Month: September 2018

This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent out a fundraising email in which she kept the subject topical, using the allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh to launch a pitch for her war chest. Warren wrote, “Christine Blasey Ford has done a brave thing in coming forward. She deserves to be heard and treated with respect. Now it’s the Senate’s job to make sure that happens.”

This month Warren tries to make money off of an allegation of sexual assault that hasn’t been proven. In July she tried to raise money by portraying herself as a defender of all women from President Trump:

As The Boston Herald noted, “But Warren apparently only feels strongly about cases she can exploit to her benefit. Hence her silence on Democratic colleague and choice for DNC Chair, Rep. Keith Ellison, whose former girlfriend Karen Monahan claims he physically and emotionally abused her. Far from being supported and believed, Monahan says she has been ‘smeared, threatened and isolated by her own party.’”

Shutdown, here we come! Start up the clocks and set up the sad-tourist photo ops. Despite what looked like an almost unnaturally smooth budget process in Congress over the past few weeks, we might end up with a new operational crisis thanks to sudden opposition in the White House to a bipartisan spending bill.

Apparently, no one told Donald Trump that funding for the border wall got pushed off again:

I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2018

The bill doesn’t entirely zero out wall funding, but it’s not robust either. The two sides settled on about a third of Trump’s request for 2019, but it might well be the last shot to get anything:

Senate Democrats have agreed to $1.6 billion for Trump’s wall in 2019, far short of the $5 billion that Trump is seeking. Convinced they do not have the votes in the Senate to get Trump the money he wants, GOP leaders elected to put off a fight over Trump’s signature campaign issue until after the midterms.

But Trump’s tweet on Thursday raises the question many Republicans so far have been unwilling to answer: how can they assure him they will be able to secure wall funding after the midterm elections?

That’s a pretty good question, and one that might drive Trump to play hardball to get what he wants now. Roll Call’s John T. Bennett thinks this signals a budget shutdown, or may just be a way to rally his base ahead of the midterms:

President Donald Trump raised the odds of a government shutdown that lawmakers from both parties thought they had averted, calling a spending package headed his way to keep the federal lights on “ridiculous.” …

The president might simply be appealing to his conservative base with the shutdown-threatening tweet. He brought the government to the brink of a shutdown in March with a seemingly out-of-the-blue veto threat on a Friday morning with the funding clock ticking toward zero. By that afternoon, he signed a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package after lawmakers had left town — then joined them by flying away from the White House to his New Jersey golf resort.

At that time, though, Trump said he wouldn’t sign another bill like it in the future after previously threatening to veto the omnibus bill for its lack of border-wall funding. He called a press conference to vent his disgust with the bill and made that threat explicit. Trump has been known to make threats over domestic policy and conveniently forget them later, but the media reports at the time painted him as a sucker — and he won’t have forgotten that.

Although, as Bennett also points out, Trump stopped threatening shutdowns after huddling with GOP leadership at the beginning of the month:

In fact, he has since threatened to shut down the federal government this fall unless Democrats give in to his border security demands, including giving him billions more for his proposed southern border wall. He has dropped the threat at campaign rallies and on Twitter, even as GOP leaders and rank-and-file members of the spending committees assured reporters the government would not again shut down in a few weeks.

Should Democrats continue denying Trump his border barrier and other demands and the president make good on his high-stakes threat, it would be the third funding lapse of his tenure. It also would shutter the government just weeks before voters will decide which party controls the House and Senate — and the Trump-GOP agenda — come January.

That’s really why Trump can’t, or at least shouldn’t, pull the trigger on a shutdown. Regardless of whom Trump blames for the bill in front of him, the midterm elections will take place five weeks after the budget deadline. If the federal government shuts down, especially in a dispute between Republican leaders, voters will punish the party in charge at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue for a shutdown. Even as a means of rallying the base, it’s dangerous; it signals to the Trump voters that the GOP needs to energize that there’s no point in voting for Republicans. It’d be a buzzkill that a dozen Trump rallies couldn’t overcome.

That may be why Trump didn’t explicitly threaten a shutdown, although one can certainly take a hint from his tweet-blast. He can try to sell the “Dems are obstructing law enforcement” argument in the midterms by complaining about the bill now, and still signing it. But if that’s the strategy, then perhaps that should be in all-caps, and “REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!” can get demoted to regular case … even if it’s true.

By the way, the spending plan is awful — but the biggest problem isn’t that it doesn’t have enough spending. It’s that it has far too much spending, as usual, but no one seems to care:

Weeks before the midterm elections, conservatives in the House are gaining little traction on fiscal issues as Congress passed one spending bill after another in bipartisan votes.

It’s a significant shift from the last few years, when the House Freedom Caucus often threw a wrench into appropriations plans with demands to cut mandatory spending and advance other conservative priorities.

“It’s a little bit frustrating right now,” said Rep. Mark Walker, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the largest GOP caucus in the House.

That battle was lost in the earlier bipartisan budget agreement, however. Six weeks before the midterms, few on Capitol Hill want to re-fight that battle in appropriations. Does Trump agree?

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) decided to mock Donald Trump Jr., an avid hunter, by creating a Halloween costume of him with blood dripping down his face as a leopard was posed behind him. But Trump Jr., as the hunter he is, had PETA in his crosshairs and promptly neutered them with a blast of his own.

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk gleefully stated, “There’s nothing more frightful than an entitled ghoul who gets his kicks from gunning down wild animals. This Halloween, PETA will help people poke fun at someone who believes that the world and its wildlife are here for him to take.”

