House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing the only thing possible in the
maelstrom Donald Trump has created with his threat to veto coronavirus
relief and government funding: trying to meet his challenge. With
Republicans blocking her effort to do what Trump demanded—give everyone $2,000 direct stimulus checks—Pelosi is bringing the House back in
on Monday to vote on it and daring Republicans to vote no. "To vote
against this bill is to deny the financial hardship that families face
and to deny them the relief they need," she said Thursday.
Should it pass on Monday, Senate Republicans will probably just
ignore it. It wouldn't get the 60 votes needed to pass, Republican Sen.
Roy Blunt said
Thursday, after presiding on a brief, pro forma session in the Senate.
So they'll just not bother. "I'd be surprised if we dealt with it," he said. So is Trump burning up the phone lines, calling Republican senators telling them to make it happen? Yeah, right.
As of now, Blunt isn't even promising
that the Senate would come back on Monday to prevent the government
from shutting down, which it will Monday at midnight if Trump doesn't
sign the bill, because, get this, they think Trump will do the right
thing. "I believe we will not shutdown," he said.
"I hope the President looks at this again and reaches that conclusion
that the best thing to do is to sign the bill." So we're back to
thoughts and prayers from Republicans. For an entire nation on the brink
of economic collapse and in a pandemic. At Christmas.
Your friendly GOP senators will not be going hungry as they take food out of the mouths of those who will.
House Republicans broke with the president over providing $2,000 in stimulus checks
ongressional
leaders are clambering to avoid a disastrous government shutdown a day
before Christmas after President Donald Trump rejected their $900
billion stimulus deal that would provide relief to millions of
Americans.
And as Trump single-handedly halts hundreds of
billions of dollars in coronavirus aid, even some Republicans are urging
him to drop the matter.
“The best way out of this is for the president to sign
the bill and I still hope that’s what he decides to do,” Sen. Roy Blunt
(R-Mo.), the No. 4 GOP leader, said on Thursday. But Blunt conceded he
had “no idea” what Trump will do.
The scramble on Capitol Hill — which has largely
emptied out for the holidays — includes a last-minute bid by House
Democrats to roughly triple the size of Americans’ stimulus checks to
meet Trump’s demands. House Republicans on Thursday morning blocked the
effort, setting up a dramatic showdown in Congress next week that could
put the president at odds with members of his own party.
It’s the latest chaotic move in the Trump presidency,
which has seen multiple shutdowns and deals scuttled at the last minute.
The president’s eleventh-hour demands took lawmakers and senior aides
by surprise, particularly since Trump left nearly all of the
negotiations to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who made no push for
the $2,000 stimulus checks that the president is now seeking.
Both parties are now stranded with a Trump-driven
crisis on Christmas Eve — uncertain how to deliver quick relief to
millions of Americans suffering in the pandemic-battered economy, let
alone keep the government funded.
“Perhaps the only mistake was believing the president
and Secretary Mnuchin when we were told that the bill — when it’s passed
— would be signed by the president,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
told reporters Thursday when asked how they arrived at this point.
Top officials, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Mnuchin, are privately discussing contingency plans such as a stopgap
spending bill if Trump does formally veto the measure by Monday, when
funding is set to lapse. But it’s not clear how long that stopgap
measure would last — or whether Trump would sign it, if it makes none of
the changes he’s demanded, such as cuts to foreign aid, according to
people familiar with the discussions.
“This is Christmas Eve,” Hoyer said. “Surely, the
president of the United States, whether he’s in Mar-a-Lago or anywhere
else, ought to empathize with the pain and suffering and apprehension
and deep angst that the American people are feeling.”
Back at the White House, most aides still don’t seem
to know whether the president plans to actually veto the legislation. In
recent weeks, the president has been far more focused on a futile
effort to overturn the Nov. 3 election than he has on the pandemic and
has lashed out at top GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.).
“This is Trump being Trump,” said a former senior
administration official who remains close to the White House. “He always
keeps you guessing. It’s Trump — who knows what he will do?”
The White House did not respond to repeated questions about the legislation.
Trump, meanwhile, spent Thursday at his South Florida
Mar-a-Lago resort, keeping Americans in a state of uncertainty for a
second day in a row. Just after 10 a.m., Trump hit the golf course. He
is expected to stay in Florida until the new year.
A Republican close to the White House said the
president is unlikely to actually veto the bill, noting that he didn’t
use the word “veto” as he has in the past. And it wouldn't be the first
time Trump has threatened to veto legislation before signing it: In
2018, Trump approved a $1.3 trillion spending bill, despite saying he
was “unhappy” with it.
“He’s turning a fairly decent four years with a decent
record into an utter disaster,” said a former staffer. “Most selfish
thing I’ve ever seen.”
