOP reptiles in Congress will do anything to protect the Rapist-in-Chief Trump. They are invertebrates without a conscience.

    Reptiles, unlike moderate Republicans, are not invertebrates.

  119. 119.

    guachi

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: yes, Wasserman is good. A front pager at one point said we can’t trust Cook Political Report because Cook is a conservative, thought it doesn’t actually matter. And it doesn’t matter because their ratings don’t reflect any conservative bias. In actuality, they’ve under counted Republican chances in the house since 2008.

    The other reason it doesn’t matter us because as far as I can tell, Cook doesn’t do much of the work. Wasserman has done more work this cycle (at least via articles and tweets) than anyone on the Cook site.

    The only thing Cook is conservative in is moving races around competitively. But that’s something all predictions basically are – conservative. Even the weather forecast is conservative.

  121. 121.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: He hasn’t crossed the line into employing violence. What he did was refuse to put the well being of the US ahead of his own partisan interests when the US was under non-violent attack by a hostile foreign power.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    I suppose it isn’t really “actionable” for ordinary people. If you’re at a “Russia-organized” GOP rally you’re going to deny Russia organized it anyway. Also- who could tell the difference at this point? The platform and issues are identical.

  126. 126.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Adam L Silverman: You won’t reach this one for awhile, but I have to say, your estimate is pretty sound. Dem senators can find those paths to support what you’ve pointed out. And for a rush of empowerment ego, it’s admirable to think one (or all) of these people could look at the electorate or the exit strategy and say, hey, what the heck, why not? Let’s do something that actually helps. Perish the fucking the thought.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    trump tweeted this at 1 pm, I’m guessing after he saw some exit polls or other inside data?

    Donald J. Trump
    Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina. I fully endorse Katie Arrington for Congress in SC, a state I love. She is tough on crime and will continue our fight to lower taxes. VOTE Katie!
    1:12 PM – 12 Jun 2018

    @guachi: Cook as a TeeVee pundit has always been a right-leaning faux-centrist, often paired with the even more right-leaning Stuart Rothenberg on CNN, both presented as just a couple of guys who study numbers– the term ‘quants’ wasn’t tossed around in those days.

  129. 129.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    But… The NewYorker from November 2016

    I think the article is a lot of meaningless jibber jabber, and I discount any advice McConnell might have for the Democrats.

    Trump never had a coherent economic policy, so it says nothing that McConnell didn’t follow it. But the GOP backs Trump’s other crazy ideas, and they are fully signed on to Trump’s demolition of the federal government. Smaller or enfeebled is all the same to them.

  130. 130.

    Sab

    Should we be calling our Repub Senators about the Corker amendment?

    My husband, who usually thinks calling senators is a waste of time, has gone nuts on the tariff issue. He is calling Rob Portman’s office everyday to demand an answer to whether Portman thinks Canada is a threat to national security. He tells them that he won’t stop calling until he gets an answer.

    Canada is our biggest trading partner, and Trump wants to fuck with that. This could have huge repurcussions in Ohio and elsewhere. And using national security is Trumps only legal route to bypass the Senate. It’s complete b.s., and everyone knows that.

    Where our senators who are supposed to be defending their own powers and our economic interests.

    We need to let them know we are watching. This IS a big deal.

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    @TenguPhule: McClatchy.

    Maybe the Los Angeles Times. Maybe a consortium of USA Today papers. The WaPost. It could be a big joint reporting investigation — lot of states and localities in play.

    The FTF NYTImes … I would not trust.

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: And you haven’t, as far as we know, actually acted on any of the snuff fantasies you post here as, I’m assuming, a stress release. Do you want to be considered violent for posting them?

  141. 141.

    Platonailedit

    @Kay: Russians can interfere and influence elections (which they fucking did in 2016) but FBI cannot be seen to interfere and influence elections (which they surely fucking did 2016, thanks to fucking comey and fucking NY bureau) is such a fucking trope. Pahdon my fucking french.

  144. 144.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @ kerpen
    Strong “lock her up” chant breaks out at Stewart victory speech.
    He responds: “That might just happen by the way.”

  145. 145.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Sab:

    My husband, who usually thinks calling senators is a waste of time, has gone nuts on the tariff issue. He is calling Rob Portman’s office everyday to demand an answer to whether Portman thinks Canada is a threat to national security. He tells them that he won’t stop calling until he gets an answer.

