The Commentariat -- November 17, 2017
Thomas Kaplan & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The House passed a sweeping rewrite of the tax code on Thursday, taking a significant leap forward as Republicans seek to enact $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals and deliver the first major legislative achievement of President Trump's tenure. The House voted to 227 to 205 to approve the bill, shortly after Mr. Trump came to Capitol Hill to address House Republicans. Thirteen Republicans voted against the bill, and zero Democrats voted for it. The Republicans who voted no were from New York, New Jersey, California and North Carolina." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The Rich Get Richer & the Poor Get Poorer. New York Times: "The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's bipartisan referee on tax policy, said on Thursday that the amended Senate's version of the tax bill will raise taxes on low-income Americans beginning in 2021, in what appears to be a side effect of the bill's decision to repeal the so-called individual mandate that requires most people buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Because of this decision, the joint committee's analysis showed that taxpayers earning less than $40,000 would see their tax bills go up in the second half of the next decade. The committee also forecast that taxpayers earning $75,000 or less would see, as a group, large tax increases in 2027, if the individual tax cuts in the bill expire as scheduled at the end of 2025.... Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the Republican chairman of the finance committee, said that the appearance of a tax increase was a mirage that is the result of arcane scoring rules." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: No doubt people struggling to get by will enjoy their tasty soupe du mirage, will imagine the electricity is still on, & won't even see that illusionary red ink in their bank statement. Or at least the ones who aren't dead from lack of health care will. Ain't we got fun. ...
... Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "The repeal and revision of higher-education tax benefits in the bill passed Thursday by the House would cost students and families more than $71 billion over the next decade, according to an official analysis by Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation.... The committee tallied the costs at the request of Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Pardon my Marxism, but this is intentional. The fewer young people who can afford higher education, the fewer there will be to challenge the offspring of the wealthy to high-paying, career-path jobs. This is just one of a multi-faceted approach to furthering income & wealth inequality.
... Paul Krugman: Nearly everyone hates this plan, including CEOs, who live in the real world. "They realize that even a huge tax cut wouldn't lead to much more spending. And with that realization, the rationale for this tax plan, such as it is, falls apart, leaving nothing but a scheme to make the rich -- especially those who rake in investment income rather than working for a living -- richer at everyone else's expense." ...
... Paul Waldman: "If you're one of those white working-class voters who propelled Donald Trump into the presidency and gave Republicans total control of Washington, the GOP has a message for you: Sucker!... Everyone always knew Republicans were going to cut taxes for the wealthy. They're Republicans; that's what they do. But it's a genuine surprise to see them raising taxes on people with more modest incomes.... it's important to understand that the tax cut is just one phase of a larger project Republicans have been dreaming of for years. Once this bill passes, they'll say that we face enormous deficits (made far worse by their tax cut, of course), and therefore we have no choice but to slash away at the safety net. As John Harwood points out..., they're already preparing to take aim at programs such as Medicaid and Social Security disability, whose largest group of recipients are working-class whites.... Trump's most ardent supporters won't care.... For many Trump voters, the election victory was itself the most important deliverable.... They're less concerned about what happens afterward, which gives Trump and congressional Republicans the ability to take their money and give it to those who need it least... A con ... works best when the marks are only too happy to let you con them." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Contributors P.D. Pepe & Patrick both linked to clips of yesterday's Senate committee hearing on the tax bill. Sorry, P.D., I'm posting Patrick's:
... Okay, here's P.D. Pepe's contribution. Old Hatch really acts as if he believes his party's bull. Let me just say that "I used to be poor" is not a defense of a bill that would profit him now that he is not only quite comfortable now but depends on the super-wealthy for their support:
Ali Vitali of NBC News: "... Donald Trump is troubled by the allegations against Roy Moore, but is not calling on the Alabama Republican to quit the Senate race and believes that his fate should be left up to the voters, the president's press secretary said Thursday." ...
... AND Trump is also "troubled" by allegations against Al Franken: "The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps? ..... And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape?" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump leaves us all to wonder why he isn't "troubled" by the evidence of his own long history of sexually abusing women.
