Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Vox's Dara Lind writes about the very specific, odd reference demagogue racist Donald "Rump" Trump has been making about women being smuggled into the US:

Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the border is built on a lie: the idea that the US-Mexico border is a lawless place where American citizens are constantly in grave danger, and where criminals are able to smuggle drugs and people without any risk of apprehension. That big picture — as Vox and the rest of the media has made clear again and again — bears very little resemblance to the truth. 

But the claim about women gagged with tape and packed into vans has attracted particular attention because it’s quickly become a centerpiece of Trump’s rhetoric — according to the Post, as of Friday he’d made 10 references to it in 22 days — without anyone knowing exactly where Trump got it from. 

Border experts have told the Post and other reporters that they’ve never heard anything like what Trump’s talking about.

The Border Patrol has now been on a mission to find out what Rump is talking about, hustling to find "evidence" to back up the moron's fever dream.

(Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has a plausible explanation as to how this particular bug entered the big brain of the Very Stable Genius:  "I wonder if someone at the White House is showing Trump stock footage and insisting to Trump that it's real."  Steve provides a clip that could've been used to fool the fool.)

Michael Tomasky writes about the prospect of "Nancy and Chuck" owning Rump for the duration, and looks back briefly on the Rump manhood wall debacle:

It’s worth chortling again for a few paragraphs over how ridiculous and weak they made Trump look. Remember, this is a man who spent years, going way back before he started campaigning in 2015, saying over and over and over how easy being president would be. Bring the Chinese to heel? Very easy. Make Middle East peace? Please. Get Mexico to pay for the wall? Piece of cake. He’s been saying these things in books and television appearances for years. 

I can’t imagine who believed him—and if anyone out there was a big enough idiot to do so, that’s their problem. But the point is that he believed it. He actually thought being president would be easy (and the way he does it, watching TV for hours a day and calling Sean Hannity and ignoring 95 percent of what the government under him does, it sort of is, but that’s another matter). 

For two years, it was kind of easy. But in January, he met reality.

And as we all know, reality bites (if you're Rump).

Steve Benen wonders if Republicans have learned anything about Rump as a result of the Trump shutdown fiasco:

[W]hat’s of interest at this point is what, if anything, Republicans have learned from their recent experience. Both Senate Republicans offered specific and unambiguous predictions based on what they assumed to be true about the president, his plans, and his capacity for following through. 

Do they now know better? Shouldn’t they?

With that in mind, consider some of what Trump’s GOP should understand now, even if they were unclear before the president’s surrender on Friday afternoon.

Benen goes on to list 5 things about Rump that they should realize by now. "Should."

Meanwhile, on the keeping- Putin- happy front:

The U.S. Treasury Department on Sunday officially lifted sanctions on businesses tied to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. 

The department said in a news release that the Office of Foreign Assets Control lifted sanctions on EN+ Group Plc and EuroSibEnergo JSC, noting that each company has reduced Deripaska's "direct and indirect shareholding stake in these companies and severed his control." [snip]

Democrats in Congress attempted to block the move. But Senate Republicans were able to defeat the measure and prevent it from advancing to a floor vote earlier this month.  

The agreement the Treasury Department reached with Deripaska included having him cut his direct and indirect share ownership for each company below 50 percent.  

But The New York Times reported last week that Deripaska and his allies are set to retain majority ownership the energy company EN+. 

There is no way -- none -- that this is not a cave to Putin, fully supported by the rotted out Republican Party.

Finally, please do yourselves a favor and check out Infidel 753's link round- up for much more than we have the energy to dig up here.  It's the best round up of "interesting stuff" on the planet.

Tweets Of The Day -- Shutting Down Trump

Trump does not have magical political powers.

Trump's border arguments are based on lies. The public rejected them.

The answer to Trump's pathologies is: "No, we're not doing this."

Now that Trump has caved, Dems can seize control of the border debate:https://t.co/2DNXTVxfA1

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 25, 2019

It’s hard to believe the multitasking wizard who managed to hire a plumber to fix a broken toilet in aSomerville rental property he bought with dad’s money turned out to not be that much of a legislative mastermind after all.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 26, 2019

"He’s not going to sign a bill that doesn’t have money for the wall... if he gives in now, that’s the end of 2019 in terms of him being an effective president. That’s probably the end of his presidency."

