Trump, July 2017: Tweet more

I've seen a few posts saying that Reddit Senate analysis is bunk

I'd never heard of that nuance - a single bill per topic per fiscal year (how do the Senate rules define "topic"?) - but it sounds like kind of arcane thing the Senate is prone to. I defer to other experts.

"wonder if he realizes that the 60 vote threshold is the only thing that put the ACA's original passage in any peril to begin with.

― Neanderthal, 29. juli 2017 14:49 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink"

This I don't get. Could someone explain, please?

ACA would have passed really easily w 51 votes. Might have even included a public option. But because Reid needed 60 votes he had to appease assholes like Joe Lieberman.

xpost dammit I typed out a response but Shakey's was better

Aha, right thx. I mistook the reference to "original passage".

That McCain analysis looks solid, or at least makes sense to me. Mitch could bring the ACA up the same way again next year, as part of the same reconciliation run-around, but he would be doing it at the expense of other "budget" issues, like taxation, and it would become his main focus once again, except this time in the middle of an election year. So it looks likely that yeah, barring a major change in congress, this issue is done for now, at least this way. In fact, per those probably premature lame duck pieces about Trump, it is quite possible that on the legislative front his powder is all wet. (Not that he had any real pull to begin with.) Next up is debt ceiling in September, which will take some effort, and then we're basically at the start of 2018 silly season, in which the GOP will be hammered from the right for not repealing the ACA, from the left for trying to repeal the ACA, and in the meantime remain stuck in this weird non-productive purgatory in which they waste even more time and energy on their squeakier wheels and putting out Trumpster fires. And then adding to that is Trump himself, whose key gift seems to be fucking everything up just for the sake of entropy.

Ha, already rumors circulating per "admin sources" that Kelly to CoS makes it more likely that Trump may oust McMaster next and replace him with Pompeo. Which, as noted, would leave CIA, FBI, DHS, Army, Navy and FEMA without directors.

Morbs won't want to read it, but I tip my hat to Chuck Schumer, who held together a caucus that includes Heitkamp and Manchin. They didn't budge an inch.

xp until he replaces them with fox news talking heads...and then fox news will be bereft of anchors! the horror.

Schumer's silencing of applause for mccain was awesome, cracked me up

Schumer is an operator, but he's not a dummy. He knows which way the wind is blowing.

Schumer isn't always wrong ... but he is dumb sometimes as well.

Schumer: he's just like us!

The big question in my mind regarding near future of the ACA is whether the Republicans will do whatever is in their power to introduce turmoil into the insurance market and defund any part of the ACA they can, so they can continue to claim it is a disaster. That's been their strategy for about 8 years now, so they might just keep it up out of habit, in default of any better ideas.

The big question in my mind regarding near future of the ACA is whether the Republicans will do whatever is in their power to introduce turmoil into the insurance market and defund any part of the ACA they can, so they can continue to claim it is a disaster.

Looking like the answer is "Yes."

If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017

That's been pre-ordained which is why this will be a Pyrrhic victory if we don't take back at least one half of Congress

That "Trump made Priebus kill a fly" bit made me think of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SqgCnLcOQ0

Candie for president tbh

look for the Sunday shows to be full of Republicans "outside the tent pissing in" - my guess is the guys currently holding elected positions (and their staffers) will have spent a lot of hours on the phone with the likes of Gingrich, asking them to float a "it comes down to who is in the WH" trial balloon, so they can see if a revolt against Trump might play in Peoria.

Ha, already rumors circulating per "admin sources" that Kelly to CoS makes it more likely that Trump may oust McMaster next and replace him with Pompeo. Which, as noted, would leave CIA, FBI, DHS, Army, Navy and FEMA without directors.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, July 29, 2017 5:23 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Trump replacements are so much more dangeros than no directors at all - especially since he'll use supporters to fill in the ranks. I hope there isn't some Deep State, Trump-NWO-type cult out there.

there isn't. there is no bench, other than career government and military folks. nobody wants to work for this guy.

two scoops is set to sign unanimous russian sanctions. i hope vlad doesn't call in all the loans at once

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/white-house-says-trump-will-sign-russia-sanctions-bill.html

On Chuck Schumer's holding the caucus together.

Imagine the road movie involving these two.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pickle-to-fox-and-friends-i-wrote-to-trump-because-i-wanted-him-to-be-my-friend/amp/

I think Alfred has the wrong link; this is the Schumer-focused Times piece.

[url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/29/senate-republicans-obamacare-repeal-241128]Meanwhile, the zombie lives![url]

Trump, increasingly impatient with the long-stalled repeal effort, met with three Senate Republicans about a new plan to roll back the health care law on Friday, signaling some lawmakers — as well as the president — are not ready to ditch their seven-year campaign promise.

The group is trying to write legislation that could get 50 Republican votes, according to multiple administration and Capitol Hill sources. The proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) would block grant federal health care funding to the states and keep much of Obamacare’s tax regime. White House officials also met with House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to brainstorm how to make the idea palatable to conservatives, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

But!

But the GOP would have to take another painful procedural vote to open debate, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is expected to remain in Arizona for cancer treatment until the end of the August recess. McCain voted to open debate on the Obamacare repeal effort, but voted against the GOP’s “skinny” bill that would gut the law’s individual mandate.

the only comparison I can make is basically Hurricane Season, where a new threat always pops up after another one skirts by you and you grit your teeth while you wait for it to blow by

I fully expect this to never end until they get what they want
Like a four year temper tantrum from toddlers in suits

wish there'd be a virus that only impacted old conservative politicians

Get on that shit, Umbrella Corporation

I had literally that exact same thought the other day. An idea whose time has come, clearly.

old conservative politicians? what about the young ones? oh wait

wish there'd be a virus that only impacted old conservative politicians

it's called myopia

Affluenza

too many meatballs

it's called myopia

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.)

hey now i've been seriously myopic since i was _five_, use other words please :)

presbyopia disappointingly non-partisan still dont have it but i've got some baf friends

where are we with this virus folks

Not as debilitating/incapacitating/internally-liquifying as I would've hoped but you gotta start somewhere.

hey I have the same universal remote as Candie & Rodney

Both the threads begin with a 'T', give him a break

I love reading about all of the "geniuses" who were so instrumental in my election success. Problem is, most don't exist. #Fake News! MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017

it's true, nearly everyone involved in his election success was a blithering idiot

#Fake

this is enjoyable

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/the-10-challenges-republicans-now-face/535275/

is that the Frum article

yes. did you already post it? sorry if so

it's been hard to keep up the last 72 hours

I haven't. I read it this afternoon.

Frum's list was a good one on the negative side of the ledger.

On the positive side for Republicans, their voters seem to be very bad at connecting pertinent facts to the formation of their political opinions or political motivations, relying instead on a belief system that views Republicans as the 'good', 'moral', or 'sensible' party, and the Democrats as the 'bad', 'dishonest', or 'foolish' party, regardless of how each party's policies affect them directly. For example, gay marriage has zero direct effect on most Republican voters, and yet a huge number of them place it near the very center of their personal political concerns. And the republican base is more disciplined about voting than the dem base is. This won't change in time for the next election.

Still, things as they stand today look fairly upbeat for a poor R performance in 2018. But that's an eon away in voter-attention-units.