Predictably, The Crackpot's Unraveling But Mercer And Bannon Are The Two Who Need Watching

Señor T will soon be babbling about pulling Vanity Fair's license after the shocking Gabe Sherman piece yesterday about his deteriorating mental state. Fake news from Trump's perspective, Sherman described what he described as "several people close to the president" telling him "Trump is 'unstable,' 'losing a step,' and 'unraveling.' Sherman also spoke with "half a dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisors" who "all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president who seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods. Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. 'Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,' a person close to Trump said. 'He saw the cult of personality was broken.'" Putin must be breaking out the champagne! The most potent Russian investment since WWII!

[S]ome West Wing advisers were worried that Trump’s behavior could cause the Cabinet to take extraordinary Constitutional measures to remove him from office. Several months ago, according to two sources with knowledge of the conversation, former chief strategist Steve Bannon told Trump that the risk to his presidency wasn’t impeachment, but the 25th Amendment-- the provision by which a majority of the Cabinet can vote to remove the president. When Bannon mentioned the 25th Amendment, Trump said, “What’s that?” According to a source, Bannon has told people he thinks Trump has only a 30 percent chance of making it the full term.

Mercer and Bannon aren't taking any chances that their project for a fascist America folds with Trump's removal. They figure they've already got Roy Moore in the bag-- although recent polls suggest they may be counting their chickens before they hatch in Moore's son's jail cell-- and they are looking to replace 7 Republican senators (McConnell allies) up for reelection-- everyone except Mercer puppet Ted Cruz-- as well as some Democrats.

Tuesday, CNN reported that Bannon's next step in his "scorched-earth war against Republican incumbents is an attempt to cut off money" to McConnell allies in the Senate. He spent the weekend in Connecticut with GOP fat-cats, something he's already done in NYC and in DC, "speaking with more than 25 major GOP donors so far, including hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, energy executive Dan Eberhart, private equity firm CEO John Childs and, obviously, his patrons, the father-daughter Mercer sociopaths, Robert and Rebekah.

Bannon's raison d'etre is to take on McConnell and nationalize Republicans behind Trump [although no one knows if Trump, who was devastated by his loss in Alabama at Bannon's hands, will actually go along with that claim or not].

His thinking-- evidenced by the Senate's failure to advance Trump agenda items like health care-- is that Washington Republicans do not support Trump anyway. So 2018 could be a defining moment, shaking up the GOP and placing Trump's 2016 campaign agenda at its forefront.

What Bannon is seeking from prospective candidates, the source said, is one simple pledge: That they won't vote for McConnell as Senate majority leader.

Bannon's recruiting efforts have intensified over the last two weeks. He is now looking for candidates who can replicate Sen. Mike Lee's stunning ouster of former Sen. Robert Bennett at Utah's 2010 Republican convention next year against Sen. Orrin Hatch. And he is in contact with allies in Nebraska seeking a candidate to take on Sen. Deb Fischer.

And that's "just a partial list," the source familiar with Bannon's plans said.

"Nobody's safe," the source said.

Already, he had spoken with Erik Prince, the Blackwater security contractor, and GOP mega-donor Foster Friess about running against Republican Sen. John Barrasso in Wyoming.

Bannon has also backed Kelli Ward's effort to oust Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake. He hosted Danny Tarkanian in Washington to discuss his campaign against Sen. Dean Heller in Nevada. And he met recently with Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel about taking on Sen. Roger Wicker.

McDaniel, who said he is strongly considering running against Wicker, said Monday that he and Bannon have been in regular contact since 2014, when McDaniel came close to unseating Sen. Thad Cochran. Support from Bannon is helpful, McDaniel said, with strong Trump supporters who know Bannon was a leading figure on the President's campaign and with those who read Breitbart.com, where Bannon is a top executive.

"You factor in the big news he made in 2016," McDaniel said. "You factor in his drive, his work ethic-- and people sense a winner and understand he can bring resources to bear, whether it's Breitbart or with financial resources."

Bannon also plans to get involved in the primaries in West Virginia and Missouri, two of Republicans' top opportunities to pick off Democratic-held seats next year.

The plan, the source said, is for these Bannonites to nationalize their 2018 message with a consolidated, consistent argument across the map.

Bannon wants that message to be about "big things"-- that the grassroots Republican voters are in control and that they don't need the establishment's money or what he views as its corruption.

Bannon, the source said, believes his insurgent slate will be different than the tea party calamity of 2010, when flawed candidates like Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada cost the party seats, or 2012, when Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana made controversial remarks that swung their races in Democrats' favor.

Instead, Bannon, the source said, is recruiting candidates who are focused on substance-- particularly immigration and trade-- and could win over a loose coalition of social conservatives, tea party activists and values voters.

The test case was Alabama, where Moore-- a controversial figure who was twice ousted as state Supreme Court chief justice, first for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument and later for refusing to recognize the US Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriage-- defeated Strange, who benefited from $10 million in advertising from the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC.

In Alabama, Bannon broke with Trump, who had gone to Huntsville for a campaign rally for Strange just days before the election.

