Heh heh heh. That poor beagle. But, that's my Prez. LBJ would have worse blackmail material on Schumer than Trump does (Trump is always a second raters)
I think he did the right thing very badly. As Frank Zappa said, politics is show business for ugly people, and perceptions matter at least as much as policy. Ignore anger at your peril.
Unfortunately the news media does not seem to grasp this lesson. They keep doing the same thing expecting a different result. There's a name for that kind of thinking...
No right thing, but of the two wrong things, I think he did the appeasier one. It reads as if he is playing the string out long enough in hopes the torchy pitchforkers take over and he can wash his hands of it all. Tricky.
Adding that this is more or less what Schumer said to the Times last week (referring to elected republicans who would need to turn against Queens Man and would only do so if their constituents rise up on their hind legs)...that is, he himself declined to take on the chore of leading.
He knows where this is heading. He wants to get out of the way.
why do you think this? To me it looks like the CR gave the legal affirmation to much of the DOGE madness and has done nothing to even thin about checking Trump as the courts will likely have to start siding with DJT
But saying "Trump can shift around money within the Dept. of Education however he wants" isn't the same as saying "Trump can eliminate the Dept. of Education outright." If the thing has any funding in it for the Dept. of Education, then does that make it even clearer that Trump has no Congressional authority to close it?
But honestly, I have no idea how the courts will read this, positive or negative.
Trump isn't going to get rid of the DofEd. He is going to hollow it out and likely give it over to the religious schools and home schoolers. Also it was not a clean CR. It had several poison pills related to thing Trump/DOGE has done
So some years ago, we're down in NYC's Chinatown for the New Year's parade. Chuck is on the stand. While the parade is as normal delayed, he's standing there with that normal politician facial rictus of a smile, looking dumber than any piece of shit sitting on a sidewalk. And that's where Chuck became extra detestable to me.
But the worst of last week's sell out is that it was an individual fucking up but a party deliberately failing. If the party was committed to doing shit, it would be clear. That Chuck's getting no party pushback says way too much.
Meanwhile, let's check in with the other NYS senator/Chuck-appointed headed of the DSCC:
The national Democrats aren't just powerless but irrelevant. Like the Republicans ca the mid-1960s, but the Republicans were already doing something about it. These venal cowards have no such interest as long as the grift's working or there's a progressive takeover of the party.
should be the chant of choice at today's mild counter-revolutionary gathering out front here. Me, I'll be on the bridge next door watching the newly-carved nest of the red-bellied woodpecker...
A fine time was had by most. About a hundred of us waved signs at rush hour traffic, eliciting a steady chorus of car horns. Only 3 cops showed up, chatted, hung around to make sure the traffic kept moving. I distributed the last of my 40 year old No Nazi buttons to various big, medium and little old ladies and/or their dogs.
Got in a solid hour of merriment before the rain hit.
The zoo?!! Such luxury! Why, when I was a young piglet I used to dream of living at the zoo, not having to fight for the trough, having a proper hog waller...sigh.
Eh. I won’t be surprised if I don’t spend my last years in a non-death Trump Koncentration Kamp®️.
He has no limit on how low he can go, no one (worldwide) has any interest in not submitting to every awful thing he does… So concentration camps for whatever he doesn’t like, just like a psycho infantile bully.
All true, the only winners will be the fash republicans, which is actually all the republicans. Also, political science nerds who were interested in experiencing what the extinction of the Federalists or the collapse of the Whigs was like. As for the rest of us...
That Chuck's getting no party pushback says way too much.
there has been quite a bit of elected Dem pushback, mostly from Jeffries and the House, who Chuck appears to have stabbed in the back. Also Sen. Bennet of CO came out for new Senate leadership
The reason the rationale "trust the process" would fall flat for Chuck is because it isn't only MAGA Republicans who no longer trust the process. The process was supposed to impeach Trump. The process was supposed to criminally convict Trump. The process was supposed to prevent Trump from running for President again so he'd never get anywhere near the Oval Office a second time. The process has failed time and again. Why would ANYONE trust the process?
Yeah. You win End Of Story award for the day. I mean, irrespective of political persuasion, there truly is NO ONE in this country who trusts the process.