Sean Illing of Vox: “'Politicians lie, but this is different,' says [Robert Dallek] a historian who studies presidential history, and estimates the Trump administration easily ranks among the most corrupt in American history.... Dallek estimates that historical examples of corruption, like that of the Warren G. Harding administration, don't hold a candle to how Trump and his people have conducted themselves in the White House. History will judge Trump, and it will not be kind." Illing interviews Dallek. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Juan Cole: "The US is usually number 1 in the German research firm Gfk's rankings, headed up by political consultant Simon Anholt. They ask some 22,000 people around the world to rank countries on six scales. This year it fell five full places to number 6. No such fall has taken place since 2004, when Americans elected George W. Bush to a second term. And in the past, falls only lasted for a year. Angela Merkel is the leader of the free world, not Trump.... The finding about the US decline is alarming and could be a sign that Trump is dragging the country down. In turn, that is important because many US goals require international cooperation.... The dimensions [Gfk measures] are governance, people, culture, exports, immigration-investment and tourism." --safari
Trump Klub. Andrew Kaczynski, et al. of CNN: "The head of faith-based and neighborhood partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security has said in the past that the black community is responsible for turning cities into 'slums' and argued that Islam's only contribution to society was 'oil and dead bodies,' a CNN KFile review of his time as a radio host reveals. Rev. Jamie Johnson was appointed in April by then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly.... In 2008, during a discussion on 'The Right Balance' on Accent Radio Network, Johnson said he believed black people were anti-Semitic out of jealousy of the success of Jewish people.... 'And it's an indictment of America's black community that has turned America's major cities into slums because of laziness, drug use and sexual promiscuity.'" --safari ...
... Update. Kaczynski Strikes Again. Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "A political appointee in the Department of Homeland Security abruptly resigned after the disclosure Thursday he previously made derogatory remarks about black people and Muslims on conservative talk radio. Rev. Jamie Johnson, who was appointed the head of the DHS's Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships in April, appeared on the program in 2008. The comments resurfaced Thursday after CNN published a report about them...."
Tucker Higgins of CNBC: "Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak said on Wednesday that it would take him more than 20 minutes to name all of the Trump officials he's met with or spoken to on the phone. 'First, I'm never going to do that,' he said. 'And second, the list is so long that I'm not going to be able to go through it in 20 minutes.'" ...
... The Plots Thickens. Elizabeth Preza of RawStory: "A Turkish-Iranian gold trader [Reza Zarrab] scheduled to go to trial in New York on Monday is no longer in the U.S. prison system, but remains in federal custody, prompting speculation he may be cooperating with investigators as part of a plea deal -- and helping to build ... Robert Mueller's case against Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn.... Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating allegations that just before Trump's inauguration, Flynn met with senior Turkish officials at the 21 Club restaurant in New York to discuss a possible quid pro quo while in office. Investigators are reportedly looking into whether Flynn and Turkish officials discussed releasing Zarrab." --safari ...
... Katie Zavadski of the Daily Beast: "Mueller is reportedly looking at a December meeting blocks from Trump Tower where Michael Flynn -- shortly before Trump became president and named him national security adviser -- was reportedly offered upward of $15 million if he could help Turkey win the extradition of cleric Fethullah Gülen as well as the release of gold trader Reza Zarrab.... Zarrab's arrest in Miami last march, while he was on vacation with his family, ignited a bitter war of words between the Turkish government and the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he asked then-Vice President Joe Biden about arranging for the release of the 34-year-old trader, a dual Turkish and Iranian citizen who's socialized with the Turkish president and is married to a popular Turkish singer." ...
... Esme Cribb of TPM: "Special counsel Robert Mueller ... issued a subpoena in October to more than a dozen members of ... Donald Trump's campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hope Mueller didn't waste much paper on a subpoena for Jared Kushner because Kushner isn't all that forthcoming with incriminating documents: ...
... Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider: "... Jared Kushner forwarded emails concerning a 'Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite' to Trump campaign officials and failed to produce those emails to the Senate Judiciary Committee, says a letter the senators sent Kushner's lawyer on Thursday. Kushner also failed to produce emails on which he was copied involving communication with WikiLeaks and with a Belarusan-American businessman named Sergei Millian, the senators said. Millian most recently headed a group called the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.... The senators also said Kushner had not produced any phone records.... The Wall Street Journal and ABC reported earlier this year that Millian was 'Source E' in the dossier alleging ties between Trump and Russia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Josh Dawsey of Politico: "Jared Kushner is still working with an interim security clearance 10 months into ... Donald Trump's administration, according to White House officials and others with knowledge of the matter. The top adviser and Trump son-in-law, who joined Trump for part of his Asia tour this month, has continued to work on sensitive foreign policy issues and other matters while his application for a permanent clearance remains under review, these people said. On Thursday, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein -- who jointly oversee the Senate Judiciary Committee's Russia probe -- requested documents from Kushner including 'transcripts from other committee interviews, additional documents from previous requests, communications with (former national security adviser) Michael Flynn and documents related to his security clearance.' Grassley and Feinstein said Kushner, citing confidentiality, declined to produce documents connected to his security clearance application, which includes a form that has been repeatedly amended to list Kushner's contacts with foreign officials." ...
