Three things:
I believe GOP leadership has told him in clear, no uncertain terms that if he fires Mueller or Sessions, they will immediately reopen the investigation and hire Mueller.
This legislation will pass even if it’s with a thin, mostly Democratic majority. It provides cover for the GOP and a tremendous amount of leverage.
The GOP is beginning the process of throwing him overboard. Whatever they already know is damning, and they’re setting up the process to save themselves.
Oo! Oo! I did!!
Bit of historical trivia I found out last week, is way back in the day, Al Capone had a place down here in my neck of the woods (and apparently also ran what was basically a brothel). In the 20s and 30s, this was supposedly a pretty hot spot for gangsters, because it was so completely off the radar.
Trump has inadvertently united Democrats and those Republicans who actually care about this country’s future.
And the chances of this bill being signed into law by Trump ?
The republicans will never agree to this as it hinders their agenda.
FYI: Thom Tillis is, at least in public, a hard-right, no-prisoners Koch-aligned ideologue (background at an IT executive/consultant with IBM and PriceWaterhouseCooper, banks and insurers).
I can’t tell you what it means that he’s co-sponsoring this. But there’s no reason I can think of that’s not really, really bad for Trump.
Could be he’s sending a message from Burr. Could be that he’s just been chatting with Burr off the record and is appalled. Could be he’s become fully institutionalized in just four years and that Congress as an institution is beginning to behave the way the Founders intended in the face of executive overreach regardless of party control. Could be he’s gotten his hands on some internal Republican polling from back here in NC that show’s Trump is now about as popular as gonorrhea among local Republicans, but he’s not up for reelection until 2020.
The only thing I doubt is that he did this without at least consulting with Burr.
Whatever is motivating this, it’s bad, very bad, for Trump.
And…why on earth did these get classified? To save Daddy Hairbucks from embarrassment? My God.
Holy shit, that article is a treasure trove! "“My people stand up and say, ‘Mexico will pay for the wall,’ and your people probably say something in a similar but slightly different language.” Yeah, it’s called fucking Spanish, you tangerine twit.
At one point, I was hearing his words in the voice of a child. It’s the type of reasoning you get from a four year old. “OK, mommy, I will take my nap, but just don’t say ‘nap time’ anymore. It makes me feel sad.”
Think of it like a good steak…always so much better when it’s been allowed to age a bit haha
Is this for fucking real!?
On the Richter scale of “you’re fucked”, losing Tillis is an 8.7. This is legitimately astounding. It would be astounding in year three, but we’re just past six months.
Nothing is hindering their agenda more than the toddler in the Oval.
Honestly, I don’t think so. The GOP has too much to lose if Congress takes responsibility for policy. They’re in a position to need to rein in Trump, but as soon as there’s a more palatable Republican in office they’ll do what they can to avoid blame for hurting their constituents or being impure on various issues.
Turnbull remained conciliatory and diplomatic to the end.
Trump is fundamentally unfit to be a garbage collector, let alone POTUS.
All too real. Next, the Pee Tapes.
To paraphrase what Trump said about the Russian sanctions bill: “The Framers of the Constitution put obstruction of justice and the ability to shut down investigations that are getting too close to the truth in the hands of the President. By limiting my flexibility, this bill makes it harder for me to avoid impeachment or indictment. This bill will prove the wisdom of the framers.” (Well, that last line is true in that the framers purposely did some things to keep a guy like Trump from doing some things.)
Stupidity that won’t pass a Constitutional challenge. The Congress has ZERO power to dictate who the President can and cannot fire in his own administration. If Congress doesn’t like it, they have the power to once again establish the United States Office Independent Counsel, if they can override a Presidential veto and have a “special prosecutor” appointed to investigate the Executive Branch.
They also have the power of Impeachment. So if the President fires Mueller, they can respond by the powers they already have under the Constitution.
Fine. Mueller remains to take him down.
I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that this bill will be his first veto and his first veto override.