Yeah. Some people see John Roberts slapping Trump's wrist about impeaching judges who rule against the Administration as hopeful. As a sign Roberts is thinking "uh oh, that leopard is staring at MY face and he looks hungry." I'm not so sure. Roberts is the same guy who basically declared Trump a king less than a year ago.
They've got a 6-3 majority, but it isn't 6 Clarence Thomases, and they already lost that USAID case 5-4. So you'd think maybe cool it with the judge-attacking, even conservative judges - even judges that Trump himself appointed! - really don't like that shit. Judges have a lot of discretion and they normally show an enormous amount of deference to the Executive, deference that could be easily withdrawn, so "tread lightly" is what any normal, thinking person would do in this situation. But not Trump.
I'm not saying this is all going to come back and bite him, it would be foolish to make a prediction like that, but I do think it's interesting that he doesn't seem to the the least bit concerned that it might.
There's two responses to this I've seen: 1) Of course he doesn't care, he's got a trick up his sleeve (abolishing the courts, canceling the elections) and 2) Of course he doesn't care, he's delusional.
I'm classifying you under the second, I call it "the optimistic response."
Oh, I definitely won't put anything past this chucklefuck, given all the reassurances that he couldn't do anything in 2017, that the courts would restrain him, that DOGE was not a legal Cabinet agency and the Department of Education is.
I’m so old I remember when unfit presidents were “self-impeaching.” If we only believe in The Process, then it will surely save us, just like the Great Pumpkin will rise over the pumpkin patch and deliver candy and toys.
This book I just read, Hope for Cynics, says the proper response to almost all of this is "We just don't know." Foolish to claim the courts will save us, foolish to claim they won't. We just don't know. And yes, this is EXTREMELY unsatisfying.
Chuck wisely discerned that the only, best option was to blindside the rest of his party. If he didn’t Venmo his lunch money to the bullies and stuff himself in his locker, then they would’ve done it themselves… and *then* where would we be? Pre-emptive fetal position was the only statesmanlike option.
Just once before I die, I want to see Democrats who actually FIGHT for the things they supposed believe in. For the last 50 year, all I've see is not just a willingness but an eagerness to compromise, to give up vital principles in pursuit of some bipartisan bullshit. Hell, some Democrats were willing to let Social Security be destroyed until Nancy Pelosi stepped and held the line!
C'mon, you assholes! FIGHT! Fight like YOUR lives depend on it. Because that is where we're headed if you don't fight.
I sorta get that, Obama compromised the fuck outta Obamacare, but the thing's still here and I gotta admit it's helped millions of people, as much as I hated it when it first came out. And over time it has been improved. I think that's an establishment Democrat's major brain malfunction, that "over time" thing, like "Let's accept something unacceptable and make it better over time" when the truth is we don't have time.
I realize we're speedrunning the Fourth Reich, but, as I mentioned over on Wonkette this morning, I listened to a chapter of "Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich" yesterday, specifically the period just before and after the Enabling Act, and they were determined to get shit done as quickly as possible back then as well. A whole lot of dismissing officials and replacing them with loyalists. I spent a LOT of time thinking "that sounds familiar".
• Picked up extra brake cables this morning, and stocked up on chain lube.
• Fitted out a loaner bike for our 80 year old neighbor and taught her how to ride a bike all over again (she last rode about 40 years ago). Bring it on!
Republican attack ads always used to show the face of SCARY NANCY PELOSI. I think they miss her. Democrats curled up in a ball in the corner don't exactly push the FEAR button like they used to. Here's an ad I saw for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race:
[Picture of Trump walking down stairs of Air Force One, big, shit-eating grin on his face]
TRUMP WON. 77 million Americans voted for normalcy, but the RADICAL LEFT...
[cut to picture of Raging Granny, apron and straw bonnet with many, many protest buttons, waving a wooden spoon]
Elon's starting to show up in the attack ads (for our side.) Picture of him wielding the chainsaw, saying he wants to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Seems like it might be effective, but I'm a liberal bubble-dweller, so what do I know?
Okay, but: This, if I read it correctly, makes me hate Schumer (and Gillibrand) a little less. It basically says the Dems were damned if they did and damned if they didn't, and however inadequately Schumer made his case, it's "not clear" that he was wrong.