- Lindsey Graham, January 2

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 25, 2019

In the showdown with Nancy Pelosi, Trump's been exposed as pitifully weak, all bluster, a pathetic negotiator. Pelosi rolled him in every way. Egged on by right wingers, the whole thing was buffoonish from start to finish. *This* is how Trump's Art of the Deal works in real life.

— Peter Wehner (@Peter_Wehner) January 25, 2019

Has anyone done a welfare check on Hannity? Is he allright? #TrumpCave pic.twitter.com/Im2k8oOnFA

— Hamberder Helper (@Tengrain) January 26, 2019

Trump didn't become president by channeling his base's demand for a wall, he sold them the idea it should be their top demand in the first place. Now they're up in arms because he didn't get the thing he told them to demand. It's like a Twilight Zone ending.

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 25, 2019

Now furiously backpedalling--

This was such a key moment: “We do not need 2,000 miles of wall from sea to shining sea. We never did,” Trump said.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) January 25, 2019

And, the final word --

Live look at the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/t7XTMiueKw

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) January 26, 2019

As Pressure Builds, Trump Caves

Using the venue of the Rose Garden, Kremlin asset and sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump, perhaps rattled by his confidante Roger Stone's arrest this morning, announced that he would sign a clean continuing resolution for 3 weeks WITH NO BORDER WALL FUNDING, opening the government that he "proudly" closed in December. While he tried to pitch it as the result of "negotiations," it's apparent that the situation with air travel and other public safety concerns had reached a critical point and Rethuglican Senators were slowly jumping ship. Rump suggested that he might invoke "emergency powers" to construct the wall if Congress still fails to give him money for his manhood wall, the one that Mexico was supposed to pay for. That's a non-starter with most legislators, who see it as an infringement on their Constitutional role, and with Courts, who would likely see that as an unjustified power grab lacking a true "emergency." The Dems, united and led by a powerful Speaker Nancy Pelosi, stood strong against the hostage- taking and humiliated the buffoon.

With everything he does, Rump lies and changes his mind in a nanosecond, depending on how he's being received by his radical xenophobic base, represented by the likes of (M)Ann Coulter, Rush "Limpballs" Limbaugh and the Fux network bigots. He needs to get instructions from them first.

BONUS:  Well, here's the initial take from the Fuxers --

“If the president agrees to a three week continuing resolution with no funding for border security, but there’s an agreement to negotiate, that’s something that Nancy Pelosi has been floating for a couple of weeks now,” Fox News reporter John Roberts said. “That’s something Lindsey Graham floated a couple of weeks ago that the president rejected out of hand.” 

“So if that’s what he agrees to, it’s difficult to see this as anything but the president giving in to Democrats on Capitol Hill,” Roberts concluded. “Because he has been so insistent about the fact that any deal to reopen government needed to include money. Not just for border security, but for a border wall as well. If he gives up that significant piece of it, I would say that’s a big victory Democrats.”

Someone better keep the remote away from Smallfingers McLoser!

BONUS II:  And here's raging goblin (M)Ann Coulter's burn --

Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 25, 2019

Ouch!

BONUS III:

We'll soon watch Republican Senators vote for a bill reopening the government that isn't substantially different from the 10 House-passed bills or the one they rejected yesterday or the one they approved by unanimous consent in December, only because a weakened president said OK.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 25, 2019

(photo: Sad!)

Flights Into LaGuardia Halted Over Shutdown

We'll see if this is the beginning of the crisis that causes Rethug Senators to break from shutdown-owner and sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump:

BREAKING: Amid halt on incoming flights at LaGuardia, outgoing traffic at Phildelphia and Newark airports now also delayed due to staffing issues https://t.co/jzYjmherf9

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) January 25, 2019

Just two days ago, the Air Traffic Controllers, Pilots and Flight Attendants associations released a joint statement saying in part:

"In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented."

It appears to be breaking now.

QOTD -- Government By Clueless Sociopaths

"Ordinarily, one might expect a presidential administration’s leading economic figures to understand something of these financial realities. But if they cared about people who aren’t rich, they wouldn’t be working for Trump in the first place. The shocking thing isn’t their indifference to the misery they’re causing. It’s that they can barely be bothered to hide it."-- Michelle Goldberg in "Who Needs a Paycheck Anyway?", following comments by the owner and namesake of the Trump Shutdown that grocery stores would "work along" with furloughed Federal workers who can't pay for food; comments by economic adviser Larry "Wrong Way" Kudlow that furloughed employees were "volunteering" for unpaid work out of "love of country" and "allegiance" to Trump; and comments by desiccated grifter and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that those workers should just go out and get a bank loan to tide them over. 