But the two are still in frequent contact. Bannon spoke to Trump in recent days, the source said, arguing that from Trump's perspective the Senate is already lost because the President understands he has little support there.

As if to underscore that view, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker-- the Senate foreign relations committee chairman who is retiring rather than running for re-election in 2018-- accused Trump in a New York Times interview of putting the nation on a path to World War III and said Trump's presidency "would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation."

It was Corker who had urged Trump in a White House meeting to go to Alabama and campaign for Strange-- a decision the President came to regret-- according to a source who spoke to the President.

Bannon, meanwhile, has argued he is taking on Republicans who don't support Trump's policies.

One source of financial support for Bannon-backed candidates is the Great America PAC, a super PAC led by former Ronald Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins.

The group plans to roll out an initial set of three endorsements of Republican candidates this week.

It isn't expected to be as aggressive in seeking to unseat Republican incumbents as Bannon has been, but the super PAC does intend to support Senate candidates who back Trump's agenda and call for the elimination of the Senate's 60-vote threshold to break the filibuster-- potentially including Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel, Montana state auditor Matt Rosendale, West Virginia attorney general Patrick Morrisey and more.

It could also support candidates who could weaken Democratic senators seen as potential 2020 Trump opponents, including Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.

"The reality here is, you have to tap into that Trump agenda intensity. And those are the candidates who can win in the general election," said Eric Beach, the Great America PAC co-chair.

Bannon, meanwhile, is focused on damaging people who might be considering 2020 in both parties-- including Mitt Romney, who could run for the Senate in Utah if Hatch retires.

The key, the source familiar with Bannon's plans said, "is to prove the theory of the case"-- that Republicans who are anti-Trump should be gone.

Utah voters seem quite eager to elect Mitt Romney as their next U.S. senator, not a Mercer-Bannon style neo-fascist. The most recent Utah polling shows that Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, a Democrat, is in position to beat Hatch (46-34%) if he runs again or right-wing academic Matt Holland (30-23%). Top Bannon target and enemy, Mitt Romney, takes the seat in a walk-- 64-26%.

One of the neo-Nazi support groups, FreedomWorks, who have been cast out of the Koch empire and are now dependent on Mercer, is completely bought in on the goal of destroying McConnell. Adam Brandon, their president, released this statement yesterday after an anti-McConnell press conference:

It’s time for new leadership. Mitch McConnell has been a failure in the Senate and has cost Republicans almost a year of victories. He has demonstrated that he either does not understand the frustration coming from conservatives and the urgency of passing key legislation-- or he does not care.

"He failed to repeal ObamaCare with his majority in the Senate. The House has passed the REINS Act and the Financial CHOICE Act, but McConnell is exerting no energy to get those to the floor for a vote.

"Now we are focused on tax reform. The House has passed its budget, and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady is ready to work. Yet again, the Senate is not moving. They even left for a week during crunch time."

Brandon and 5 other puffed-up neo-Nazis-- Ken Cuccinelli, president of the Senate Conservatives Fund, Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, Brent Bozell, chairman of ForAmerica, David Bozell, president of ForAmerica and Richard Viguerie-- sent McConnell an abusive letter to demand his resignation and make him cry:

Dear Senator McConnell,

2017 has been a disappointing year for the millions of Americans who fully expected, and had every right to expect real change in Washington. Republicans were given full control of the federal government. They-- you-- have done nothing. Worse, it is painfully clear that you intend to do nothing because, as is most apparent, you had no intention of honoring your solemn commitments to the American people. You were not going to “drain the swamp.” You are the swamp.

You and the rest of your leadership team were given the majority because you pledged to stop the steady flow of illegal immigration. You’ve done nothing. You pledged to reduce the size of this oppressive federal government. You have done nothing. You pledged to reduce, and ultimately eliminate the out-of-control deficit spending that is bankrupting America. You have done nothing. You promised to repeal Obamacare, “root and branch.” You’ve done nothing. You promised tax reform. You’ve done nothing.

You don’t even show up for work.

While your attacks on those within the Republican Party who were attempting to keep the GOP’s promises in the era of President Obama are now legendary, your current failure to deliver on the highest priority commitments to the American people is nothing short of shocking.

Perhaps the greatest betrayal-- and that is what it is-- is your failure to repeal Obamacare, the single most devastating piece of legislation against freedom ever crafted. Every single Republican in federal office today is there because of the pledge to end this horror. We are now in October of 2017. The Republicans control the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. The GOP controls it all, thanks to that commitment.

President Trump and the House of Representatives have done their part. You sank it all.

President Trump reasonably asked when he arrived in the White House “Where is the bill?” After seven long years, you didn’t have a bill ready to go. You’d scheduled no committee hearings when you knew some in your caucus would not tolerate a bill without hearings. You had no plan at all.

America has not forgotten that Obamacare does not apply to you. You and your leadership team saw to that, even when far more ethical members of Congress tried to change that slippery exemption. That is not “leadership.” That’s cronyism, and precisely why the American people want the swamp drained.