Probably a lot of what enrages us about him is what Roy catches in this scene: he's not angry enough. Which means we don't trust his take on things. If Al Green said, "Look, we have to keep the government running. It sucks, and we're doing other things, but a shut-down is marginally worse," we'd accept it. Schumer may or may not be a good tactician, but in times of emergency like this he's not a good leader.
Of course, when Schumer says that he talks about this with Republicans as they all ride stationary bikes at the gym, and they say what he says are reassuring things, we want to punch him in the nose. And I still do. The real traitors in this nightmare aren't Trump or Musk. They're insane. The real traitors are the GOP, who are any combination of weak, greedy, and stupid.
"The real fight, in Congress at least, is about the reconciliation process. The Dems can win that fight either way it goes down. They can either sink Trump’s whole legislative agenda and force him into real negotiations or the Republicans can vote in unanimous lockstep to commit electoral suicide."
I think "reconciliation process" means the normal process of passing the budget? I wish people wouldn't use jargon. Anyway, I have the same hopes, when we actually get to the big cuts needed to pay for the $4.5 trillion tax cut for Elon, some Republicans will balk at that and they won't go through. Or Republicans will go along, and we'll kick their asses in every election for the next 20 years because of what they did (Hey, sorry to all who died in the meantime. Thoughts and prayers!)
But at the same time, I get that people would be extremely untrusting of any Democrat who says, "This isn't the fight to have, we stand a much better chance with this other fight that comes later" because we've heard that from the Democrats our whole lives, "later" and not "now" is - for them - ALWAYS the best time to fight, isn't it?
So yeah, I don't claim to know what the correct strategic move was here, it could all go to shit either way, but I'm gonna reserve my right AS AN AMERICAN to yell at Chuck Schumer anyway, because if he doesn't deserve it for this, you can be damn sure he did something else to deserve it.
And leadership isn't just about making the "correct" decisions, some people inspire confidence and others just don't. How did Churchill get through the first two years of the war? All the Allies did was lose. But the guy sure had a gift for the English language and some other quality that gave people encouragement and hope (For one thing, he didn't pepper his speeches with "I have talked to many Germans privately who have expressed concerns about what Herr Hitler is doing.")
If it was an open-ended question, "Name someone who could lead us to victory in these perilous times", who on God's green earth would pick Chuck Schumer?
"Reconciliation" refers to the fact that the Senate and House pass their own individual ideas of the budget, and need to come together to compromise (or not) on the final result that gets passed on to the President. I assume it's one of the "inefficient" aspects of the government the Reich wishes to eliminate. (To be honest, I'm not sure why each chamber passes its own budget, but that's how it works.)
The kind of people who commit to a career and life in politics have a really hard time wrapping their minds around the concept of a Trump, regardless of their political affiliation. The idea that you can openly and casually ignore the legal process, insult, attack, and lie to your own voter base, violate norms and conventions thwt would get you literally tarred and feathered, it does not compute. Republicans assume they can manage and use Trump, Democrats wait for The System to deliver justice, all seeing Trump as this thing outside of politics. I can easily see some Republican Senators venting to Chuck, and Chuck assuming this means they can make a deal. They're all ignoring that by the time it's deal-making time they won't have the ability to enforce it.
I was thinking about Schumer and those who support him and then an essay I'd read decades ago (and again a little more recently) bounced into my memory: "The Major Lesson of the German Concentration Camps" by Bruno Bettelheim came to mind. He was in one himself so this isn't just theory.
One of his major points, or at least the one that has stuck with me, is that people were afraid to make changes in their lives and living situations that would have given them a better chance of avoiding death. They just kept themselves in the same situation they were in when the Nazis came into power and just kept hoping they could kind of hide out and weather the storm. One of his points was that Jews who actually infiltrated actual Nazi organizations had a better chance of surviving than those who tried to continue a form of their old life.
Kind of reminds me of Schumer and those who think like him.
I wish the ghost of Harry Reid would show up and slap Schumer a few times. Just sayin'.
You said it.
Took him to the boxing ring and rang his bell. Harry was a boxer, after all.
I like it! Ghosts of Democrats Past.
FDR runs over him with his wheelchair.
Lyndon Johnson picks him up by his ears.
Harry Truman ties him to a chair and tortures him with his piano playing.
And his daughter's singing.
Now that's what I call Cruel And Unusual Punishment.