Make The Call!

The Senate votes today on a Republican bill (with full funding for Trump's wall) and a Democratic bill (opening government with no wall money). Here's what you can do to press your Senators to vote for the Democratic bill:

RED ALERT! I talked with a few sources on Capitol Hill and am hearing Trump folks are paying to barrage offices with pro-wall calls ahead of Thursday's vote. These calls are BS but can make it seem like there's public support for the wall. Here are three ways we can combat this:

— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) January 23, 2019

1) Dem or GOP - it doesn't matter. We need positive reinforcement for Dem Senators and pressure on GOP Senators. Simple message: tell them you want govt reopened & no wall.

1-844-236-2373 connects you to both your senators. A junior staffer is standing by to take your call!

— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) January 23, 2019

When you call, make sure the staffer verifies you are resident of the senator's state. Ask for the staffer's name and request a written response on the senator's position - this forces the staffer to actually record your message. Be friendly/polite but firm on your position.

— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) January 23, 2019

Once Again: The Shutdown Isn't About "Both Sides"

Once again, in case there's any confusion at this late date over what the positions of the Democratic and Republican parties are on the Trump shutdown and border security, Steve Benen puts it as succinctly as possible:

Congressional Democrats: We just want to re-open the government. We don't have any extraneous policy demands and we're asking for no concessions. 

The Trump White House and congressional Republicans: We'll consider re-opening the government if Democrats approve billions of dollars in spending for an unpopular border wall. *

Oh, and the Trump "deal" that's supposedly a compromise?  Elie Mystal boils it down:

Donald Trump’s “major announcement” to end the government shutdown is an offer based on his belief that the American people are stupid and the media are dupes. In exchange for releasing the 800,000 federal workers Trump currently holds hostage, the president is offering to do something the courts will say he has to do anyway.

A healthy percent of the American people are stupid and will fall for it because, well, they've already fallen for a con artist.  But, so far, the American people as a whole know who to blame (including some Rump supporters).  Of more concern is the media, a healthy percentage of whom are dupes and will fall for it.  In fact, many in the media already have, and are framing Trump's "deal" as a "compromise" offer.  As journalism professor Jay Rosen notes:

My explanation: Alongside the production of news and analysis, journalists in the major media are constantly engaged in another manufacture: the production of their own innocence. They have to continually prove they are being even-handed. The shutdown is an opportunity for that. https://t.co/LtPsJgaK9L

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) January 21, 2019

Also, when you see or read a story about a "blame game" going on, recognize this as a lazy media trope intended to demonstrate their unbiased innocence.  Don't be shy about calling them on it via calls, emails, letters, etc.  It's one way we can try to keep them honest and to let them know that while they may wish to be dupes, we don't.

*BONUS:  Oh, and (surprise!) Trump and McConnell are lying about the bill they're going to bring to the floor of the Senate.

BONUS II:


(via democraticunderground.com)

Trump's Tariffs And Government Shutdown Rattling Executives

The international money brokers meeting at Davos are warning about the effects of a Very Stable Genius' tariffs and government shutdown:

Today growth is decelerating, especially in China and Germany, Trump’s tariffs are starting to bite and the U.S. government is in the midst of the longest ever shutdown, which is starting to have a serious impact on the economy. Trump was supposed to speak in Davos this year but his entire delegation is staying home because of the shutdown. [snip] 

The U.S. was supposed to be a bedrock of the global economy this year as hiring and confidence remained strong heading into the year, but the shutdown is starting to shake sentiment. 

The IMF warned that a “protracted” government shutdown would be a sharp drag on U.S. growth. The Federal Reserve and many others have made similar warnings. What’s concerning for many executives about the shutdown is that Trump appears unwilling to make necessary compromises. 

“If you want to be a superpower in the world — and the U.S. still is — you have to engage with people,” said Hans-Paul Bürkner, chair of the Boston Consulting Group. He warned that “everybody will be a bit more careful” until the shutdown and trade disputes are resolved.