But Democrats fear that Trump will formally reject the
measure, forcing them to move quickly on a short-term funding measure
that can carry Congress into the early days of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Earlier this week, Trump said the $600 direct checks
should be increased to $2,000 and described the package’s spending
levels as “wasteful,” despite having previously approved and requested
them.
Democrats — who have supported bigger checks — were quick to force congressional Republicans to block Trump’s request.
House Democrats went to the floor on Thursday with a
proposal to increase the size of direct payments to $2,000, instead of
the $600 that’s in the bill. But Republicans rejected the move, and
instead offered their own proposal to shrink foreign aid in the broader
spending bill. Democrats rejected it.
“Today, on Christmas Eve morning, House Republicans
cruelly deprived the American people of the $2,000 that the President
agreed to support,” Pelosi said in a statement. “If the President is
serious about the $2,000 direct payments, he must call on House
Republicans to end their obstruction.”
The House plans to return Monday, where lawmakers will
take a full vote on whether to substitute the $2,000 checks in the
bill, as Trump has demanded. Democrats could also take up a stopgap
spending bill Monday.
But even if the $2,000 check measure clears the House,
it’s unlikely the Senate would take it up. Blunt predicted Thursday
that the proposal wouldn’t even clear the 60 votes needed to pass the
chamber.
Speaking after the Democrats’ failed efforts on the
floor, an emotional Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), railed against the
president for blocking more relief, arguing that Trump "doesn’t give a
damn about people."
"He sowed more fear. He threw kerosene on a fire," Dingell said.
"If I know one thing, it's that Republicans will never go for $2,000. If I can't be president, you can't have any stimulus money. Bah, humbug!"
Donald Trump is once again putting his ego above any concept of
loyalty or respect, turning on everyone around him who doesn’t indulge
his fantasies that he didn’t lose and doesn’t encourage him to try to
make those fantasies reality through a coup.
Monday night, Trump sent Republicans a slide attacking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for
being “the first one off the ship.” McConnell refused to acknowledge
President-elect Joe Biden’s win for well over a month, until the
Electoral College had voted. Trump also gave himself credit for
McConnell’s reelection—implication: McConnell owes him the pretense that
he won—despite McConnell having won his election by nearly 20 points.
McConnell’s not the only one, though.
“Top officialsare trying to stay away from the West Wing right now,” Jonathan Swan reports. Trump is “lashing out, and everyone is in the blast zone.” Mike Pence’s plan to leave the country
immediately after he oversees Congress certifying Biden’s win makes a
ton of sense in this context—Trump will see Pence following the law as a
personal betrayal. And score one for the Lincoln Project on the thing
it’s best at—getting into Trump’s head—thanks to its ad feeding Trump's suspicion of Pence.
It’s not just McConnell and Pence, though. Swan reports that
there’s concern that Trump will replace White House counsel Pat
Cipollone for the final few weeks, and you know that if Cipollone isn’t
enough of a suck-up, the replacement would be a true horror show. White
House counsel Sidney Powell, anyone?
How much worse will Trump get in the 29 days until Inauguration Day? Unfortunately, we have no choice but to find out.
Wipe that silly grin off your face, Moscow Mitch. You done been shoved under the bus for the heinous crime of recognizing Joe Biden's win.
President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually
every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge
conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election, several
top officials tell Axios.
The latest:Targets of his outrage
include Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House
counsel Pat Cipollone, Secretary of State Pompeo and Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell.
Oh, do tell.
Why it matters:Trump thinks
everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal — and increasingly seeks
comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results.
We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the
conversations unfolding inside the White House.
Interesting that the weak, stupid, disloyal Oval Office disgrace
thinks everyone else is weak, stupid, and disloyal. But what else is
new?
According to Axios, Trump is considering replacing Cipollone as his White House counsel with someone crazier more loyal, and you already know he’s got it in for McConnell for spilling the beans about Joe Biden being president-elect.
But the one who’s really in the crosshairs? The oleaginous house ferret himself, Mike Pence.
A source who spoke to Trumpsaid the president was complaining about Pence and brought up aLincoln Project adthat claims that Pence is "backing away" from Trump. This ad has clearly got inside Trump’s head, the source said.
Trump views Penceas not fighting
hard enough for him — the same complaint he uses against virtually
everybody who works for him and has been loyal to him.
Pence’s role on Jan. 6has begun to loom large in Trump’s mind, according to people who’ve discussed the matter with him.
Pence could not have been farther up Trump’s ass over the past four
years if he’d traveled there in an Einstein-Rosen bridge. And now he’s
about to reap the reward for being a 24/7-on-call mewling lickspittle.
