Ooops

 

Somebody tilted the Republican party

Wow.

It's Sunday

Uncle!

But what does Trump say?

"I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and re-open the federal government," Trump said.

  The Hill

And his base won't notice that it's completely the opposite of what he's been promising them for over a month. Ann Coulter will. But apparently, not even Ann can compete with today's news.

The president said he would sign a bill that would open the government for three weeks. In that period, he said, a bipartisan committee of House and Senate lawmakers will meet to develop a funding proposal for Homeland Security.

But not the wall.

He expressed optimism that the resulting pitch would include funds for his long-promised border wall, which he maintained "should not be controversial."

“After 36 days of spirited debate and dialogue, I have seen and heard from enough Democrats and Republicans that they are willing to put partisanship aside, I think, and put the security of the American people first,” Trump said in remarks delivered from the Rose Garden.

LOL. The only Democrat who caved was Joe Manchin, and he's not really a Democrat. At least six Republican Senators went over to the Democrat side.

Trump said federal workers will receive backpay “as soon as possible” as part of the deal, which he has asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring the measure up for a vote "immediately."

You know what really happened. Undoubtedly, McConnell told him he was going to bring this to a vote and force him to veto and then be overridden.

The urgency to reopen the government seemed to be heightened among some lawmakers on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted flights into and out of LaGuardia Airport in New York City, citing staffing shortages because of the shutdown.

[...]

The announcement comes after days of Trump insisting that Republican lawmakers were united in the push to secure wall funding, and that he would not cave on the issue.

[...]

"As everyone knows, I have a very powerful alternative, but I didn’t want to use it at this time," Trump said. "Hopefully it will be unnecessary."

Can we get the news off Roger Stone now?

You caved. Everyone knows it. No matter what Hannity and Carlson are going to say.



Nobody believes him at this point.

Somebody's throwing a party for Nancy Pelosi tonight.  She blocked the SOTU, and she blocked the wall.  She owns him.

Daniel Dale parses the speech that I refuse to listen to:

Trump immediately ad-libs a second sentence: "As everyone knows, I have a very powerful alternative. But I didn't want to use it at this time. Hopefully it will be unnecessary."

Trump to federal workers: “Not only did you not complain, but in many cases you encouraged me to keep going” because you care so much about border security. (Lots of them complained...)

Trump says it's a three-week deal. He says he's heard Dems and Republicans are willing to put partisanship aside - "I think." He claims Dems have "finally and fully acknowledged" that barriers and walls will be "an important part of the solution."

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Trump says he trusts the parties will use this reprieve to work in good faith on behalf of "our whole, beautiful, wonderful, nation." I don't think all of those adjectives were in the text.

Trump is now re-touting the value of border walls, saying they "should not be controversial." He explains that these barriers would be made of STEEL and would be see-through, which, as usual, he says is very important. "We do not need 2,000 miles of concrete walls."

I think he can kiss re-election goodbye.  It will be interesting to see how long the RNC continues to support that.

Trump is telling his "four women" "duct tape" "backs or cars or trucks" "desert areas" human trafficking tale again. Again, human trafficking experts tells me they've never heard of this happening; just isn't how it usually works.

He just likes to say it.  Turns him on.

Trump's speech referred to "homicides." He said the word, then added, "Or, as you would call them, violent, vicious killings."

This has turned into a regular Trump immigration speech, filled with talk of murder and disease and duct tape. He hasn't attempted to offer an extended explanation for why he rejected this kind of deal for weeks and is now accepting it.

Perhaps because it's painfully obvious.

Trump: "We have the lowest employment and the best employment numbers than we've ever had." Sometimes his "and" method of correcting himself does not work.

The threat: "Really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier. If we don't get a fair deal from Congress, the govt will either shut down on Feb. 15, again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution...to address this emergency."

Yeah, yeah.  Not much of an emergency if you can wait till February 15.



Well, he can't.  But people can read them to him.



But now he can give his State of the Union speech in the House.  I wonder how full the chamber will be, knowing it's going to be this same speech, but drawn out longer.







That's gonna hurt.



That, too.

That, too.

The government will reopen for three weeks. There will be no money forthcoming for the big, beautiful, stupid wall. Talks on border security will continue. In an act of mercy, the One Great Scorer will not award Pelosi Trump's ears and tail.

[...]

[M]aybe this paltry Band-Aid of a solution is worth it just to watch the president* once again get beaten like a tin drum by Nancy Pelosi.

  Charles P Pierce

How to make sure Trump won't budge on wall funding

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter on Wednesday predicted that President Trump would "fold" on his demand for funding for his proposed southern border wall, a demand which has led to the current partial government shutdown.

“For one thing, he actually did shut down the government — though don’t worry, he’ll fold in the end," Coulter said while speaking on the "Mark Simone Show" on 710 WOR in New York.

  The Hill

Not now he won't. Congress will have to pass something and override his veto.

“The one person who deserves the most credit of all, for going ballistic when Trump caved on wall funding right before Christmas, which I think we got him to take back, is Matt Drudge," she argued, referring to the founder of the conservative news aggregation site The Drudge Report.

"He was the one who put it up as the siren.”

Suddenly Ann doesn't want the credit?

The Drudge Report ran the headline "Trump in Retreat" as Democrats and Republicans deliberated on a spending bill in December, according to The Week.

I'm sure that helped.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday cautioned President Trump against giving in on his demand for funding for his proposed U.S.–Mexico border wall, claiming that doing so would likely be "the end of his presidency."

“He’s not going to sign a bill that doesn’t have money for the wall. I can tell you exactly how this is going to end. The president is going to challenge Democrats to compromise and if they continue to say no, they’re going to pay the price with the American people," Graham said during an appearance on Fox News's "Hannity."

  The Hill

I disagree with that conclusion, but whatever.