If the rotted out Republican Party wants to keep its campaign money spigots going, as well as avoid an economic slowdown (if not recession) that the Very Stable Genius and his enablers will be blamed for, it might behoove them to extricate themselves from the catastrophes said Very Stable Genius has blundered into.  But we won't be holding our breath.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

On the 90th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Leonard Pitts, Jr., writes about what King called white moderates' desire for  “a negative peace, which is the absence of tension to a positive peace, which is the presence of justice.”  He offers three recent stories for consideration, of which we'll focus on the media story:

The stories all made recent headlines. The first was about the state of Florida posthumously pardoning the Groveland Four, a group of African-American men who suffered torture, prison and murder after being falsely accused of raping a white woman in 1949. 

The second concerns broad Republican condemnation of one of their own, Rep. Steve King, for an interview with The New York Times in which he questioned why the terms “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” should be considered offensive. 

The third involves a directive — since rescinded — NBC News sent its writers, reporters and anchors about King’s words. “Be careful to avoid characterizing [King’s] remarks as racist,” it said. suggesting that the remarks instead be described as ‘what many are calling racist’.”  [snip]

It is possible to concede that NBC has an interest in ensuring its people remain disinterested observers of events they report, yet feel that in asking them to refrain from calling obvious racism obvious racism, the network doesn’t embody journalistic rigor so much as it does white people’s too frequent refusal to call out such racism even when it’s right in front of them. 

We may safely assume most NBC executives, Republican lawmakers and Florida officials would say — and probably believe — all the right things if you asked about their commitment to racial justice. Yet given a chance to put force behind that commitment, they failed. In Florida’s case, they failed for seven decades. (our emphasis)

Focusing just on NBC, they're still having a problem calling racists "racists," as evidenced on Saturday by José Diaz-Balart's introduction of the story about MAGA punks who taunted the Native American veteran, saying it was a "troubling scene many are calling racist" (at 10:44 in the video).  Many are calling NBC News a pusillanimous, chickenshit operation.

The Los Angeles Times editorializes on the DOA offer made by bumbling Donald "Rump" Trump on Saturday:

The president clearly wants Saturday’s speech to recast his obstinate wall demand as a reasonable request in exchange for an overdue solution to the thorny problem posed by the Dreamers. But he’s responsible for the Dreamers’ dilemma too, having rashly terminated President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in order to gain leverage over Democrats in negotiations over immigration policy. 

This is a recurring theme of this transactional president’s tenure: To try to coerce Congress into supporting something that much of the country doesn’t want, he manufactures a problem in the hope that it will strengthen his bargaining position. We’ve seen it again and again — the administration’s concerted efforts to undermine Obamacare, his threats to the North American Free Trade Agreement, the tariff wars he launched with much of the industrialized world, the DACA fiasco and now the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history. 

Trump has boxed himself into a corner with his wall, and congressional Democrats aren’t inclined to give him an easy way out. That’s why Trump went public Saturday with his proposed deal — to make it seem like he’s negotiating, rather than simply prolonging the shutdown in the hope that congressional Democrats will give in. But if we’re going to get out of the mess Trump made, he has to be willing to actually negotiate, not just offer to solve another problem he created in exchange for getting the wall he fetishizes.  (our emphasis)

Philip Rucker and Josh Dawsey write about how Rump (spoiler alert) ain't no dealmaker:

Trump’s management of the partial government shutdown — his first foray in divided government — has exposed as never before his shortcomings as a dealmaker. The president has been adamant about securing $5.7 billion in public money to construct his long-promised border wall, but has not won over congressional Democrats, who consider the wall immoral and have refused to negotiate over border security until the government reopens. 

The 30-day shutdown — the impacts of which have begun rippling beyond the federal workforce into the everyday lives of millions of Americans — is defining the second half of Trump’s term and has set a foundation for the nascent 2020 presidential campaign. 

The shutdown also has accentuated several fundamental traits of Trump’s presidency: his apparent shortage of empathy, in this case for furloughed workers; his difficulty accepting responsibility for a crisis he had said he would be proud to instigate; his tendency for revenge when it comes to one-upping political foes; and his seeming misunderstanding of Democrats’ motivations. (our emphasis)

How about "Shart of the Deal"?

As always, we encourage you to visit Infidel 753's link round-up where you can find out such things as what conservatives are outraged about today and the relative time cable news spent on Rep. Steve King's white supremacist musings vs. Rep. Rashida Tlaib's uttering an appropriate curse word.