Heh heh heh. That poor beagle. But, that's my Prez. LBJ would have worse blackmail material on Schumer than Trump does (Trump is always a second raters)
Heh. Yes. Before I clicked on the comments I thought," Geez Roy, coulda had Dori slap him once."
For me, that would be crossing the line into pornography.
Ya know it when ya see it!
Potter Stewart approves this message.
As someone who thinks Chuck did the right thing, I’ll just wish everyone a pleasant day. See you tomorrow.
I think he did the right thing very badly. As Frank Zappa said, politics is show business for ugly people, and perceptions matter at least as much as policy. Ignore anger at your peril.
I do see your point. I don’t have a clue what the proper way to handle rampaging Nazis is.
I'll wager giving in to them does not work
Unfortunately the news media does not seem to grasp this lesson. They keep doing the same thing expecting a different result. There's a name for that kind of thinking...
No right thing, but of the two wrong things, I think he did the appeasier one. It reads as if he is playing the string out long enough in hopes the torchy pitchforkers take over and he can wash his hands of it all. Tricky.
Adding that this is more or less what Schumer said to the Times last week (referring to elected republicans who would need to turn against Queens Man and would only do so if their constituents rise up on their hind legs)...that is, he himself declined to take on the chore of leading.
He knows where this is heading. He wants to get out of the way.
why do you think this? To me it looks like the CR gave the legal affirmation to much of the DOGE madness and has done nothing to even thin about checking Trump as the courts will likely have to start siding with DJT
But saying "Trump can shift around money within the Dept. of Education however he wants" isn't the same as saying "Trump can eliminate the Dept. of Education outright." If the thing has any funding in it for the Dept. of Education, then does that make it even clearer that Trump has no Congressional authority to close it?
But honestly, I have no idea how the courts will read this, positive or negative.
Trump isn't going to get rid of the DofEd. He is going to hollow it out and likely give it over to the religious schools and home schoolers. Also it was not a clean CR. It had several poison pills related to thing Trump/DOGE has done
Jack up the interest rates and student loans could be a big profit center, so no way they're getting rid of that.
Same, and same.
So some years ago, we're down in NYC's Chinatown for the New Year's parade. Chuck is on the stand. While the parade is as normal delayed, he's standing there with that normal politician facial rictus of a smile, looking dumber than any piece of shit sitting on a sidewalk. And that's where Chuck became extra detestable to me.
But the worst of last week's sell out is that it was an individual fucking up but a party deliberately failing. If the party was committed to doing shit, it would be clear. That Chuck's getting no party pushback says way too much.
Meanwhile, let's check in with the other NYS senator/Chuck-appointed headed of the DSCC:
2025, Kirsten's supporting Trump's crypto bullshit:
https://prospect.org/power/2025-03-10-some-democrats-endorse-bill-allowing-elon-musk-create-own-currency/
But in 2017, there was this; Gillibrand to Susan Collins:
"[W]e're here to help people, and if we're not helping people, we should go the fuck home."
(Via https://www.teenvogue.com/story/sen-kirsten-gillibrand-worldview-new-york-magazine-quote)
The national Democrats aren't just powerless but irrelevant. Like the Republicans ca the mid-1960s, but the Republicans were already doing something about it. These venal cowards have no such interest as long as the grift's working or there's a progressive takeover of the party.
"go the fuck home"
should be the chant of choice at today's mild counter-revolutionary gathering out front here. Me, I'll be on the bridge next door watching the newly-carved nest of the red-bellied woodpecker...
Where that demo?
Next door to the zoo in DC
U live in the zoo??
Yes, but the one I’m referring to is next door.
Update:
A fine time was had by most. About a hundred of us waved signs at rush hour traffic, eliciting a steady chorus of car horns. Only 3 cops showed up, chatted, hung around to make sure the traffic kept moving. I distributed the last of my 40 year old No Nazi buttons to various big, medium and little old ladies and/or their dogs.
Got in a solid hour of merriment before the rain hit.
The zoo?!! Such luxury! Why, when I was a young piglet I used to dream of living at the zoo, not having to fight for the trough, having a proper hog waller...sigh.
Don't we all, my friend. Don't we all.
Eh. I won’t be surprised if I don’t spend my last years in a non-death Trump Koncentration Kamp®️.
