Donald Trump doesn't even seem to realize yet what a bad week he had, but he's beginning to. Here's a summary of what went down: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/politics-week-recap_us_597b71b7e4b02a8434b644b6?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
To briefly capsulize, there was his increasing pressure on Jeff Sessions to resign (more on where that could lead in a minute), the Boy Scout fiasco, his transgender ban for the military announced in a couple of Twitters (military brass deny that he consulted with them), his appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director for the White House (my, what a lovely person): https://infoforyour.com/anthony-scaramuccis-quotes-on-priebus-bannon-leakers/.
But by far the worst parts of the week for Trump were the voting down of the "skinny repeal" of the ACA with the help of Republican senators McCain, Collins, and Murkowski; and the warning by Lindsay Graham: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/27/lindsey-graham-trump-robert-mueller-241027
Graham said there would "...be hell to pay" if Sessions were fired. The "i word" has actually been said out loud as a possible consequence if Mueller is fired. Cracks are appearing in the meme which goes something like; "Trump could hit someone in the head with a ball-peen hammer on national television and still not face any consequences." An action line actually exists.
Another thought: Trump is destroying the Republican Party with nothing to replace it (at least at the moment). Will the Republican members of Congress see that and take action?
ReplyDeleteIt's like watching a slow motion train wreck. I keep hoping he'll do something from which he can't recover.
ReplyDeleteHere's a bit of rejoinder to Trump's "rough them up" from the Suffolk County Police Department:
ReplyDelete"Trump spoke to a group of cops on Long Island on Friday and encouraged them to brutalize people they have arrested, particularly gang members. Later in the day, the Suffolk County Police Department was moved to issue a pair of tweets, in which it said, “The SCPD has strict rules & procedures relating to the handling of prisoners. Violations of those rules are treated extremely seriously. As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners.” The sight of the Boy Scouts and a local police department distancing themselves from Trump’s statements was yet another Presidential first, and it should serve as a reminder that this is not reality television: it is the actual reality of having a man like Trump in the White House." From The Hill.
I am hazarding a guess here, but I bet half the SFPD voted for Trump. Now he went a step too far...or at least too far for the chief of the SFPD.
And this: this is not realtity TV, this is actual reality... Good to keep things straight.
A lot may depend upon what members of congress hear during the August recess. Are people more concerned about the Republican Congress or the Republican President?
ReplyDeleteWhat do people think about repeal? replace? Are they glad that nothing happened? Are they more concerned that the Republicans might repeal or might not repeal Obamacare?
Are they concerned about a do nothing congress? Hard to keep blaming things on the Democrats.
Then Trump will have the news cycle all to himself during the August recess. Will he fire Sessions? What else might he do?
Could be the Republican congress comes back knowing they have to do something about something, and that Trump will become the most convenient object because the Democrats will join them.
I don't see impeachment quite yet, but some actions that might clearly show Congress to be a co-equal branch of the government. Remember the Republicans were very concerned about the overreach of executive power under Obama.
The Dems were worried about GW Bush's over-reach--all those executive orders. Bush: 291.
DeleteHere's Obama: 276; Clinton: 364! and GHW Bush: 166. I am coming to think that Congress is relieved to have executive orders. They may "complain," but then they don't have to clean up their legislative messes.
If am not mistaken Trump's executive orders, thus far, are simply his mouthing off and have nothing to do with legislation.
Congress is not only grilocked, it's lazy.
Congressional members have to spend all their time fundraising for the next election. The only important laws are those for their big donors.
DeleteI, Trump has crossed so many red lines he may be bullet proof. The Boy Scouts of America apologized (!) to everybody for POTUS's totally out of bounds rant. Trump, though, sees no wrong in giving Scouts 38 minutes of part-comedy club, part-smoker stream of unconsciousness.
ReplyDeleteAfter Junior released his emails about the Get-Hillary meeting with Russians, eight guys sitting around a table -- not all of whom voted for Trump,I am told, and none of whom had ever contributed to a political campaign -- tossed $5,000 worth of checks made out to the Republican National Committee into a pile because (are you ready for this?) of the nasty way the media has been treating the Trump family.
Hmmm! Interesting, if true.
ReplyDeleteI have no reason to doubt it. I heard it from one of the eight guys, who was eager to prove his point that the American people don't want to hear their president torn down. For my sins, I have lunch with the guy every two weeks so he can exercise what he thinks of as his open mind to find out what the godless, atheistic, socialist, anti-capitalism liberals are thinking. For years my one day every two weeks was offset by 10 days of Bill O'Reilly. Now the playing field is more even.
