Friday, March 24, 2017

Edited for Accuracy





Wait til he sees that headline.  And I'm not sure it's accurate, myself.
A president who prefers unilateral executive action and takes intense pride in his ability to cut deals finds himself in a humbling negotiation unlike any other in his career, pinned between moderates who believe the health care measure is too harsh, and a larger group of fiscal conservatives adept at using their leverage to scuttle big deals cut by other Republican leaders.

[...]

“So far he’s acting like a rookie. It’s really been amateur hour,” she added. “He seems to think that a charm offensive or a threat will work — that saying ‘I can do this for you’ or ‘I can do this against you’ will work. That’s not the way it works. You have to build real consensus, and you have to gain a real knowledge of the policy — and the president hasn’t done either of those things.”

  NYT
Start the count for the Trump tweetstorm and Pelosi feud.
Before he sent Mr. Mulvaney to Capitol Hill to deliver his message Thursday night, the president met with recalcitrant lawmakers at the White House. Mr. Trump reiterated his veiled threat that Republicans who voted no would be punished by constituents who demand they fulfill their promises to roll back the law. He made clear to members of the House Freedom Caucus during a testy hourlong face-off in the Cabinet Room that they were going to have only one chance to fulfill their vows of repealing and replacing the health law, and this was it, according to people who were in the room.
Damn those leakers. They just will not stop.
His son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who is vacationing with his family in Aspen this week, has said for days that the bill was a mistake to support.

[...]

Until this week, Mr. Trump was slow to recognize the high stakes of the fight, or the implications of losing. He approved the agenda putting health care first late last year, almost in passing, in meetings with Mr. Ryan, Vice President Mike Pence and Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff.
Please. He doesn't know what he's doing beyond seeking attention and pretending he's a god.
Staff members agreed on a hasty rollout strategy during weekend meetings earlier this month — with Mr. Pence suggesting that the president maintain distance from the proposal, urging him to refer to the bill as Mr. Ryan’s creation, according to senior Republicans.
That would have been a smart move, and it may yet be done if the bill fails.
But Thursday’s reality check came with a Trumpian dose of the surreal.

Mr. Trump appeared almost oblivious to the dire situation unfolding in the hours after he hosted a meeting with members of the House Freedom Caucus at the White House.
"Almost" oblivious? That's his normal state, isn't it?
In the midafternoon, a beaming Mr. Trump climbed into the rig of a black tractor-trailer, which had been driven to the White House for an event with trucking industry executives, honking the horn and posing for a series of tough-guy photos — one with his fists held aloft, another staring straight ahead, hands gripping the large wheel, his face compressed into an excited scream.
Yeah, we saw the pix. Petulant, arrogant child, who in some ways outshines George W's infantile character.
At a meeting inside shortly afterward, Mr. Trump announced that he was pressed for time and needed to go make calls for more votes.

A reporter informed him that the vote had already been called off.
Damn press!



Here's video of the truck driver, if you care to see. Somebody had to show him how to get in. As he's climbing out, he stops and points to the reporters and says, "If I ever fell, would they be happy." He's still bitching about reporters when in fact they're all clapping and cheering him on. Like you do with your little three-year-old.

He also has on a long coat, so no more humungous butt shots, I guess.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

 

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