He has no limit on how low he can go, no one (worldwide) has any interest in not submitting to every awful thing he does… So concentration camps for whatever he doesn’t like, just like a psycho infantile bully.
HEIL DRUMPF!!!
All true, the only winners will be the fash republicans, which is actually all the republicans. Also, political science nerds who were interested in experiencing what the extinction of the Federalists or the collapse of the Whigs was like. As for the rest of us...
That Chuck's getting no party pushback says way too much.
there has been quite a bit of elected Dem pushback, mostly from Jeffries and the House, who Chuck appears to have stabbed in the back. Also Sen. Bennet of CO came out for new Senate leadership
Quantity doesn’t matter because it’s just talk.
And no doubt the party wanted the CR to go through.
The party’s committed to nothing like the required change for at least the next cycle, Chuck or no Chuck.
Quantity doesn’t matter because it’s just talk.
which is at odds with your original statement
The reason the rationale "trust the process" would fall flat for Chuck is because it isn't only MAGA Republicans who no longer trust the process. The process was supposed to impeach Trump. The process was supposed to criminally convict Trump. The process was supposed to prevent Trump from running for President again so he'd never get anywhere near the Oval Office a second time. The process has failed time and again. Why would ANYONE trust the process?
Yeah. You win End Of Story award for the day. I mean, irrespective of political persuasion, there truly is NO ONE in this country who trusts the process.
Yeah. Some people see John Roberts slapping Trump's wrist about impeaching judges who rule against the Administration as hopeful. As a sign Roberts is thinking "uh oh, that leopard is staring at MY face and he looks hungry." I'm not so sure. Roberts is the same guy who basically declared Trump a king less than a year ago.
Hearted for truth, not reality.
They've got a 6-3 majority, but it isn't 6 Clarence Thomases, and they already lost that USAID case 5-4. So you'd think maybe cool it with the judge-attacking, even conservative judges - even judges that Trump himself appointed! - really don't like that shit. Judges have a lot of discretion and they normally show an enormous amount of deference to the Executive, deference that could be easily withdrawn, so "tread lightly" is what any normal, thinking person would do in this situation. But not Trump.
I'm not saying this is all going to come back and bite him, it would be foolish to make a prediction like that, but I do think it's interesting that he doesn't seem to the the least bit concerned that it might.
He's got people telling him he's anointed by JHVH to be a king. Of COURSE he's not concerned.
There's two responses to this I've seen: 1) Of course he doesn't care, he's got a trick up his sleeve (abolishing the courts, canceling the elections) and 2) Of course he doesn't care, he's delusional.
I'm classifying you under the second, I call it "the optimistic response."
Oh, I definitely won't put anything past this chucklefuck, given all the reassurances that he couldn't do anything in 2017, that the courts would restrain him, that DOGE was not a legal Cabinet agency and the Department of Education is.
He's just a vessel, Horst!
you lied
Maybe a few death threats will change their minds.
I’m so old I remember when unfit presidents were “self-impeaching.” If we only believe in The Process, then it will surely save us, just like the Great Pumpkin will rise over the pumpkin patch and deliver candy and toys.
This book I just read, Hope for Cynics, says the proper response to almost all of this is "We just don't know." Foolish to claim the courts will save us, foolish to claim they won't. We just don't know. And yes, this is EXTREMELY unsatisfying.
But we fucking DO KNOW.
We do? Why didn't anyone tell me?
Believing in that is just irrational. Pumpkin Pi, yi yi...
That's transcendentally bad.
Nah. Just cendentally – trans ain't allowed no mo'...
This is important. That word "trust" has a lot of assumptions behind it that Chuck is ignoring. Remember that old bromide "trust is earned"?
Chuck wisely discerned that the only, best option was to blindside the rest of his party. If he didn’t Venmo his lunch money to the bullies and stuff himself in his locker, then they would’ve done it themselves… and *then* where would we be? Pre-emptive fetal position was the only statesmanlike option.
Should add: oof.
"Piss In Our Time!" is what Chuck said as he waved the fax around...
Or was it "Plotz In Our Time!"
"Plague In Our Time!"
"Prang In Our Time!"
"Pukes In Our Time!"
"Peons In Our Time!"
I dunno...Chuck needs work.
Dori needs her own spinoff.
I’m glad Roy found Dori.
Dori is welcome to join my Anarchist affinity group anytime, and she can bring her friend Matt too.