DeleteLetter to the editor in the local paper today lists I, Trump's greatest hits from Putin through the Boy Scouts and concludes that the writer can still smile because we didn't elect Hillary.
I know everybody on this blog can't understand why the end for Trump is still in sight when it should be here already, but he still has a firm 40%, and it's loud. The best lack all conviction; the worst are full of passionate intensity.
Okay. Maybe plausible. The idea that eight guys wrote checks for $625. (on average) to the RNC (which may or may not support Trump next time around) sounds like they have a lot of loose change to throw around. I hope your interlocutor is paying for your lunch.
DeleteAnd then, "I know everybody on this blog can't understand why the end for Trump is still in sight when it should be here already, but he still has a firm 40%, and it's loud."
Firmish 38% last I saw.
The end is not in sight because no one knows how to constitutionally get rid of him. This past week of the Boy Scout
"I know everybody on this blog can't understand why the end for Trump is still in sight when it should be here already, but he still has a firm 40%, and it's loud."
After this week's Boy Scout harangue, Session tweets, McCain's "up yours," the Priebus-Scarmucci face off, etc. may set the Republicans up for some mild soul-searching (I am wondering how the youngers, Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse, who look like they were Eagle Scouts, are thinking about this.)
Monday, General Kelly (ret.) comes in as the disciplinarian. His major challenge is the undisciplined President. When Kelly throws up his hands and leaves is someone going to decide enough is a enough? Even the rich guys you hang out with?
Margaret, I think ONE of those guys threw in couple of thousand that he would have lost or doubled on the golf course the next day.
DeleteI raised the point about who knows what the RNC will do about Trump, and he said the point was to stick it to the DNC not to help the RNC. I take it these guys watch Fox and get steamed up but are not close students of American civics.
This one I just have to share: Another letter writer to our local paper said the media is a "lynching party determined to pull down the president." I was sore tempted to point out that lynching parties hang up; they don't pull down.
Well, not to be a pedant about it, but some botched hangings required the hangman to pull down on the legs of the executed to properly break the neck. So you could both string up and have to pull down.
DeleteLauren Estleman wrote a whole novel about the science of hanging. It was quite entertaining.
From a rhetorical standpoint, of course, you make a good point.
Yeah, Jean, and if you want to go there you can find hangmen who misjudged the weight and produced death by decapitation.I think my snark was about as far as I want to go. I read a great nonfiction book, by a Canadian, about the professions of headman (decapitation) and hangman and got so enthused I gave it to someone, and now I can't remember the title or author.
DeleteTB: "I think ONE of those guys threw in couple of thousand that he would have lost or doubled on the golf course the next day."
DeleteGolfers! That's one of the demographics I know nothing about so I'm going to accept your expertise here.
TB: "I raised the point about who knows what the RNC will do about Trump, and he said the point was to stick it to the DNC not to help the RNC. I take it these guys watch Fox and get steamed up but are not close students of American civics."
I can see hating both the DNC and the RNC, of course, for different reasons. However, at the moment, they are the only political parties we have that actually function more or less everywhere. I take it these guys are not anarchists so why would they support a party that is faction ridden, can't govern, can't elect its own candidate(s)--the not Trumps, and is at a loss on how to govern even with majorities in both houses and their (unfavorite) candidate in the White House. Bringing down the whole political system is not going to leave them much time for golf and gambling. That's what I don't get.
Margaret, You are assuming these guys are looking beyond the 18th hole. They slept through civics and American history and turn first to the sports pages. My source for their activities does have a small business. It allows him to take off Wednesday afternoons for golf (he is not a doctor) and one day every two weeks for a two-hour lunch with me. I think he has some other daytime activities that I never had time for as a wage slave with a full time job.
DeleteMedical insurance, which he buys on the private market, is at stratospheric levels. Forgetting about how much he ranted about it before Obamacare, he blames it all on Obama. The golfing buddy I suspect of making the pot so big is a "developer." As far as I can tell, he spends all of his time schmoozing with people who approve new developments. That seem to give him more money, on his good days, than Warren Buffett.
I need to pay more attention to "fools and their money" file.
DeleteIf they think the Trump family has been treated in a nasty way, they should talk to Michelle Obama. She has spoken lately about some of the stuff they had to endure during Barack's terms of office. Yes, she heard the ape jokes and the other garbage. And she made it very plain that she would never run for office, no way would she go through that again.
ReplyDelete