“If he gives in now, that’s the end of 2019 in terms of him being an effective president," he continued. "That’s the probably the end of his presidency. Donald Trump has made a promise to the American people. He’s going to secure our border."

Well, he's going to keep alternating between what a great job he's doing keeping the border secure and how the Democrats are going to get you killed by not funding a border wall.

“That’s the end of us if we give in on this issue as Republicans," Graham said. "I hope Mitt Romney and everybody else knows this is a fight worth having."

Let us pray that's the end of you. But it won't be. Until the GOP acknowledges that there are two parties in one, they don't stand a chance. Once this new Dem party becomes as divided as the GOP is now, if the centrists in both are smart, they'll split off and combine into a third party which would then be able to dominate.

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

Sadly, this may very well be the impetus

And maybe it's working



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

That'll teach her

President Trump is no longer following Ann Coulter on Twitter after the conservative firebrand declared she would no longer support his re-election if no progress has been made on the border wall by 2020.

"realDonaldTrump appears to no longer follow @AnnCoulter," reads a Wednesday evening tweet from @Trumpsalert, which describes itself as a bot tracking Trump family follows and unfollows and has more than 70,000 followers. "This bot cannot tell if this was an unfollow, suspension or block."

Coulter during a podcast interview with The Daily Caller earlier Wednesday called Trump's presidency "a joke" that will leave "no legacy whatsoever."

“Why would you [vote for him again]?” the provocative author and columnist asked. “To make sure, I don’t know, Ivanka [Trump] and Jared [Kushner] can make money? That seems to be the main point of the presidency at this point.”

“They’re about to have a country where no Republican will ever be elected president again,” she added. “Trump will just have been a joke presidency who scammed the American people, amused the populists for a while, but he’ll have no legacy whatsoever."

  The Hill

UPDATE:

Oh no! He's lost Ann Coulter

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

UPDATE:  This:

No defense of Moore

Bill Clinton isn't running for anything either, Ann.

Trump's Underbosses: the GOP

It is genuinely unclear — from the public statements of Republicans and the reporting on their private deliberations — whether they envision a point at which Trump’s conduct could grow unhinged enough, or threaten serious enough damage to our democracy, to warrant meaningful acknowledgment, never mind action.

[...]

Republicans are increasingly worried they will lose the House amid a “toxic political environment that appears to be worsening.” They cite the possibility that they won’t secure any serious legislative wins, as well as “serious concerns” about “more revelations” coming on Trump. In the background, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation “remains the wild card.”

For sure, but how much worse could this get?

[...]

Trump is not inclined to let institutional constraints limit his options, and he and his team have already shown themselves to be less than shrewd at gaming out the consequences of trampling on them.

[...]

[C]an we really count on Trump refraining from trying to get Mueller removed? Nope. Somewhat unlike in Nixon’s time, Republicans may well still stand by Trump even if this happens. If so, they’d be in a considerably darker place than they are even now. And so would we all.

  WaPo

I hadn't thought up until now that he would do such an obviously stupid thing, but if he knows he's in real trouble anyway, why wouldn't he? And if he gets egged on, then it's probably more likely than not that he would do it.

When Mueller was first announced as the special counsel, [Newt] Gingrich strongly praised him.

[...]

However, speaking to radio host John Catsimatidis Sunday, as quoted by The Hill, Gingrich said Mueller’s position had been compromised by fired FBI Director James Comey’s admission that he had authorized a friend to pass details of his meetings with Trump to the press in order to justify a special counsel.

“I think Congress should now intervene and they should abolish the independent counsel, because Comey makes so clear that it’s the poison fruit of a deliberate manipulation by the FBI director leaking to the New York Times, deliberately set up this particular situation,” Gingrich said. “It’s very sick.”

  TPM

That last little addendum is so Trumplike I can't tell whether he's copying Trump or dog whistling to him.

The next day, he said evidence that Mueller wouldn’t be fair could be found in his new hires’ political donations.

Conservative provocateur Ann Coulter jumped on board Sunday, writing that Comey’s acknowledgement that he told Trump he wasn’t personally under investigation was grounds for dismissing Mueller altogether.

[...]

Radio host and LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham posted a column from the Washington Examiner’s Byron York to her 1.5 million Twitter followers early Monday. York asked five unnamed Washington lawyers if they thought Comey’s reported friendship with Mueller presented a conflict.

[...]

The Hill noted Monday that four members of Mueller’s investigative team, each seasoned criminal prosecutors with extensive experience at the Justice Deparment or Washington, D.C. law firms, had donated to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton.

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

But, Hey. It's Not Their Fault.

When your crew's lack of faith is disturbing. pic.twitter.com/0Cqt8bCFfa

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) December 3, 2016

Jesus Effing Christ

[Shitheel Ann] Coulter wrote in her book, released last week, that Trump was not making fun of [physically disabled reporter Serge] Kovaleski's specific symptoms — he has arthrogryposis, which visibly limits flexibility in his arms — but rather "was doing a standard retard, waving his arms and sounding stupid."

  WaPo

Yeah, "standard retard" helps, Ann.

"Something I didn’t know when I wrote the book, and I’m writing about it in tonight’s column: It is absolutely an outrageous, despicable, deliberate lie that the media has told about Donald Trump mocking a disabled person," Coulter said. "He would not do that. He said he would not do that. And the proof positive of this is in the exact same speech, he did the exact same imitation of a general. And the media knew that, and they will not show us that clip. He has done the exact same imitation of Ted Cruz, flailing his arms. This is how Donald Trump does an imitation of a flustered, cowardly person or a frightened person."

Or a standard retard.

This mocking nastiness is the mark of a nasty asshat - an ignorant bully.  George W. was that way, too.  Donald Trump should be shunned by any decent human being.

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