QOTD -- Volcanic Heat

 

"... The Republicans are feeling volcanic heat from below, as supporters face dramatically increasing health insurance premiums, especially in states without expanded Medicaid coverage. Food stamps benefit plenty of Republicans, too. Oklahoma has the fourth-greatest number of recipients, according to one survey. Louisiana has the second-most. (New Mexico is No. 1.)

"If I’m right, and the shutdown is being seen more broadly as legitimate resistance to Trump’s illegitimate rule, the point could be made more memorable by GOP voters going hungry while watching Trump build his gold-gilt 'ballroom' paid for by 'friends.' And if that pain goes on long enough, the Republicans risk reminding their base that, though they dislike the Democrats, their lives are entwined with their policies. 

"It’s the Republicans, not the Democrats, who need an off-ramp. They risk revealing that Trump’s power is more important to him, and to them, than the health, well-being and freedom of their supporters..." -- John Stoehr, The Editorial Board, on the politics of the Government shutdown, and why it's the MAGAt Republicans who need an off-ramp, not Democrats who're fighting for popular policies the MAGAts want to kill.

How sure are we that the Democrats have the overwhelming leverage?  This sure:

As the ongoing shutdown of the federal government nears its 30th day, a new Yahoo/YouGov poll shows that nearly twice as many Americans want it to end with Democrats getting their way rather than Republicans.

Only 26% of Americans, meanwhile, approve of how President Trump has been handling the shutdown. A full 65% disapprove.

The survey of 1,770 U.S. adults was conducted from Oct. 23 to 27, as Senate Democrats refused for the 12th and then 13th time to support a Republican-backed funding bill to reopen the government.  (our emphasis)

Keep fighting, Dems!

QOTD: Keeping Our Broken Media At Arms Length

 

John Stoehr in Raw Story writing about how Vice President Harris is not allowing the press too much access as her momentum builds:

"The first thing you need to know about the vice president’s approach to the Washington press corps is look how well she’s doing as a result. Kamala Harris is now leading Donald Trump in some national polling averages as well as in some swing-state polls. True, her lead is within the margin of error in most cases, but that’s an improvement from where the Democrats were before Joe Biden dropped out of the running and orchestrated instantaneous unification around his No. 2.

I don’t think I’m overstating things. Her current lead, the millions of dollars she’s bringing in, the thousands of volunteers who are signing up to help, the big big mo’ – I think all of it comes directly from her campaign’s decision not to give the press corps too much access too fast. I think that decision comes directly from the fact that Harris saw firsthand what the press corps did to Joe Biden’s campaign." (our emphasis)

The press' timidity and double standard about pointing out the obvious that the Malignant Loser is a mentally unbalanced pathological liar, combined with their petty resentment at the Vice President for not being sufficiently submissive to them (also see, Hillary Clinton 2016) is a major feature of this election cycle. We've always maintained that the idea of a "liberal press" is dated and vastly overstated, as our media worthies bend over backward to accommodate right-wing pols by not publishing leaked Trump insider emails, not fact-checking them in interviews, etc. For years, the right has successfully "played the refs" in the press, loudly and usually falsely accusing them of bias to get them to favorable coverage from them.

Harris has eschewed formal press conferences for impromptu q & a sessions with the traveling press as she campaigns. We're happy that she's taken the lesson of their unbalanced treatment of President Biden (and many Dems before him) and keeping our broken political media at arms length for now.

 

Tweets Of The Day

1. When it comes to the president’s support among white evangelical Christians, my first instinct is skepticism. Always. These people are not subject to political factors normal people are subject to, such as a pandemic that has killed more than 118,000 people.

— John Stoehr's Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) June 16, 2020

 

2. There’s precious little Donald Trump can do to alienate them, because the point in supporting him isn’t protecting “religious freedom” or outlawing abortion. The point is seeing people punished who deserve to be punished—and enjoying it.

— John Stoehr's Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) June 16, 2020

 

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full article or op/ ed.

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.