Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

White supremacy is terrorism.

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

The willow is too close to the house.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

So many bastards, so little time.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel / World’s Greatest Negotiator Strikes Again

World’s Greatest Negotiator Strikes Again

by | 166 Comments

This post is in: 

As AL noted below, the shitlord in chief capitulated and signed the “stimulus” bill and the government spending bill, which will shower the poors with a massive 600 dollars and probably funnel another half trillion to his buddies because who knows where all the money goes, and he signed the spending bill so the government will stay open. So once again, he bitched, pissed and moaned for a week, then threw away all his leverage and did whatever Mitch told him to do.

But wait, you say, Trump is demanding that congress pass a bill giving $2,000.00 and that he insists they get back to DC and do it today.

Or what?

Mitch McConnell is from Kentucky and knows roadkill when he sees it. Trump has nothing. He could threaten to try to blow up the Jan 5th runoff in Georgia, but he won’t do that because he likes to be involved and he likes to take credit for other people’s accomplishments. So he won’t actually do that. Literally the only arrow left in his quiver is the pardon power, and no one on the hill cares about that.

He’s never been a good negotiator and he’s proven it with everything he has ever touched. He’s simply a brazen crook, but in this case, he’s no match for Mitch McConnell, who is even more brazen and a touch smarter.

Reader Interactions

166Comments

  4. 4.

    PsiFighter37

    @MattF: Eh – I don’t think he will actually attack Perdue or Loeffler directly, but he certainly won’t say anything terribly supportive about them. He is more concerned about bitching about Kemp and Raffensperger than anything else. If the collateral damage is that he convinces plenty of Georgians not to vote in an election they are convinced is rigged, be my fucking guest. The idea that Trump has any strategy beyond getting attention for himself or nursing perceived grievances should be long disabused by now.

  5. 5.

    randy khan

    I’m pretty sure the House is going to pass a clean $2,000 payment bill today.  It does create an interesting problem for McConnell, in that he may not have enough votes from his caucus to pass the same bill.

    Meanwhile, I’m waiting with bated breath to see just how Congress reacts to the red-lined version of the bill that Trump has promised to send them.  If, you know, it even gets sent.  (I’m leaning against on the likelihood it ever shows up.)

  8. 8.

    PsiFighter37

    @randy khan: McConnell will do what he has done with every other bill the Democratic House has passed – simply sit on it and never let it see the light of day. No point in making Perdue and Loeffler take a vote on something like that right before an election. The whole point of trying to jam it onto the bill that was just signed was that it was a must-sign spending bill. As a standalone bill, it is going nowhere.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    @PsiFighter37: 

    Agreed. Easy call for McConnell. The only mileage we can possibly hope to get out of this is GA runoffs and maybe hope that a few people don’t forget about this and are permanently soured of the GOP.

  11. 11.

    The Moar You Know

    Meanwhile, I’m waiting with bated breath to see just how Congress reacts to the red-lined version of the bill that Trump has promised to send them.  If, you know, it even gets sent.  (I’m leaning against on the likelihood it ever shows up.)

    @randy khan:  It would so be worth getting fired to be the guy who tells Trump that there is no such thing as a line-item veto, that the Supreme Court has put the kibosh on it numerous times, and that a signed bill is no longer subject to revision.  I would also call him a “fucking dumbshit” on my way out the door (pack your personal effects first cause you’re not coming back!)

    Again, the man is a third-rate real estate agent.  He got elected to the presidency, learned not one goddamn thing, and stayed a third-rate real estate agent.  Even GOOD real estate agents have their people redline the contract…yeah, before it’s signed and not after

    And yeah, Trump’s doing no work.  There will be no “redlined” bill presented to anyone.

  12. 12.

    BC in Illinois

    From the twitter feed of Judd Deere, “Deputy Assistant to  @POTUS @realdonaldtrump and @WhiteHouse Deputy Press Secretary” :

    Additionally, Congress has promised that Section 230, which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed.

    Likewise, the House and Senate have agreed to focus strongly on the very substantial voter fraud which took place in the November 3 Presidential election.

    [I am informed by the powers at Twitter that “this claim about election fraud is disputed.”]

    I am surprised to find that “Congress has promised” these things. Where can I find this promise? Who exactly has promised these things? When did it happen? Is it on paper? A statement online? If “Congress” makes a promise, that is a big thing. It shouldn’t just be something in Donald Trump’s imagination. Should it?

  13. 13.

    debbie

    @PsiFighter37:

    The idea that Trump has any strategy beyond getting attention for himself or nursing perceived grievances should be long disabused by now.

    Seconded. I also think his nonsense the past week is the end of his foray into politics. There will be no 2024 for Donald J. Trump.

  14. 14.

    debbie

    @randy khan:

    I’m waiting with bated breath to see just how Congress reacts to the red-lined version of the bill that Trump has promised to send them.

    As a fitting end to this four-year nightmare, it better be with much laughter and mockery.

