While we’re waiting to see if anything interesting happens in Iowa tonight, I want to call your attention to something Josh Marshall wrote today.
Keep an eye on how the national press covers this. The White House, as you know, has been under immense pressure to offer concessions to address the continuing large number of migrants coming to the U.S.-Mexico border. Now there’s a bipartisan compromise bill in the Senate. Last night Majority Leader Steve Scalise said that bill is DOA in the House. But Speaker Johnson said something more specific and revealing. He refused to bring up the bill and according to Jake Sherman of Punchbowl said “Congress can’t solve border until Trump is elected or a republican is back in the White House.”
Two things to note here. First, Johnson isn’t saying they won’t consider this bill. He’s saying they won’t consider any bill until Trump is elected. Sherman appears to have accepted the GOP wording — that “Congress can’t solve [the] border until Trump is elected.” But there’s more here. Johnson is saying openly that they won’t pass any bill until Trump is elected. In other words, however out of control they claim the border is they want to keep it that way through November to use it as a political issue. There’s a bipartisan deal but House Republicans are rejecting it out of hand. That’s not terribly surprising. But your political opponents seldom state it so openly. It’s an opening for the White House. Let’s see if they take it.
I’ve been saying for some time that if Republicans don’t like what’s happening at the border, there is absolutely nothing that’s stopping Republicans in Congress from writing whatever laws and appropriating whatever money needed to create a better system for border security. I suspect if the plan isn’t too crazy a lot of Democrats would sign on. But nope. The House Republican plan is to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Yeah, that’ll fix it.
It appears a faction of House Republicans (and we know who they are) sincerely believe it is their duty to be sure the government doens’t do a dadblamed thing that requires negotiating with Democrats. Which means Congress is frozen. A tiny House majority by itself cannot pass anything. They are already grumbling about dumping Mike Johnson, I understand. See also Why The World Is Betting Against American Democracy at Politico.
RepubliKLAN KKKongressperson: What a great job!
$174,00 for doing nothing – except for passing on or creating conspiracies, bitchin about the Democrats, and threatening to impeach every Democrat who can be impeached.
We would be better off if we could staff Congress with 3 year-olds who have ADD & ADHD.
But those 3 year year-olds would be too mature!
And too smart!!!
Nothing interesting happened in Iowa. The only amazing thing was that the media pretended anything else would happen. The issue related to the election is the DC J6 trial. Somewhere between 20 to 40 percent of Trump backers will abandon him if he's convicted according to multiple polls.
Regarding what will happen at the border until a Republican is elected…
"Three migrants, including two children, died in Texas on Saturday after state authorities blocked Border Patrol from accessing the area."
The State of Texas will murder people seeking asylum – no admittance, no hearing, no compassion until an equally heartless POTUS authorizes more murders with a guarantee of no consequences. My personal position is that the US can't have open borders but we can't lead the world in cruelty. If it costs money to hire judges and house migrants while their status is adjudicated fairly, pay it.
Regarding the impeachments and Hunter Biden hearings…
This is all for show. At this time, there's no proof that Biden is corrupt though the the GOP screams it daily. They've been doing hearings and investigations for years and they have NOTHING concrete. The GOP has hitched their wagon to TFG and there's every indication that Smith and Willis have the goods. I'm talking about evidence and testimony that doesn't exist against Joe Biden.
Here's the funny part. The GOP wants the media spotlight on Congressional sideshows to throw shade on Donald Trump and his criminal trials. As if Hunter Biden dic* pics and the impeachment of Mayorkis (who almost nobody knows or cares about) will overshadow testimony by people duped into signing the fake elcoror's documents when the Trump trial could put Trump away for a minimum of 20 years! Tell me which will get more attention.
Trump's previous lawyers have flipped – they are testifying against Trump. One of his current lawyers jumped ship today. TFG is gonna be nailed cold for trying to steal the election through fraud and violence. But the GOP thinks people will be riveted by accusations against Mayorkis. The big enchilada for the GOP is impeaching Joe Biden. Puhlease! At this time, there is ZERO evidence against Biden. If/when it comes up for a vote in the House to impeach, it won't pass. Not because a majority in the House loves Biden but because a trial in the Senate will show what a groundless put-up job it is. Which Joe Biden can campaign on. SO if they put a Biden mpeachment up for a vote and it fails, that's fodder for Biden to use as well. Remember how the Clinton impeachment backfired? This will too, but they are too stupid not to go for it.
