The Trump Presidency – 2016

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I believe there are members who could have gotten something to the floor without involving those two worthless sacks (edit to add) in the actual writing.

Trump would merely have needed a willing partner for the right piece of legislation. Ryan blocking it just because he wasn't involved in the writing could have very well gotten him dragged out for a tarring & feathering if not worse.

Instead, we get this lightweight flop. That's either the worst miscalculation of Trump's past couple of years OR it's an indication that he never had any intention of passing anything on this subject at all (not for 2 years anyway).

Basically nothing gets to the floor without the agreement of the leader. A Trump bill from another legislator would have been pushed aside in favor of the Speaker's bill and most of the House GOP would agree with that. Even today, a vote would have almost certainly gotten a majority of GOP votes because most members support the leader.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Basically nothing gets to the floor without the agreement of the leader.

And I'm saying that Ryan likes his job enough that he'd have played ball rather than risk being lynched for being a blatant obstructionist.

Trump made a mistake (or revealed his own true motives) by trying to involve him.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And I'm saying that Ryan likes his job enough that he'd have played ball rather than risk being lynched for being a blatant obstructionist.

Trump made a mistake (or revealed his own true motives) by trying to involve him.

I think it's less showing his true motives and more just not giving a damn/wanting to put in the necessary effort. If you have to send out your lackeys to say how hard you worked, you probably didn't work very hard.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And I'm saying that Ryan likes his job enough that he'd have played ball rather than risk being lynched for being a blatant obstructionist.

Trump made a mistake (or revealed his own true motives) by trying to involve him.

But he wouldn't have been seen as a blatant obstructionist. The majority, and probably a big majority, of GOP House members would have supported the speaker.

edit: You would have had a bill supported by most of the GOP members and a second bill supported by maybe thirty or forty members. At best you're hoping for Trump going to war publicly with Ryan, which would have gotten you no closer to passage.

The fundamental problem is any repeal results in millions losing healthcare coverage. That was why Ryan was trying to get it passed before scores came out.

[SackAttack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT3Px11xN-0

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

No way the Dems filibuster. They'll vote against, probably with a few defections, but they won't stop it from passing. They probably will, though, make the GOP own it, especially after the shenanigans of the past few years.

Schumer seems to think otherwise.

[thesloppy]

Trump's real secret power appears to be the ability to maintain & grow power/menace, or at least the illusion thereof, whilst everything around him fails. He makes a flap, looks like an idiot, creates a big cloud of dust, everything falls to shit, but at the same time he's still pushing the needle somehow, and even if all of his promised legislation turns to dust, he's certainly still making a significant impact on the nation in a very short amount of time. Just like his business deals, the specifics & success of the deal seem less important than confusing the situation, starting a shit-storm, then exploiting and manipulating the chaos to his advantage, because that's much easier than actually conducting real business/politics.

His political future could fall apart entirely, and he could easily come away from the next few years looking like literally one of world history's greatest fools...but you can bet he's also going to come away not just richer, but also with a lot more global power and influence.

The GOP's version of winning and losing on the global & national political stage seem like they might be relatively worthless to Trump's ego, and he has a history of managing to pull some version of success out of apparent spectacular failure, so even these supposed major setbacks do little to make me think Trump would alter his thinking or behavior in the slightest. Success or failure, and any of the terms thereof, do not appear to matter to this dude, as long as it's loud. On the other hand he also takes any & every single criticism personally, and appears likely to spend the entirety of his term in a miserable rage, regardless of anything.

[corbes]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Schumer seems to think otherwise.

I think, or hope, that this is a front for negotiating a deal not to filibuster this nomination in exchange for a promise not to use the nuclear option during the next SCOTUS vacancy.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Schumer seems to think otherwise.

I'm specifically talking about the debt limit increase. I haven't seen anything where Schumer is talking about a filibuster on the debt limit. There isn't much on this yet, but I did find this Schumer quote from a few days ago:

Democrats have always been for saying that we cannot default

[SirFozzie]

The only thing he could have done to appease the far right—a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act—was not only legislatively impossible but would never pass the lower chamber of Congress. The vast majority of Republicans would have refused to eliminate Obamacare without knowing exactly what would replace it until months or years later.