  15. 15.

    randy khan

    @PsiFighter37:

    Since McConnell’s only principle is that he should remain in power, his calculus will be entirely about whether it would make a difference in Georgia if the bill came up for a vote.  He doesn’t get much, if anything, from Loeffler and Perdue voting for a bill that doesn’t get past a filibuster, but he might think having them vote for a $2,000 bill that passed would help enough to make a difference.  So the only way it gets to the floor is if he thinks it will help L & P and it definitely will have enough votes on a cloture motion.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @The Moar You Know:

    Someone with half a brain got to Trump.  They’re not officially claiming a line item veto. They’re asking for a rescission, which is procedurally proper. It’s also not going anywhere.

    Unofficially, Trump just wants to lie to his supporters.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    “We never thought” being the operative phrase.

    After 59 years of marriage, Mike and Carol Bruno died 10 days apart after battling the coronavirus. Mike passed away Wednesday night.

    “We never thought this would happen to our family and it did, and this virus is really unforgiving and just attacks in really vicious ways,” said Mike and Carol’s son, Joe. Source

  19. 19.

    PsiFighter37

    @debbie: I disagree. He is going to milk the gravy train for as long as he can, but then, unlike in 2016, he is not going to run in 2024. I suspect he was really miserable these past 4 years, stuck in a job he never wanted to do. He may have loved the performative theatrics, but after being exposed to the nuts and bolts of governing, even if it was dumbed down to the level of getting the PDB drawn in crayon, I can’t imagine he thinks it is better than lording over his money laundering empire and having lackeys and sycophants answering obediently to his every whim. Of course, his diversion into government has now exposed him and his family like none other; the Trump Organization as an entity is going to cease to exist meaningfully within this decade. NY AG or SDNY is almost certain to make sure of it.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @randy khan:

    Meanwhile, I’m waiting with bated breath to see just how Congress reacts to the red-lined version of the bill that Trump has promised to send them.  If, you know, it even gets sent.  (I’m leaning against on the likelihood it ever shows up.

    Assuming it shows up, which as you say is a bad bet, Nancy Pelosi files it away and says she’ll get to it “someday”. It wouldn’t even take much creativity in stalling. This Congressional term ends at the end of the week, with the new Congress getting sworn in next Monday. After that, it’s a mere two weeks until Trump is dragged kicking and screaming out of the White House.

  21. 21.

    PsiFighter37

    @randy khan: His calculation is that $600 will be enough to run on. McConnell would probably sacrifice Elaine Chao at the stake if it meant that he didn’t have to help his constituents or anyone else more than he absolutely needed to.

  25. 25.

    Immanentize

    @BC in Illinois: I now think that all these things that get reported from the White House — red lined version of the bill, Congress agree to repeal Sec. 230, Congress agreed there was massive vote fraud, etc. Are what people have to tell Trump to get him to sign necessary legislation to save their own asses.

    Trump is not doing any of this — he is being told it is being done in order to motivate his actions.  It is a promise to a toddler of an ice cream cone later if you just take a nap now.

  26. 26.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @randy khan:

    Since McConnell’s only principle is that he should remain in power, his calculus will be entirely about whether it would make a difference in Georgia if the bill came up for a vote.

    VERY much not true.  You know how we talk about how Trump could have sailed to reelection if he handled the pandemic with even minimal competence?  McConnell was willing to let his Majority Leader position hang in the balance by refusing any sort of stimulus for nine months.  McConnell loves power.  He loves money, specifically campaign contribution money.  But he loves hurting people most of all.

    EDIT – @Immanentize:

    he is being told it is being done in order to motivate his actions.

    That did not occur to me, and it should have.  We know advisors have been lying to him his whole administration, because he throws fits if you tell him the truth.  This would be a perfectly natural extension of that.

  27. 27.

    jonas

    Trump’s supporters realize that getting rid of “Section 230” would also sink Parler, right? In fact, even moreso, since the whole purpose of the platform is so that psychopaths can run around saying crazy shit without being “censored.”

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    @randy khan: Moscow Mitch isn’t going to do anything about the $2000.

    TheHill:

    The current Congress ends in six days, and any legislation to increase the stimulus checks to $2,000 or repeal Section 230, a legal shield for tech companies that has become a prime target for Trump, is all but guaranteed to fall short of the 60 votes needed to pass.

    Asked if a proposal to provide $2,000 checks could pass the Senate, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership, told reporters late last week: “It would not.”

    But Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) quickly vowed that he will try to pass the House legislation if it makes it to the Senate, forcing Republicans to decide whether or not to block it.

    “The House will pass a bill to give Americans $2,000 checks. Then I will move to pass it in the Senate. No Democrats will object. Will Senate Republicans?” Schumer tweeted.

    GOP Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) twice blocked a proposal for $1,200 stimulus checks, and Schumer’s effort to pass a higher amount is likely to be objected to as well.

    There’s no suspense about what’s going to happen.

    We have to vote the monsters out. Victory in Georgia!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    Ian

    @PsiFighter37:

    when you say

     I can’t imagine he thinks it is better than lording over his money laundering empire and having lackeys and sycophants answering obediently to his every whim.

    I’m not sure if your talking about his business empire or his presidency.

  33. 33.

    Mary G

    I’m wondering about the defense bill he vetoed that passed with veto proof majorities. Will they override? Do Moscow Mitch’s  overlords really want to have financial transparency and hurt money laundering?

  34. 34.

    Josie

    “Mitch McConnell is from Kentucky and knows roadkill when he sees it.”