Just once before I die, I want to see Democrats who actually FIGHT for the things they supposed believe in. For the last 50 year, all I've see is not just a willingness but an eagerness to compromise, to give up vital principles in pursuit of some bipartisan bullshit. Hell, some Democrats were willing to let Social Security be destroyed until Nancy Pelosi stepped and held the line!
C'mon, you assholes! FIGHT! Fight like YOUR lives depend on it. Because that is where we're headed if you don't fight.
I sorta get that, Obama compromised the fuck outta Obamacare, but the thing's still here and I gotta admit it's helped millions of people, as much as I hated it when it first came out. And over time it has been improved. I think that's an establishment Democrat's major brain malfunction, that "over time" thing, like "Let's accept something unacceptable and make it better over time" when the truth is we don't have time.
I realize we're speedrunning the Fourth Reich, but, as I mentioned over on Wonkette this morning, I listened to a chapter of "Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich" yesterday, specifically the period just before and after the Enabling Act, and they were determined to get shit done as quickly as possible back then as well. A whole lot of dismissing officials and replacing them with loyalists. I spent a LOT of time thinking "that sounds familiar".
Yeah, they are clearly aware of Chuck’s willingness to “give it time.” When you break into a liquor store at 3 am, you aren’t browsing.
The Dreaded Democrat Keep-The-Powder-Dry Disease. Man that shtick gets old.
in re browsing, hey, it takes a bit of looking to find the Lagavulin.
Trump clearly read the little corporal's book, yeah.
You can tell by all the crusty stains on the pages.
Woulda hearted this, but...pass. Hard pass.
What? He eats McDonalds in bed. Ohhhh....you prevert.
A great read. Check out his Berlin Diary, about the run-up. Talk about familiar.
Obamacare is the journey, not the destination
It's about the friendships (with insurance benefit managers) we make along the way!
Nice how you took that in unexpected directions and nailed him.
Chuck is now a “Palestinian” who Trump thinks did the right thing. That puts him in approximately the Ted Cruz level of Trumpworld.
“So, is this based on anyone you know?” There’s a good MSNBC article about how Elon is having a Puddles-level pity party about the Tesla boycott,
which included Muskrat blaming democratic leadership for the vandalization campaign. As if we had leadership?
Simultaneous Dustbin of History and Godless Commie Death Lords…the Dems still got it!
Simultaneously powerful and weak, as The Enemy always is.
I got weak covered; when do I get the powerful bit?
You wouldn't believe the plot twists that take us to "The key to saving democracy turned out to be bicycle repair."
Crossed off calendar today:
• Picked up extra brake cables this morning, and stocked up on chain lube.
• Fitted out a loaner bike for our 80 year old neighbor and taught her how to ride a bike all over again (she last rode about 40 years ago). Bring it on!
Hey, do you know where I can pick up brake cables that aren't stainless? I like tinning the ends with solder, old-school, doesn't work with stainless.
Republican attack ads always used to show the face of SCARY NANCY PELOSI. I think they miss her. Democrats curled up in a ball in the corner don't exactly push the FEAR button like they used to. Here's an ad I saw for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race:
[Picture of Trump walking down stairs of Air Force One, big, shit-eating grin on his face]
TRUMP WON. 77 million Americans voted for normalcy, but the RADICAL LEFT...
[cut to picture of Raging Granny, apron and straw bonnet with many, many protest buttons, waving a wooden spoon]
Boy, do they believe their own press
Elon's starting to show up in the attack ads (for our side.) Picture of him wielding the chainsaw, saying he wants to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Seems like it might be effective, but I'm a liberal bubble-dweller, so what do I know?
Okay, but: This, if I read it correctly, makes me hate Schumer (and Gillibrand) a little less. It basically says the Dems were damned if they did and damned if they didn't, and however inadequately Schumer made his case, it's "not clear" that he was wrong.
https://www.progresspond.com/2025/03/14/fury-about-the-continuing-resolution-is-misplaced/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Probably a lot of what enrages us about him is what Roy catches in this scene: he's not angry enough. Which means we don't trust his take on things. If Al Green said, "Look, we have to keep the government running. It sucks, and we're doing other things, but a shut-down is marginally worse," we'd accept it. Schumer may or may not be a good tactician, but in times of emergency like this he's not a good leader.
