One day after President Donald Trump shocked the Capitol by accepting Democrats’ three-month debt ceiling extension over the strenuous objections of both Republican leaders and his treasury secretary, most congressional Republicans are saying they’re not panicking. Yet.
“I don’t think it’s the last deal he’ll cut with Schumer and Pelosi,” North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told me on Thursday, “but I don’t think it sets a precedent necessarily, that it’s going to happen all the time.” His fellow Freedom Caucuser, Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, also isn’t worried, telling reporters that he’s not sweating over Trump’s sudden buddy-buddy relationship with Democratic leaders.
“I’m a Calvinist,” he said. “I don’t panic.”
That last line pretty much sums up the Freedumb Caca.
If the name seems familiar, Brat is the asshole who out-assholed Eric Cantor in the 2014 primary to win that seat.
opiejeanne
Brat’s last name is apt.
I dislike Calvinism. Calvin was an asshole.
Major Major Major Major
@opiejeanne: imagine! A Calvinist who thinks trump is a good seed!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I saw that this group proposed Gingrich and Santorum to replace Ryan. Last week some reformicon proposed they name Romeny Speaker to prepare for impeachment of the Beast and li’l sidekick
chopper
this guy is a calvinballist.
Villago Delenda Est
Calvinists are greedy assholes that revel in their assholishness.
Fuck them.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@opiejeanne:
Calvin was more than an asshole, he was the dictator of Geneva.
laura
@opiejeanne:
So many punk classics are called for in these trying times…
https://youtu.be/aPvkzQmc68Y
opiejeanne
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I know a lot about Calvin. I know about Michael Servetus.
rikyrah
The Art of No Deal: How Chuck and Nancy Used GOP Dysfunction to Roll The Donald
When Republican and Democratic leaders headed to the White House on Wednesday for a meeting – a negotiation – on the debt ceiling, government funding and disaster relief funding, few had expected its outcome. The Republican leadership had publicly and summarily rejected Democratic demands to extend the debt ceiling for only three months.
Republicans wanted an 18-month extension of the debt ceiling, particularly so that they could work on their tax cuts without having to be rudely interrupted by a fiscal cliff. They also wanted enough wiggle room to forget about the Dream Act with no leverage left for the Democrats. Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi knew this, and they wanted to hold onto their leverage on both taxes and immigration.
…………………………..
But that’s not what happened. Donald Trump, by all accounts to the astonishment of the GOP leadership and his own Treasury Secretary, quickly accepted the Democratic offer,
then took off on Air Force One to North Dakota, taking with him North Dakota Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp. Ryan, McConnell, and other Republicans were shell-shocked.
Democrats now have what they want. They have neutralized Trump’s own threat of a government shutdown without funding for his wall, they have knocked a powerful GOP leadership, and they have rolled the Republican agenda along with the Republican president.
How did this happen? Conservatives are fuming, and the media is still trying to understand. But I suggest that the roots of this had been sown in events of the past eight months, as well well as the prior eight years. Republicans essentially rolled themselves. Donald Trump essentially had no choice but to cave to Democrats, because Republicans created this path.
opiejeanne
@laura: Oh yeah.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Sure would be a shame if something bad happened to Phillips’ bakery.
opiejeanne
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Let’s not be making comments that sound like threats.
StringOnAStick
@opiejeanne: I think I read that it closed quite awhile ago.
Mike in NC
Cantor was against emergency relief funds for his district hit by an earthquake because was hardcore Republican, and anything that doesn’t enrich the 1% is a nonstarter.
Jeffro
So…Trumpov tweet yet about that lady and her prison inmate boyfriend? I’d imagine he’s warning the husband not to take her back a la Robert Pattinson
Omnes Omnibus
@opiejeanne: Calvin was actually a decent guy. Calvinism per Calvin is different than “Calvinism” as it is currently understood. But it is fine. No one ever notes that or that the Puritans weren’t the intolerant monsters that they are portrayed as. I’ll shut up now.
rikyrah
The HillVerified account @thehill
Fox News refuses to hire Spicer after exit from White House: report http://hill.cm/6pgkZEp
rikyrah
TIMEVerified account @TIME
Hurricane Harvey first responder gets flesh-eating bacteria from Texas storm water
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Jesus fuck.
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: sure, why not.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@opiejeanne:
Didn’t mean for it to be a threat. Just stating a fact. It would be a shame.
clay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wait… does the Speaker of the House not need to be a member of the House?
*google*
Huh. I guess it’s just one more norm that Republicans have no qualms about breaking.
Matt McIrvin
Dave Brat’s name is familiar from my sister complaining about him–he’s her rep.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@clay: it comes up from time to time. When Boehner walked away and Ryan was resisting taking the job, there was a lot of chatter that came to nothing.
