How Do You Negotiate With A Deranged Monster?

The truth that was, again, revealed yesterday that we have a racist, unfit moron in the Oval Office must prompt Democrats to recalibrate their strategy regarding dealing with this regime and its vile enablers in Congress. Very Stable Genius Donald "Rump" Trump's attempt this morning at damage control, by claiming Democrats made his words up (see Sen. Durbin's rebuttal below) and further moving the goalposts on a DACA agreement, should remind us that you don't "negotiate" with a clueless cancer like this.  His fleeting bipartisan photo ops and bumbling "meetings" in his White House "studio" are also meant as damage control to prop him up as "sane" and "in control" when he's in fact neither. (For a look at the dimwitted narcissist's addled thinking, look no further than his Wall Street Journal interview, which Wonkette has helpfully condensed into the chewiest nuggets.)

Elizabeth Breunig offers wise counsel to those transactional Democrats who want to be making deals when they should be holding to their principles and to doing what is morally right.

If Congress cannot agree on a budget plan by Jan. 19, the government will shut down. This isn’t the outcome anyone wants. But Democrats ought to start steeling themselves now: If the Republican majority’s budget plan leaves the “dreamers” in limbo, fails to supply desperately needed aid to Puerto Rico and coastal states battered by natural disaster, or allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to wither away, Democrats need to be ready to shut the whole thing down. [snip]

She explains the pitfalls of this brinksmanship, but concludes,

A shutdown would cause real problems for real people. It is, in the words of [MoveOn.org's Ben] Wikler, “something to be avoided if possible, but not at the expense of fundamental priorities.” What is remarkable about the priorities at hand, however, is that they have no business being articles of compromise. These aren’t ordinary policy squabbles; they constitute a choice between America as a humane nation with democratic principles and America as a negligent sovereign with a dim future. The protection of innocents shouldn’t be up for debate. But it is. And Democrats can’t back down.  (our emphasis)

Democrats happen to be holding popular positions on Dreamers, funding CHIP and rescuing Puerto Rico (and the Virgin Islands) from Trump's racist neglect.  Use that leverage, dammit.  As Breunig points out, these things aren't debatable, and in a normal society they wouldn't be. But with vicious white supremacist Republicans like Arkansas bobble head Sen. Tom Cotton and Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte creating obstacles with the full support of the White (Supremacist) House =cough= Stephen Miller =cough=, Rump's not going to contribute anything to the discussion (just look at his ludicrous "performance" (his word) at the big boy meeting on Tuesday). Don't let people forget that it was Rump who created or exacerbated all of these crises.

No, you stand by your principles and you tell these hollowed- out fascists you won't "negotiate" the non- negotiable: the lives and well- being of innocents.

BONUS:  Here's how Democrats are dealing with Republican coverup and collusion on the Trump- Russia scandal.  Let that be a template!

Are Rethugs About To Chop CHIP?

While Rethuglican focus has shifted from robbing 20 million plus Americans out of their health care to shoveling tax breaks to their wealthy individual and corporate contributors, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is in danger of collapsing. On September 30, funding for the program that covers 9 million American children will expire, forcing states to scramble to fund the program into the new fiscal year without assurance of FY 2018 funds. States like Arizona, Minnesota, and North Carolina will run out of funds by December.  Other states are developing contingency plans to shut the program down if Congressional Rethugs don't act to reauthorize funding.

The Rethuglicans in Congress spent so much of their time and energy in trying to kill the Affordable Care Act that time ran out to reauthorize CHIP. There are also worries among Dems that CHIP will become a hostage to new attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, potentially with Rethugs amending any CHIP reauthorization to include provisions undermining the ACA. The Rethugs' political malice could delay or doom funding for the program well into the fiscal year. The health and lives of 9 million children (and pregnant women) are at stake, not that Congressional Rethugs actually give a damn.