Trump Policy Gyrations Threaten Fragile Republican Coalition

By artappraiser on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 10:59pm |

NEW: Syria, Mattis, the shutdown and, most of all, Trump’s underlying conduct is rattling Republicans, including some who’ve not been very critical.

It’s clear, they say, he took no lessons from the midterm losses

w @SherylNYT @alexburnsNYT >https://t.co/p8jDzT9KSX
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 22, 2018

URL:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/us/politics/republicans-trump-shutdown.html

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Dear Trump enablers: Cry me a river

By Jennifer Rubin @ WashingtonPost.com, Dec. 21, 4:30 pm

"We’re in a critical moment. The number of conservatives who I have talked to in the last day, who worked on the campaign, who supported the president, who now say, ‘You know what, I regret doing that, this was a mistake, this administration is, you know, off the rails. All of these investigations that are coming to a head are going to be a huge problem,’” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said on CNN.

Now, I have no idea whether the conservatives Haberman is quoting include Republican office holders, but regardless they sure do owe we in the #NeverTrump movement an awful big apology. It was not like we didn’t warn them that Trump was unfit for the presidency, lawless, narcissistic, unwilling to learn, erratic, irrational and cruel. We pretty much told them they’d be intellectually and morally corrupted in trying to defend him. (Watching former Iran hawks try to justify bugging out of Syria, leaving Iran and Russia to claim the spoils would be amusing if it were not so depressing. Note to file: Moving the Israeli embassy was a gesture; this puts Israel and our other Middle East neighbors at risk.) It would be nice if these now remorseful Republicans spoke up.

One thinks back to the anonymous op-ed writer in the New York Times who proclaimed that “there are adults in the room.” [....]

by artappraiser on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 11:01pm

“I question whether he runs again. He’s having difficulty handling the situation” - @BobCorker

“I’m just concerned about the disarray. Things have got to calm down.” @SenCapito

“If this continues for two years obviously it’ll be problematic” @BillCassidy
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 22, 2018

“I’m concerned about what happened in Syria and then the comments about Afghanistan. To me these are two decisions that, number one, probably should have been discussed with me and others and, number two, I don’t think were good decisions.” - @JimInhofe
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 11:09pm

They are good decisions. We need to end these seemingly endless wars.

by Aaron Carine on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 6:05pm

Trump sees dangerous cracks in Hill GOP support

A series of recent events is alienating congressional allies Trump would need in an impeachment fight.

By Eliana Johnson & Burgess Everett @ Politico.com, Updated 12/21/2018 10:50 PM EST

[....] cracks are showing between Trump’s base and GOP officials, who are rattled by his Syria exit and the ensuing resignation of his Defense secretary, Jim Mattis.

“Going to the base of the base means that Republican senators are going to start disagreeing with you, because that’s not their party," said Matthew Continetti, editor-in-chief of the conservative Washington Free Beacon.

One Republican senator said his colleagues feel like they’ve been increasingly hijacked by Trump. The senator described the president as increasingly intent on pleasing the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and media allies like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. Some Republicans find the juxtaposition between what they consider a reckless foreign policy and a reckless border wall fight to be infuriating.

“Syria is crumbling. And we’re talking about a fucking wall,” this senator said.

Also aggravating Republicans is Trump’s sheer unpredictability, which was evident from his unclear and shifting positions on the budget talks. Earlier this week Trump seemed prepared to accept a short-term spending bill from Congress that did not include billions for a border wall, allowing for holiday vacations to begin as planned. By Thursday, he had abruptly shifted back to a hard-line position, saying he would rather see the government shut down than surrender on the border wall.

“Usually out of the president it’s better to have a steady course. You want to be able to draw a bead on where your leader is going to be in a week or two or three. This has not been a steady course. We need a steady course,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

Trump is still a long way from seeing the Senate GOP turn on him in numbers that could lead to his impeachment and expulsion from office. Republicans will have a 53-47 Senate majority in 2019, and it requires 67 Senate votes to convict a president who has been impeached in the House. That means roughly 20 senators — many of them representing states in which Trump is highly popular — would need to turn on him.

But some Republicans say they’ve seen a subtle shift in tone of late. Early signs of trouble appeared this past fall [....]

by artappraiser on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 11:19pm

With GOP leadership feeling burned, a group of rank-and-file senators stepped up — and still fell short

Inside the frantic negotiations that failed to avert a shutdown

By Burgess Everett & John Bresnahan @ Politico.com, 12/21/2018 11:41 PM EST

I also think it is useful to point back to some of the immediate reaction reported on Thursday: shock, as in Sen. Susan Collins almost dropped her handbag when reporters told her President Trump wouldn't sign the spending bill unless border wall money was added. "Did he just say that?" she asked. "Ugh, are you ruining my life?"

by artappraiser on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 11:52pm

Dangerous attack on The Fed next? !!!

