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.

Republicans Already Losing The Blame Game

Sad!

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds substantially greater Republican risk in a government shutdown, with Americans by a 20-point margin saying they’re more likely to blame Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress than the congressional Democrats if one occurs.  

Forty-eight percent in the national survey say they’d blame Trump and the GOP, vs. 28 percent who’d blame the Democrats in Congress. An additional 18 percent would blame both equally. 

As is often the case in Washington mud fights, political independents make the difference: They’re more likely to blame the Republican side by 46-25 percent. But there’s also a broad gender gap, with comparative GOP vulnerability among independent women and even among Republican women – notable results a day before the 2018 women’s marches on Saturday.   (our emphasis)

Clearly a plurality of our fellow citizens are paying attention.  That's very good.  But Democrats have to pound the message over and over that the existential problems continues to be the incompetent, extremist Republican Congress and their obeisance to the White (Supremacist) House of Very Stable Genius Donald "Rump" Trump, who refuse to act in good faith on Dreamers and other priorities.

Democrats have the public behind them;  they must lead.

Rick Scott's Irrational Behavior Escalates

We (or rather Carl Hiaasen) have already covered why Republican human/ bat hybrid Gov. Rick "Bat Boy" Scott (Teabag-FL) is the "emptiest suit in America."  Certainly, he has one of the emptiest souls in America, as evidenced by his refusal to expand Medicaid coverage in Florida because !Obamacare!  He's been playing a game of chicken not only with the Obama administration, but with his own Republican-dominated Senate which wants the expansion (the Florida House is another matter, loaded as it is with teabaggers, yahoos and other residents of Galt's Gulch).  Now, with deadlines looming, Bat Boy is getting ready to shut down the State government rather than provide Medicaid coverage to 800,000 low-income Floridians:

(AP) - Gov. Rick Scott told agency heads to prepare for the worst Thursday, asking them to list only the state's most critical needs in the event the Legislature can't reach an agreement on a budget that doesn't expand health care to the poor.

Scott sent the letter to agency heads the day after lawmakers said they were making progress on a budget impasse that they'll seek to resolve in a special session beginning June 1.

"Prepare a list of critical state services our citizens cannot lose in the event Florida is forced to shut down on July 1st," Scott wrote.

"[F]orced to shut down" ... by Bat Boy's soulless, rigid far-right ideology, that is.  Even the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle says Bat Boy is "taking irrational to a new level."

Shame on Florida for electing and then re-electing this p.o.s.  Maybe they're learning what should have been evident from the beginning:  their governor is a bomb-throwing extremist.

(Photo: Yes, that's really Bat Boy - "Mmmm, that fly looks tasty.".)

Today's Republican Rout... and the Schadenfreude

As we prepare to see the New Confederate/ Republican/ Stupid Party surrender at Appomattox in the House, HuffPo has some of the media take, which over time will become the accepted, irrefutable  narrative of this Republican disaster:

Politico called Boehner's efforts a "disaster."

The Washington Post described it as a "humiliating failure," and said Boehner and his leadership colleagues had " lost all control of their majority."

An editorial from the arch-conservative Wall Street Journal board fumed about the GOP strategy, saying that the House caucus "might as well hand the Speaker's gavel to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid" and urging Republicans to give up their fight.

Things were not much better on the morning shows.

"After a shutdown that lasted 16 days, a shutdown led by House Republicans...by the end of today, those Republicans may leave with little to nothing to show for it," NBC's Peter Alexander said.

"House Republicans are the clear losers," was how ABC's Jon Karl put it. "They pushed to the brink and have nothing to show for it.

If it hadn't affected so damn many innocent people and put the well-being of our nation at peril, you'd be tempted to pop the champagne corks.  Also, it's useful to remember, as we take pleasure in their misfortune, that these miserable clowns aren't going anywhere soon.  There will be more destructive mischief from them in the future, count on it.

But, because life is short and uncertain, and we may never see the likes of this again, allow us a little schadenfreude:

Historic Turning Point Quote of the Day

"This is one of those turning points in American political history, the kind you’ll tell your grandkids you were around to see: a once-respectable party that finally was eaten alive by the cultural rage it had so long used to its advantage but held in check in order to win elections. It was a long time coming and it’s a grand thing to watch, provided they don’t wreck the country along with themselves."  --  Michael Tomasky, writing in the Daily Beast, describing the unfolding collapse of the Rethug extortion strategy that drove it to the bottom of the polls.  The "mad dogs," as Tomasky describes them, are still holding forth today at the ironically-named "Value Voters Summit" (key speakers:  Glenn "Boo Hoo" Beck and Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann), their words reverberating in an echo chamber of their own making.

