Trump's America, March 2017: Using His Inside VOICE

pretty rad

the seattle judge is hearing petitions rn apparently too

useful context from a couple of days ago http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/03/back-court

Holy crap. Lol. I honestly thought they might have gotten away with it this time.

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/842153834361282560

"They intentionally made the second travel ban unconstitutional as a distraction from..."

I lold

this is my favorite part:

The Government appropriately cautions that, in determining purpose, courts
should not look into the “veiled psyche” and “secret motives” of government
decisionmakers and may not undertake a “judicial psychoanalysis of a drafter’s heart
of hearts.” Govt. Opp’n at 40 (citing McCreary, 545 U.S. at 862). The
Government need not fear. The remarkable facts at issue here require no such
impermissible inquiry. For instance, there is nothing “veiled” about this press
release: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims
entering the United States.[]” SAC ¶ 38, Ex. 6 (Press Release, Donald J. Trump for
President, Donald J. Trump Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration (Dec. 7,
2015), available at https://goo.gl/D3OdJJ)). Nor is there anything “secret” about
the Executive’s motive specific to the issuance of the Executive Order:
Rudolph Giuliani explained on television how the Executive
Order came to be. He said: “When [Mr. Trump] first announced
it, he said, ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up. He said, ‘Put a
commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’”

(sorry about weird formatting, it's c+p'd from the pdf)

The courts HAVE to look at Trump's statements.. its an executive order. There is no legislative history whatsoever to look at, no drafts to discuss what the 'intent' of the law is. If these idiots went through Congress they wouldn't have this problem.

(sorry about weird formatting, it's c+p'd from the pdf)

ugh welcome to my shitty paralegal life!

Who wants some adorable manga:

https://mobile.twitter.com/DogasusBackpack/status/842144188913209344

so happy with this ruling.

Separately:

https://twitter.com/mollyesque/status/842129207337578496

Breitbart editor Pollak on @MSNBC on where he got the Trump wiretap story: "I was washing dishes & listening to Mark Levin."

Also, this story on the lickspittles is hilarious

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-photo-opportunities-236108

So great to see Giuliani fuck this up.

What's remarkable, it looks increasingly clear, is what a harmonious West Wing staff the Obama people ran -- the tightest ship in modern times?

tbf the giuliani quote was cited from the second amended complaint filed by the plaintiffs that the court was citing to, but yeah..

stephen miller gets a nice shoutout as well.

On February 21, Senior Advisor to the President, Stephen Miller, told Fox News that the new travel ban would have the same effect as the old one. He said: “Fundamentally, you’re still going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country, but you’re going to be responsive to a lot of very technical issues that were brought up by the court and those will be addressed. But in terms of protecting the country, those basic policies are still going to be in effect.”

I believe president stupid also praised this appearance. Good job Steve!

klan recognize klan

since the only value of the travel ban is the joy it brings trump's base he can't just do it in a quiet + careful manner (which one might expect if its sincere purpose was security). it is necessary for him to do it ostentatiously so he can reap the rewards from the public, and it is necessary for him to emphasize the muslim part of the ban because that's specifically what they want to hear. it's quite a conundrum for them bc to achieve what they actually want they have to signal what they're actually doing, but they aren't able to give a dog whistle so subtle that their followers can hear it but the courts cannot. i'm actually fairly impressed by how resilient our institutions are atm.

i'm feeling pretty thankful that trump et al are as bad at this as they are.

meanwhile Mo Brooks of Alabama just admitted in Chris Hayes show that he "absolutely" supports rescinding protections for pre-existing conditions, keep the lifetime cap, and throwing children off their parents' care because in 2009 we had the "best healthcare system in the world."

Damn.

wonder if he'll say anything insane at this rally he's holding rn in nashville

xxpost at this point it's like watching a 7 year old repeatedly stick his finger in an electric socket

admirably honest

xpost

xxpost we did, Mo? good to know

the funny thing is the conservative friends of mine who have whined the loudest about personal responsibility etc are the ones who are financially the worst off. One of them railed loudly about how she had to pay a penalty and said "we need to vote these people out" until a friend pointed out the reason she paid one is that she qualified for Medicaid in her state as it'd been expanded and she just opted not to apply for it.

Hawaii judge issues temporary restraining order

Good thing Trump has some guys down in Hawaii, still looking for the truth about Obama's birth certificate. Maybe they can multitask.

And I cosign Mordy's take - the ban needs to make a splash; he needs to be seen to be fighting valiantly against an Enemy of the People (usually immigrants or the media, but the judiciary will do fine in a pinch).

Which is not to say that this is a Machiavellian scheme where they draft it badly on purpose so as to get it struck down in court. They really do just suck at governmenting.

Which brings us back, conveniently, to the Red Hat Brigade. They WANT people who suck at governmenting because governmenting is THE PROBLEM, as Saint Ronaldo hath spake.

https://twitter.com/pdmcleod/status/842166922137485312

rand paul + freedom caucus is apparently going to try and stop the ahca

trump is continuing his 'man of the people' cosplay by going to visit andrew jackson's house while he's in tennessee later

I never understood the Orange Hitler element of our awful president's ascension, where it was posited he'd be a dictator we'd be powerless to stop. All those panicked Dems who were convinced that the courts wouldn't oppose anything he barfed up?

As McCain told us earlier today, Paul is working for Putin.

he's talking about the EO at a rally right now.

LOCK HER UP at Tennessee rally

he sounds insane and exhausted and the crowd are losing interest in the EO so he mentioned hillary

after his reference to Hillary Clinton

his calling the EO "a watered town version of the first order" doesn't seem legally prudent

ha -- I just said that to my friend.

xxxxxpost Dems are known doom and gloomers, we're known for it. but tbf in the early going we had that "CBP defying court order blocking EO" incident that was never satisfactorily answered that I suspect raised everybody's hackles (including mine) for a bit.

my fear has always been less that though and more that he will incite unstable followers to do unspeakable things with his populist rabblerousing.

and considering the rise in hate crimes, p valid fear

fake crimes

sad

low energy polls

Oh lol, between these two breakdowns and Wilders coming up short, tonight has been a pretty good night. Drinking the last of my christmas beers.

Oh, I think you're already there, Ted:

http://hotair.com/archives/2017/03/15/were-out-of-excuses-cruz-warns-gop-that-theyll-be-laughing-stocks-if-they-dont-repeal-obamacare/

I'm as relieved as anyone, but really, this is what everyone said to begin with. Trump would be a horrible president, he has no experience, no self-control, can't seem to tell truth from false, clearly he will be a disaster so the GOP will stop him.

At this rate they might have to!

who will then save us from the GOP

That phase 2 of the phase 3 plan, you see.

yup https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/842171883315466241

an extremely clever headfake on his part to cut his lawyers off at the knees

yeah but liberal encroachment

xpost

Is he talking about health care at all?

At some point he is going to have a Ceaesescu moment, isn't he?

yeah he didn't mention the AHCA or ryan once, and said several times "we're going to get people in a room" and seemed to be conceding a lot of ground

And indeed while he was ranting:

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/842175184303976448

.@RepMarkMeadows, chair of House Freedom Caucus, says he has the votes to block the House GOP Leadership health care bill, per @tomlobianco