If the military junta plan fails, Trump will certainly expect Pence to
do his bidding on January 6, when Pence will actually be overseeing the confirmation of Biden’s victory.
When Pence fails to do so and then skips town,
Trump’s seething white dwarf of a head will go supernova. And Pence’s
political future will then be subject to the depredations of the MAGA
horde.
But that’s what you get when you fluff up the worst person on the planet. Eventually he’ll come back to fry your ass.
And so here we are. Fricasseed Pence ... on the menu.
He thought a fly in his hair was a pain. Now he's got a killer hornet on his ass.
While an earlier story
reported a “rancorous” meeting in which Donald Trump expressed interest
in making Sidney Power a special counsel to investigate election
fraud—in spite of Powell losing every case in local, state, and federal
court—that turns out to be the less dangerous issue discussed
at the meeting. As more details have emerged, the fact that Trump tried
to put the attorney whose filings have been labeled “fantastical
conspiracy theories" from the "fact-free outer reaches of the Internet”
in charge investigating America’s core institution turns out to be a
sideshow to the real subject of the day.
As CNN reports, both Powell and her client Michael Flynn were
present at the meeting. And the subject of the most heated discussion
came from Flynn insisting that Trump move forward with the suggestion
the just-pardoned criminal made publicly last week—that Trump
should invoke martial law, overturn the election, and force a revote of
selected states under military supervision with rules devised by Trump.
Supposedly, even such dedicated Trump yes men as Mark Meadows
couldn’t bring themselves to endorse Flynn’s call to suspend the
Constitution, throw out millions of votes, and force voters to return to
the polls until they give Trump what he wants. In reply, Flynn accused
Meadows and others of “abandoning” Trump as he “works to overturn the results of the election.”
Which … yes. That’s exactly right. Because overturning the results of
the election is also known as overturning the government of the United
States. It may not be technically treason … but it is definitely
traitorous.
According to USA Today, Trump suggested giving Sidney Powell security clearances to help her continue her attack on the election. Meanwhile, in an interview with Newsmax,
Flynn eagerly expressed how by setting aside the Constitution and
implementing martial law, Trump "could immediately on his order seize
every single one of these [voting] machines around the country."
To conspire to overthrow or destroy by force the government of the United States or to level war against them;
To oppose by force the authority of the United States government;
to prevent, hinder, or delay by force the execution of any law of the
United States; or
To take, seize, or possess by force any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof.
Suspending the Constitution, ordering the military to seize voting
locations and equipment, negating tens of millions of votes, and doing
all of the above without evidence of any issue with the election … would
seem to tick every box on the sedition checklist.
The leaders of both the Democratic and Republican Party should be
joined together at this moment to call for Trump to step down. This is
as serious as it gets.
And if Michael Flynn is not charged for this, we might as well call up Vladimir Putin and surrender.
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Lard Man. On your knees and praise the Lard.
As the Mad Wannabe King spends his final days in office, the
world no longer wonders what his fate will be: On December 14, the
Electoral College vote confirmed his humiliating defeat at the hands of
Joe Biden. When Trump departs the White House on January 20, 2021, he
will likely be pursued by creditors and legal authorities alike.
In the much-anticipated sunset of Trump’s failed presidency, some
political analysts are concerned that Trumpism – that corrupt brew of
hubris, personality cult, faux authoritarianism, hucksterism,
xenophobia, populism, and nativism – could continue. While always
surrounds anything Trumpian, I believe that Trumpism cannot outlast its
progenitor. The bogus doctrine has suffered a series of
life-threatening wounds that make its survival highly questionable.
The first life-threatening wound came from Erick Erickson, a conservative evangelical American blogger and radio host, and loyal Trump supporter. In a lengthy Twitter thread
produced out of frustration at the unwillingness of Trump’s supporters
“to stop blaming everyone else for their loss, and accept the reality of
the election results,” Erickson clarifies that, ultimately, the blame
for Trump’s defeat rests with Trump. Said, Erickson:
“Maybe…and I know this might just blow your mind…but maybe what if
you’ve been lied to the whole time. There is no conspiracy. There is no
theft of the election. The President hired highly competent people, but
it is him, not them, that is the problem…
[T]o admit you were played, and he lost, and there was no deep state
conspiracy or theft of the election would actually make you look bad.
So, it’s better to double down on the lies and [B.S.] and blame
everyone else …
[F]rom the Trump-appointed A.G. to the Trump-appointed FBI Director
to the Trump-appointed CIA Director to various Trump endorsed Governors
to the GOP establishment to corporate America, the Carlyle Group, the
Rothschilds, the Russians, and the Chinese.”
Erickson’s caution to Trump supporters that Trump has played
them to cover up his incompetence must have come as a shock to Team
Trump. After all, in early 2019, Erickson posted on his blog that “I will vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. They’ve earned my vote.”