Inside the GOP’s Health Care Debacle - POLITICO Magazine

So, they had some really bad options

A) try to thread a needle that wouldn't piss off the HFC and the Moderates (good luck with that)

B) try a full repeal (and that's all), piss off the moderates, and fail

C) Work with Demos to fix the ACA, which would cause several of them to be.. well, not primaried, but lynched due to "true believers" like our own Jon

Honestly, there's no good option there, other than say, hit Tax Reform first, but they were counting on starving Medicaid for the funds to do Tax Reform.

Said it before, and I'll say it again. the HFC is the part of the Republican party that wants to burn it all down, so they can piss on their enemies because they won't feel the effects of their actions. They think that "the poors" are getting handouts like iPhones regularly. so this will make them more industrious.

[Atocep]

The man's inability to admit when he's wrong is impressive.

President Trump: I never said repealing and replacing Obamacare would be easy.

[dubb93]

"Day one, it's gone." I feel like I heard that somewhere along the way.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Said it before, and I'll say it again. the HFC is the part of the Republican party that wants to burn it all down, so they can piss on their enemies because they won't feel the effects of their actions. They think that "the poors" are getting handouts like iPhones regularly. so this will make them more industrious.

They'll never settle for 50% when they can get 0%!

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

They'll never settle for 50% when they can get 0%!

But PURITY!

[Ryche]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I think it's less showing his true motives and more just not giving a damn/wanting to put in the necessary effort. If you have to send out your lackeys to say how hard you worked, you probably didn't work very hard.

That's the key i think. Trump had no idea what the bill did, put no work into crafting it. He just wanted the victory and assumed it would sail through Congress.

[CrescentMoonie]

From Axios, an anecdote of a hard lesson that persuading members of Congress is completely different from running a web site: pic.twitter.com/rA3noT1nzs

— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) March 25, 2017

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Yeah. It kinda does beg the question of the whole, whaddyacallit ... the thing where he was actually just a bait-and-switch guy.

(forgive me, there's a specific term for it, it's just been an indescribably long week & I lack the braining to come up with the stupid word)

Charlatan?

[Easy Mac]

So Twitter is buzzing that Flynn had been flipped...

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

So Twitter is buzzing that Flynn had been flipped...

On CNN as well that he may have cut a deal with the FBI.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

So Twitter is buzzing that Flynn had been flipped...

There was a talking head that was part of a panel last night on CNN who suggested that. Her point was that since the other big three, who were going to be compelled to testify, probably under oath, were instead voluntarily going to testify, in a closed session, and probably not under oath, and that Flynn hadn't been mentioned in that group, that that was the reason why.

[albionmoonlight]

The FBI does not flip witnesses for fun. If he has indeed been granted immunity to testify (impossible to state how big that "if" is), then we are about to live through the greatest political scandal of my lifetime. (I was born just after Watergate)

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And I'm saying that Ryan likes his job enough that he'd have played ball rather than risk being lynched for being a blatant obstructionist.

Trump made a mistake (or revealed his own true motives) by trying to involve him.

Recall Ryan had to be begged into the job and no one else wanted it.

[Thomkal]

anybody have a link to a story about Flynn flipping?

[digamma]

THere's a tweet from someone named Juliette Kayyem. That's where it appears to have started. I'm skeptical at this point.

[bronconick]

Juliette Kayyem - Wikipedia

I'm going to assume it's clickbait until proven wrong/right

[Thomkal]

thanks dig-that led me to this "article"

CNN Political Analyst Juliette Kayyem Says, Per Sources, Michael Flynn May Have Flipped On Trump | The Intellectualist

[JPhillips]

I don't know if Flynn has flipped, but people sure seem to be scared about something. The pro-Trump National Enquirer wrote about Trump catching Flynn, a Russian spy, just before he could do serious damage and Russia has threatened to release info if leaks continue.

[cuervo72]

(CREDIT) I want to give a hat tip to @JustineBateman for drawing my attention to this breaking development. Stay tuned for more news soon.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 25, 2017

Wait...what?

[PilotMan]

Someone needs to start a rumor that since Putin kills all his political opponents that Flynn has gone into hiding because of his fear of Trump doing the same thing.

It certainly seems more than coincidental that all these Russian diplomats are turning up dead now.

[JPhillips]

Well that guy in NY probably just had a heart attack.

And that other guy probably slipped and fell off the roof.

And that other other guy probably jumped in front of a bullet to save someone else.

[Julio Riddols]

I'm very intrigued by all this. Seems like it would make a hell of a TV series.

[JPhillips]

1- Trump tweets to watch Judge Jeanine

2- Judge Jeanine starts show calling for Ryan to resign

3- ?

[digamma]

Judge Jeanine opens that box?