    This is the sort of delicately wonderful turn of phrase that keeps me coming back to BJ.

  35. 35.

    dmsilev

    @Ian:

    I’m not sure if your talking about his business empire or his presidency.

    He doesn’t see a distinction between those two things.

  36. 36.

    jonas

    @PsiFighter37: He may have loved the performative theatrics,

    The time he got to appear on the WH balcony after he was discharged from Walter Reed and tear off his mask and stare god-like at his minions below was clearly the highlight of his entire life.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    @Mary G: TheHill link above talks about the NDAA too.

    The House will override quickly.  The Senate comes back tomorrow.  They may drag the vote out and there may be some drama, but presumably they will overrride as well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    different-church-lady

    I don’t want $2000. I don’t want $600. I WANT THE LUDICROUS ASYMMETRY OF BILLIONAIRES GETTING RICHER DURING A PANDEMIC WHILE EVERY OTHER LOW-WAGE WORKER LOSES THEIR ABILITY TO EKE OUT A MINIMAL LIVING SYSTEMICALLY FIXED!

  42. 42.

    Soprano2

    @PsiFighter37: Of course, his diversion into government has now exposed him and his family like none other; the Trump Organization as an entity is going to cease to exist meaningfully within this decade. NY AG or SDNY is almost certain to make sure of it.

    Trump never will, but I think eventually his kids will rue the day he ran for president, because it called attention to their corrupt business practices.

  43. 43.

    RepubAnon

    @dmsilev:  Hard to read a document that was redlined in red Sharpie(r).

    Seriously, this was Trump realizing that his bluff had been called, so he announced a face-saving series of obvious lies (as noted by others above, these lies were probably fed to him by panicked minions).

  45. 45.

    different-church-lady

    @Jeffro: I doubt we would have been out of it, but we’d be a lot closer to normal, a hell of a lot fewer people would be out of work, and the death count would be a lot smaller.

  47. 47.

    schrodingers_cat

    The Orange Clown couldn’t have become the President if not for enablers like  Mitch McConnell and might I add the both sidering media lead by Vichy Times. For that they will forever remain, unforgiven

    The coming Republican Civil War is going to be epic. I am rooting for injuries on both sides.

  48. 48.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @NotMax:

    Thanks. I wanted to see if they were deniers. Apparently not, but from that story it’s not clear who infected whom. Ostensibly the daughter, because she’s working around people, but she had a negative test a few days prior. So could it have been the son, Joe, who infected her and their mother? People might show symptoms on different timetables.

    “My sister works in a salon, and so just before Thanksgiving my sister got a COVID test and was negative, and she quarantined for three or four days after she got the negative test. I needed a haircut, and she said, ‘Well, why don’t I just come by and cut your hair so you don’t have to come into the salon,'” Joe recalled. Joe’s sister brought their mother with her to his apartment.

    “I did not hug my mom; I did not hug my sister. My sister cut my hair, she was masked and all the windows were open,” Joe said. “We were distanced in my apartment and then they left. They were over for maybe 40-45 minutes. Later that evening, my sister started to feel symptoms, and about three days later I started to feel symptoms,” Joe said.

    “Had I made that sacrifice and, you know, didn’t spend, you know, 30-40 minutes with my mom—they would still be here,” he said.

    That last paragraph sure sounds like he infected them, but it’s never stated explicitly.

  49. 49.

    Soprano2

    @MattF: It’s so bizarre, normally religious people would say something like that is blasphemous, but I’m sure many of them are completely down for Trump as Christ on the cross.

  50. 50.

    mrmoshpotato

    @PsiFighter37:

    I suspect he was really miserable these past 4 years, stuck in a job he never wanted to do. 

    Even the FTFNYT had a story about how the traitorous orange shitpile thought the presidency would make everyone treat his Soviet shitpile mobster manbaby ass tremendous bigly.

  53. 53.

    Soprano2

    @mrmoshpotato: I heard an interview with Haberman on Fresh Air where she said the pardon power is how he thought the whole presidency would be. He thought he could order the government to do things just like he ordered people in his companies to do things. I think he was extremely frustrated that it didn’t work like that. He wanted to be a king, not a president.

  54. 54.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud:Unofficially, Trump just wants to lie to his supporters.

    It is strange Trump feels the need to do that. Consider a big part of his base are conspiracy theorists and other paranoids, Trump as president is The Man and yet they all buy Trump’s BS that Trump is as much as a little people as they are, or more accurately, Trump’s Base comes up with own fantasies to explain such things away. The MAGA deplorable is self deluding.   Trump could murder a mother, eat her child on national TV and his base will still come up with some nonsense to justify it.

  55. 55.

    mrmoshpotato

    @hueyplong:

    Few phrases are more hilarious than “Trump’s supporters realize that …”

    Yup.  Knuckle-dragging Nazi trash didn’t even realize what an obvious conman Dump was.

    ETA – Has the coal industry come roaring (and polluting) back yet?

  58. 58.

    Gravenstone

    @Jeffro: Not gonna happen. Logistically flat out impossible. We won’t have enough vaccine doses until Q3 2021 absolutely earliest.

  60. 60.