30 Days And Counting

Your periodic reminder who's responsible for the government shutdown:

25 Days And Counting (UPDATED)

Just a periodic reminder of who's taken responsibility for this cruel stupidity:



UPDATE:  Don't ever forget this democracy- destroying shitheel either:

JUST IN: McConnell blocks House bill to reopen government for second time https://t.co/CGQrB66zgU pic.twitter.com/SMLtyXz2RG

— The Hill (@thehill) January 15, 2019

(h/t commenter donnah)

Trump, Republicans Losing The Shutdown Blame Game

From the latest Washington Post/ ABC News poll (click on image to enlarge):



The findings comport with a Reuters/ Ipsos poll from last week. And a new one from CNN.

Small comfort for the federal workers, contractors, businesses, farmers, low- income families and others (including those of us who'd prefer not to have E. coli in their food).

"A Primetime Address To Repeat His Lies"

Here's Seth Meyers on the "self- inflicted crisis" brought upon us by an "incompetent and unhinged" Donald "Rump" Trump over his manhood wall fence beaded curtain, and on Rump's speech tonight, which all the networks will cravenly carry.  The same quivering networks refused to carry an address by President Obama on immigration in 2014.  (In response, Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer issued a statement, which read in part: “Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime." As of this morning, the networks are mulling their options over how the address and any rebuttal might be handled.)



BONUS: Some networks appear willing to let Dems rebut Rump, but Norman Ornstein's observation still holds:

Here is the brutal reality: because Barack Obama did not disparage, degrade or threaten TV networks, or call them the enemy of the people, they were perfectly content to deny him airtime for his immigration address. Because Trump did all of those things, they were intimidated. Oy

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) January 8, 2019

BONUS II:  For anyone feeling compelled to watch the liefest, the Toronto Star's intrepid reporter Daniel Dale will be fact- checking in real time on Twitter.  Good luck Daniel, and take plenty of ibuprofen.

The Trump Shutdown Message: "I Don't Care" (UPDATED)

As we enter the third week of the Trump government shutdown, sociopathic shitwit Donald "Rump" Trump (a.k.a., Individual 1) has been holding several media events intended to give the impression he's involved in finding a solution to the impasse.  After threatening to keep the government partially shuttered (and 800,000 federal workers and countless contractors and small businesses in dire straits, not to mention the general public) for "months or even years," the shitwit keeps demonstrating his utter unfitness and incompetence. Not that it's ever been a secret.

Remember, this started when the shitwit got spooked by the likes of Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh into reneging on the deal passed unanimously by the Republican Senate that would have continued appropriations keeping the government open without funding for his manhood compensator. Republican majority "leader" Sen. Mitch "Missing in Action" McConnell, having been publicly humiliated by the shitwit, thenceforth had to go powder his nose whenever a camera was nearby (note his absence in the picture above).  When Democrats took over the House and passed the Senate Republican bill keeping the government open, McConnell announced he wouldn't even bring the bipartisan bill to the floor for a vote since the shitwit wouldn't support it. Integrity!

So now we've had several photo- op events intended to demonstrate the shitwit's command of the situation.  Except at every opportunity, he steps on his dick the message, starting with his self- own of the shutdown in the meeting with Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer on December 11. Then, this past Friday, he issues his threat to hold the government, federal and private sector workers hostage indefinitely over his manhood compensator.  Yeah, it's on him.

The master of the deal also seems to lack a certain... understanding of the dynamics:

President Donald Trump told congressional leaders during a meeting Friday to try to negotiate terms to re-open the government and that he preferred the word "strike" in describing the ongoing government shutdown, a person familiar with the meeting and a Democratic aide told CNN. 

Trump also kicked off the meeting with a profanity laden opening salvo lasting more than 15 minutes in which he made it clear that he had no plans to move on from his demand for $5.6 billion to build a border wall, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

A "strike"?  No, you goddamn imbecile, it's exactly the opposite.  It's called a "lockout." Wharton MBA, my ass.

Could anyone believe the shitwit has any empathy for the people whose lives he's damaging? A narcissist like him has no capacity for empathy;  he's also never had to worry about a paycheck, or a mortgage, or when his next McDonald's happy meal was coming.  It's all about him, and him alone. He even signals that the people -- the American citizens -- he's harming are the "enemy", making them all the more expendable:

I don’t care that most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats, I want to stop the Shutdown as soon as we are in agreement on Strong Border Security! I am in the White House ready to go, where are the Dems?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2019

"I don't care."  What a surprise.