... Conservative Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: "In all of [the Russia scandal], there is a spectacular accumulation of lies. Lies on disclosure forms. Lies at confirmation hearings. Lies on Twitter. Lies in the White House briefing room. Lies to the FBI. Self-protective lies by the attorney general. Blocking and tackling lies by Vice President Pence. This is, with a few exceptions, a group of people for whom truth, political honor, ethics and integrity mean nothing.... The Trump administration will be remembered for many things. The widespread, infectious corruption of institutions and individuals may be its most damning legacy." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm happy to see Gerson wrap VP Pious into this conspiracy of liars. That twerp has gotten too much of a pass for his convenient ignorance of any wrongdoing that comes to light.
Lee Ann Caldwell & Garrett Haake of NBC News: "A bipartisan group of senators Thursday unveiled legislation to improve background-checks for gun sales, a narrow measure that attempts to address the recent spate of mass shootings. The bill represents an incremental update to existing law but has the best chance of any effort to pass through Congress in recent years, with the weight of support from senior Senate Republicans behind it and no public opposition from the gun lobby. The bill, crafted by Sens. John Cornyn, R.-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., would attempt to better enforce current law and strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check system to ensure all background check information is uploaded."
Thomas Moriarty of NJ.com: "A hopelessly deadlocked jury brought an end to the corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez Thursday with the declaration of a mistrial, after a contentious 11-week courtroom drama that concluded without a final act. The government now must decide whether to retry the Democratic lawmaker from New Jersey and co-defendant Salomon Melgen, a wealthy Florida ophthalmologist, who are accused of swapping lavish gifts for government favors." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, who holds Hillary Clinton's former seat, said on Thursday that Bill Clinton should have resigned the presidency after his inappropriate relationship with an intern came to light nearly 20 years ago. Asked directly if she believed Mr. Clinton should have stepped down at the time, Ms. Gillibrand took a long pause and said, 'Yes, I think that is the appropriate response.'... A spokesman later said that Ms. Gillibrand was trying to underscore that Mr. Clinton's actions, had they happened in the current era, should have compelled him to resign. Still, it was a remarkable statement from a senator who enthusiastically backed Mrs. Clinton's presidential bid last year but has been deeply involved in legislative efforts to curb sexual abuse and harassment in the military and on college campuses.... Earlier, she said she would give all the donations her campaign had received from [Al] Franken's political action committee to Protect Our Defenders, which helps those assaulted in the military. She also introduced the 'Me Too Congress Act' on Thursday to address yearslong and rampant sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill." ...
... Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "Broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden said Thursday that Al Franken 'forcibly kissed' and groped her during a USO tour in 2006, two years before the Minnesota Democrat's election to the U.S. Senate -- prompting Franken to apologize and call for a Senate ethics investigation into his actions. 'You knew exactly what you were doing,' Tweeden wrote in a blog post for Los Angeles radio station KABC, for which she works as a morning news anchor. 'You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later and be ashamed.'... Tweeden's blog post included an image of Franken looking into a camera, his hands either over or on Tweeden's chest as she slept.... Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Franken's home state colleague, also didn't immediately respond to inquiries. She is co-sponsor of a bill unanimously approved by the Senate last week that will mandate sexual harassment training for all senators and their staffs.... On Tuesday, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) announced that the House will adopt a policy change to make anti-harassment training mandatory for all members and staff. That announcement followed a congressional hearing during which members publicly came to terms with sexual harassment as a pervasive problem on Capitol Hill. Female lawmakers aired tantalizing details, albeit without naming names, of unwanted sexual comments and advances taking place in their midst." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The swift, unsparing response came from Republicans and Democrats alike. Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, the Senate leaders, wasted no time before forwarding the matter to the Senate Ethics Committee -- a move supported by Democrats, including Mr. Franken. Lawmakers did stop short of meting out a punishment on a fellow senator, and it appeared that Mr. Franken would be able to weather the disclosure.... While his fellow senators rushed to rebuke him, Mr. Franken hunkered down out of sight, skipping four votes in the Senate and the Democrats' regularly scheduled luncheon.... Republicans, eager to talk about sexual accusations other than Mr. Moore's, tried to turn the allegations to their political favor."
