monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

The Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something horribly worse has failed for a hilarious reason. Moderate Republicans feared losing their seats because they'd be taking away benefits that people only recently got. Extremist Republicans didn't feel the bill went far enough in ******* over the poor. Trump is angry and just wants to move on. Hmm… maybe he's not familiar with the way Republicans usually do things. Shouldn't the Tea Party be threatening to shut down the government?

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@jcboy,

I would feel a bit more safe for celebrating the failure to vote for the repeal, if they actually held a vote. instead they more or less postponed it. Anything could happen, or nothing. Hopefully, nothing until smarter people are in charge.

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In watching the circus of attempts at repealing the ACA, I'd been beginning to wonder today if republicans really hated it as much as all the vehement clamor would have suggested, or rather if it was just a wonderfully useful political device

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Just like a cheese-eating lefty to try to stop any demonstration by others while they're protesting, rioting, and physically attacking Trump supporters 24/7, eh?

Quote:

'Make America Great Again' marches planned Saturday; anti-Trump groups vow to stop them

They’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. So they’re marching.

On Saturday, backers of President Trump are planning marches across the country in a show of unity and support for his agenda.

Anti-Trump groups say they want to undermine the pro-Trump march.

“We aren’t going to start fights, but we are going to try to stop them from completing their march,” said Byron Lopez, an organizer, who added that he expects about 100 people.

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@cicerone imposter,

He's believed his own hype. Always a mistake.

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@layman,

Yeah the only thing more sad than the fact that people have to take to the streets to tend to the president's sense of worth is people who feel they have to stop them.

Cheese-eaters all around, uh?

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I guess he aint no "favorite son" in his home state, eh? They do have an "Obama day" in Kenya, though.

Quote:

Illinois lawmakers decline to declare official Barack Obama day

Lawmakers in Illinois recently declined to declare an official Obama day. The bill would have made the former president's birthday a holiday in Illinois, reports the Chicago Tribune.

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@Baldimo,

Quote:

Didn't Obama and the DNC spend 8 years blaming Bush and then the GOP?

Well yeah — they blamed Bush for two expensive, unfinished wars and a crippling recession. And after the '10 elections they blamed the GOP for the Tea Party. But there's a difference — the two situations can't be directly compared. You'd have to narrow it down and find instances during the first two years of the Obama presidency (when they controlled both houses) where the Democrats couldn't agree — maybe the Guantanamo vote?

While it's pretty common to blame the previous administration or the opposition party or the press, I don't think anyone looks good playing the blame game. It can signify a lack of imagination or an attempt to avoid responsibility. It just seemed especially incongruous here when the source of the failure was obviously within his own party. The House majority looked awful. And Trump really should take more responsibility. He never said anything specific about his plan except that it was going to be an improvement. He didn't lead on this, he didn't have a vision, he didn't inspire, he didn't have a plan — other than "Repeal Obamacare on Day One".

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Le Pen had openly a chat with Putin today - she didn't hide that she is politically closest to Putin ...

Indeed, she's another big fan of the bare chested comrade. Isn't fascism a mutant form or an imitation of the Bolcheviks, at the root? Replace the proletariat by the Volk.

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Brings Rachael "Butch" Maddcow to mind, eh?

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On the bright side for Republicans, at least they got something tangible done with all those 30 or 50 votes held in the House over the last 6 years to repeal Obamacare.

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@blatham,

60.

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@cicerone imposter,

Wow. They got much more done than I thought. Good for them. Taxpayer dollars well spent.

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This is a fairly lengthy piece by David Frum but it is very good indeed. Some years ago, Frum wrote a searing blog post (included below) which lost him many conservative friends and which got him tossed from the AEI - because he broke from orthodoxy. He's a very smart guy and definitely a conservative, just not in the mode of modern extremism. I expect there is not a single Republican/conservative on A2K who has any use for Frum. That's a mistake.

Quote:

The Republican Waterloo
Conservatives once warned that Obamacare would produce the Democratic Waterloo. Their inability to accept the principle of universal coverage has, instead, led to their own defeat.

Atlantic

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Benen on the value and effectiveness of citizen activism re this bill collapsing.

Quote:

But let’s not overlook one of the more important factors: regular ol’ Americans stepped up in a big way, pressured lawmakers not to take their families’ health benefits away, and it made an enormous difference.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this report from exactly one month ago today.
Republican Rep. Mo Brooks said Thursday that protests at town halls around the country might prevent Republican lawmakers from repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Quote:
“I’ll tell you, Toni, there are a, in my opinion, a significant number of congressmen who are being impacted by these kinds of protests and their spine is a little bit weak,” the Alabama congressman said in an interview on “The Morning Show with Toni & Gary” on WBHP 800 Alabama radio. “And I don’t know if we’re going to be able to repeal Obamacare now because these folks who support Obamacare are very active, they’re putting pressure on congressman and there’s not a counter-effort to steel the spine of some of these congressmen in tossup districts around the country.”

As we discussed at the time, Brooks wasn’t exactly pleased with the progressive activism – he’s a far-right critic of the ACA – but the Alabama Republican nevertheless saw the fight slipping away because so many American voters were stepping up and speaking out against repeal efforts.

Benen
There's a lesson here. Don't get hopeless. Get active.

1 Reply

@Baldimo,

Quote:

Didn't Obama and the DNC spend 8 years blaming Bush and then the GOP?

I dont ever recall hearing Obama say that "I inherited a real mess" . Trump inherited a mess like a 97% recovered economy from the precipice that Bush did take us to. Yet Obama NEVER insulted Bush the way that pres Tweets is carrying on.

History will give Obama a very high grade (and it will be even higher when compared to Trump and Bush as members of the Bell curve.
Heres pres Teenyhands TWeetsy pie

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@farmerman,

Dumb ppl love blame games.

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@Fil Albuquerque,

dense me, what take is going ln..

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@blatham,

It kind of sounds like Rep. Mo Brooks has problems representing the people who elected him. Perhaps he would be more comfortable in a different district or just retiring.

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Youre obsessed with "dumb people", many felons engage in "Blame gamery" just because they are pathological liars. IQ has nothing to do with it.
I think Trump is at the 97 percentile in an SB IQ test. Hes also a goodly bit ADD an a very goodly bit pathological liar.

THE BIG LIE is an art form practiced by despots and used car salesmen the world over

1 Reply

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