E.J. Dionne, Jr., reminds us that we never forget the routine cruelty of the Trump Republican Party, which is part of their DNA:
We can welcome the fact that the president’s family-separation policy aroused the indignation of a broad empathetic majority. This instinct for compassion and justice should also be mobilized to stop efforts that will, quite literally, take food off the tables of Americans who already have great difficulty making ends meet.
And can we please stop using the word “populist” to describe a crowd that would slash programs for the neediest to help finance a deficit-inflating tax giveaway that disproportionately benefits the very wealthiest people in our country? There is nothing populist about transferring money and power to those who already have a great deal of both.You can add proposals to cut Medicare/ Medicaid/ Social Security to the pile, also (and Trump proudly claiming his Trump Republican Party "gutted" Obamacare).
John Stoehr writes about why Trump's weakness in the family- separation debacle will have an impact.
...The appearance of strength is the truly only thing that matters to his constituency. They don’t care that he’s a fraud. They don’t care that he’s corrupt. They don’t care about budgets. That don’t care about values. They don’t care about threats to democracy.
They do care about the president punishing people whom they believe do not belong in the American franchise, people whom they believe threaten the privilege, status and power that generally come from being white. This week, they saw something new: Their Great White Hope was not only bloodied. He was knocked out cold.Stoehr goes on to say that, while Trump's cult won't abandon him, he believes their enthusiasm (turnout) won't be quite the same. (Beyond that, we would argue it's just one more egregious un- American action that will further energize Democrats and sentient independents.)
Speaking of egregious:
President Trump on Sunday explicitly advocated for depriving undocumented immigrants of their due-process rights, arguing that people who cross the border into the United States illegally are invaders and must immediately be deported without trial or an appearance before a judge.
Trump’s attack on the judicial system sowed more confusion as lawmakers struggle to reach consensus on immigration legislation and as federal agencies scramble to reunite thousands of migrant children and their parents who were separated at the border under an administration policy that the president abruptly reversed last week.Can you say "un- Constitutional"?
Taking this with a grain of salt since it's "Politico Playbook," but wouldn't this be a nice summer treat:
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) hosted a dinner Friday night for more than 100 guests at his house on Martha’s Vineyard as part of the DSCC’S annual Majority Trust retreat. OVERHEARD: Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joking to the crowd: “If you get me one more glass of wine, I’ll tell you stuff only Bob Mueller and I know. If you think you’ve seen wild stuff so far, buckle up. It’s going to be a wild couple of months.”
John Dingell, you American treasure!
I REALLY DON’T CARE. DO U? https://t.co/L2o6H2KXC2— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) June 23, 2018
To cap off your reading, please go to the excellent link round- up at Infidel 753 ("Various interesting stuff I ran across on the net over the last week"). The selection never ceases to impress.
