As our internal strife deepens and our government remains paralyzed, Putin will be sure to take advantage of the situation, choose his preferred scapegoats and direct the army of bots to exacerbate our pain.
The chaos that trump loves opens us up to further infiltration and ruin.
Until Greitens puts his foot on their neck. He could rappel into city hall and stop whatever they are proposing to do.
Yeah, it seems that way. It was the tactic he learned from his dad, dealing with New York contractors, politicos and the mob. Never back down, never apologize, every negotiation is a zero-sum game. Squeeze them until it hurts, then squeeze some more. Heāll never change, and heāll never understand why that doesnāt work in government.
Except that, in that situation (war with NK), it wonāt be like he said something stupid on a videotape or in a badly written Tweet, of course. People will DIE/BE DEAD and Trump wonāt be able to bring them back and people will be upset about their loved ones being killed over an easily enough prevented conflict.
I keep seeing that in at least 40 states, the extra cost for the CSRs is being distributed amongst silver plans alone. Since subsidies are calculated based on the cost of the 2nd least expensive silver plan, this means that subsidies for people at or below 400% FPL will actually get increased subsidies, some so much that they can get gold plans for less than todayās silver plans, or bronze plans for near free. The numbers work out that the Feds actually pay significantly higher total subsidies.
The key point to understand is that insurers have two pipes into the treasury for subsidies (CSRs and normal subsidies based on silver plan prices), and Trumpās moronic plan just means that they have to suck more money out of the remaining pipe. The way the numbers work out, cutting CSRs increases the total allowed subsidy amounts, which would normally be a Democratic priority. But the Dems can attack the Republicans for heartlessly trying to screw families making < $98,000, while actually getting the policy win in āsecret.ā
Unsubsidized people have to stay away from silver plans, since they donāt get the benefit of the remaining subsidies, but they can still sign up for bronze, gold or platinum plans.
You can read the details on David Andersonās posts at ballon juice, but thatās my understanding.
Itās called confabulation. My mother-in-law is going through increasing dementia right now. When she gets confused by something, she just makes stuff up. Encroaching dementia with underlying malignant narcissistic personality disorder can be used to pretty much explain all of Trumpās behavior and statements right now.
But then again, so can a diagnosis of dumb asshole.
No, if the only thing youāve ever read is comic books, then Trump is what you get.
Iād like to get a shirt or bumper sticker that simply says, āTillerson is rightā.
Take-away for the American people: Trump killed health insurance except for company insurance. Next, Trump will begin to kill Medicare. And then Social Security. But, even though people will no longer get insurance, medical care or social security, taxes will go up for working people. This is the Trump plan, and Democrats need to speak simply and clearly about it.
I am reading a lot of āwhat a moronā comments, but heās gotten far in life being one. (Sometimes I wish I were so stupid.) this was always going to be what he did, because in his win-lose view of the world, there can be only one winner: himself. The main issue now is whether there is a counterpuncher who will stand in the ring with himā¦so far he has not met his match. By the way, as a side note: kudos to Chuck Schumer - I had my doubts about him, but he has successfully herded 48 cats since taking over as minority leader. Has any Democrat been able to do this, previously? I think he might have the stamina to match - what he needs is a few more senators.
Cerner had a chance to move itās headquarters to Overland Park but elected to remain in Kansas City, Missouri. If Sprint moves out that will leave Garmin in Overland Park. Even Kansas City, Kansas is doing better than Johnson County when it comes to attracting business. It seems business people want nice stuff. Letting your city, county or state slide into dumpster status to save a few tax bucks for business people is really short sighted. Actually it is worse than short sighted, it is stupid and stupid is almost synonymous with Republican. You can never expect those folks to do the right thing for the people they represent or for their own collective futureābut they sure do own media machines and arenāt afraid to use them.
Well, he is a characterā¦
So, thatās one.
Then thereās Penceā¦
thatās two.
Howās my counting so far?
ā¦or is he talking about number of letters and numbers in his twitter messages?
Genius negotiator who states what he thinks his leverage/advantage is.
Of course, he always forgets what he just said and so every moment is new and freshā¦to be crapped on again and again. Sort of a perpetual Groundhog Day of bullsh*t. He speweth mightily and constantly. His incontinence is continual.
Isnāt he due for a major stroke or heart attack? Maybe one immediately followed by the other? Maybe just a complete loss of bowel and bladder control in public first? A fit of sharts?
The difference between comic strips and comic books is the length of the story line, so comic strips is shortest contain narrative.
So, itās all about him here too. Obama shepherded the law through the legislative process, not a series of EOs. He hates Obama and is determined to destroy everything he did. The insurance companies didnāt support Trump, so itās time to punish their customers.
Josh,
Iām surprised at you. Photoshopped images splashed across the front page? Ugh. Iāve always looked to TPM as a place for news, not a tabloid. This is beneath you and your staff.
Scott L.
I am a speech-language pathologist in an elementary school. I work with several language-disordered 10-year olds whose language skills, in both content, form, and use, easily exceed 45ās.
The Rās bashed the Dās with āRepeal and replaceā for years. Now I say they bash back with āYou break it, you own it!ā. Dems need to match the Repās catchy tropes because thatās what sinks into the uneducated public. (Or even, āYou BROKE it; you own it!ā)
Political misery is not nearly enough misery for trump. He needs political, personal, financial and health misery writ large. Like penniless living under a bridge in the rain misery. Incurable and very exceedingly painful and advanced bone cancer not ameliorated by any pain medication type misery (let alone no health insurance misery after being made penniless by a court judgement type misery). Wife leaving him misery. No ego soothing praise misery.
Jeepers, Iām on a roll here.