    Jeffro

    @Gravenstone: we don’t need the vaccine to get us out of this/get us back to mostly normal.  Never did.  Leadership, unity, and a well-funded & science-based response.

    Oh, you mean back in the real world.  Yes, with people like trumpov, DeSantis, Paul, etc out there, yes, we’ll need massive amounts of vaccine and it’ll still be a long tough slog.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    @Soprano2:

    Indeed, he wanted to be a king, and he missed his century. By centuries.

    Could gotten away with that shit as a Tudor. And thank dog our “democracy” was older and more entrenched than the Weimar Republic days, although even there, he was too destructive, and too many institutions failed.

  62. 62.

    Suzanne

    @RandomMonster:

    Shart of the Deal 

    Win.
    And of course he’s a crappy negotiator. We all had to live through four years of abject misery because he and his supporters had to work through their psychodrama of being not-smart, overconfident, and ultimately disappointed, because it used to be that lack of intelligence was no hindrance to success.

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: While the various trade wars trump has fought align with his general protectionist views, some say one reason he dropped all those tariffs on friend and foe alike was that these were actions he could take by fiat.

  64. 64.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2:

    He thought he could order the government to do things just like he ordered people in his companies to do things. I think he was extremely frustrated that it didn’t work like that. He wanted to be a king, not a president. 

    Oh how I wait for Tish James to cave in his fucking fascist face!

  68. 68.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: Never seen any evidence that He-Man was a Soviet shitpile mobster conman who sucked Kremlin asshole and wanted to destroy democracy. :)

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro:   Unrealistic to think about Saint Paddy’s Day.

    I don’t even know that Germany, which is governed by a scientist leading a government of people who believe in science, is going to be celebrating Saint Paddy’s or Fasching, their major winter holiday (mid-February).

    We’re not as isolated and unpopulated as Australia and New Zealand are.  We cannot clamp down, as the European countries are learning with their second/third waves.

    Fauci has always said 3rd quarter of 2021, and if there is anything this country can do, it’s screw a reasonable projection up even further.  (“Pandemic?  You can’t make me wear a mask.”)

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    Gotta read between the lines. And ingest copious amount of mind-altering substances beforehand.

    ‘You mean there’s another way to watch Saturday morning toons?”

    //

  76. 76.

    Kineslaw

    @different-church-lady: The day after Christmas I went shopping for plates.  Target & World Market were pretty dead.  The rich shopping center had a line out the door at Tiffany; Louis Vuitton & Neiman Marcus were crowded, as was indoor dining at the soufflé restaurant.

    My MAGA brother asked what the crowds smelled like.  Even to him, it smelled like white privilege.  To me it smelled like sharpening guillotine blades.

  78. 78.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Geminid:

    While the various trade wars trump has fought align with his general protectionist views 

    What was the orange dumbfuck protecting?  Do we have a booming electronics manufacturing industry now?  Is the soybean market going wild (Soybeans Gone Wild)?

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat:  The Republican civil war has been going on in Virginia for some years. So far, an alliance of Tea Party adherents- now rebranded as “Constitutional Conservatives”- and conservative evangelicals are winning. The Chamber of Commerce types who used to call the shots in the party are losing.

    One result of this was the election of the loathsome Bob Good as congressman in my Virginia 5th District. But Good may well be a one termer, and overall the Democrats are dominating statewide. This is due partly to demographic changes, but also because Republicans embracing more and more extreme positions.

  83. 83.

    Hungry Joe

    Trump got what he wanted out of this charade: A few more days of being the center of attention. Will he sign? Won’t he sign? Look — he’s playing golf! What’s his plan? Now he’s playing golf again. Now he’s …

    A perfect Christmas: More me, me, me, me, me.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Well and good but there’s still a hard limit on production capacity of any facility, much less maintaining the quality control expected for pharmaceuticals. One bad batch could scotch the whole program.

  87. 87.

    RandomMonster

    @Suzanne: We all had to live through four years of abject misery because he and his supporters had to work through their psychodrama of being not-smart, overconfident, and ultimately disappointed, because it used to be that lack of intelligence was no hindrance to success.

    Nailed it.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    @patrick II: That too.

    But even without the GA elections, Moscow Mitch would never do a stand-alone vote for $2000 per person (for those earning < $75k, IIRC).  You might as well expect him to vote for public funding of elections.  Will never happen.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  89. 89.

    hueyplong

    I’ll bet some minion convinced Trump of the magical qualities of the word “rescission” and reminded him that the word had come up in one of his commercial real estate disputes in which he prevailed.  That tipped the scale in favor of signing.

    Today that person is (incorrectly) thinking that the trick somehow renders him/her employable elsewhere after 1/20.

    It’s the romantic in me.

  91. 91.

    Shawn in Showme

    @mrmoshpotato: 
    Yeah, Trump wants to be Skeletor, not He-Man. He delights in leading assaults on progressive citadels while insulting his incompetent lackeys. Except Skeletor was at least witty while doing it.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    OT.

    Celebrating diagnosing and remedying a problem Mom was encountering with Netflix from 6000 miles distant.

    How her attitude has changed, going from five years ago’s “Why do I need this? I already have TV” to today’s “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I thought I would have to go the whole weekend without it.”

    Minuscule victories still count as victories.

