I'll be proud to shut down the government for border security. So I'll take the mantel. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it.
President Donald J. Trump speaking to democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office last week.
It is totally up to democrats if there is a shut down.
The same guy talking this morning.
The other day Vice President Mike Pence went to the senate with an idea. He told everyone there his boss would be okay with a proposal floating around which would keep the government operating on all cylinders until early February. The bill would provide $1 billion plus worth of border security, but no funding for The Great Wall. In effect Pence said, Trump was willing to let the wall go for now in order to avoid, taking the mantel.
The Senate believed him and quickly passed the measure unanimously. Afterward, convinced a deal had been struck, a bunch of them blew town for the Christmas break. Silly them.
Rush Limbaugh immediately took to the airwaves, as did several on FOX News. They, along with The National Review and a mob of rubes from the house, "Freedom Caucus," collectively began calling Mr. Trump a pussy for his apparent willingness to let the wall issue slide.
Yes, it would seem the bully got bullied by his propaganda arm. Predictably the surge of ultra right wing criticism threw DJT into a fit of embarrassed rage. After all, being called a twit by the likes of Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel is one thing, but when your own people start doing it, it is only a matter of time before the almighty base, like Frankenstein's monster, turns on its creator.
Within 24 hours The Big Orange Guy was on the phone to the long suffering Paul Ryan who was literally within seconds of making some sort of public announcement. Shortly afterward the house passed a bill which would keep the government going, provide some disaster relief funds, and kick in $5 plus billion specifically earmarked to build the wall.
This morning the El Supremo called republican senators into his office and urged them to push the house resolution through by changing the chamber's rules. It would be a dubious power play, but one that has been used before in rare cases. Unfortunately for Trump several GOP lawmakers were and are openly reluctant to do just that.
As this post is being typed Senate leader, Mitch McConnell has begun a painfully slow series of votes to pass the resolution without using the only weapon which would guarantee a win for El Don and his wall--that rule change. In other words, today's proceedings are nothing more than an empty political gesture meant show Donald Trump and the far right howlers republican senators support the idea of a wall. The reality of it though, at this moment anyway, is Don's wall is fucked. Trump knows it too. After the meeting with republican lawmakers he promised the shut down will be long and insisted, despite what the readily available video evidence proves, "The democrats now own it."
This chaos, which has lit up American cable news networks of all stripes, actually began earlier this week. The firestorm began when Mr. Trump woke up one morning and announced to the world the United States would, in short order, pull all it's troops and air support out of Syria. The strategic military decision was so unexpected and sudden everyone in the President's administration found out about it at the exact moment the general public did.
At first the media considered the move just another example of Trump's wild, weird, and impulsive whimsy. Now it is being reported the decision came hard on the heels of a late night phone call with Turkey's soon to be President for life, Recep Erdogan and a significant sale of cruise missiles to the Turks. The withdrawal will leave our most dependable ally in the three way conflict, the Kurds, completely alone. Now they'll face not only ISIS and the ruthless Bashir Assad by themselves, but also the Turks who have being doing their best for decades to kill every Kurd they can find.
Shortly after Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed, "Donald's," decision, to abandon the Kurds, U.S. Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis handed the President his resignation. In the letter he explained to Trump, "You have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours..." He also said, "While the U.S. remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests, or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies."
At least we know why he quit. He's honest, sane, and loyal to our friends--rare and endangered qualities in the Trump world.
Hey, when Donald John Trump can run off a four star Marine general who once said, "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet," you realize just how bat shit crazy the nation's Commander in Chief really is.
Indeed.
12-21-18
When people like Mattis bail on you as he did, it's time to look in the mirror.
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