    Yes! Thank you! Please let him know it’s important to stay involved and not let up! And I encourage extending that same scrutiny and question to the two-bit ratfuck soulless criminal Renacci running as the R candidate this November. Renacci has painted himself as a lock-step deep well dumpster fire acolyte, and this should be posed to him as well until he answers.

  146. 146.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steeplejack (tablet): I mentioned it as a possibility in my post last night. UPI reported last week that Kim Yong Chol presented the President with a development opportunity pitch when he came to meet with him in the White House prior to the summit. It was in point #5.

  147. 147.

    japa21

    SEOUL, June 13 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump agreed that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula would require a step-by-step approach and made a number of other concessions, North Korean state media reported on Wednesday after his historic meeting with leader Kim Jong Un.
    The North’s state media framed Tuesday’s summit as a win for Pyongyang, dubbing it “the meeting of the century” on the front page of its official party newspaper. Trump expressed his intention to halt U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, offer security guarantees to the North and lift sanctions against it as relations improve, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

    Bold by me. Note “as relations approve” which means when he gets to build his ocean side condos.

  149. 149.

    Adam L Silverman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: He’s the Exalted Satrap of East Koreaville.//

    Neither of the Schlapps are particularly smart. They are particularly good at sucking up to power within the conservative movement and the GOP, as well as saying or doing whatever will enrich themselves.

  151. 151.

    lynn

    Please when was the last time the GOP passed a budget. The only opinions they have are about each other. They only pass legislation for tax cuts and judges. I do not see how any of them get lobbying jobs after they leave DC. They have as much influence lobbying Trump as Cohen did.

  152. 152.

    jk

    @guachi:

    I once saw Charlie Cook on C-SPAN criticizing the thesis of the book It’s Even Worse Than It Looks by Norm Ornstein and Tom Mann which placed the blame for Congressional gridlock on Republican extremism. He’s a both sides do it douchebag.

  153. 153.

    Adam L Silverman

    @different-church-lady: All that will be left, regardless of who controls which chamber of Congress after the midterms, is a farther right, more revanchist, more Trumpist GOP caucus in each chamber.

  154. 154.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kay: It’ll look like what they did in the 2016 election, only more refined as they’ve got data on the effects to work with to tighten up their targeting.

  155. 155.

    jk

    @TenguPhule:

    Your dreams are humble.

    I have many dreams. Another one involves all Republican members of Congress burning in Hell for normalizing Trump.

  156. 156.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Nick Kristof, who less than a week ago wagged his finger at “childish” Democrats who were skeptical of trump’s summit, now castigating trump for doing what every child who isn’t a fucking idiot could have broadly predicted.

    Asshole.

  157. 157.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BruceFromOhio: Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately everything other than the analysis of McConnell, his motivations, and his actions is largely wishful thinking. I don’t expect Corker, Flake, or Collins to do anything other than what they’re already doing. More’s the pity.

  159. 159.

    Adam L Silverman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Also a possibility, but I’d expect that the Secret Service tech guys would have gone over the room with a fine tooth comb.

    It is also possible that the President bounced the idea off of Hannity on his unsecured cell phone the night before the summit and the PRC picked it up on SIGINT.

  160. 160.

    guachi

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s a good thing Cook’s political leanings don’t seem to effect his Political Report predictions.

    I didn’t realize Wasserman worked for Cook until months after I started reading his tweets. I get the impression he’s liberal. Sadly, I’d even read the Cook Political Report from time to time but I initially never bothered to read the byline.

    I guess that’s a compliment because I find their site very straight and honest with their ratings. Though they are conservative to move a rating that’s mostly because they are often short on good data that says “move *this* race”.

    In any event, all of you should be happy to know that races shifted net positive to the Democrats after the big Tuesday primaries in California, New Jersey, etc.

  161. 161.

    oldgold

    Yikes!
    From TPM:
    “North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported Wednesday (local time) that US President Donald Trump agreed to lift sanctions on North Korea, in addition to agreeing to halt military exercises and other security guarantees. There was no immediate comment or confirmation from the White House.”