    :)

  95. 95.

    hueyplong

    Just saw something indicating that Louis Gohmert has brought suit in the ED of Texas with Pence as nominal defendant, asking the court to declare that Pence has exclusive authority to decide which electoral votes count.

    FFS.

    Claims jurisdiction on diversity grounds, which makes no fucking sense to me whatsoever, though that’s a minor issue compared to the madness of the overall theory.

    I don’t want to hear about how any new Qanon representative is in Gohmert’s league, including the new idiot from NC.

  96. 96.

    dww44

    @Josie: i read that sentence aloud to my spouse in sheer enjoyment. Roadkill and Mitch in the same sentence are just so extra special.

  98. 98.

    MattF

    @hueyplong: Given that there is no correct legal theory that will give the result he wants, Gohmert (or Gohmert’s lawyer) has to settle for one that will produce a flare of commentary on Twitter. Libs have been owned.

  100. 100.

    Major Major Major Major

    shower the poors with a massive 600 dollars

    Come on, Cole, you’re better than this. The bill includes $1200/month plus extended base benefits for the unemployed–*including* the self-employed and gig workers. Among many other things like a PPP extension that will also be used to give money to the poors, as well as encouraging businesses to offer paid leaves of absence that help reduce spread, and keeping said businesses in business.

    Did some of this money go to companies we don’t like? …So? It’s better than setting up a six-month-long means-testing process. The US response has actually been more generous than a lot of the countries people like to cite. Even Canada, which Ilhan Omar recently tweeted about, has been only slightly more generous once you account for their means-testing and the fact that their dollars are fake.

  103. 103.

    laura

    @Geminid:  “Constitutional Conservatives”-

    I’m guessing that not one single “CC” (including Utah’s Mike Lee) is capable of explaining the dormant commerce clause. Constitutional performance artist – sure, I can believe that.

  104. 104.

    cain

    @Soprano2:

    Right? It is in fact blasphemous to invoke Christ’s image that way. If you look back in the middle ages and from what I could recall I’ve never seen imagery using Christ that way – they’ve used angels that way though.

  105. 105.

    Steeplejack

    @NeenerNeener:

    That’s true, but, as I said above, I don’t think there’s a strict timetable for showing symptoms. Some people may show them more quickly than others. But, as debbie said, the article is very sloppy.

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    Coming late to the thread.

    Because Trump signed the bill late, the unemployed will lose one week of the supplemental payment. The program is  hardwired to expire March 14 and payments are not retroactive, as I understand the bill.

  108. 108.

    cain

    @Geminid: One result of this was the election of the loathsome Bob Good as congressman in my Virginia 5th District. But Good may well be a one termer, and overall the Democrats are dominating statewide. This is due partly to demographic changes, but also because Republicans embracing more and more extreme positions.

    They’ve built the crazy and can’t get past their own primary without being crazy themselves – but unacceptable to everyone else.

  112. 112.

    Booger

    @Geminid:  We Va-5ers sure love us some gormless white mediocrity one-termers, don’t we?
    But we coulda elected a ****** with an M.D., so at least we dodged THAT bullet!

    Good, Riggleman, Garrett, Hurt, Goode…what a string!

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    Hope everyone had a good holidays, especially the 36,525 folks who voted in-person over the last 4 days.

    We're up to 2,126,254 total votes cast in the runoff with both voting methods about 25% behind the general election's pace. #gapol #gapoliticshttps://t.co/n75Wz1OweV

    — Ryan Anderson (@gtryan) December 28, 2020

    Significant? Dunno. (Christmas, Chanukah, Festivus, Solstice, and the preparations weren’t going on in the General election.)

    Here’s hoping that it’s the other side that hasn’t been showing up, and that they don’t show up on January 5.

    GOTV!!

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    Geminid

     

     

    @laura: Yeah, “Constitution Conservative” is just a brand. They realized that the tricorn hat “Tea Party” stuff looked goofy. They will earnestly tell you that the Constitution mandates their favored policies. But they could never explain how beyond circular arguments.

  116. 116.

    Captain C

    @PsiFighter37: Only if he could ensure her family’s money and political support remained.  Otherwise, with their connections, they may well be able to cause him some real problems.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Did some of this money go to companies we don’t like? …So? It’s better than setting up a six-month-long means-testing process.

    I don’t understand what you are saying here.  The stimulus payments are “means tested” based on AGI and filing status of prior year returns, among other things. Means testing is not difficult.

    There was no reason to stuff this bill full of extra crap.

    The US response has actually been more generous than a lot of the countries people like to cite.

    Just not true. In some other countries, they have a system in place to make payments based on a percentage of wages and self-employment income earned.  Most countries assumed that the main crisis would be short and have run into problems.

    Both the original stimulus bill and the new one is also filled with corporate tax giveaways. This is primarily because the Democratic bill was shelved and everyone was working from a bill largely crafted by the GOP.

    The Federal Reserve wanted a more robust stimulus.  But the  GOP is stuck on their bullshit ideology, and fundamentally believe that you need to withhold cash payments or otherwise lazy bastards won’t work.

  119. 119.

    Captain C

    @jonas:

    Trump’s supporters realize that getting rid of “Section 230” would also sink Parler, right?