UPDATE:  How did Rump get fixated on the manhood wall that's caused the partial government shutdown?  You have to read this.

(Photo:  Shitwit and smug cultists who are still getting paid for some reason.)

Trump Springs A Trap!

via GIPHY

Apparently, Individual 1/ Donald "Rump" Trump and the other stable geniuses at the White (Supremacist) House think they've got Democrats right where they want them in the Trump government shutdown standoff.  Sam Stein and Asawin Suebsaeng provide the geniuses' thoughtful reasoning:

In their eyes, a prolonged stalemate will likely fracture voters along traditional partisan lines, and the ultimate outcome will be a debate waged largely on the president’s terms. Increasingly, they see an upside in forcing likely incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi to have to spend the first days, if not weeks, of the next Congress engaged in an argument over border wall funding rather than her preferred agenda: a mix of sweeping ethics and election reforms and congressional oversight. And they continue to believe that a conversation around immigration and border security is in the president’s best political interests. 

If their strategy of demonizing immigrants in the recent mid- term elections hadn't blown up in their pasty faces, and if, like Individual 1 and his white nationalist minions, Democrats were incapable of multi- tasking, this would still be borderline political malpractice.  Oh, and not incidentally, Nancy Pelosi can run circles around them backwards and in high heels. While Individual 1 may think he can survive holding on to just 35 percent of the electorate, Republicans who've thus far tied themselves to the fate of this repulsive regime may be less enthusiastic about standing next to their fearful leader in this and future inane battles.

Why?  A Reuters/ Ipsos poll out yesterday shows Individual 1's not winning the p.r. battle beyond his knuckle- dragging base, and even then, many of them don't think the government should be shut down over Individual 1's manhood wall :

Forty-seven percent of adults hold Trump responsible, while 33 percent blame Democrats in Congress, according to the Dec. 21-25 poll, conducted mostly after the shutdown began. Seven percent of Americans blamed congressional Republicans. 

The shutdown was triggered by Trump’s demand, largely opposed by Democrats and some lawmakers from his own Republican Party, that taxpayers provide him with $5 billion to help pay for a wall that he wants to build along the U.S.-Mexico border. Its total estimated cost is $23 billion. 

Just 35 percent of those surveyed in the opinion poll said they backed including money for the wall in a congressional spending bill. Only 25 percent said they supported Trump shutting down the government over the matter.  (our emphasis)

That 35 percent represents the generic Trump base. That 25 percent represents the dead- enders in the Trump base.  Congressional Republicans know rabble- rousing over immigration helped cost them 40 seats in the House (and Senate seats in Nevada and Arizona);  having 25 or 35 or even 40 percent of the electorate behind you isn't going to cut it in a general election, especially when Individual 1 is the face of your party and is leading the country further into economic and geopolitical headwinds.  And, of course, wait until the Special Counsel issues his indictments and report.

To see how this is impacting the only thing that matters to Individual 1:

(click on image to enlarge)

(Morning Consult poll of registered voters)

So, to those stable geniuses we say, continue to live in your Fox "News" bubble. That way you'll never see what hit you.

Twit Tweet, Thwap -- Taking Democrats Hostage Edition

Twit tweet:

Have the Democrats finally realized that we desperately need Border Security and a Wall on the Southern Border. Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking,Gang Members & Criminals from coming into our Country. Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2018

Thwap:

All the people not getting paid are Americans... All the people not getting paid are your constituents... All the people not getting paid are who you’re under oath to act as a fiduciary for... All the people not getting paid deserve better than you... We all do #TrumpResign

— We the People (@AmazonWaPo) December 27, 2018

Stephen Miller And The Bullhorn Racism Of Republicans And The Trump Regime

Morally rotted- out Republicans are working overtime to weaponize racial animosity in falsely framing the discussion around the continuing resolution and Dreamers/ DACA.  Since the vast majority of Americans (87%) want to keep Dreamers in this country, Republican white nationalists have decided to ignore the popular case for Dreamers and are going directly to flogging racist stereotypes that have nothing to do with extending protections to people who were brought into this country as children. Surprise, surprise!