The timing of any impeachment does not matter – we're either just before, during or just after a Trump trial for ALL of 2024. The only way I'm wrong is if the USSC intervenes to halt all federal prosecution of Trump AND the GA prosecution implodes. Either of which I consider unlikely, both of which I consider nearly impossible.
The Late, Great, Molly Ivins pointed out *everyone* knew how to handle border security: everyone who hires an undocumented worker goes to jail. Yes, even that nice lady who hired a housekeeper/nanny, and emphatically that meat packing plant foreman.
No jobs = no (or, minimal) undocumented immigration.
Her point wasn't that we should *do* that (or so I believe) – her point was, "they know how to stop it, so why haven't they? Because they *like* the status quo, that's why!"
I've never seen a better articulation of border/immigration issues in the US (meaning I've probably already mentioned it in another comment).
My comment dun got eated.
I can’t find anything from you in the twit filter, sorry.
In an Apocalypse Now way. somewhere up the river, past the lion, way past the USO show, even past Marlan Brando is the Iowan Trump voter. He rules in the sticks near the headwater. They wait for his second coming as only he can properly deal with the influx of migrants who bring nothing but peril and food that is way too spicy.
They don't just not want the migrants they don't want many of the people that currently live in their county. Just look at the county population figures over time. A lot of places have a hard time supporting any retail establishment other than a grain elevator. Their kids spend more time riding in a school bus than they do in class. You usually learn by the third grade if you are one of the people who best look to move out permanently after high school.
Rachael Maddow points out in her podcast about her book that the reason that fascism is on the rise is that it is popular with some people. Look at the areas of Iowa that voted for Trump. These places are bastions of intolerance for just about everyone and everything they don't like. On the main streets of a similar town in my state, a resident had the words GO AWAY etched in stone and proudly displayed on their front porch. Not even a friendly facade there. I think Rachael's contention is well supported. Dying rural areas do like Trump and his perverted form of elitism. Just look at the Iowa voting data by area.
I have been waiting for this, the perfect rebuttal to “God Made Trump”
God Made a Dictator
thank you!!!!
Excellent!!
I don't know what happened in Iowa. I know what's reported – that the turnout was light and it was a blowout for Trump. I'm also convinced that the polling regarding Trump reflects that the GOP voter is in love with the guy. But I read, years ago, that many of the fawning admirers who witnessed Trump descend the elevator were paid props. Trump does "stage" things – it's in his DNA to fake it, and part of his experience with "The Apprentice." So were the results in Iowa straight-up honest? Given that a blizzard drove down turnout, it would have taken fewer paid supporters to game the system.
Trump can't game the whole system. He can't buy the millions of votes it will take when it's an election rather than a caucus. But Trump understands the value of the perception that he's inevitable. So it's the early contests where he will put his pudgy finger on the scale.
The E. Jean Carroll lawsuit is underway. Jury selection concluded and Trump attended. Deepthroat Habba mixed it up with the judge, disputing a judgment about delaying the trial that had already been made in writing. Which suggests that Trump is going for theatrics in the courtroom to deflect the narrative. This will all take less than a week and the decision isn't about guilt, it's about damages. I don't know New Yorkers but grandstanding in front of a jury that is hearing the details of a sexual assault is not a winning strategy with any group I know. If Trump could do "contrite" and point out that it happened a long time ago and/or that he was under the effect of medication, it might help. But he's gonna come out with more defamation during the trial outside the courtroom because "contrite" isn't in his repertoire. IMO, this isn't just reactionary or emotional on Trump's part. He's gonna do his chest-thumping routine even if it costs him an extra $50 million because the audience demands it. Martyrdom is how Trump intends to deflect the convictions that would sink a lesser person. Anybody else would be sunk by a rape conviction. But for the non-cultist voter, the second round of a rape trial won't play well.