    I doubt they’ve thought that far ahead, and the few who have may well figure that Dear Leader Trump could protect them by executive order, or something.

  120. 120.

    Jim Appleton

    @MattF:

    Fitting that INRI was a Roman taunt.  “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”  Here MAGA is an appropriate insult.

  121. 121.

    hueyplong

    @MattF: For anyone interested, our pal K Ward, lunatic head of the AZ GOP, is also a named plaintiff.

    I think this is the thing Trump tweeted as a future development over the weekend.

    It comports with my contemptuous view of his “intelligence.”

    He’s got cunning and nothing else.

  122. 122.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MattF:

    Some remarkable iconography there. Note MAGA hat replacing INRI.

    Not just a tasteful little “MAGA” inscribed on a scroll in beautiful calligraphy, but a tacky, made-in-a-factory-in-China red campaign hat nailed to the cross above his head.

    I rarely criticise works of art for being blasphemous, but I’m damned close to the edge here.

    (Not even getting into Nancy smashing a spear into his side, or Melania caressing [ugh!] and bathing [double ugh!!] his feet.)

    (ETA: Or the American flag as a loincloth.  JFC, and I say that with all reverence.)

  125. 125.

    taumaturgo

    It would be an amusing spectacle to watch the elites in Congress and in the Senate stroke each other in abandoned disregard for the poor folks who are bearing the brunt of this charade. The process seems exciting and exhilarating yet who really cares about the consequences? The interminable food lines, the inaccessibility of quality healthcare, the permanent, unaffordable wars, and the indomitable status quo continues to benefit a smaller and smaller sliver of our population while the great majority living the shit life must endure without hope in the reality of empty political promises.

  126. 126.

    Cameron

    @schrodingers_cat: Agree.  I truly, truly hope it happens.  And it would be an added benefit if Our Liberal Media focused attention on it, instead of complaining about what the Biden administration did/didn’t do.

  127. 127.

    mrmoshpotato

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I rarely criticise works of art for being blasphemous, but I’m damned close to the edge here. 

    I’m all for criticizing it for being fascist, Dump-humping trash.

  128. 128.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Wait until the campaign rolls out to replace that proto-commie, secularist Franklin on the $100 bill with this most holy of holies image.

    Mar-a-lago on the reverse, natch.

    //

  129. 129.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Jeffro:

    A young Kentucky lawyer of some skill  (a husband and father of two) killed himself Christmas morning.

    We’re going to start hearing about a lot of that among lawyers, restauranteurs, shopkeepers, etc.

    The despair in this profession is quite real – I can hear the silent phones echoing on this floor right now, because it’s been like that for months now – I don’t think I’ve had any new revenue generated for about 6 weeks. Billings, sure, and promises to pay them galore, but no actual money. Plus, people’s credit lines are tapped out.

    I’m catastrophically down 40% off of 2019, which was down 15% from my 2018, which was down about 10% off of my 2017. I’m mainly an hourly cat who works for a mix of working stiffs for the most part – the Trump years hammered them and me. My one saving grace was wife’s nice income that kept things pretty even. COVID mismanagement has knocked her down to the level of pay she’d earn as a McDonald’s assistant manager from about June forward, once her 1Q commissions got paid. She’s now been informed she’ll be getting paid at about the level of a McDonald’s shift lead until commissions start back up, probably at the end of 2Q 2022, given how her industry runs.

    Dunno how we make it. A new round of PPP is a joke, and doesn’t save us. I’d spent an obscene amount of money on SEO web marketing over the past 10 years that just isn’t doing anything anymore, but I have the credit balances still out there. Whenever the governor says “we’re going to get through this, and we’re going to get through this together”, I resist the urge to throw something large and heavy through the TV screen, since I can’t really afford to replace it. There is no “together” in this shithole country – as our national motto on our money reflects, “Fuck You, You’re On Your Own”.

    I’ve heard tales of people who had solid careers and good lives prior to the Great Depression and ended up losing all but a few baubles; I think that’s going to be my lived reality.

    Oh, and every person that whines about “mah tax munnies and welfare dependency” in the upcoming years gets punched in the throat, by me. My household revenue will likely never regain the levels it was at from 2013-2016 – not even approaching it, and our personal losses are massive.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @Booger: Cameron Webb is a young and talented politician. I look forward to a Webb/Good rematch in 2022, with a more neutrally drawn district. The western edge of the 5th District currently runs along the Blue Ridge except for a funny eastward jog that leaves majority Democratic Lynchburg in the 6th District. I think this will change in the next redistricting.

  135. 135.

    laura

    In case you’ve missed or avoided it, George Fucking Will is concerned about the deficit and entitlements Again. I guess he knows that a democratic administration looms. I distain George, so I dont talk to George, but if I did, I’d reassure him that rolling back the tax cuts for rich fuckers and removing the income cap on social security, and increasing enrollment in Medicare would fix that problem that seemingly so concerns him when Republicans are on a time out from shoveling our money to George’s wealthy owners.

  136. 136.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @hueyplong:

    I’ve been waiting for filings in goober districts in the hinterlands. Some of those idiots are dumb enough to think they can do that.

