I like Trump, but he blew it like you read about. We’ve all known since 2010 that Boehner/Ryan/P.Sessions/McCarthy/Cornyn are a bunch of rent-a-democrats dressed up in Republican suits.
Trump bought their bullshit hook, line, and sinker. His admin is weakened and stained and he has nobody to blame but the guy watching him shave in the mirror tomorrow morning.
Trump ran on repeal and free market replacement. Republicans have both houses primarily because of their promise to repeal the ACA. Republicans had one job: repeal Obamacare. This was a layup, a 6″ putt, etc. just do it.
These clowns couldn’t even start a rock fight, let alone screw one up.
I can’t wait until Aetna, United Health, Blue Whatever are all begging for MediTarp by Labor Day thanks to this leviathan piece of crap Obama, Pelosi, and Reid rammed through that Republicans couldn’t repeal if they had a gross of nuclear weapons to do it.
See next post. I am not sure Trump really hurt himself even if the dems and braying press are yelling he did. But they’ve been consistently wrong about Trump so far and there’s no sign of any change in their condition.
Where Trump hurt himself was endorsing that stinking pile of crap.
I think his only comment on the matter should’ve been “I will veto it the second it hits my desk. The promise was repeal. Keep the promise.”
Yup. That’s a purist response. Trump is a deal maker. So he supported this mess, hasn’t said anything bad about any republican, but it’s obvious that the problem is in the House. Whether Trump supports it or not, it’s their legislation. As Gowdy once said so accurately, “WE make legislation. That’s our job.”
I am not sure the problem is in the House directly.
I think the problem goes to the heart of the Republican charade: What is the proper role of the federal government?
Republicans have put themselves in the same bind every election since 2010. They run on a hyper conservative platform: we will not raise the debt ceiling, we will not fund Obamacare, we will repeal Obamacare, we are for limited government and returning power to the states, protecting life begun at conception, etc. You know the drill.
Then when they incrementally are rewarded with the requisite power they fold up like lawn chairs in tornadoes. What did that get them: Donald J. Trump POTUS.
That they should’ve expected anything other than this disastrous outcome is laughable. They have begged for 7 years the power to do this and now that they have it their true colors shined through.
My only disappointment is that President Trump got sucked into the very swamp that helped catapult him to the Presidency. He is a smart man, deal maker, etc. He needs to be smarter than this.
Preach, brother.
Not so fast, flyboy! Read the Art of the Deal and think about where he is in this process. He just asserted power, pantsed the Speaker and will now sit back and wait for a good deal, one that actually repeals Obamacare.
* (and not for the “flyboy” part said she, not the even the blackshoe. . .)
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TW, I read it when it first came out around 1990 I think.
I think his mistake was endorsing and lobbying for its passage. I think Trump deviated from his own playbook.
I agree that his follow up conduct since yesterday afternoon is consistent with his previous negotiating success, but the events leading up the failure are not consistent with his record.
Additionally, we have to be careful in translating his business success to politics. In business he was negotiating with at most a handful of suitors. Not so in this arena. The competing agendas in Congress are much more diverse and numerous.
All good points, Brent. I’m trying to be optimistic, I guess. He’s a fast learner, too, so I hope. He has now discovered just how mendaciously duplicitous Congressional leadership is, notwithstanding the diverse and numerous agendas. Guys like Rand Paul give me hope, too. As a calming thought exercise, sometimes I imagine what the news of the day would be under Empress HRC.
@TW: You may be right and this may strengthen the influence of the Freedom Caucus.
Republicans need to come to grips with the fact that while the FC is a minority of the party they are the reason the party is in the majority.
If you will recall from Thursday and Friday Trump and his staff denigrated them for not supporting Ryan’s bill. I think that tactic is problematic.
Yep.
Yet when it was all over and done, Trump didn’t blame anyone. So now Ryan can hardly say Trump didn’t get behind the bill nor not give his support to it. Ryan has no one to blame but himself – he wrote it, it’s his.
And Trump is once again out and scot-free. The tactic of denigrating the FC, if it proves transient, is fine. As they say, nothing personal. It’s just a way of showing that Trump and the WH FULLY supported Ryan – and he still lost. His bad.
Yep, again.
“The tactic of denigrating the FC, if it proves transient, is fine.”
Dev, it is not fine. I am behind Congressman Jim Jordan of NC every step of the way. He was allowed airtime on Hannity to warn Ryan and Meadows that this bill wasn’t going to pass.
He was ignored.
What I don’t get about the whole thing is that the enthusiastic portion of Trump’s base, those that were early supporters and those who may have supported others in the primary but enthusiastically joined Trump later have much more in common with the Freedom Caucus.
That is what is so baffling to me because every day Trump proves his chops and smarts. Then he goes out on the first big issue and basically gives the middle finger to his core supporters is ill advised.
Yes, on the face of it. But life moves pretty fast. He called Ted Cruz many names, but now they collaborate with the greatest of ease. Fun to watch, hard to understand. Giving the finger to the FC was just a transitory tool to enable the full-on spanking of Ryan. Ryan has more than met his match, which is fine by me since I don’t respect Ryan the weasel.
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When Trump called Ted Cruz names they were competing for the same nomination. I get that politics is a blood sport. What is it that the FC and Trump or Bannon are competing for?
I have to think about this for a few days because I am equally baffled. I’m going to have to figure this out on my own as I no longer have any MSM sources upon whom I can rely.
Gee whiz; can’t wait for the market to open on Monday and witness the carnage that surely is about to occur because all the “economic experts” have no clue how to deal with the volatility of the market.
