Thursday, November 28, 2019

Sharper Republicans Realize What's Headed Their Way-- And They Are Begging Us To Help Save Them.

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A NY Fed study shows what anyone with any sense has long known, namely that Trump was full of shit last year when he claimed China would be paying for his trade war tariffs by cutting the prices on Chinese goods to absorb import taxes (as much as 25%) when the goods hit U.S. shores. That isn't the way trade wars go and "the prices Chinese firms charge have barely budged, meaning U.S. companies and consumers are paying the tariff costs, estimated at around $40 billion annually. As a result of the U.S.-China trade war, the government adds as much as 25% to the import price as Chinese goods enter the country. If Chinese companies were absorbing that cost, they would have to cut their prices as much as 20%-- a level that would allow U.S. retailers, manufacturers, or wholesalers to keep their own prices and profits stable. That is not what is happening. Import data from June 2018 to September 2019 shows Chinese import prices fell only 2%, the Fed study found, in line with price declines seen in many other nations as global trade slowed."

As with everything-- yes, every little thing-- Trump says, that was a lie. Yesterday, for example, CNN reported that Mulvaney's "Office of Management and Budget's first official action to withhold $250 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine came on the evening of July 25, the same day President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone.



Tim Miller, writing for The Bulwark Tuesday, wanted to make sure his readers are aware that Trump’s Turkey Corruption Is Way Worse Than You Realize. Remember-- John Bolton said that he believes there's a "personal or business relationship dictating Trump’s position on Turkey"-- meaning that, at the very least, Trump's hand-picked national security advisor believes "the commander-in-chief made life or death national security decisions because of an active conflict of interest related to his business." That seems heavy, even for a (literate) Trump supporter, and Miller asserts it "would amount to the biggest scandal in the American presidency in half a century: The most senior security staffer, a man with unparalleled access to the president, believes that Trump acted in a way that is indistinguishable from double-dealing despots the world over."

One more Bulwark post, this one from yesterday by Laura Field on how the alt-right fringe because the mainstream of the GOP: Dear Republicans: Welcome to the New Establishment. "The Trumpists," she wrote, "became the GOP establishment the moment Trump won the nomination, or at least when he won the presidency. But it’s worth remembering that in the early days of the Trump era, anyone who supported Trump was decidedly fringe. His nomination happened in large part because everyone assumed the centripetal power of the establishment would hold. Throughout the 2016 primaries, the more mainstream Republican candidates tiptoed around Trump, believing that inevitably one of them would take the lead... Bannon, Gorka, and Miller are... the face of today’s conservatism and today’s Republican party."

So all this is going on and independent voters-- who will decide the 2020 elections-- are getting a sense of it. The latest CNN poll (yesterday) finds half the country (50-43%) says Trump should be impeached and removed. That's up from 37% in favor of impeachment and 59% against it at the end of April. 53% of us say he used his office improperly-- up from 48% in September-- and 56% say Trump’s attempts to persuade Ukraine to investigate Biden's son Hunter was more for personal benefit than to root out corruption. Only 36% of voters are buying the bullshit about fighting corruption.

If Democrats turn out and take the lion's share of independent voters next year, Trump will be a one-termer. Dems do not need even one Republican, or, more likely, Trump will win a conservative or racist Democrat for every Republican he loses. That's fine. It doesn't matter. One Republican he'll never get its Max Boot's who's Washington Post column yesterday is more anti-Republican than most Democrats sound, and not just anti-Trump... anti-Republican. He wrote that "Republicans have turned their back on conservative principles to become a cult of personality for an aspiring authoritarian. All voters with a conscience should now turn their back on the Republican Party. For aiding and abetting the president’s egregious abuses of power, the Republican Party deserves to be destroyed from top to bottom. We need a center-right party in this country. What we have instead is a party with no fixed principles that is willing to do anything-- no matter how vile-- to serve its maximum leader, a.k.a. 'the chosen one.'"



Over at The Progressive yesterday, Bill Lueders tracked a few other #NeverTrump Republicans, George Will and Charlie Sykes. Lueders noted that Will wrote that "'aside from some rhetorical bleats, Republicans are acquiescing' as Trump makes public display of his 'gross and comprehensive incompetence.' He argues that if Trump continues to get away with insisting that 'the Constitution’s impeachment provisions are unconstitutional,' the instrument of impeachment will be rendered useless as a check on all future Presidents. There may also be a political price to pay, as Will notes in issuing a warning that to Democrats surely sounds like a dream: 'If Congressional Republicans continue their genuflections at Trump’s altar, the appropriate 2020 outcome will be a Republican thrashing so severe-- losing the House, the Senate, and the electoral votes of, say, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and even Texas-- that even this party of slow-learning careerists might notice the hazards of tethering their careers to a downward-spiraling scofflaw. That conservatives like Will are at the forefront of opposition to Trump creates opportunities for alliances that were once unthinkable. MSNBC commentator Charlie Sykes, a conservative from Wisconsin, says in an interview for this editorial that Trump’s unfitness has the potential to unite the citizenry."
“I would like to think there’s a coalition of the decent out there who are just horrified by watching Donald Trump, by watching what he’s doing, but also what he’s doing to us,” Sykes says. “I would love to see the emergence of a coalition that would set aside ideological differences, at least temporarily, to deal with the current emergency.”