  137. 137.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Brachiator: The U.S. government gave out way more than $600 by Noah Smith, lefty economist:

    …How generous has U.S. COVID relief been relative to other countries? This is hard to compare, because different countries have done COVID relief in different ways. And on top of that, different countries started out the pandemic with different spending programs in place — so for instance if the U.S. buys everyone free vaccines through the relief bill, but vaccines are already free in the UK through their regular health care system, can we really say the U.S. was more generous? Etc. etc.

    OK BUT, there are some ways we can compare generosity across countries. And here the U.S. comes out looking pretty damn good.

    For example, we can compare how people’s incomes actually went up or down! For example, in Q2, when the first wave of the pandemic struck and the U.S. passed the CARES Act, American incomes did better than almost any other OECD country. [chart]

    […]

    According to a report by McKinsey:

    In 2020 alone, governments in the European Union are expected to spend an additional $2,343 per person compared to 2019, while in the United States, spending will be $6,572 higher.

    That’s a big difference! They also note that median personal income in the U.S. has risen during the pandemic, and savings have risen as well. In fact, while the CARES Act’s unemployment benefits were still in effect, the poverty rate in the U.S. actually fell!

    So however you slice it, the U.S. has spent a lot on COVID relief this year. So let’s not pretend that the U.S. government has been miserly compared to its peers in the face of this pandemic.

    Canada did slightly better than us, but not by a lot.

  140. 140.

    laura

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: The results of the Case / Dean study are bearing out. Deaths of despair are going to give deaths by Covid a run for the money in 2021 I fear. It doesn’t have to be this way. And I cannot even imagine the sense of hopelessness or more that had to have weighed on your fellow attorney to decide his young family are better off without him. I do not know one single person who is not experiencing financial hardship or financial devestation. This unending trauma we are experiencing is going to need a massive amount of mental health care for a really long time. Thankfully, our betters; like George Will and his fucking ilk; can remind us that our suffering is necessary to the overall well being of the well to do. Bethany Frankel can eat a bottomless bag of salted dicks.

  141. 141.

    mrmoshpotato

    A bazillion times this. Drag them, Rude!

    After this year, I never wanna hear another Republican talk about "frivolous lawsuits" ever again. They elected Sue-y McSuerson president and now are Karening the shit out of the courts. https://t.co/jNudr996tI— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) December 28, 2020

  142. 142.

    Geminid

    @NotMax: I liked the part in Ben Franklin’s Autobiography where he describes a commission some churchman gave him to write a tract refuting the pernicious doctrine of Deism. By the time Franklin finished his research he had decided that he was a Deist himself.

  145. 145.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @laura:

    I’m guessing that it came down to life insurance benefits and a policy set to lapse.

    Awful.

  146. 146.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    In 2020 alone, governments in the European Union are expected to spend an additional $2,343 per person compared to 2019, while in the United States, spending will be $6,572 higher.

    This is a bullshit number. Per person spending tells you nothing. Nor does this represent actual money given to individuals. It’s just math.

    I am a tax guy and have been looking at a lot of these numbers. The US did OK. Looking just at Canada doesn’t say much.

    Unlike even Canada or most EU countries, the US did not have a mechanism in place to measure the income of individuals and small business and to use this to provide subsidies. Some EU countries also had mechanisms in place to prohibit layoffs to a larger degree than the US relief bills.

    But none of this was enough in the face of longer lockdowns.

    The Federal Reserve also provided billions to help shore up the economy.

    The initial US effort was not bad, but it should have been sustained, and followed up with aid to the states and to some local governments.

    It is absurd, for example, to limit restaurants to takeout service only and to impose other reductions in service, and then say “you may be going broke. Figure it out. Have a nice day.” The same applies to other industries that have been slowed or effectively shut down.

  147. 147.

    Soprano2

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Dunno how we make it. A new round of PPP is a joke, and doesn’t save us.

    I’m so sorry you’re having such a hard time. I don’t really have any advice, and it would probably ring hollow anyway.

    This is one reason I keep saying that people are too hard on the businesses that are open and trying to do business, because the incentives are to be open and try to make money any way you can. There’ s not nearly enough help for the industries that have been hit really hard by the pandemic. I still fear it’s going to be a bloodbath in the restaurant/bar industry all across the country; many who have made it so far won’t make it through this winter and spring.  Selling gift cards only goes so far, and what do you do next July when everyone who bought the “spend $100 now get $200 worth of stuff next July” shows up and doesn’t spend any more in July? I saw a video of a woman in Los Angeles with a restaurant who was extremely angry that while outdoor dining was shut down for restaurants, and thus the patio she spent thousands of dollars on now sits empty, right next door there are catering tents for a TV production. I understand that they’re trying to keep people from mingling because now in LA they’ve got real-life death panels, but I still feel sympathy for her (even though she became a Fox News darling). She’s on the verge of losing everything she’s worked for, because our government can’t figure out how to help people like her stay solvent.

  148. 148.

    jonas

    @hueyplong: asking the court to declare that Pence has exclusive authority to decide which electoral votes count.

    Yes, the founders clearly intended for the vice president to be able to disenfranchise states and their electors on a whim. I’m sure Biden wishes had known he could have just decided to vacate Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan’s electoral votes four years ago. Would have saved us a lot of trouble, and the best part is, his supporters would have been totally cool with it, you know, because it’s so constitutional.