Of course, when Schumer says that he talks about this with Republicans as they all ride stationary bikes at the gym, and they say what he says are reassuring things, we want to punch him in the nose. And I still do. The real traitors in this nightmare aren't Trump or Musk. They're insane. The real traitors are the GOP, who are any combination of weak, greedy, and stupid.
Thanks for the link:
"The real fight, in Congress at least, is about the reconciliation process. The Dems can win that fight either way it goes down. They can either sink Trump’s whole legislative agenda and force him into real negotiations or the Republicans can vote in unanimous lockstep to commit electoral suicide."
I think "reconciliation process" means the normal process of passing the budget? I wish people wouldn't use jargon. Anyway, I have the same hopes, when we actually get to the big cuts needed to pay for the $4.5 trillion tax cut for Elon, some Republicans will balk at that and they won't go through. Or Republicans will go along, and we'll kick their asses in every election for the next 20 years because of what they did (Hey, sorry to all who died in the meantime. Thoughts and prayers!)
But at the same time, I get that people would be extremely untrusting of any Democrat who says, "This isn't the fight to have, we stand a much better chance with this other fight that comes later" because we've heard that from the Democrats our whole lives, "later" and not "now" is - for them - ALWAYS the best time to fight, isn't it?
So yeah, I don't claim to know what the correct strategic move was here, it could all go to shit either way, but I'm gonna reserve my right AS AN AMERICAN to yell at Chuck Schumer anyway, because if he doesn't deserve it for this, you can be damn sure he did something else to deserve it.
And leadership isn't just about making the "correct" decisions, some people inspire confidence and others just don't. How did Churchill get through the first two years of the war? All the Allies did was lose. But the guy sure had a gift for the English language and some other quality that gave people encouragement and hope (For one thing, he didn't pepper his speeches with "I have talked to many Germans privately who have expressed concerns about what Herr Hitler is doing.")
If it was an open-ended question, "Name someone who could lead us to victory in these perilous times", who on God's green earth would pick Chuck Schumer?
"I have talked to many Germans privately who have expressed concerns about what Herr Hitler is doing." genuine lol
"Reconciliation" refers to the fact that the Senate and House pass their own individual ideas of the budget, and need to come together to compromise (or not) on the final result that gets passed on to the President. I assume it's one of the "inefficient" aspects of the government the Reich wishes to eliminate. (To be honest, I'm not sure why each chamber passes its own budget, but that's how it works.)
So a normal budget process, not a continuing resolution.
The kind of people who commit to a career and life in politics have a really hard time wrapping their minds around the concept of a Trump, regardless of their political affiliation. The idea that you can openly and casually ignore the legal process, insult, attack, and lie to your own voter base, violate norms and conventions thwt would get you literally tarred and feathered, it does not compute. Republicans assume they can manage and use Trump, Democrats wait for The System to deliver justice, all seeing Trump as this thing outside of politics. I can easily see some Republican Senators venting to Chuck, and Chuck assuming this means they can make a deal. They're all ignoring that by the time it's deal-making time they won't have the ability to enforce it.
Really good comment.
--which will make it easier for them to capitulate to him.
Yes. They're looking for an excuse. "Ehh, whattaya gonna do?"
"Republicans assume they can manage and use Trump"
Like the Nationalists assumed they could manage and use Adolph.
Little Corporal:
"What's your name, private?"
"Trump, sir, but you can call me Bonespurs."
I was thinking about Schumer and those who support him and then an essay I'd read decades ago (and again a little more recently) bounced into my memory: "The Major Lesson of the German Concentration Camps" by Bruno Bettelheim came to mind. He was in one himself so this isn't just theory.
One of his major points, or at least the one that has stuck with me, is that people were afraid to make changes in their lives and living situations that would have given them a better chance of avoiding death. They just kept themselves in the same situation they were in when the Nazis came into power and just kept hoping they could kind of hide out and weather the storm. One of his points was that Jews who actually infiltrated actual Nazi organizations had a better chance of surviving than those who tried to continue a form of their old life.
Kind of reminds me of Schumer and those who think like him.
Damn. I was told there would be no mandatory reading. But here we are...
I suppose you were told that there would be no math, that was a lie too.
Another irrational exuberance crushed...
would totally have coffee with Dori.