Specifically, you may have seen this vile piece of racist misdirection from "Donald J. Trump for President" (or you may just want to take our word for it and skip it):




On Sunday's talk shows, when confronted with this steaming pile of un- American crap, former Koch brothers executive and current Man Baby's legislative affairs director Marc Short offered a mealy- mouthed non- disavowal.  Koch- coin- operated spineless weasel Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan didn't have the courage to denounce the ad either. The lesson, once again, is that we should expect nothing less from the neo- fascists busily dividing us and undermining our democracy.

Meanwhile, Charles Pierce also offers his pithy review:

This thing makes the Willie Horton ad from 1988 look like Live From Lincoln Center. It is the equivalent of all those one-minute speeches from the House—unmoored from the facts, sailing aloft on hot rage and molten ignorance, and that is the state of play as the first business day of the shutdown comes along. There is madness abroad in the land. There are those who can coin it into advantage, which makes it effective, but no less mad.

So, with this level of mendacity to deal with, in addition to the ignorant Man Baby (a.k.a., "Cadet Bone Spurs")who's apparently swayed by the last person to see him, hopes for a resolution are as dim as Man Baby himself.  It's being reported in fact that Man Baby's staff are desperately trying to keep him out of the debate to avoid further damage to their distract and misdirect campaign.

One of the last people to see Man Baby when it comes to immigration is that vicious malignancy Stephen Miller. Yesterday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey "Huckleberry" Graham identified him as a specific reason why a deal on Dreamers/ DACA continues to get sabotaged:

"Every time we have a proposal it is only yanked back by staff members. As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we're going nowhere," the senator told reporters.

In a statement attributed to White (Supremacist) House spokesperson Hogan Gidley (!), but sounding an awful lot like Miller's puerile "I'm rubber, you're glue..." mentality, Huckleberry's words were tossed back at him:

"As long as Sen. Graham chooses to support legislation that sides with people in this country illegally and unlawfully instead of our own American citizens, we're going nowhere. He’s been an outlier for years,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement Sunday night, according to several reports.

Sounds like we have a new candidate for the White (Supremacist) House's Adult Day Care ("Now, Hogan! Play nice! No taunting Lindsey!").

Make no mistake:  white nationalist Republicans want as little immigration as possible, and as for those already in the country who are contributing to making America better and stronger, they want them out. They'll stoop to the most blatant misdirection and racist tactics (with help from their Russian handlers -- see below) to achieve that goal, as we're now seeing in plain sight.

Day Two Of The Trump Shutdown, And Day One Of Year Two

As we enter day two of The Trump Shutdown, here's a little insight into the Adult Day Care operation trying (unsuccessfully) to deal with Man Baby:

In a remarkable, televised 55-minute meeting with about two dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers earlier this month, President Trump twice proclaimed that any immigration deal would need to be “a bill of love” — setting an optimistic tone for averting a government shutdown with a bipartisan solution.   

After the president ordered cameras out of the Cabinet Room that day, the group delved into the details. Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s homeland security secretary, and her staff passed out a four-page document on the administration’s “must haves” for any immigration bill — a hard-line list that included $18 billion for Trump’s promised border wall, eliminating the diversity visa lottery program and ending “extended family chain migration,” according to the document, which was obtained by The Washington Post. 

But one person seemed surprised and alarmed by the memo: the president. 

With Democrats and Republicans still in the room, Trump said that the document didn’t represent all of his positions, that he wasn’t familiar with its contents and that he didn’t appreciate being caught off-guard. He instructed the group to disregard the summary and move on, according to one of the lawmakers in the room, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation. (our emphasis)

With this cypher in a position to wittingly or unwittingly sabotage any legislation coming his way depending on the last person who had his ear, expectations are for a long government shutdown, especially since on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue you have the Republican nut House and its ultra- right wing nativist "Freedom" Caucus holding government hostage, and shithole Senators like McConnell, Cotton and Perdue working to frame the debate as "illegal immigration" rather than Dreamers/ DACA.

Meanwhile, foreign leaders continue to cater to the Man Baby's pathological need for affirmation, especially when they're using him for their own agendas:

During a Jan. 4 phone call in which the South Korean leader briefed the American president on the plans for talks with North Korea, Trump asked Moon to publicly give him the credit for creating the environment for the talks, according to people familiar with the conversation.  

(In these conversations, Trump calls his counterpart “Jae-in” — an unimaginable informality in Korean business etiquette. Moon calls Trump “Mr. President.”)  