The Difference Between an "Epic Battle" and "Bad Governance"

When You've Lost (Cont.)...

Neo-con legacy hire wingnut John "Putz" Podhoretz, writing in Rupert "Arrrrgh" Murdoch's NY Post:

If ObamaCare had been as unpopular as conservatives believed, their plan for the shutdown — that there would be a public uprising to force Democratic senators in close races in 2014 to defund it — would’ve worked. It didn’t. Not a single senator budged.

Their tactic failed, and now what they are left with is House Speaker John Boehner basically begging the president of the United States to negotiate with him.

Right-wing PAC Heritage Action:

Michael Needham, CEO of the powerful group Heritage Action, said that he opposed conditioning a crucial vote to increase the government's borrowing authority on the group's main goal: defunding Obamacare.

 Astroturf tea bagger Matt "Kibbles" Kibbe, of FreedomWorks:

Matt Kibbe, the president and CEO of the influential conservative group FreedomWorks, also said in a Wednesday interview with The Huffington Post that the debt ceiling should be raised in order to keep the Obamacare fight focused on the continuing resolution.

It might be high time (pun intended) for someone to say "last call," take the bottle out of Mr. Tangerine Man John Boehner's shaky hand and run up the white flag.  It's unconditional surrender time boys.

(Photo:  Sideburn aficionado Kibbe)

Today's Cartoon

(click to enlarge)

(Jen Sorensen, via gocomics.com)

"The Most Dangerous Group in Congress"

  Josh Barro, writing in Business Insider, tells us who "the most dangerous group in Congress" is:

Our government is a disaster because of a small group of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

I'm not talking about the group of Republicans you might think.
Yes, there are 30 to 50 arch conservatives in the House who have been insistent they won't reopen the government without putting a major dent in Obamacare.  These people are not the key problem. They are only relevant because so-called "reasonable" or "realistic" Republicans allow them to be.

The most dangerous group in Congress is moderate Republicans, many from the northeast, who could reopen the government and break extremists' grip on their caucus' agenda, but choose not to.

According to the Washington Post, 21 House Republicans say they are prepared to vote for a "clean" continuing resolution to reopen the government. Together with Democrats, this is enough votes to pass the bill that has already passed the Senate, reopen the government, and stop the madness.

Yet these Republicans who publicly say they favor a clean CR have repeatedly voted with their extremist colleagues to prevent it from coming to a vote.

If moderate House Republicans don't want a government shutdown and favor a clean CR, why have they passed up on ways to end the shutdown?  [our emphasis]

To find Barro's answer to the question, go here.

BONUS:  Harold Meyerson concurs.

More Shutdown Polls

The Rethuglicans.... still losing.

From United Technologies/ National Journal:

The poll shows that 65 percent think "Congress should provide the funding to keep the government operating and deal with the health care issue separately." Just 24 percent think the House "is right to fund the continuing operations of the federal government only if Obama agrees to delay or withdraw his health care plan." [...]

 From Quinnipiac University:

In 2012, Democrats won the House national popular vote by 1.5 percent, but given the GOP's aggressive gerrymander, they need to win that national popular vote by 7-8 percent. (Crazy, huh?) That latest Quinnipiac poll has Democrats with a nine-point advantage, 43-34, and that was pre-shut down. A late July Q-poll had Dems up only four, 40-36. Given yesterday's post-shutdown polling, we could expect numbers to continue moving in the Democrats' direction.

Monday Reading: "Boehner's Bunglers"

Take a look at Paul Krugman's essay on the bungling incompetents of the Republican Party, many of whom, unfortunately, haven't a clue as to the depth of their incompetence:

Unfortunately for all of us, even the shock of electoral defeat wasn’t enough to burst the G.O.P. bubble; it’s still a party dominated by wishful thinking, and all but impervious to inconvenient facts. And now that party’s leaders have bungled themselves into a corner.