Oh boy https://t.co/pEPyUksl8V
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 22, 2018

No longer just scuttlebutt, as Bloomberg published on it a half hour ago, that's a shot that is going to go round the world, has to be addressed by grownups now

Trump Discusses Firing Fed's Powell After Latest Rate Hike, Sources Say

By Jennifer Jacobs, Saleha Mohsin & Margaret Talev, December 21, 2018, 11:42 PM EST

Advisers warn ousting Fed chairman would lead to market rout
President’s legal authority to remove Powell is unclear

Here is Jennifer Jacobs twitter thread on same.

In addition: a reminder that

Senator Grassley yesterday publicly and formally expressed strong unhappiness with the trade situation

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 1:10am

I didn't think about this as a possible reason for Trump to want lower interest rates, but in retrospect it seems pretty obvious... https://t.co/z8zPsX6QdQ
— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 5:52pm

Mnuchin scared enough about possible aftereffect of news to actually speak:

Noteworthy expenditure of political capital by Mnuchin who doesn’t usually do this... https://t.co/0UIdkUzoCt
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 6:15pm

Trump blames Mnuchin for Powell pick https://t.co/ePCZTYqYt1
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 23, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 8:19pm

Bloomberg opinion writer's translation of Mnuchin statement:

Translation: The stock market was the only thing I had going for me, and now I’m in serious trouble. https://t.co/3WdAIP6xFb
— Nir Kaissar (@nirkaissar) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 8:52pm

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), asked how Trump's previous quotes taking credit for a shutdown are impacting things: "I don't really listen to what he says anymore. If I did, I'd be listening every minute to see what had changed."
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 5:50pm

American Enterprise Institute (remember them? used ta be a big playa in the GOP)

All over the world, ‘nationalist populism’ is a recipe for economic disaster https://t.co/rJvBbkyApS
— Stan Veuger (@stanveuger) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 9:11pm

“I have a hard time seeing the benefit of shutdown politics ever,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.). “And maybe the worst of all shutdown politics would be Christmastime shutdown politics. So, that’s my view. And it apparently is not the president’s view.”https://t.co/eKJLYoQ7Aj
— Sean Sullivan (@WaPoSean) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 10:27pm

A former aide to President Reagan writes, in light of the Mattis resignation: "One wonders and shudders to think about what else has to happen for Republicans to realize that for the good of the country, we have to rally around someone else in 2020."https://t.co/lMvmidcmWr
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 22, 2018

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 10:44pm

2020? We don't have 2 goddam years to fix this. The Republucans' only hope is to take the lead on impeachment.

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/23/2018 - 2:00am

Sen. Corker replying to Trump:

Yes, just like Mexico is paying for the wall... #AlertTheDaycareStaff https://t.co/4LwrkrSFFr
— Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) December 23, 2018

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/23/2018 - 3:41pm

Sen. Rand Paul does a Tweetstorm, getting all kinds of things off his chest, including a lot of zany illustrations, and he's proud that it made "Twitter Moments" and retweets that as well (which should make Trump jealous?):

⚡️ “Senator Rand Paul's 2018 #Festivus Tweetstorm”https://t.co/Qi6KQ4sxWd
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2018

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/23/2018 - 3:46pm

On Sen. Paul's tweetstorm:

Maybe I'm missing something, but can someone please tell me that one United States Senator is not making a teepee joke about another United States Senator? https://t.co/gyxnHJwIDu
— David Swerdlick (@Swerdlick) December 23, 2018

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/23/2018 - 3:49pm

These morons are so fucking Jr High - how are they in the Senate? like, is Caligula back, running jackasses for the RNC?

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/23/2018 - 5:41pm

Trump allows the GOP to show their true colors. I don’t see Republicans turning on Trump. Bader Ginsburg is ill. They will allow Trump a third justice before taking any action against him.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 12/23/2018 - 6:58pm

Well, though on the childish side, I think it's mostly meant as parody and it does skewer all sides including Trump. It's more like: see, I can do this too, is this what we want to be doing, not taking anything seriously?

by artappraiser on Mon, 12/24/2018 - 11:02am

Holding Christmas poinsettia, Sen. Roberts says shutdown moving forward with no discernible endgame. And upset about Mattis leaving: “don’t get me started on that” pic.twitter.com/0L0wfvRdAA
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) December 24, 2018

by artappraiser on Mon, 12/24/2018 - 11:55am

Trump Policy Gyrations Threaten Fragile Republican Coalition

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