Freak Out Friday – June 23, 2017

It’s been a relatively quiet week for Trump. Aside from his usual litany of idiotic tweets and his speeches to crowds as he is apparently already running for a second term, Trump has been rather sedate. But that doesn’t mean stuff hasn’t been going on.

1). Keep it to yourselves. For the first time in my memory–maybe anyone’s–the White House has declared that henceforth press conferences will not be televised. Because that’s what all fascist regimes do: they endeavor to operate behind closed doors whenever possible and keep everything to themselves. The administration has been at war with the free press since before Trump took office, and this is just another attempt to separate themselves from the public learning what they’re doing. Not only that, but they probably figure that they can then deny anything that the press says by claiming No, that didn’t happen, it’s just fake news. And if the press broadcasts excerpts in their news broadcasts, the White House can just claim that they were taken out of context. Very slick maneuver that will undoubtedly play to the Trump supporters.

2). Healthy, Wealthy and Wise. So the Senate finally unveiled its hidden health care bill, the one that they rushed through in secrecy, doing all the things that they falsely accused Obama of doing. Unfortunately the early reports indicate that it is not only no better than the House version but that it is actually worse. Billions gone from Medicaid while the rich get a tax cut. It’s so bad that several GOP senators have already said they won’t vote for it, and considering they don’t have THAT huge a majority, that would seem to kill the chances of it being passed. And the support for it among the American people is non-existent.

Yet the GOP could actually salvage this mess. Here’s how: The GOP pulls itself together and votes it into law.

And then Trump vetoes it.

It’s a win/win situation. The GOP manages to do what they said they were going to do and vote to overturn Obamacare. And then Trump gets to be the hero by declaring, “No, this bill is terrible and I must save the people from it.” The American public would absolutely love it. See! See! Trump is fighting to protect us! His sagging poll numbers would skyrocket. Sure, the Senate would take a hit, but everyone hates them anyway, so the damage is minimal. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see it pan out that way.

Did he do anything right this week? Didn’t do much of anything, which for him is a win.

PAD

13 comments on “Freak Out Friday – June 23, 2017

  1. Do you get the impression that we may be getting inured to his antics? The more crazed and habitual they are, the more we really don’t see them as a problem? As if we’ve accepted a certain level of loser-dom from him? Just wondering.

  2. That’s an interesting idea with the whole pass/veto thing. I’m not sure that it would work for them politically if the did manage to pull off that particular hat-trick, but it’s entirely moot in my opinion. Mitch McConnell is terrible human being with a black oil patch for a soul, but he’s far to smart to do this for the following reasons:

    1) The plan would require that he trust Trump not to screw him. Trump loves the spectacle of signing photo ops and can’t be trusted to follow through on his end of the deal. Trump is infamous for screwing people he works with. He’s do pathologically dishonest that his bankruptcy lawyers would only meet with him in pairs or larger numbers so he couldn’t claim that he had or hadn’t said some piece of info and them just say it was his word versus the lawyers.

    2) More importantly. The GOP congress wouldn’t go for this because their entire raison d’etre boils down to two goals: lowering taxes on rich people and lowering spending on social programs. These two are related, and they will choose lowering taxes if they have to make a choice as this lowers the amount of money available for anything productive when Democrats get power. However, the AHCA both lowers taxes on rich people and massively reduces money going to non-rich people so they don’t have to choose. If McConnell and Ryan can get this passes they will, because this type of thing is why they’re in Congress in the first place.

  3. It should be noted that the most vocal Republican opposition to the Senate’s Health? Don’t Care! bill is from Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and a couple of others who think the bill is still too much like “Obamacare”. McConnell cold make them happy just by amending to bill to make it a little more evil The only real hope is that the Dems hold together and that McConnell finds that he can’t please both the Gang of Four and (that endangered species) the moderate Republicans at the same time and it collapses. In the meantime, the Trump exec orders and budge can continue to cut the legs out from under the ACA. We’re so screwed.

  4. Peter, I’m still waiting for McConnell to admit he had a bunch of disabled protestors arrested yesterday(From a group called ADAPT) yesterday. I guess Trump was sharing the losing.

  5. Don’t forget Trump basically šhìŧŧìņg on the non-rich by saying he’d only want rich people running HUD…

    Any thoughts on the John Oliver/Murray spat? Seems in a similar vein to the Trumpiness covered here.

    1. I think Oliver would never have aired it if it hadn’t been thoroughly vetted by HBO. That douchebag can sue all he wants; truth is the ultimate defense in libel, and nothing that Oliver said wasn’t public record.
      .
      PAD

  6. The whole lot of ’em are reveling in how bloody evil they get to be. And many in this country are cheering it on, in spite of the fact that they’re putting one foot in the grave in the process.

    And what’s Twitler doing this morning? Going after Clinton and Obama. Again. Christ.

  7. Mr. David.

    I do not like our president, as I deduce you do not either.

    I see you and many other people criticizing him every day or at least every week. However, I live in metro-Detroit, where 114 Chaldean Americans were rounded up to be sent to Iraq. Chaldeans are largely Christian, and therefore are subject to the genocide that is being waged against them in that country.

    You and I are both Jews, and as such genocide is not a concept to us, but rather a part of our history. Currently, they have a 2 week stay of deportation, after that? well, that is anybody’s guess.

    Not only did Trump initiate this, but he refuses to weigh in, despite pressure from many groups. People’s lives are at risk.

    Why do you and everyone else who are so ready to crucify Trump turn a blind eye to this.

    Most of these people are legal citizens being sent a brutal death over drug charges from 25-30 years ago, which were paid for with in some cases a quarter of a century of their lives.

    These are not OUR people, but they are people. Next time you (or any one) speaks out against Trump, STOP overlooking the biggest issues.

    This is a serious issue in my community, if you are to speak out against our president, be aware of what is really on the line.

    If people like you, Dan Slott, Nick Spencer, and anyone else wish to add your thoughts on politics, please don’t treat it as a game, use your power to connect with people.

    1. “Turning a blind eye” means taking deliberate pains to ignore something. I haven’t heard anything about this story. One of the reasons I instituted Freak Out Friday was precisely so people could do what you just did: bring attention to others of Trump’s offenses that might have slid past us. Can’t say I appreciate your tone, though: basically accusing me of going out of my way not to discuss something I know nothing about.
      .
      PAD

  8. We are witnessing the birth of the new Holocaust. This time a political party, inspired mostly out of greed, is condemning a defenseless sector of society (whose only ‘crime’ is being born with their condition) to the loss of their quality of life and to their inevitable death, all the while this uncaring political party is trying their utmost best to pass a law to legally justify it. Deja vu, all over again.

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