... He believes Trump “poses an existential threat to a lot of the democratic norms that we have right now, and I do think those cross party and ideological lines.”

To this end, Sykes argues, “progressives ought to be willing to make common cause with Republicans and conservatives who are willing to break with Trump. That’s not a surrender of principle. It doesn’t mean that we don’t disagree about things, but it means that at this particular moment in time, it’s more important to be allies than to dwell on what we disagree about. We can go back to debating the tax rates later, but if we want to get past this moment in history, there’s going to have to be this alliance that recognizes the unique emergency that the country faces.”

It’s an intriguing possibility. While Trump’s impeachment now appears certain, it will result in his removal from office only if twenty Republican Senators join Democrats in voting for it. This is unlikely, given the devotion that most Republicans have shown thus far, but it’s not impossible.

The impeachment inquiry has churned up massive new evidence of Trump’s shocking and illegal conduct, as career civil servants reveal the extent to which he has sought to use the power of the presidency to his personal political advantage.

...As Sykes frames it, the question for Republicans is how much more pure humiliation they are willing to take.

“What Republicans right now have to be asking is: Do they really want to support five more years of this? We’re talking about five more years of Donald Trump as the commander-in-chief. Five more years of defending and enabling Donald Trump, particularly as he becomes more and more untethered, more and more unhinged, more and more contemptuous of the truth and of the law.”

There can be little doubt that Republicans are driven largely by political self-interest, as are many Democrats. But that means some of them might still be persuaded to abandon Trump. Sykes, while “immensely disappointed at the degree to which [Republicans] have rationalized and enabled Donald Trump,” has not given up hope that they will turn against him. If a few Republicans do so, a few more will likely follow.

And progressives can be a part of this, as long as they can get beyond blaming their fellow citizens for having the bad judgment to support Trump and instead encourage them to honestly ask: “Do you really want to be part of this anymore?”

The answer, for a broad and growing swath of the American public, is no.

No, we do not want a President who constantly embarrasses us on the global stage.

No, we do not want a foul-mouthed bigot to be America’s face to the world.

No, we are not OK with separating children from their families and locking them in cages.




No, we don’t want a President who doesn’t know the name of his own Defense Secretary, refers to members of his party as “Rupublicans,” and thinks Colorado is on the Mexican border.

No, we will not normalize Donald Trump, his ignorance, his crudeness, his impulsiveness, his meanness of spirit, his contempt for the very notion of Constitutional checks and balances, his open corruption and gross incompetence.


Yet Republican politicians will never abandon Trump as long as they perceive that this will cost them politically. As of midautumn, nine in ten Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents opposed impeachment. But that may change.

To secure the deserved ouster of this President, we need to win over a critical mass of ordinary Trump supporters. That may happen just from the open Congressional debate over impeachment and the weight of daily mounting evidence as to the President’s criminality.

To date, the President’s every response to the possibility of impeachment underscores its necessity. He has set out to obstruct the process, even ordering public officials to refuse to testify about his misbehavior. It is getting clearer that anyone who stands with him stands in opposition to the rule of law.

In the end, there will be some Republicans who will support impeachment-- perhaps not enough to oust Trump from office but enough to more plausibly put the lie to the notion that the push for impeachment is a Democratic plot. There will be more defections of principled conservatives and constituencies that realize, however belatedly, that Trump has been conning them. And the majority of Americans who oppose this President will continue to grow.

What a delightful irony it would be if, in the end, this most determinedly divisive of Presidents ended up bringing the people of this country together.


Damage Control by Nancy Ohanian

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9 Comments:

At 7:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

pure sheepdoggery again.

"...anyone with any sense has long known, namely that Trump was full of shit..."

yes. this has been true for 40 years... a bit longer for people in NYC who have had to deal with the sociopath's business frauds.

The problem isn't that trump is shit. The problem is that there are far too few americans who could possibly know this or that they just don't care.