... Esme Cribb of TPM: "Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), accused on Thursday of forcibly kissing and groping a woman on a USO tour in 2006 before he was in office, has made the prevention of sexual assault and violence against women one of his signature issues as a lawmaker. Franken on Thursday said he 'certainly' did not remember the incident 'in the same way' as Leeann Tweeden, who accused Franken of kissing her over her protestations and later groping her in a photograph. Franken offered his 'sincerest apologies.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Via Politico, here's the text of Franken's full apology, made after his initial statement. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... A Curious Twist. Josh Delk of the Hill: "Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone appeared to know there were sexual misconduct allegations involving Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) hours before they became public. Stone has been banned from Twitter, but at 1 a.m. on Thursday morning an account connected to him tweeted a quote from the Republican political operative. 'Roger Stone says it's Al Franken's "time in the barrel". Franken next in long list of Democrats to be accused of "grabby" behavior," read the tweet from Enter the Stone Zone.... After Tweeden's account went public, Enter The Stone Zone tweeted again, sharing a Politico report about the allegations." ...
... Gets Curiouser. Karen Wehrstein of Daily Kos: "... and: InfoWars knew too.... [The tweets from Stone & InfoWars surrogates are] all within nine minutes of each other -- from 1:12 to 1:21 a.m. Nov. 16. Several hours later, Leeann Tweeden, who is connected with Fox as a six-year employee of Fox Sports, and has appeared on Hannity, issued her Franken accusation." Following this, Putinbots started tweeting furiously about Franken." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post looks at immediate fallout & possible consequences for Franken. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Michelle Goldberg makes a multi-faceted argument on why Franken should not resign, but she concludes, "I would mourn Franken's departure from the Senate, but I think he should go, and the governor should appoint a woman to fill his seat. The message to men in power about sexual degradation has to be clear: We will replace you." ...
... Kevin Drum: "No. The message to men in power should be: we will treat you fairly. That should be our message to everyone, the guilty and the innocent alike. If we get to the point where we sacrifice individuals just for the sake of movement optics, that's where I get off the train." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm with Drum on this. Based on what we know now -- that is, unless we find out Franken is still making "jokes" like this or has abused a number of other women -- he should not resign. I'd favor censure or some other form of reprimand. Since he has joined the Senate, Franken has been a serious legislator, educating himself on the issues, and BTW, championing women's issues & rights. What we've seen in Sen. Franken is a new & improved Al. If that's a facade, then sure, adios, go freeze your ass off in Minnesota. In the meantime, stick around, Al, & atone for your gross mistreatment of a woman who was trying to do a good deed for American servicemen & women. ...
... Steve M.: "... if Franken stays, every Alabama Republican voter who's on the fence about Roy Moore receives a Get Out of Moral Quandary Free card. Hey, the lib harasser gets to stay, so hell yeah, I'm voting for Roy Moore. I still think a Doug Jones victory in Alabama is a long shot, though people who are smarter than I am think it's possible. But it won't be possible if Franken hangs on. That's not the main reason he should go. But he should go." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Okay for Fox "News": Not for the Senate. Bill O'Reilly, who had a sex-abuse pass written into his Fox "News" contract, is also saying that Franken is not fit for the Senate.
Looks as if Poppy Has Been Grabbing Ass for a Long Time. Athena Jones of CNN: "Former President George H.W. Bush is facing new allegations from a Michigan woman who said he touched her inappropriately while he was in office at an event in April 1992. The woman, now 55, spoke exclusively with CNN and said she was attending a fundraiser for Bush's re-election campaign in Dearborn, Michigan, with her father when the president grabbed her rear end during a photo-op. 'We got closer together for a family photo and it was like "Holy crap!'" she said, describing the moment Bush touched her buttocks. 'It was like a gentle squeeze.'... 'All the focus has been on "He's old." OK, but he wasn't old when it happened to me,' she told CNN.... CNN has spoken with the woman's ex-husband and her best friend, both of whom she told of the incident soon after it occurred." CNN has not published the woman's name, at her request, but it did publish the "family photo," & it reveals that, yeah, Poppy could have been copping a feel. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Bush seems to regard ass-grabbing as a sort of performance art; that is, he does it for the cameras. "Look! I'm the leader of the free world AND I can abuse women in plain sight! What fun!" This is somewhat similar to Al Franken's not-so-funny photo, except Bush -- a former CIA director -- adds a secretive element to it.