Also, the criminal trial is on in NY for the hush money paid to silence not one, but two women who had affairs with Trump. He's pretty much conceded that he paid the money. They have the receipts from Michael Cohen and from the publisher of the Enquirer. Also, I wonder how Trump's attempt to use the funeral of his mother-in-law will play with Melania. I'm not predicting she will, but at some point will Melania be fed up with Donald, maybe enough to go public? Stormy Daniels' testimony should strike a nerve. If Donald is flaunting an affair with Habba, which seems to be the case, Donald might push her over the edge. (As an aside, history is not a recitation of events and dates. It's about people. Vanity, pride, and anger can divert history.)
I'm disappointed we don't have a ruling from the appeals court on Trump's claim of absolute immunity. "Justice delayed is justice denied." needs to be a mantra for the courts. Voters have a right to the facts and a significant number don't believe the slanted news from any mainstream source and are too lazy to dig out the facts. But they belive in the judicial system, the structure that's designed to suppress propaganda and posturing and deliver facts to an impartial panel of average folks who make a binding decision. But we gotta get there before the election or the system will be swept away.
48 hours of non stop breathless coverage of Stump, msnbc is the worst, they are all so fucking surprised and worried? Wow it's news he won the primary of racist white slobs! Can you fucking believe it, I can. Meanwhile hundreds of non combatant civilians die every day in Gaza. Zero coverage, none, nada, zilch. The only thing more corrupt than Stump is our corporate news industry, and it's not just them not alot of ink about it anywhere. Something about those Palestinians, what could it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRjsBh_R3TQ
You must have missed Bernie Sanders on MSNBC/Chris Hayes last night. worth watching.
https://youtu.be/7nlCYNT7Z9I?si=Y4Q3Ajy-vssHohF8
I did miss it, I can't stomach much of the evening msnbc folks. Good to see someone cover it. The suprising thing is Bernie has been shouting from the rooftops about Israel's war crimes for months but he gets almost zero press about it. Not a position that sells soap!
Bernie got 7 minutes, Stump got 23 hours for getting 50,000 votes in Iowa. The cables and print media in this country are for the most part ignoring the slaughter in Gaza.
After reading Heather Cox Richardson about Iowa, my main takeaway is that those who voted for Trump were predominantly old. His supporters who came out in subzero cold were a small sample, skewed statistically, and not representative of the country, nor even really of Iowa. He lost in the college towns, and a not-insignificant number voted for his opponents. Take with a grain of salt.
Magical thinking is a near oxymoron. It is fine for fiction but not politics. A commenter to the WP piece by Jennifer Rubin on trump's trial behavior had another view of his thinking or at least his current level of verbal behavior. He goes by the label of The Hillbilly Guy, and IMO resembles the style and impact of the gulag. It is good enough IMO to be quoted, and I should note that it was marked as edited:
The Hillbilly Guy must be a reader of Jennifer Rubin as he ended with her admonishment to cover him as a cult leader. Good for him.
This morning's courtroom fireworks reported by Inner City Press…
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1747993746220650936
Habba is trying little-league stunts in the majors. The question is what the effect will be on the jury. Trump's not there today – he's pouting at his mother-in-law's funeral. Stepping back, Trump must know the only question is how big the damages in the E. Jean Carroll civil suit will be. Trump's investing in the trial by being there. confronting the judge, and making comments for the benefit of the jury. So the charade is (IMO) all about the MAGA audience, to condition them to disregard the evidence that is being presented in the rape trial and the evidence that's coming in the criminal trials!
Holding off any bill until Dear Leader is installed, if carried off successfully, will:
Cement the GOP as the ‘immigration control party’ adding this claim to the claims of being the party for: Defense, business, foreign policy, prosperity. Never mind that all are false. This is America where the brand doesn’t need to live up to the hype.
It will also give Trump an easy win early. It doesn’t matter what their bill has in it. They will declare victory and go home.
This will allow rump to claim he is the ‘Problem solver’. The problem being mostly hype and solved by hype.