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

incredible

good MOURNING!

where's the tax returns?

Jean Claude Juncker on Trump in todays FT:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7ri5IXXgAA6k_F.jpg

He had Tusk on the stereo and thought it was Rumours

he had me on the phone and thought he was talking to Raymond Tusk from 'House of Cards'

He thought he was talking to a walrus.

I googled to figure out if Turnip even knows how to drive and apparently the answer is 'yes' and it is evidenced by this video which I cannot watch because I'm at work but that I was hoping you could watch for me and report back re: its entertainment value, thank you for your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqmmEso_2sI

How did I miss this?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/trump-summoned-dc-mayor-to-oval-office-for-storm-that-brought-2-of-snow/2017/03/14/8eabc098-08da-11e7-93dc-00f9bdd74ed1_story.html

Apparently, before DC's modest snow a couple of weeks back, Trump weirdly (of course) called DC's mayor to his office to brief him on the weather. It's as if he thought that's what presidents are supposed to do, so did it, even though apparently no president has ever done that before.

He's like the kid in The Toy. He gets what he wants when he wants it, even if it's someone dropping everything to address his bizarre requests. And also he's incredibly racist.

he's like the avatar for american neo-feudalism. who you are is how much money your parents have/had

Yeah that was impressive. Intelligence briefings, no; local weather briefings from the mayor, yes

"Glad you're all here for this yugely important issue that face, that faces our country. Okay? So listen, Muriel: I've got one question: is it gonna be a problem for me to fly out to Florida today, or are the wings gonna be, y'know, icy?"

Anyways McConnell's had just as long to craft an OCare alternative as Ryan had. And look at what the House came up with.

Now, I know that SOMETIMES the strategy is to get something moving, and work out the kinks through reconciliation.

But if he's been quietly crafting something in the background, no one has heard a peep about it, including and especially his Republican brethren in the House. Anyway even if this were so, I doubt he has something that's better/more amenable to all the necessary constituencies. If it were, why would he not have given Ryan a peek at it?

There's an anecdote from some years back that goes roughly: A new GOP representative is being shown the ropes by a more experienced congressman. Newbie casually mentions "the enemy," referring to the Democrats. Old guy says, "No, no - the Democrats are 'the opposition.' 'The enemy' is the Senate."

As noted, I doubt McConnell has a better bill in his pocket. But if Mitch's strategy is to let Ryan ALMOST fall flat on his face, then swoop in to be seen as the Righteous Rescuer of Repeal? Well, that probably just means more GOP infighting. Which tends to be good news for the nation. If they're preoccupied with sniping among themselves, they have slightly less time to work on screwing over the downtrodden.

These are not a people inclined toward comity. Infighting is the new intransigence.

The great one speaks!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/845249587178819584

The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!

This is not playing out well among hard right types.

Supposedly Bannon is down on the whole thing now because it doesn't cut costs enough, and this tweet is probably the most accurate read anyway:

https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/845240270472073216

senior WH aide, asked if decisive health care defeat today is best for Team Trump: "100%"

(The likelihood that Bannon is that aide is also about 100%.)

yeah that snowstorm story is strange but not a patch on the 3 AM phonecall to Michael Flynn to ask an Econ 101 question

Would any development NOT have been spun as a win for Team Trump? (By Team Trump, that is.)

I'm already seeing Trumpsters conveniently ignoring that this terrible bill was Trump's highest priority circa yesterday, and now they're cheering, because WINNING.

Related:

https://twitter.com/HallieJackson/status/845251292570226688

Remember, if this bill fails, top WH source told me POTUS won't see it as failure - instead, as "people in Congress breaking their promises"

https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/status/845246574385094656

Freedom Caucus source to me just now: "Think they want it to fail on the floor to make a point."

something tells me it may not be a great idea to start a war with the one group you actually need to constantly look the other way

And per the screenshots here, Drudge and Breitbart merrily targeting Ryan:

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/845267910973181953

frogbs otm: perhaps after being publicly blamed for failing to Make Health Care Great Again, GOP congresspersons will suddenly develop an interest in all this Russia nonsense.

Perhaps but I wouldn't count on it immediately. Still...

Team Trump would view it as a win if the bill passed too. but if Trump's stark warning about GOP members being primaried came true, does he really think he'd do better with a Dem-led Congress that now hates his guts?

he may be right that the most collateral damage from this happens to Congress and not him but he's naive af if he thinks none of this hurts him.

Nunes hopes he pleased senpai tho

Yeah, I think actively impeding Congress from getting what they want would be the quickest route to potential impeachment.

There is considerable frustration inside the White House. Most of it seems to be directed toward the House Freedom Caucus.

“We’ve emboldened them,” an aide said.

The President is said to be “agitated” by the process, an aide said, which he thinks is all political. He’s also disappointed at the outside groups for failing to budge.

But an official says the President actually meant what he said a couple weeks ago: Who knew this would be so hard?

lolololol

but if Trump's stark warning about GOP members being primaried came true

He danced around with not endorsing Rs who pissed him off last year, but always came around

won't matter as much if constituents are pissed off about broken promises though. it's easier to sell hope than it is to repackage failure

which he thinks is all political
which he thinks is all political
which he thinks is all political
which he thinks is all political
which he thinks is all political

Politics are Too Political sounds like a song an ex-Eagle would sing

Can't see how it helps Trump if he paints the Freedom Caucus and all opposition to him as losers who will lose their seats. He needs every last one of those losers.

On the lighter side...

― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, March 24, 2017 1:47 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

late on this, but DYING.

Nunes planning to speak again at 10:30

"I'm my own leak."

"Devin, why do you keep looking off camera? Who are you looking at?"

Hmm...

https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/845271731900223488

The National Enquirer--which has close ties to Trump world--is now turning on Mike Flynn.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7sCKPBXkAAjsJr.jpg

"leaks, that's when i am a viking"

meanwhile, in overseas murder

@AlexanderEmmons
The US is killing more and more civilians in Syria and Iraq. Look at the data, from @airwars:

https://airwars.org/data/

How long before we read about Flynn, Manafirt, or Stone being tossed out a window of Trump Tower?

They're random gentlemen that the president has sat next to on a plane. I don't see why people feel such a need to try and connect their direct ties with Russian governmental officials to the fact that they were personally beaten to death by the president on camera. It's really a stretch.

would be such amazing chutzpah if that's his spin - "i caught the spies! ME!!"

Nunes rambling is just that but he seems to have said Manafort has 'volunteered' to appear before the committee.

he's gonna show up with a burlap sack over his head and many visible bruises

Meantime:

https://twitter.com/TimAlberta/status/845280848463233024

Freedom Caucus reax to Trump tweet, per multiple sources: meh. Laugh it off. "Trump being Trump." Surprised he didn't come after us sooner.

While

https://twitter.com/AlexNBCNews/status/845274499276816384

House GOP source: We are going forward. If Freedom Caucus wants to kill the bill do it in public on the floor. Our members are sick of this.

With other mutterings that Ryan, McCarthy et al are fully in line with this.

Odds on Manafort living long enough to testify?

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