Senate Race
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The Alabama Republican Party on Thursday offered unqualified support to the embattled candidacy of Roy S. Moore, ignoring the condemnation of national Republican leaders and brushing aside worries that he could lose a Senate race in a solidly conservative state -- or be expelled from Congress if he wins. Invoking the need for guidance from God, a statement from the party's chairwoman, Terry Lathan, referred only indirectly to the allegations of sexual misconduct and unwanted overtures against women that have upended the Senate race here." ...
... Oliver Darcy of CNN: "U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore published an open letter to Sean Hannity on Wednesday night pushing back against allegations of sexual abuse.... In the letter, which came one night after Hannity said he would give Moore 24 hours to explain inconsistencies in how he has addressed the allegations before calling on him to step aside in the race, Moore [wrote]..., 'I am suffering the same treatment other Republicans have had to endure.'... Moore said in his letter to Hannity that he was 'in the process of investigating' what he characterized as 'false allegations.'... Hannity responded to Moore's letter at the end of his Wednesday night program and said that the allegations against Moore 'are beyond disturbing and serious.' But Hannity declined to drop his support for Moore...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "During Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court seat Senate Republicans held open for a year until Donald Trump could fill it, the judge was dogged by questions about a case in which he voted against a trucker who nearly froze to death in a broken down truck. Thursday evening, Gorsuch turned this case into a punchline.... After [the trucker] began to show symptoms of hypothermia, he unhitched the trailer -- despite instructions from a supervisor not to do so -- and left seeking help. He was later fired for 'violating company policy by abandoning his load while under dispatch.'" Gorsuch dissented from the two other judges on the appellate panel, who ruled for the trucker. "A judge may be presented with a law, Gorsuch began his joke, and 'immediately know three things. One, the law is telling me to do something really, really stupid. Two, the law is constitutional and I have no choice but to do that really stupid thing the law demands. And three, when it's done, everyone who is not a lawyer is going to think I just hate truckers.' The joke was a hit with the gathered Federalist Society members, who laughed and clapped uproariously after Gorsuch delivered his punchline." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Gorsuch's "joke" is even worse than Franken's.
Mayra Cuevas & Steve Almasy of CNN: "A total of 210,000 gallons of oil leaked Thursday from the Keystone pipeline in South Dakota, the pipeline's operator, TransCanada, said. Crews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning and officials are investigating the cause of the leak, which occurred about 3 miles southeast of the town of Amherst, said ... a spokesman for the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources. This is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota, Walsh said. The leak comes just days before Nebraska officials announce a decision on whether the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, a sister project, can move forward.... In March..., Donald Trump's administration officially issued a permit that approved construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.... Trump said the new pipeline will be a big win for American workers, but critics say it won't be, because most of the jobs would be temporary." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, but remember that Keystone XL is Xtra Large, so count on Xtra Large spills that will generate a lot of temporary jobs that would open up again & again with each new spill. Always look on the bright side.
Share Article
Reader Comments (11)
Yesterday I mentioned the "real drama" one witnesses while watching congressional hearings. Last night during the senate tax reform hearing Sherrod Brown, frustrated and furious, spelled out exactly what the republican play book is; Orrin Hatch responded with vitriol and loss of composure. It's quite an exchange––-and in a way the essence of the divide.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/11/16/hatch_blows_up_on_dem_sen_brown_tired_of_that_crap_that_republicans_only_help_the_rich.html
And I am so disappointed that Al Franken ––really Al? you thought that was funny? ––fucked up. He's one of our best and I'm afraid he might have to resign*. Advice for any young buck thinking of going into politics––your past might very well become front and center and due you in if you don't mind your P's and Q's.
*Is there a difference between bad behavior BEFORE you become a senator or representative versus bad behavior while serving? And is there some kind of judging on said behavior? Roy Moore's is deplorable while Al's is stupid, invasive, and supposedly directed at one woman. According to Jackie Spear there are known congressman now serving that are sexual harassers–- was Al one of them I wonder? If Al resigns will the others be outed?