Later that night, Trump tweeted that the talks wouldn’t be happening “if I wasn’t firm, strong and willing to commit our total ‘might’ against the North.” 

At a news conference six days later, Moon agreed Trump deserved “huge credit” for the talks. 

Moon is trying to manipulate Trump into effectively undermining his own policy: putting pressure on North Korea, said one former official, asking for anonymity to protect officials still in government.  (our emphasis)

Flattery, bribery or extortion all work equally well in getting Man Baby to see things your way.

Leonard Pitts writes about our diminished state under Man Baby as we enter year two of his regime, expressing feelings we experience every day:

If you are groping for markers by which to measure how profoundly we have been changed since Inauguration Day, here’s one you might want to consider: 

In January of 1998, reports surfaced of a sexual affair between President Bill Clinton and a 24-year old White House intern. It would mushroom into the biggest story of the year. 

In January of 2018, reports surfaced of an alleged payoff by lawyers for the present president to silence a porn star from talking about their alleged sexual affair. It wasn’t even the biggest story of the day.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more visceral illustration of how our sensibilities have been bludgeoned into submission in the last year. Surprises no longer surprise. Shocks no longer shock. We have bumped up against the limits of human bandwidth, find ourselves unable to take it all in. 

One simply cannot keep up with, much less respond with proper outrage to, all of this guy’s scandals, bungles, blame-shifting, name-calling and missteps, his sundry acts of mendacity, misanthropy, perversity and idiocy. It’s like trying to fill a teacup from Niagara Falls. It’s like trying to read the Internet.  [snip]

If that sounds bleak, well, that’s where we stand. Indeed, one year later, both our despair and our hope are encompassed in the same five syllables. 

One down. Three to go.  (our emphasis)

Do we dare hope that it won't be "three to go"? (Hurry, midterms and Special Counsel Mueller!) And, as has been frequently pointed out, Stormtrumpers will cleave to their shithole "president" as we all go right over cliff after cliff.  Best to focus on what we can do: fulfill our obligation to resist, organize and vote.

Finally, with his "a little something for everyone" links, you should check out this weekend's installment of Infidel's eclectic round- up.  It's the Niagara Falls of link round- ups (in a good way).

The Trump Shutdown

#TrumpShutdown becomes top trending hashtag worldwide https://t.co/2yAshGtXAN pic.twitter.com/6yypvm9MS7

— The Hill (@thehill) January 20, 2018

This will be called the #TrumpShutdown. There is no one who deserves the blame for the position we find ourselves in more than President Trump. pic.twitter.com/WE3SH9TpRU

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 20, 2018

From Trump's Director of the Office of Management and Budget:

Mick Mulvaney giddily boasts to Hannity: "The person who technically shuts down the government is me, which is kind of cool"https://t.co/VLbDkIbcAN

— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) January 20, 2018

Once again late Friday, the dolt in the Oval Office was big boy "negotiating" with Sen. Schumer (though Schumer must have seen it as a duel of wits with an unarmed opponent). After Schumer left, the white nationalist trolls =cough= John Kelly & Stephen Miller =cough= pulled him aside and talked the dolt into rejecting yet another bipartisan deal:

Earlier Friday, Trump had brought Schumer to the White House in hopes of cutting a deal on a short-term spending agreement. 

The two New Yorkers, who pride themselves on their negotiating abilities, started talking over cheeseburgers about a larger agreement that would have included greater military spending and money for a southern border wall. 

But the talks fell apart almost as abruptly as they started. In a phone call hours later, the president raised new concerns about the deal he and Schumer had discussed, according to a person familiar with the conversation. In a subsequent phone call with Schumer, chief of staff John Kelly said the deal discussed was too liberal. The White House did not immediately comment on that account.

To accentuate the shallowness of Rump's view of his governmental responsibilities, as the vote on a stopgap Congressional resolution was taken last night, this is what occupied his puerile mind:

The president watched the results from the White House residence, dialing up allies and affirming his belief that Democrats would take the blame for the shutdown, said a person familiar with his conversations but not authorized to discuss them publicly.

He's in for a big disappointment.

#TrumpShutdown.

BONUS: Keith Boykin has the facts:

It's been 112 days since CHIP expired, 112 days since the fiscal year ended without a budget, and 137 days since Trump revoked DACA.

The #TrumpShutdown could have been avoided if Republicans simply did their job last fall instead of waiting until the last minute.

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 20, 2018