This narrative seems backwards - with our current President, the MSM was constantly asking and harping about “what Obama needs to do to get Republicans on board.” So, shouldn’t the narrative now be, “what tRump needs to do to get Democrats on board.”
Here, with this gambit Schumer seems to be negotiating against himself, and falling into a trap.
Thanks for the link. I think Krugman sums up Trump’s plan very well with “it’s hard to see any reason for this scheme unless the inevitable corruption is a feature, not a bug.”
I agree with this, but I don’t “Like” it. There should be a button for a “Good But Depressing,” or “True But Infuriating” post.
Nice to see the democratic leadership is not even waiting for Trump’s coronation before they roll over. Strong work Schumer
Dear FSM I hope Chuckles knows what he’s doing. He’s not an idiot. But I’m not sure he has the cutthroat reflexes that Reid had and that McConnell has. He’s pretty much our only hope, so he’d better be a damn good tactician, or the republic is well and truly fucked.
Trump has got to pay back the Bank of China by buying up their steel and drywall. And he’s got to pay back others by giving them tax exemptions. And he’s got to pay back Carlos Slim by not building the wa…oops, almost gave it away.
Thanks. This article cried out for a link to this ridiculous tax give away plan that may in fact accomplish nothing worthwhile. Krugman isn’t the only one saying this.
Which is why Schumer is a Schmuck. He should really caucus with the Republicans.
Exactly, you get it. What he’s doing here is setting up a showdown between Pepe and his party. He’s going to seemingly get on board with this while Pepe fights with other Republicans who won’t give him what he wants. This isn’t about whether anything actually passes or even the quality of the legislation. This is psychological warfare, and the more Pepe lashes out and fights with his own caucus, the better it is for us. If we can goad him into fights with other Republicans, whose dissent will enrage him even more than that of Democrats, then the petty, thin skinned moron might gum up the works for the Republicans in the more crucial battles ahead. I can actually quite easily envision Pepe refusing to sign an all important bill simply because he’s mad at McConnell.
Not just between Trump and Ryan/McConnell, but potentially even his own director of OMB.
this will evolve into a billion-dollar food-fight between the different billionaires in his cabinet. They are competetive individuals, who likes a challenge and hate to lose.
Make it $2 or $3 trillion - Trump’s $1 tril plan is for private investors that want big ticket investments (airports, ports, power generation and transmission), make the additional $1-2 tril for low interest rate financing. Use that to build out high speed rail, fix roads, water systems, install cooling systems in all schools and solar panel public property rooftops. Build/refurbish hospitals, including VA.
Pepe’s people want to work - Pepe wants to build. Pepe likes the white working class. White working class needs roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, healthcare - up the ante on Pepe, ask for $3 tril in infra spending using low int rate financing with the promise of all those infrastructure goodies for his loyal supporters. That would make for a great fight between GOP factions.
Yep, one of my great hopes for the next four years is that Pepe spends so much time in petty skirmishes with his own party, and with Democrats, that nothing really gets accomplished. I want to see Trump arguing with the Freedom Caucus, the establishment, and the few moderates left. I want to see all out war within their party. It’s a real possibility that Democrats will be able to goad him into some of those fights by appearing to be on his side in some instances. It doesn’t matter whether or not they’re actually on his side, what matters is that Pepe thinks they’re not his enemy and that his own caucus is.
People need to actually bother reading the quote and get out of the policy because Schumer said nothing about the type of package or whether or not he agreed with Pepe’s particular proposal. He only spoke of the dollar amount. That should tell you something about how serious he is about the actual policy.
“We think it should be large,” Schumer said according to a write up from Politico. “He’s mentioned a trillion dollars. I told him that sounded good to me.”
Very smart idea.
Buchanan is at the bottom of all historians’ POTUS lists because he was guilty of epic miscalculations that led eventually to the civil war, and it has been speculated that he was experiencing senile dementia. But he was the Hillary Clinton of the time, possibly the most qualified for office. Even served as SoS under… Pierce, I believe? He had been grooming himself for the office for decades.
Re: Schumer. I do hope he’s doing eleventy-dimensional chess. But all indications are he’s just an incompetent, compromised tool.
So none of this should be allowed to come to pass? Sad.
“We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.”
Oh boy… a trillion dollar giveaway that will then be used to justify cutting every social welfare program due to a ballooning national debt… just say no, Schumer. Just say no.
As much as I hate Trump and the actual GOP, I think it is important that the Democrats not become the new party of No. Where a policy makes actual sense, they should support it. Again, remind people who the grown-ups in the room are. That said, when legislation comes up that threatens the middle and lower classes, women, LGBTQ, etc… fight those fuckers tooth and nail.
You haven’t been paying attention. His Orangeness isn’t proposing a stimulus package. He is proposing to fuck with the tax code to “incentivize” infrastructure investments and to form private-public “partnerships” to renovate infrastructure.
Private-public partnership means giving away public assets (highways, water systems, sewage systems, libraries, etc.) so private interests can profit from them. Think about the Interstate Highway System as a border-to-border toll system…
One thing R’s & D’s have in common in the Senate is they hate McConnell.
Folks also seem to be forgetting just how easily having Democrats appearing to agree with Republicans on something can kill that thing with other Republicans. A Republican could propose a bill adding harsher sentencing requirements for punching grannies in the face. Pelosi and Schumer could get on board saying, “We definitely need to do more to stop elder abuse” and about a dozen Republicans will hold a press conference submitting evidence that grannies need more face punching, that it limits the potential of grannies when they don’t get punched in the face.