  163. 163.

    marcopolo

    Happy news! Dems are in the process of flipping another state senate seat in WI even as I type this. This is one of the two special elections Walker initially refused to hold because he was afraid of this result. He was forced into calling the elections by legal action brought against him by Eric Holder’s group.

    Link is to the Greenbay Press Gazette (hows that for a name?)

    There is a second special for a WI Assembly seat but I haven’t been able to find any results for it. Gded WI state elections page doesn’t have results for either special. As Walker is Gov I assume that is on purpose.

  164. 164.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Platonailedit: One of the reasons we need to split the counterintelligence function off from the FBI and create a dedicated, stand alone CI agency like they have in Britain. Basically move the entire DOJ and FBI counterintelligence apparatus – the prosecutors, the special agents and other investigators, the analysts, the tech specialists – and make them an independent agency. And their remit is to counter these types of threats by 1) getting ahead of them whenever possible by employing proactive measures, 2) countering them if discovered and not deterred, 3) investigate and prosecute those engaged in these campaigns against the US and Americans.

  166. 166.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @marcopolo:

    As Walker is Gov I assume that is on purpose.

    You could maybe try here.

    ETA: This agency (and its predecessor) never publishes unofficial results.

  167. 167.

    Brachiator

    More breaking news

    Justice Department attorney resigns after legal shift on Obamacare

    Joel McElvain plans to leave next month after 20 years at the agency.

  168. 168.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman:

    It’ll look like what they did in the 2016 election, only more refined as they’ve got data on the effects to work with to tighten up their targeting

    Oh good! One wonders if our Russian comrades will stick to what worked last time – fake BLM karate classes, fake clips of Dem leaders’ comments, etc – or change it up a bit.

    Personally, I’d like some novelty this go-round. Maybe something that blames us all for the fizzle of SOLO? Doesn’t get much more unpatriotic than not supporting the latest Disney/SW adventure…

  169. 169.

    Jeffro

    @oldgold: “But Donald you promised? Don’t you want great relations and a BIG. WIN. ?”

    They can pretty much get him to hand over anything but Ivanka at this point (and maybe…nah, not going there). Anything to avoid being embarrassed, and they know it.

  170. 170.

    marcopolo

    @Omnes Omnibus: Edited. I see–the state posts no election results as they come in and are tabulated. So my snide remark about Walker may have been off mark but for real time results I still need to find some other local source for the Assembly race.

  171. 171.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sab: Brown really is one of the best– I wish the youths could get excited about him the way they do certain colleagues, but I didn’t understand the youths when I was one

  172. 172.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Nick Kristof thinks this is how to keep himself above the political fray: measuring out his criticism so that both sides get an equal share. And disregarding that both sides don’t deserve an equal share of criticism.

  173. 173.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @marcopolo: I worked there (at the predecessor agency) a number of years ago. I did accessibility compliance. The people there are good folks for the most part and they are trying not to be shitty.

  174. 174.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: His point seemed to be that the Democrats were wrong not to have more confidence in Velveeta Voldemort’s policy forays. A man Kristof himself believes incapable of knowing what his own policy is. That logic just doesn’t stand up to any measure of analysis.

  175. 175.

    marcopolo

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well a quick and dirty look at the results for the special on the 5 or so county election websites the district encompasses indicates that Assembly seat 42 will not be flipping to D tonight.

    Moving on up to the RBG thread now.

  176. 176.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Kay:
    At some point, and I’m guessing that point is being reached, is that Russian interference is going to hit diminishing returns. There’s only so much they can do. In 2016, the races were close mainly because of who was running and polarization. Now, because of Trump’s toxicity, that looks increasingly unlikely.

    However, I’d like to know as well. I hope top Democratic leadership knows

  177. 177.

    Kay

    @Sab:

    The “coordinated campaign” isn’t new but him sort of outsourcing his GOTV to the ODP is new. I saw doubling up this week which was kind of heartening- his campaign person emailed me and I had met that day with the ODP person who told me she was handling Sherrod and Cordray.

    So I told the Sherrod person the ODP person had ” already contacted me” (like- look how on the ball she is!) because I like the ODP person and I want her to be successful in her career, get promoted, and be a Party boss – she’d be good at it :)

  179. 179.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: My worry, which I’ve written about here several times, will be breaching voter registration databases in different states to manipulate the voter rolls. Or messing with the computerized vote tallies.