I suspect that a big majority of Germans knew hitler was a sociopath too. But he still pulled about 40% in each election he called.

Americans are about the same. Trump is a Nazi avatar that the 62 million will always support without regard to his stupidity, lies and without regard to how his actions ratfuck them. He's their boy. That's it.

If the democraps were not so devoted to the money, maybe they would allow someone that could beat the Nazi third forever. But the democraps cannot be cajoled to leave their corrosive marriage to corporate money. that's it.

Fortunately for the democrap party, THEIR voters are so relentlessly stupid that they fall for whatever obvious lies they are told and continue to support the corporate party.

Unfortunately for the remaining third, everyone really, is that no matter which one happens to win (anti-red or anti-blue waves), nothing ever changes -- the Nazis hate and the democraps serve the money.

Not to worry Nazi voters. Even if the sheepdogs' predictions come true and the Nazis suffer electoral inconvenience in 2020, the democraps cannot possibly earn their anti-red wave victory and your party of hate shall be resurrected very soon for another decade or two of power. It's been this way since '68. Nothing in either party's DNA nor in the voters' intellect will change it.

 
At 8:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Even on Thanksgiving, it just won't stop. My God, what a life it must have.

 
At 8:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@7:47

I'm at my older sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner (we'll probably be forced to watch Titanic at some point today - she's got kinda crappy taste in movies for a person her age). I thought about spending the day offline, but I have to admit being genuinely curious as to whether you'd be here posting the same boring horseshit even on a holiday. And holy goddamn fuckity-fucking fuck, here you are! Nothing stops you! You're like the Energizer Bunny of hopeless bleakness! Y'know, if posting comments on this blog is the sum total of human contact/outreach you're engaged in, there's something seriously wrong with you. Granted, I've developed kind of a weird obsession with YOU, but I have (sort of) a life. I don't think you can claim the same and I also don't think you're smart enough to figure out that the reason you have no friends (and why whatever remains of your family probably avoids you like the fucking plague) is because of what a tiresome douchebag you are. You've been banned from every other website you've posted on (hence all your sarcastic recommendations that anyone who disagrees with you should go back to Daily Kos, where you aren't allowed to post anything), and I'm sure anyone you interact with on Twitter immediately blocks you. And you just can't take a hint. You kid yourself that you're a pariah because you're laying down more truth than the peons (and fascist-nazi enablers or whatever) can handle. But that's not it at all. No one is interested in you because, like most obsessives, you're just boring. Sure, some of what you say has value and is not wholly unreasonable. Yet you say the same thing so often and in such an ugly and smug tone as to make it unpalatable. That's how I know that whenever a little consensus forms in the comments here backing you up it's really you posting multiple times and agreeing with yourself. Your "pals" all have the exact same smug, superior, seen-it-all tone as you. There's no way THREE such obnoxious asshats could all find themselves posting comments on the same blog.

Anyway. I know you'll employ your usual tactics of delusion and projection in response. I'm full of hate, I should go back to Daily Kos (c'mon!), I can't handle the truth (don't forget to imitate Jack Nicholson while you're typing that one), I'm a Democrap-Nazi-Fascist-etc enabler, etc. Whatever floats your boat, dummy. But if EVERYBODY thinks you're an asshole, they can't ALL be wrong.

 
At 9:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Short Bursts

What a cornucopia of things to address! From right off the top:

"...anyone with any sense has long known, namely that Trump was full of shit..."

But no one had the balls to do anything to prevent him from taking power and ruining this nation.

'...Trump's hand-picked national security advisor believes "the commander-in-chief made life or death national security decisions because of an active conflict of interest related to his business." '

Trump is only openly expressing the purpose of the Powell Memo, which is for the wealthy who run corporations to take over the nation for their own personal benefit, and to prevent We the People from doing anything to stop them. This has been developing for 50 years. But no one had the balls to do anything to prevent the realization of the Powell Memo to bring about corrupt corporatist rule.

"[Trump's] nomination happened in large part because everyone assumed the centripetal power of the establishment would hold."

The "centripetal power of the establishment" used the corporate media to ensure that only Trump was in the public eye. They wanted that rat bastard in power, because they knew he would give them an open door to plunder this nation. No other candidate was willing to allow so much economic rapine.

"If Democrats turn out and take the lion's share of independent voters next year, Trump will be a one-termer."

How is that supposed to happen when the Democrats are too busy pushing their corporatist choices in front of us, and working their media connections hard to block anyone which the Party doesn't like? When Democrats hand over enough votes for the GOP to build up their power to use in an attempt to dominate the world for private profit? There are many needs which society has which need that economic input far more, in particular a crumbling national infrastructure and a health care system which is about to turn to dust due to the greedy termites taking all the money. Instead, more bombs are built to drop on those who won't kneel before the Boardroom in supplication.