  149. 149.

    JPL

    @Another Scott: My understanding is that democratic turnout is heavier at this point.   That’s not unusual, because same day voting tends to lean towards conservatives.   trump is having a rally in Dalton for a reason.    My son and DIL are voting tomorrow so two more for Ossoff/Warnock.   Another son and I already voted.

  150. 150.

    trollhattan

    @jonas:

    Shambling out of the White House, surrounded by security and the piled-high Antifa corpses to wave a book at the cameras has to rank right up there.

    Future Trump, to orderly at the care home for aged faux billionaires: “Did I ever tell you about the day I destroyed Antifa?”

  151. 151.

    jonas

    @Soprano2: Same in NYC — restaurants poured thousands of dollars into outdoor dining set-ups, only to be slapped with round after round of new restrictions, some contradicting the previous ones. Then the fire dept comes and tells them the space heaters are too close to the sidewalk or something and threatens to shut them down, but if you move the space heaters then no-one’s table gets warmed. And so on and so on. I don’t begrudge restaurant and bar owners their frustration. This wasn’t their fault (aside from a few assholes who were willfully flaunting the rules) — it’s the fault of assholes in their community who just couldn’t postpone little Billy’s birthday party and so had 35 people over for a big, unmasked superspreader party at their house. And now the hospitals are overflowing and the bars have to close — again.

  153. 153.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Brachiator:

    The initial US effort was not bad, but it should have been sustained, and followed up with aid to the states and to some local governments.

    It is absurd, for example, to limit restaurants to takeout service only and to impose other reductions in service, and then say “you may be going broke. Figure it out. Have a nice day.” The same applies to other industries that have been slowed or effectively shut down.

    Totally agree. Was mostly responding to Cole’s “only $600 for the proles” comment, a meme that’s been going around ? Twitter for days and is not true. I think the figures Smith cites for changes in income are very helpful when comparing the various countries—although, as he and you note, it only includes the initial stimulus (though many other countries’ first rounds also expired and left a gap iirc).

  154. 154.

    cain

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Ugh – this situation is bad and I’m hoping come Jan 20th with the Senate in hand we can reverse the fortunes of  everyone.

    (not that Dems will get any credit for it, but I suppose people prospering is their own reward.. unless of course we all vote Republicans again..)

  155. 155.

    Brachiator

    @jonas:

    I don’t begrudge restaurant and bar owners their frustration. This wasn’t their fault (aside from a few assholes who were willfully flaunting the rules) — it’s the fault of assholes in their community who just couldn’t postpone little Billy’s birthday party and so had 35 people over for a big, unmasked superspreader party at their house. And now the hospitals are overflowing and the bars have to close — again.

    I agree with you to some degree. But it wasn’t just people at home causing problems.  The virus is not sited at a single location.  There are multiple opportunities for infection as people moved through various social spaces.

    Yep. I know eateries that spent money to set up outdoor dining. But going around in my Southern California community, I could see that more than a few places were obviously seating too many people too close together.  And also people were just behaving stupidly. I am able to work at home, but if I still worked in the office, I probably would not have lunch with office buddies, and certainly would not sit close to them.  But I used to go to one place and sit alone outdoors and would notice tables where workmates sat and blew their air in each other’s faces.  And they would lunch with different people on other days.  So, any idea that people were restricting the number of people they interacted with was violated.  And this of course was not the fault of the restaurant, but still an opportunity for the infection to be spread.

    It is hard for people, who are social animals, to sufficiently modify their behavior to best protect themselves and others.

  157. 157.

    way2blue

    I’m waiting to see if Trump insists on have his name associated with these checks as he did with the earlier batch.  (To keep the red hats under his wing?)

  160. 160.

    dnfree

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: So sorry to hear your situation. It applies to so many who have worked hard to get where they are. For some, the bottom dropped out in the 2008 recession and they had just gotten back to a seemingly stable career, and now it’s happened again. We have one child who is a working musician. The bottom has completely dropped out of that career.
    We as retired people didn’t lose a dime of monthly income. Yes, some seniors are destitute and need help, but others of us are fine and don’t need help. The targeting of stimulus funds is really off base.

  161. 161.

    taumaturgo

    @jonas: I’m sure Biden wishes had known he could have just decided to vacate Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan’s electoral votes four years ago.

    Who is claiming Biden didn’t know? Maybe he knew and his kumbaya instincts didn’t allow him to act any other way, even if he knew.

  164. 164.

    Annie

    @Just Chuck:

    Er, no.  King Charles I was beheaded by the government of Oliver Cromwell.  Cromwell died of natural causes.  His  son Richard succeeded him but was a failure at governing.  Parliament then voted to restore Charles I’s son.  The restored Charles II ruled until 1685 and died of natural causes.

  166. 166.

    Origuy

    @Annie:  However, Charles II had Oliver Cromwell disinterred and beheaded posthumously.
    To complete the story of the Stuarts, when Charles II died, he was succeeded by his brother James II. James and his wife were Catholics. That was tolerable until they had a son. The Protestant Parliament wouldn’t accept the possibility of a second Catholic monarch, so they kicked James out. He lived in exile in Paris.

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