According to The Hill, “The $169 ‘Donald Trump Jr. Hunting Halloween’ costume, for which PETA is currently accepting pre-orders on its website, includes a blood-stained camouflage jacket with a name tag that reads ‘Half-Cocked.’ A red cap and a leopard stuffed animal are also part of the get-up, although a listing indicates ‘prop gun not included.’”

According to PETA , the costume was “inspired by and is a twist on the trophy-hunting photo that showed the Trump brothers grinning over the body of a dead leopard.”

Trump Jr., 40, a member of the Boone and Crocket Club, has been photographed holding elephant and leopard trophies. He didn’t have much trouble bagging PETA:

When she turned 75, three years ago, The Washington Post called Nancy Pelos an “effective leader.“

Three years later, and with a different president in the White House, liberal faithful like actress and activist Alyssa Milano would seem to agree.

Milano has tweeted about how ‘terrifying’ the former speaker of the House and current minority leader is — allegedly — to Republicans:

Can you do me a favor? Can you retweet this if you’re sick of Republicans attacking Nancy Pelosi? They only attack her, because they’re absolutely terrified of her. They should be. Listen to a new #DworkinReport below. https://t.co/985kAijwxA

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) August 15, 2018

And while conservatives loathe the policies Pelosi helped pass during her two years as House speaker during the Obama administrations, some, like conservative actor James Woods, think Pelosi might be one of the Republicans’ most effective weapons to bring out their voters in November — and stop Pelosi from getting the House gavel again.

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I agree. I’m sick of Republicans attacking Pelosi. They should be throwing rose petals at her feet. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth! https://t.co/mfIZEGnQbl

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 21, 2018

For many on the right, Pelosi is not terrifying at all. In fact, she is the meme that keeps on giving.

Who could forget her referring to the Trump tax breaks “crumbs,” on more than one occasion calling President Trump “President Bush” (a Gateway Pundit count put the number at five in 2017 alone), and saying that mowing the grass would work to control illegal immigration instead of building a border wall?

But it isn’t just Republicans who see some flaws with Pelosi. One Democrat shared that Pelosi’s continued high visibility is actually harming the Democrat Party:

No. 🚫

I’m a Democrat and transgender. I’ve heard Nancy Pelosi call people Nazis that aren’t actually Nazis. So she has done wonderful things in the past but she’s NOW doing things that harm the #democrats @TheDemocrats

I agree the Republican Party is in the wrong though.

— Shawn Sunshine Strickland (@Strickalator) August 15, 2018

But that Democrat is not alone. The Atlantic — that liberal redoubt — has now reported that multiple Democrats have signed a petition that could have a direct impact on Pelosi’s future.

It first noted that it has been “described as a direct shot at Nancy Pelosi.” Then the article explained that, “At least 10 Democrats in the lower chamber have signed on to a letter to Caucus Chair Joe Crowley seeking a change to caucus rules that would raise the number of votes required to nominate a candidate for speaker.

“Current rules mandate that a nominee receive support from only a simple majority of caucus members before advancing to the floor for a vote. The letter requests that threshold be changed to 218, a majority of the House.”

In other words, if Democrats do retake the House in the November midterms, Pelosi would likely need the votes of all but a few of the Democrat representatives. (Democrats need to win at least 24 more seats in the House than they now hold even get the 218 votes they would need to elect a speaker.)

Ten signatures on the petition may not sound like a lot, and it isn’t. However, the article also reported that more weren’t needed for the petition to be taken seriously. It has enough support for the Democrat caucus to vote on it.

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“Only five are needed for a vote on a petition like this one,” the article reported. “The proposed rule change will be voted on next week.”

No matter how the proposal fares, it’s a sign of rebellion among Democrats restless under Pelosi’s rule.

And this is from The Atlantic, the magazine so liberal it lets liberal social media mobs decide who it will hire and fire.

In the meantime, those on the right will continue to have fun at the expense of the “terrifying” Pelosi. Memes and political cartoons are sure to continue to be produced.

Reposting @thedeusvault:#democrats #chuckschumer #nancypelosi #qanon #maga #LockThemAllUp #trump #censorship #FreeSpeech #2ndAmendment #guncontrol #SecondAmendment #GunReformNow #deepstate #corruption #lockherup #Alfie #FreeHealthCare #Obamacare #USA #trump #trumpmemes pic.twitter.com/L2ksZRGLSX

— Tim Gradous (@tgradous) September 20, 2018

You’re kidding me right Nancy? I love my crumbs.. pic.twitter.com/4YY39L8RjI

— Covfefe Jerry (@JerryLanci) September 14, 2018

And Pelosi’s supporters will continue to hit back. Pelosi herself has made it clear that she has no plans on going anywhere:

Nancy Pelosi Mocks Conservatives, Says She’s Going Nowhere: “As Long as Trump’s Here, I’m Here” https://t.co/4Is0kw5fjm #proife #maga pic.twitter.com/iOivbVVxum

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) September 10, 2018

According to LifeNews, she credits President Donald Trump with her determination to stay put, despite acknowledging that not only will her caucus determine leadership within, but in fact, “it’s time for new blood.”

LifeNews added that in a CNN interview, she also claimed, “If Hillary Clinton had won, and the Affordable Care Act was protected — I feel very proprietary about that — I was happy to go my way. If the election were held today, we would win overwhelmingly and women would lead the way.”

“We have so many excellent women candidates from women across the country. Women marched and then they ran, and now they’re running and now they’re going to be members of Congress.”

It bears noting that Republicans have women in the Trump administration, in Congress, and running for office.

And it’s a good bet they’re more “effective” at what they do then Nancy Pelosi can dream of.

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ZIP |
September 20, 2018 5:20 pm