[Easy Mac]

#3 is always Profit, which he seems to be doing quite well of late.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Well that guy in NY probably just had a heart attack.

And that other guy probably slipped and fell off the roof.

And that other other guy probably jumped in front of a bullet to save someone else.

Wait when did the discussion switch to Whitewater?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by digamma

Judge Jeanine opens that box?

Tiny hands, tiny box

[SirFozzie]

That sound you hear is Grover Nordquist and the Freedom Caucus grabbing their hearts.

Eric Geller on Twitter: "Also, this. https://t.co/3zm8xCOl0R"

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Making friends everywhere he goes...

Germany rejects Trump claim it owes Nato and US 'vast sums' for defence | World news | The Guardian

what I did not hear when Merkel was visiting, he actually gave her a bill for $300 billion to pay NATO for defending Germany.

Germany slams ‘intimidating’ £300bn White House bill | World | The Times & The Sunday Times

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

what I did not hear when Merkel was visiting, he actually gave her a bill for $300 billion to pay NATO for defending Germany.

Germany slams ‘intimidating’ £300bn White House bill | World | The Times & The Sunday Times

I get the impression he was really expecting politicians to roll over to his 'dominance' in the same way small contractors do in business with him, hopefully he's starting to understand that things don't work that way ... although I doubt it ..

[Easy Mac]

Don't worry guys, Fox News has assured us Trump worked in the White House all weekend. Except for those Instagrams of him at his golf club the last two days watching golf on TV and being out on the course. He just worked like every other rich, old, white guy. That we're 10 weeks in, and his PR had to say he's actually working on the weekend seems kind of pathetic.

Personally, I'd rather he be on the course everyday. While I enjoy pointing out his hypocrisy, there's less a chance of the world getting more fucked up if he just swings clubs all day.

[Edward64]

We obviously don't have the full story yet re: Nunes. It seems new info is popping up everyday and it'll eventually come out.

Regardless, think its too late for Nunes and time for him to recuse himself.

[miked]

It's amazing that all these talking heads are saying we don't need an independent council. I mean, they wanted one for Bill Clinton lying about some head. Here we have a bunch of people contacting one of our enemies (not quite, but pretty close), and the guy in charge of oversight is getting private viewings on the White House, giving info to Trump and the press before the committee, and worked for the transition team he is investigating. This is nuts.

[Easy Mac]

Master. Negotiator.

The Republican House Freedom Caucus was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. After so many bad years they were ready for a win!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017

Hey people, I tweeted something this morning. Watch my friends talk about this thing I tweeted.

Watch @foxandfriends now on Podesta and Russia!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017

[HomerSimpson98]

lol. Hard to believe this asshat is our president. Way to heal the political divide you dipshit

[Edward64]

Coal was an easy win for Trump. Another is getting the Wall built (even if Mexico doesn't pay for it) or at least, showing its moving towards getting built.

Ready for Tax Reform and whether Trump will fund the medicaid expansion portion of Obamacare.

[JPhillips]

Trump thinks he's the guy on the ship, but he's really the guy in the water hoping for a life preserver.

[Edward64]

It may get there but I don't think he's in the water yet.

[cuervo72]

https://consumerist.com/2017/03/28/h...l-information/

The Senate has already approved this resolution, meaning it only awaits the signature of President Trump to undo the FCC regulations.

The rules, finalized in October by the FCC, effectively divide the data that your ISP has about you and your browsing habits into two categories.

The first category is sensitive data. ISPs would have been prevented from using the following information without your permission:
• Geographic location
• Children’s information
• Health information
• Financial information
• Social Security numbers
• Web browsing history
• App usage history
• The content of communications

I'd like to hear a good argument on how this will benefit me, or any average person. (And why we should ever care about any data leak ever again.)

[Edward64]

Don't have an answer for you but I've been thinking about getting a VPN service. That should take care of the problem right?

[PilotMan]

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, our Trump wannabe Governor vetoed a bill that had near unanimous support in both houses and had been years in the making and he had given no impression that he was opposed to it in any way prior. KY was trying to become the 45 state with laws on the books to help stop the cycle of jail and homelessness that the mentally disabled are nearly unable to navigate. His reasoning was that it would put the civil liberties of people at risk.

So on the the one hand you've got companies free to monitor your data because you have to use their infrastructure, and on the other hand you've got mentally disabled, who are still at risk because signing this bill might infringe on someones civil rights even though 44 other states already have the law.