Best example? SNAP opens at 23.50 and rises to 29.44 on first day but drops precipitously this week. I get that their financials are horrendous so because of this I bought and sold as a day trade.
Now why on earth is this stock climbing the ladder yet again this week? I luv tech stocks and am dying to re-invest but am very hesitant.
Brent – you’re overthinking all this. This is not “politics as usual”. ?How often have you seen pols argue and call each other nasty names – then go out to dinner together. Trump is just playing the game – and it would seem better than the others.
Whatever the FC wants, it’s clear THEY need Trump. He has now dumped consideration of O-care and is working on other things. IF they wise up, they will help him achieve some of his goals, and maybe rethink how to get to what they want.
ONE way is to leave remnants of O-care for “the poor”. It WILL collapse of its own free will, and if parallel to that they introduce a market in insurance, might just destroy what they want AND leave the dems holding the bag.
Dev, I see exactly what you are describing among adversaries. I do not see it among allies. How many times have you seen Ted Cruz and Mike Lee calling each other names or denigrating each other.
I agree that when people are running against each other this occurs, but there is no evidence of animosity or opposition between Trump and the FC. Steve Bannon is a kindred spirit of the FC. What is the upside to turning allies to opponents.
The FC is clear on what they wanted. What they promised – clean repeal.
As soon as Republicans amend the ACA it becomes Republicare. I’m not sure that isn’t happening now anyway unless they do a complete repeal.
That Republicans refuse to repeal the original may leave them on the hook for it. As it stands now I think the ACA is wholly endorsed by the Republican party.
It’s kinda like situations involving sex in the workplace. It’s the power relationship that matters. Trump gets a bit of a pass cuz he’s the leader of the pack. Maybe.
“Ass, Gas or Grass. No One Rides For Free”
(Stenciled on the back of a 46-driver’s helmet way back)
You can say that the FC is the reason the republicans have a House majority, but the OTHER truth is that they are some 50 guys and gals – not nearly enough to be the majority by themselves. And notice that the people have NOT tossed out the rest of the republicans. Must be a reason.
So Trump is stuck with something a little different than “allies”. He is stuck with a coalition. He has the FC on one hand, the “moderates” (or the wishy-washy ones) on another, and the old line pols on yet another hand. And then there’s the dems. And last but not least – all the “businesses” who clamor for government hand-outs, protection, anti-competition laws, etc.
?How do you walk through this whole mess and get something that actually works. You will have to find a way to appease ALL the parts – to some degree. One big reason O-care didn’t work is that not a single republican voted for it – or was involved in creating it!
Ryan just learned he can’t do it by himself. The FC has the same lesson to learn, as do the “(alleged) moderates” – and the dems. Meanwhile O-care marches on, eating up the nation. Sooner or later ALL sides will figure out this ain’t working and will fall together to make something that does.
But it might be sped up if Trump were to put congress under O-care – give them an “incentive” to wake up.
Well, there was some good news today: Gonzaga made the Final Four!
The Bulldogs have participated in 19 tournaments but have never made the Final Four until now. Congrats to a great program!
They’re also the first West Coast Conference team to reach the Final Four since the San Francisco Dons in 1957!
OMG; such a sports geek. :)))
Haha, guilty as charged, Lizzie! ;-)
Haha, guilt as charged! ;-)
It’s like Aaron Miller said on Rico: The Dems never stop fighting even when they can’t win, and the Republicans don’t fight even when they can win. Or something like that.
Amen
Yep.
You said it sister!
Democrats control the narrative. They make things out like someone is being hurt by the Republicans. They come out looking positive. We need to message where we look positive and caring. Being wonky does not help. Saying “This good for you.” also does not help.
Dems also have the advantage of being on the offensive by ‘doing’ something or being for something which inevitably means spending and regulating.
What we need now is repeal, cut, repeal, and repeat.
You hear this critique relentlessly the past weekend: It is time for a Republicans to govern. What the media means is it is time for Reoublicans to memorialize a progressive extra Constitutional government.
When what we need is less of everything – much less.
God Bless the Freedom Caucus and their fellow travelers in the Senate.
Jim Jordan was out and about this weekend on OFFENSE. I was impressed. He’s ready to get back to work on healthcare and get it right. Now.
I read an interview with him. I agree it is good to see him getting the message out.
He and the FC are pulling back the curtain on the Republican charade.
I never thought I’d be speaking these words because I have always admired his intellect and integrity, but I fear our Speaker has consumed the Kool-Aid.
I see limited downside for Trump, much more for the hapless GOP leadership.
Anything that will help weaken and destroy them is a plus, because their duplicity and incompetence is the real problem the GOP faces.
You cannot serve two masters. The present leadership is entirely beholden to the donor class, which makes them utterly unwilling to represent the people who elected them. The donors want to keep 0care. Essentially, the GOP plan was to pretend to repeal it while leaving all the fine print in place.
Ka-boom. Their scheme couldn’t even get past the House. Paul Ryan should resign, like right now. But he won’t, because this failure was actually a success he crafted for his masters.
A clever bunch, they are. I recall a phrase from Shakespeare about working not wisely but too well. The American political class- like that of France, circa 1785- has been exquisitely successful at arranging things so that wealth flowed into their pockets like a river. Over time, this has proven to be not popular with the mass of the American people. Hence, Trump- but the same unpopularity of the political class also brought us President Barry.
So who has more staying power here? The guy who ran against this sort of idiocy, defeating the entirety of the establishments of both parties? Or the former fry machine operator from Wisconsin, who has had just that one job off the government teat?
I’ll bet on Trump, not Paul Ryan et al.
“I’ll bet on Trump, not Paul Ryan et al.”
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