By this time we could have been at work building the wall to protect Americans from the flow of illegal immigration, and also the flow of terrorists bent on wreaking destruction on our towns and cities. But you haven’t allowed it.

By this time in Ronald Reagan’s administration, even with an opposition party controlling the House, his tax cut package had been the law of the land for months, and America was on her way to an explosion of historic growth. But under your “leadership,” there’s not even a commitment to real reform.

You confirmed President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, but you’ve also left our judiciary hanging in the balance. With well over 100 vacancies on the federal bench and 50 nominees awaiting action in the Senate you all have performed the Herculean task of confirming … seven?! That’s less than one judge per month!

Reasonable people can disagree on the larger issue of abortion, but science has proven that 20 week-old babies in the womb can feel the pain and torture of being aborted. The House, addressing the scientific community’s concerns and consensus, has passed the Pain Capable Act three times. President Trump has publicly stated his eagerness to sign this legislation. Not only will you and your leadership team not lift a finger to advance this bill and help end these atrocities, your chief deputy, Senator John Cornyn, deemed “Pain Capable” to be “not a short-term priority,” all but declaring the bill dead-on-arrival.

Defunding the abortion mill Planned Parenthood is another promise you have failed to deliver on. Chief among your responsibilities is to be stewards of taxpayer resources, and yet, inexplicably, Planned Parenthood continues to receive $500 million in federal funds annually, with no end in sight.

Perhaps more could be accomplished if you and the rest of your Gang of 5 leadership team would work harder, and require the rest of the Senate to do the same. The American people work 8-10-12 hours daily. How hard do their elected representatives work? On this, the 282nd day of 2017, you all have barely worked more than 100 days! And many of those “days” count coming in for a vote or two at 5:30 p.m.

Many Americans celebrated “Columbus Day.” What would they think if they knew-- if you told them-- you have arranged it so you and your colleagues celebrate “Columbus Week”?

In the real world this level of performance would get you fired.

When one compares the number of bills passing through the House to the Senate’s lack of performance, your leadership looks even less capable. As Speaker Ryan recently noted, the House is passing bills-- including items central to your campaign promises-- and not only do they languish in the Senate, but you and your leadership team publicly declare some of them dead on arrival.

In addition to not repealing Obamacare, not reigning in spending and debt, not restraining then-President Obama’s massive expansion of government, not reducing the power of the bureaucracy (especially the IRS), not only failing to secure our borders but fighting for amnesty and open borders, you and your leadership team have proven to be abject failures.

Your legalized bribery through deceitfully advancing the Export-Import Bank and other schemes that benefit donors but not ordinary Americans, and your extremely selective support for one part of one part of the U.S. Constitution (that being that part of the First Amendment related to free speech, but only insofar as it relates to campaign financing that you favor) has made it clear that you and your leadership team will be brave fighters for your Washington-based fat-cat donors and your own power, but not for the American people, any identifiable principles, nor even for the very things you all said during your campaigns that you believed in.

Those substantive failures come on top of your vicious, continuous, merciless attacks on grassroots Republicans, but most especially conservatives. Why do you hate the very people who are the biggest bloc of voters supporting every single member of the GOP Senate Caucus?

You have told us in no uncertain terms, for many years, in many ways, that it is your purpose to “crush conservatives everywhere.”

Can you imagine what would happen to a football team in which the quarterback was continuously by word and deed making it clear that he loathed his offensive linemen?

You have used race-baiting tactics without reservation when it suited your purposes, but the minute Democrats used such tactics against you in your last Senate race you wailed and gnashed your teeth.

You have used the un-American tactic of “blacklisting” vendors who dared to work for candidates who were not the leadership’s chosen candidates.

You have abandoned good conservative GOP nominees for no other reason than that they were conservative. One need look no farther than the last election cycle when you abandoned the Republican grassroots’ Colorado Senate candidate-- Air Force Academy graduate, African-American veteran and twice-elected official Darryl Glenn.

In 2016, there were only two states in which the GOP had a chance to pick up Senate seats-- Colorado and Nevada. In Nevada you led $25 million worth of spending on behalf of your chosen candidate, but you refused to spend any money on behalf of Darryl Glenn in Colorado simply because he was conservative.

Both candidates lost by three percentage points.

There sat another vote for Obamacare repeal, but you were willing to sacrifice a Republican senate seat rather than have a conservative whom you would not control join the Senate.

Don’t blame others for falling one vote short-- the fault is yours and the rest of your Gang of 5 leadership team.

And it’s not just Darryl Glenn. We remember your support for Arlen Specter, for Charlie Christ over Marco Rubio, and for Planned Parenthood’s favorite Independent candidate, (chairman) Lisa Murkowski over GOP nominee Joe Miller in Alaska in 2010.

You and your leadership team-- Senators John Cornyn, Roy Blunt, John Thune and John Barrasso-- have made war with your own grassroots while cynically refusing to honor one solemn pledge after another to the American people.

It is time for you and your leadership team to step aside for new leadership that is committed to the promises made to the American people. America is too good for you to lead it.

All of these dancers grew up to become members of FreedomWorks and sign help draft yesterday's letter to pro Miss McConnell.