Whether or not Erickson’s efforts successfully disabuse his
followers of the notion that everything else was the cause of Trump’s
defeat, the nature of his criticism dramatically diminishes the chance
of Erickson’s supporters would willingly continue to support Trumpism.
Given Erickson’s ubiquitous and influential presence in conservative
media, this rebuke’s effect was akin to whiplash to Trumpism.
The second life-threatening wound to Trumpism came from Bill Barr, Trump’s recently resigned attorney general. Barr’s statement,
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a
different outcome in the election,” cut the heart out of Trump’s ‘I wuz
robbed’ voter fraud campaign. Barr’s statement laid waste to any
possible belief that Trump’s voter-fraud claims are fact-based and erode
any confidence in the progenitor.
Not only did Barr’s denial of voter fraud immediately placed
him at odds with Trump’s persistent, baseless claims of voter fraud, it
also struck at one of the central tenets of Trumpism – the overarching
sense of self-confidence/hubris. It is axiomatic that Trump believes
his word is gospel amongst his supporters. However, when the same
repudiation – “light on the facts”; “[had] no merit”; demonstrated “no
credible or reliable evidence” proving voter fraud – has been rendered
by courts in legal decision after decision, the gaping flaws in the
Trumpism gospel become glaringly evident.
The third wound – and possibly the most fatal – was dealt to
Trumpism by the Supreme Court in a two-part slash and stab knife attack.
On December 8, the Court slashed
the Trump legal team’s challenge to Pennsylvania’s presidential
election results in asserting that the state’s expansion of mail-in
voting was illegal, by refusing to hear the case. In one sentence,
the Court (including the three justices appointed by Trump) gutted Team
Trump’s flawed claim stating, “The application for injunctive relief
presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied.”
Still believing that he had a winning argument that just needed
to be heard to be appreciated, Trump joined Texas’s suit seeking to
overturn the presidential election results in the four states – Georgia,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Those states awarded crucial
electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden. In a brief statement,
the Supreme Court inflicted an even deeper stab wound by denying
Texas’s petition, stating “the State of Texas’s motion for leave to file
a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under Article III of
the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable
interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections.
All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.”
As Politico Magazine pointed out, “The Supreme Court’s action
is likely the end of the line for Trump’s legal push to reverse his
defeat. Dozens of courts at the local, state, and federal level have
swatted down his team’s and his allies’ legal efforts to scrap the
results of the election, with many judges issuing forceful rejections,
noting that the campaign’s arguments relied on conjecture and conspiracy
theory.”
If these three life-threatening wounds weren’t sufficient to
place Trumpism in intensive care, the fourth wound – the Electoral
College’s December 14 affirmation of states’ election results – mandated
Trumpism’s placement on life support. The College’s final vote total
read 306 electoral votes for Joe Biden, 232 electoral votes for Donald
Trump.
Beyond these events, the country’s changing demographics
jeopardize Trumpism’s very foundations. White males no longer dominate
America’s demographic stage: the population
of Millennials (the nation’s largest living adult population) is more
educated, more racially, and ethnically diverse than previous
generations.
Generation Z, the generation following Millennials, half of
whom identify as racial or ethnic minorities – is even more socially and
politically liberal-leaning on crucial political issues.
And if that wasn’t enough of a threat to the white foundations of Trumpism to overcome, theU.S.
population’s immigrant share is approaching a record high, with 44
million foreign-born people living in the U.S. in 2017 accounting for
13.6% of the population. Hispanics were projected
to be the largest racial or ethnic group voting in 2020. None of these
demographic projections bode well for the survival of Trumpism.
The death knell for Trumpism will sound its loudest notes when
legal charges against Trump began to appear immediately after the end of
his presidency. Starting January 21, 2021, Trump faces a plethora of
potential litigation: civil suits for defamation, state allegations or
indictments for various frauds committed individually or through his
companies, and possibly federal charges for tax and bank fraud. The
litany of Trump’s legal liabilities is dizzying, which will mean his
lawyers will have no time to further the survivability of Trumpism.
And as the floodwaters of litigation overwhelm his attempt to
return to private life, Trump’s political supporters will start to move
away from being considered believers in Trumpism.
David Graham insightfully points out in The Atlantic Magazinethat“It is tempting to say that Sessions and Barr were both Trumpists avant la lettre [before
the specified word or concept existed], but their eventual conflicts
with him show there was no such thing: Trumpism is a cult of
personality, and policy is always an afterthought.”
Trumpism as a cult of personality – a fitting obituary for a failed presidency.
Thanks to Trump, Lady Liberty no longer beckons to the world, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...."
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