"All voters with a conscience should now turn their back on the Republican Party."

"All voters with a conscience" already have. All the GOP has now are ignorant haters and greed mongers. Not a trace of conscience to be seen anywhere they gather.

"We need a center-right party in this country."

Looks like the Democrats aren't good enough. They aren't.

"[George Will] argues that if Trump continues to get away with insisting that 'the Constitution’s impeachment provisions are unconstitutional,' the instrument of impeachment will be rendered useless as a check on all future Presidents.

Will has obviously forgotten Watergate, which essentially ended any effectiveness the Constitution had. It became so bad by the time Dubya got into office that an observation attributed to him -"the Constitution is just a piece of paper"- barely generated a murmur of protest to the contrary. Especially not from George Will.

End of Part I

 
At 9:12 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Part II:

"That conservatives like Will are at the forefront of opposition to Trump creates opportunities for alliances that were once unthinkable."

These opportunities will be wasted, for no one wants to upset the donors who love the uselessness of the Congress. No other governmental body can do anything about the disaster that is the nation today. To do anything about it interrupts using the government to generate private profit opportunities.

MSNBC commentator Charlie Sykes: "“I would like to think there’s a coalition of the decent out there who are just horrified by watching Donald Trump..."

No one hears them. Not even a media insider. That is by design, a feature and not a flaw.

"Sykes argues, “progressives ought to be willing to make common cause with Republicans and conservatives who are willing to break with Trump. ..."

As long as the Republicans call the shots and Democrats do only what they are told. The GOP MUST be incontrol at all times, and the Democrats are to serve and obey.

Sykes: "What Republicans right now have to be asking is: Do they really want to support five more years of this?"

Five more years of unfettered profiteering? Five more years of tax cuts? Five more years of the Federal government being available for the connected to plunder? Five more years of taking rights away from people who aren't wealthy and giving it all to those who are? There is a very long line on the right ready to take advantage of all of this - and much more. So, Sykes, they certainly DO want five more years of this.

"To date, the President’s every response to the possibility of impeachment underscores its necessity."

But the Democrats have limited the impeachment inquiry to the Ukraine, completely ignoring the other flagrant and voluminous abuses of power committed by Trump. The Emoluments Clauses alone are a veritable treasure trove of impeachable offenses, as are the many acts to obstruct justice. But the Democrats remain too afraid to actually do anything to rescue their nation from these abuses.

"What a delightful irony it would be if, in the end, this most determinedly divisive of Presidents ended up bringing the people of this country together."

Into two heavily armed camps ready to wage war to defend and impose corporatist white supremacy rule over the rest of us?

No thanks. Include me out.

 
At 9:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How is that supposed to happen when the Democrats are too busy pushing their corporatist choices in front of us...

In the short term, it may happen anyway, thanks to the lucky accident (for Establishment Dems, that is) of Trump being so malignantly repulsive. Of course, if Dems do manage to get a status quo corporatist elected thanks to a heavy anti-Trump surge among independents (contingent on their making a conscious decision to vote for Democrats as a way of ensuring Trump's defeat), he or she will likely get swept right out of office in 2024.

 
At 9:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

8:17. Exactly. It's obvious that Democraps needs to get laid real bad. Maybe Down With Tyranny can start a Go Fund Me page to raise $130,000 so we can all send Stormy Daniels or whatever kind of whore matches up with its preference to its door. I bet Democraps would put on tapes of its rants for mood music or make the whore recite them during their coupling.

 
At 9:59 AM, Anonymous Hone said...

There are so many angles to this. Another fact to mention is that the cost of the trade wars includes paying farmers tens of billions to help compensate them for their losses. American taxpayers are bailing out the farmers - this drastically adds to the cost of the trade wars.

 
At 11:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

8:17, again you conflate me with the guy who suggests you go back to Kos. I've never even been there.

And if my posts are tiresome and repetitive, yours are just as tiresome and repetitive.
The difference is I show an actual hypothesis relevant to everyone's plight in this shithole and attempt to prove my hypothesis. All you show is hate. nothing but pure hate.

This shithole society has selected for hate (and fear) ever since WWII, so you probably couldn't help being the vacuous hateful troll you are.

Short Bursts - nice to see your salient offerings again. don't be a stranger.

9:18, you are correct. the past 50 years show that the democraps can only win in big anti-red wave years and that after they fall face first into power, they refuse to earn it and are soon swept aside for another decade or more of serving the money from behind.

Hey, that means 8:17 is still outnumbered. cool.

 

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