  181. 181.

    Kay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    That’s Mueller dispatch is clearly referring to some kind of voter or supporter list. I think he’s referencing the rallies in Florida we heard about, which were independent of the Trump campaign proper and were insane- one of them had Clinton in a cage as a float or something. But the voter/supporter info piece is interesting. That they built lists and contacted people. I imagine they compiled those lists on Facebook. Facebook actually has a small business section (as does Google) where they tell you how to target – that would be the easiest thing in the world to turn to political list building rather than customer lists, so it doesn’t even have to be illegal or really “covert”. You wouldn’t have to “know” that much, wouldn’t need some extraordinary insight into the US electorate. They’re not subtle, the MAGA-ites.

  184. 184.

    Adam L Silverman

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: It is logistically, not technically difficult. Partially because of the distributed nature of how we do elections. Each state does their own things in terms of election process and procedures and within each state each country does their own things. That’s where the logistical difficulty comes in. It is not impossible. And it is not outside the realm of possibility, so it should not be outside the realm of concern.

  186. 186.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Just wait till she starts covering hurricane season for Balloon Juice. It will make those Weather Channel folks look like amateurs!//

  188. 188.

    Platonailedit

    May this trend continue.

    DLCC says that Democrat Caleb Frostman has won the Wisconsin special election for Senate District 1, a district Trump carried by 18-points in 2016.

    This is the 44th seat that's flipped from red to blue this cycle, according to the DLCC.

    https://t.co/oXI7j4Y4rn— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 13, 2018

  189. 189.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @oldgold: And the NKs are giving up…nothing, in exchange for these concessions by the US.

    Donald has been totally played. What a schmuck.

  190. 190.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: oh I’m weeping, all right

    Sheesh, paragraph 1’s answers alone would be highly illuminating

  191. 191.

    Platonailedit

    Several Democratic senators, led by Dianne Feinstein, have introduced a measure that would reverse the new Trump DHS policies that separate families caught crossing the border illegally. https://t.co/OHmY6QJxD2— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 13, 2018

    At least now, the Latino voters should realize who is their real enemy and make their votes count.

  198. 198.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: That’s my feeling as well.

    My neighbors run our polling place, and both political parties are represented as poll watchers. Vlad isn’t going to do anything to make them do anything other than the best job they can.

    The issue is attempts at messing up the databases of where people vote, who needs to file a provisional ballot, where the precinct boundaries are and who gets which ballot, trying to create confusion online, etc., etc.

    Split precincts are those in which “some of the voters vote in one election district and others vote for the same office but in a different district,” according to the Virginia Department of Elections. Three precincts in Fredericksburg are split between House District 28, currently represented by Del. Bob Thomas, and House District 88, represented by Del. Mark Cole.

    After the State Board of Elections ignored warnings by late Frederickburg Registrar Juanita Pitchford, 147 voters were given the wrong ballots on Election Day 2017. This embarrassing and preventable error not only delayed certification of the winner in the 28th, it put control of the House of Delegates in limbo, prompted a federal lawsuit by supporters of Democratic challenger Josh Cole, and made a national spectacle of Virginia’s entire electoral system.

    It turns out that the split precinct problem was not confined to Fredericksburg, but was also a factor in an even closer race in Newport News’ 94th District, where a tie between Republican Del. David Yancey and Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds was broken by a televised lottery drawing that Yancey won. New mapping technology later found a discrepancy in voter addresses in the city’s Lee Hall precinct, which is split between the 93rd and 94th House districts. Apparently, 26 voters in the 94th were wrongly assigned to the 93rd.

    It only takes a few mistakes like that to have a meaningful impact on close races. And those mistakes cannot be corrected until after the face fact. If Vlad’s minions are trying to find a way to increase the numbers of mistakes, it’s very bad news.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  200. 200.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I did apologize. Was never acknowledged, but that’s ok and not a big deal. I sincerely meant what I said and wasn’t “sucking up”.

  201. 201.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Is there a specific group working on the voter ID problem in WI that people can donate to?

    ETA: And by “working on,” I mean actively getting IDs for people.

  202. 202.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t know of anything specific to WI. But I have been devoting energy and money to Tammy.

    ETA: Kander’s group is worth every penny.

Comments are closed.