I’ve read that the defense being cooked up by Confederates for the profligate and ubiquitous lies of the Trumpy administration is something close to boiling a frog. The idea is that the frog (the American public) is exposed, over time, to so much corruption and so many lies, that he’s cooked before he knows it. In other words, they’re hoping that the tsunami of corruption will become the new normal and we’ll all just turn our heads and let them all do what they want as they prepare to eat us alive.
The Dallek interview (linked yesterday) and the Gerson piece (today) remind us of the astonishing capacity of Trump, his family, his enablers, his cabinet, his party, and his media supporters to lie through their teeth. To look directly into the camera and drop the most outrageous and insulting lies, then attack any who call him on it. This is an entirely new level of mendacity and corruption and should be met with an equally unprecedented level of resistance and insistence on truth.
Democrats must be planning the counter attacks. Now. Deprive these liars of political power through the ballot and restore some measure of decency, civility, and humanity. Because with Trump we get none of the above. Forget Hillary and Donna Brazile and all that infighting nonsense. We are facing a catastrophe of monumental importance.
Time to revive our pre-election mantra: Trumpus delenda est. Rome didn’t beat Carthage the first time out, but when they did it was extirpation on an historic level. No less is required here and now. Root and branch. Trump must be torn out root and branch, if the United States is to survive in any recognizable form. Because now, it’s becoming a less familiar place by the day. And that water is getting hotter.
Trumpus delenda est. Or we’re all boiled frogs.
Down at the end of WaPo Catherine Rampell's piece on how "humans" (as opposed to "persons who happen to be corporations") are the losers in the GOP tax bill proposal, she notes that many GOP senators seem unaware that PayGo rules require Medicare cuts at the beginning of 2018 if the proposed cuts go through. They don't have to wait to screw the poor, old and sick, they can get down to bidness straight away.
I have posted this clip before, but what the heck.
What I want to know now is how the hell Roger Stone & the Infowars guy knew about Tweeden's blogpost hours before she posted it.
I think it most likely she did not just upload the post herself & hit "publish." Probably she ran it by the station's ops manager, continuity person(s), even the general manager & perhaps ABC lawyers before she posted it. Thus, many people would have been aware of her accusations. (I used to work at KABC Radio, but it was so long ago, Al Gore had not yet invented the Internet, so the station didn't have a blog & I haven't any idea of how formal or careful the station is about postings by station employees.) In that case, one of them (or someone they told) could have tipped off Stone.
But there's another, darker possibility, and that is that Tweeden herself was in contact with Roger Stone. Even worse, Tweeden could have showed him the photo & Stone could have coaxed her into inventing the story about the unwanted kiss. I want to think that's not what happened. Whatever the case, the (oxymoron warning!) Senate ethics committee should seek an explanation for Stone's curious foreknowledge of the post.
Marie
Potemkin "win" for a Potemkin House.
So the Confederate controlled House passes a giveaway to the rich, a bill very few people want, one that will not create jobs or improve the economy. Rich people have said, flat out, if given all this extra money, they're gonna stuff it in the mattress. They're not planning on doing shit to "create jobs" or any of the other happy horseshit lies this supply side retread is supposed to bring about. But it will accomplish a few other things.
It will hurt the middle class, fuck the poor (a function of state in any Republican scheme) and up the deficit by trillions of dollars, which has the very real consequence of screwing the economy for decades since we'll be paying even more to borrow money to pay down that debt, a totally unnecessary and avoidable situation. Oh yeah, it will also take healthcare away from millions, causing pain, suffering, destitution, and early death for tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of Americans.
This is what is known as a "win" in Trump's America.
Oh, and from now on, I'm not gonna bother with the cognomen "Lyin' Ryan". It's superfluous. Anytime I write the words "Paul" and "Ryan", together, the "lyin'" is assumed. Not just assumed; the lies are baked in. He opens his mouth to yawn, out comes a lie.
So a morally and ethically bankrupt, historically inept Confederate House that couldn't pass a law against jay walking on the grounds of a retirement home finally have a "win".
Nice job, boys. By the same measure I'm guessing they'd call October 29, 1929 a "win" for the stock market because it wasn't burned to the ground by close of business. A surgeon takes off the wrong leg? Win. When they take off the right leg, you'll save a bundle on shoes. Guy jumps out of a plane and splatters the ground because his parachute fails to open? Win. He had great fun on the way down, right? Husband killed by a drunk driver? Win. Think of all the free food neighbors will bring you.