Everybody not inside the bubble realizes that Mr. Obama can’t and won’t negotiate under the threat that the House will blow up the economy if he doesn’t — any concession at all would legitimize extortion as a routine part of politics. Yet Republican leaders are just beginning to get a clue, and so far clearly have no idea how to back down. Meanwhile, the government is shut, and a debt crisis looms. Incompetence can be a terrible thing. 

It's giving the "business wing" of the Republican Party severe gastric distress, and beginning to affect some of the tea bagger revolutionaries in their home districts.

"We Did Stop" (The Government) Video (NSFW)

If you don't think the Republicans are getting killed on the government shutdown p.r. front, watch this.  Last night on Saturday Night Live, "Michele Bachmann" (Miley Cyrus) and "John Boehner" (Taran Killam) left no doubt who's responsible:

Poll: Republicans May Lose House in 2014

According to Public Policy Polling, in polls conducted between October 2 and 4, the Republican government shutdown could lead to their losing the House:

For Democrats to win a House majority, 17 seats would need to switch to their party's favor. Results show that would be within reach, as Republican incumbents are behind in 17 of the districts analyzed: CA-31, CO-06, FL-02, FL-10, FL-13, IA-03, IA-04, IL-13, KY-06, MI-01, MI-07, MI-11, NY-19, OH-14, PA-07, PA-08, WI-07.

OK.  We know it's a year away, an eternity in politics.  But these results may represent an awakening by the part of the American public that too often confuses which party is trying to solve problems  versus which party is the problem.

As we note below, refusal by the tea bagger controlled Republicans in the House to accept defeat is what's really at play in the political terrorism going on in the government shutdown and debt ceiling battles.  The best way to change the dynamic of this farce is to change the participants -- at the ballot box in 2014.

Weekly Address: End the Government Shutdown

For your 10 reality-based talking points on the Republican government shutdown and looming debt ceiling battle, here's Kevin Drum.

Today's Cartoons

(click to enlarge)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press, via gocomics.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via gocomics.com)

A Night on Bullshit Mountain

Fox "News", a.k.a., "Bullshit Mountain," takes it unsanded from Jon Stewart (after the ad):

The Discharge Petition Gambit

From Greg Sargent:

Dems have hit on a way to use a “discharge petition,” which forces a House vote if a majority of Representatives signs it, to try to force the issue. Previously, it was thought this could not work, because a discharge petition takes 30 legislative days to ripen, so if this were tried with the clean CR that passed the Senate, this couldn’t bear fruit until some time in November.

But now House Democrats say they have found a previously filed bill to use as a discharge petition — one that would fund the government at sequester levels.

It would take 218 signatures on the petition to force an up or down vote in the House on a clean Continuing Resolution, meaning 18 Republicans would have to sign the petition as well as every Democrat.  We would then see how many of the "moderate" =snicker=  Republicans in the House who've gone on record saying they would vote for a clean CR would actually vote for it and end the Republican government shutdown.  Worth a try.

Today's Cartoon - Boom Goes The Government

(click to enlarge)

(Chris Britt, via gocomics.com)

"The Reign of Morons"

From the estimable Charles P. Pierce:

We have elected an ungovernable collection of snake-handlers, Bible-bangers, ignorami, bagmen and outright frauds, a collection so ungovernable that it insists the nation be ungovernable, too. We have elected people to govern us who do not believe in government.

We have elected a national legislature in which Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann have more power than does the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who has been made a piteous spectacle in the eyes of the country and doesn't seem to mind that at all. We have elected a national legislature in which the true power resides in a cabal of vandals, a nihilistic brigade that believes that its opposition to a bill directing millions of new customers to the nation's insurance companies is the equivalent of standing up the the Nazis in 1938, to the bravery of the passengers on Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, and to Mel Gibson's account of the Scottish Wars of Independence in the 13th Century. We have elected a national legislature that looks into the mirror and sees itself already cast in marble.

We did this. We looked at our great legacy of self-government and we handed ourselves over to the reign of morons.

As Pierce goes on to say, don't expect any of this to change in an electoral tsunami any time soon.   It's taken 50 years to get us to this point and it may take another 50 to get us out.  We have too many people invested in making sure dots aren't connected and blame is evenly distributed =cough= mainstream media =cough= for fingers to be pointed in the right direction.  It's going to be a long struggle against the ungovernable collection noted above, and to restore the notion that government can work in the public interest once "the reign of morons" is ended.