Fair Economist
Everybody’s talking about Trump accepting Pelosi and Schumer’s deal. But what exactly is Trump offering? He can’t bring it to the floor of either house. As long as McConnell or Ryan refuse to bring it to the floor, it doesn’t happen.
james parente
@rikyrah: Storm water is not just water. It is sewage
with a dash of toxic chemical spill, mixed right in.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: IIRC, Gingrich let it be known that he would take the job, if offered, which nobody did
BC in Illinois
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
@clay:
A non-House Member Speaker is something to keep in mind when the Democrats take over the House next year. While I would be perfectly happy with a Nancy Pelosi Speaker / President-in-waiting, there are those who have suggested Hillary Clinton.
My own preference, as we anticipate the departure of the “Don and Mike” show, would be to have Joe Biden in place as a consensus choice.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
If I remember The Scarlet Letter correctly, the message was that Dimmesdale was a fucking hypocrite who deserved to die for letting Hester suffer alone.
Hawthorne had an ancestor who was one of the judges during the Salem Witch Trials, so he was pretty cynical about the Puritans.
Omnes Omnibus
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: You tend toward very explicit (?) language. You may have noticed that a bunch of people have jumped your shit recently for it. Keep talking. We want to hear you, but think a bit first. And don’t panic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@BC in Illinois: Speaker Biden works for me. I’m hoping trump gets impeached, or is dragged to resignation, but I’m not betting on either. Somebody on MSNBC said a few days ago that “people close to trump’ say he hates the job and wants to pass one big bill, like the tax cuts, and name one more justice, then he’ll quit . I can’t see it. There would have to be some situation that he could spin as winning by quitting, and I can’t imagine it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Pray tell, what does Calvin have to do with the Salem Puritans?
Also, fwiw, John Proctor is one of my great….grandfathers. But do please base your judgments on a novel.
sdhays
@rikyrah:
There’s a lot to this. The Republicans have been dithering for the past 6 years, and for the past few months now without Obama to blame, it’s been really, really obvious that this is all they can do. The only thing they know how to do is make something more painful and more complicated than it was. Governing is hard, but it’s not supposed to be half as hard as Republicans insist on making it. After the shit show that we’ve all watched for the past 8 months (really since 2011), why would anyone have confidence that Ryan and McConnell could deliver on what they were promising when the clock was clearly running out?
Part of the calculation (such as there is in Trump’s “mind”) has got to be that with Ryan, McConnell, and the Freedumb Caucus, there was going to be a lot of whining and drama and incompetence all throughout September and then they’d all lose to the Democrats anyway because the Republican “strategery” was doomed from the beginning. Or they’d fail to do anything at all, Houston would rot, and he would preside over the first default in our nation’s history.
I hope this smack of reality makes Ryan and McConnell more amenable to Impeachment… Summer 2018 would do nicely, assuming nuclear war with North Korea is still “merely” brewing.
Adam L Silverman
When I said penetration at all levels I didn’t have this in mind:
sdhays
@Fair Economist: I think the issue is that they were already in a really shitty bargaining position, and now that even Trump isn’t behind them, they don’t have even any semblance of a path to victory on their terms. Sure, they have the power to block the deal, but they don’t have the power to replace it, and the items we’re talking about here aren’t things that they can afford to let fail (which was why their bargaining position was never very good).
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: You called what you called. The fact that ewwww…. is still a thing.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Omnes Omnibus:
You got it. I’m trying to limit that kind of thing.
Omnes Omnibus
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: We don’t want your voice to leave. FFS, I don’t want to be the youngest person here.
frosty
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Glad to hear it, keep working at it. Some comments are a bit jarring, and I’ll add yours are not the only ones.
LurkerNoLonger
@Adam L Silverman: He hires the best people. The best!
James Powell
I have a question and I’m hoping to get an answer without getting pummeled.
Why would Democrats do anything to work with Trump on any issue? If Trump and the Republicans can’t come to an agreement, why not let them shut down the government like they threatened to do with Obama? Why not let their inability to govern become apparent.
I’m expecting the Beltway Pivot Hunters to declare that this proves Trump can be a bipartisan president.
Omnes Omnibus
@James Powell: The debt ceiling is so big a thing that we needed to fix it. Letting the trogs on the right destroy our economy is a nonstarter.
TenguPhule
@James Powell:
Debt ceiling is not simply shutting down the government. Its blowing up the world economy.
There is nothing else I can think of that would kick off mass rioting and complete chaos on that level short of actual nuclear war.
Cheryl from Maryland
@opiejeanne: Michael Servetus fan here as well. The world might be a better place if Calvin hadn’t personally had Servetus killed in Geneva. Servetus said: God condemns no one who does not condemn himself through thought, word or deed. If there is a hell, I hope John Calvin is rotting in it.
Denali
@opiejeanne,
Well, I didn’t know about Michael Servetus either – now I do, thanks to Google. Balloon Juice has certainly brought me into contact with colorful characters lately, from attempted axe murderers to wife of Trump lawyer involved in car sex with prison inmate. No wonder I spend so much time here.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: I think that’s the funniest thing I have ever heard you say here. bravo!
opiejeanne
@Omnes Omnibus: A decent guy who burned another man at the stake for what he determined was heresy.