And you can keep the casserole dishes. There ya go. An even bigger win. Courtesy of the Paul Ryan and Little Donnie Trump.
Marie,
Sorry, but a Confederate controlled "ethics" committee (sorry, can't stop laughing) won't care about how Roger Stone found out about this complaint before anyone else, and they won't care about what Tweeden says. All they're interested in is how quickly Franken can clean out his desk. Maybe they'll give it to Roy Moore.
And why isn't Trumpy concerned about his own sexual abuse violations? Simple. They're not violations and they're not abuse. It's Droit de Seigneur. He's famous. He's rich. He's The Donald. He gets to do it. They get to shut up and take it. He really believes this. A more despicable character Dickens could not invent.
One other Trump gift that will keep on fucking us over...
As Frank Rich mentioned in his well written and researched but extremely depressing column earlier in the week, once Trump is gone, we will still be left with not only the mess, but the pests.
Another post-dick problem will be the damage done to our allies' ability to trust America. A country that could go from a guy who invents shit to bring large portions of the world into a made up war costing trillions, to a rational, competent, and thoroughly civil president like Obama, then back to a racist pig of a lying demagogue who threatens world wide nuclear war for fun, does not seem to be politically very stable. Why trust them? Why should anyone trust us after Trump?
I mean, would you trust a neighbor who brought over his brother-in-law to fix a clogged pipe in your bathroom and burned down half the house? Next time he came over, you'd grab the wife and kids and be halfway to the interstate before the sound of the doorbell faded.
And we'll still have that underbelly of crazies, racists, secessionists, gun knobbers, and haters. You know. The Trump voters.
There is no vaccine for the Trump pathogen. The best we can do is avoid future contact.
Vote.
Democrats have to be extremely careful how they play things.
The Franken revelation is an unforced error that will have consequences any which way it goes. First, it's hard to whack the Confederates for their own maleficence if Franken stays or is not sufficiently punished. I agree that he's been a wonderful senator and having him leave for an appointee who may or may not get re-elected is dicey. If they're going to do an ethics investigation, do it quickly. And, as Marie says, one more revelation of not-funny hanky panky, he has to leave right away.
Sexual abuse is sexual abuse. That's it. But there are degrees. Roy Moore trying to force himself on young girls is horrific. But also, they were conscious. Franken's "joke" picture has its own level of ickiness because Tweeden was asleep. And there's the Moore situation to deal with. Unless Franken is properly investigated and punished, however they choose to do it, Trump and Moore's supporters, not to mention Fox (Loofah Boy is happy as Larry, because of all the times Franken has kicked his ass around the block in their previous tête-à-têtes), will hang him around the necks of Democrats as hypocrites.
None of this is to say that political expedience should take precedence over doing the right thing, but Democrats need to be smart about how they proceed. I'm thinking of Kant's deontological moral theory right now. Kant says we have to do the right thing all the time no matter the consequences. This means, if asked a question, we cannot tell a lie. Ever. So, if Peter B. Axemurderer runs up to us and asks if the person he was pursuing is hiding in our house, we must tell him the truth. Welllll.....I'm for handling that sort of thing with a tiny bit more finesse. There's got to be some room between telling the truth and condemning someone to death. And in this case, I don't think anyone could argue that continued control of the House and Senate by Confederates is akin to a death sentence for the United States as we know it.
It's a tricky place to be. We are at a watershed moment in the exposure of sexual abuse. A great step forward for all of us, but we're also in the position of having to do that AND deal with the forces of evil just waiting to pounce.
May you live in interesting times, sez Confucius.
One other thought...
If Confederates insist on a Franken defenestration, are they prepared for what happens when this "Creep List" becomes public? Because it will. Will they then demand that everyone on that list exit stage right (or left, as the case may be) post haste?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that were every abusive douchebag on the Hill who has ever stepped over the line with an aide or colleague or visitor or barmaid or whomever, were to be kicked out of office, there would be a lot of empty seats. Which actually might not be all that bad.
We shall see what we shall see.
Okay...someone else's turn.
The GOP's Hike Hike Hike Middle Class Tax Plan does not seem have an end to all the bad it will do for Americans. Now on to version 2, this time with less health care.