Tuesday, October 20, 2020

McConnell Tells Trump to "Back Off"

 


Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has told Donald Trump not to cut a Covid stimulus deal with House majority leader, Nancy Pelosi.

Trump is desperate for votes and he's all out of mojo with the election just two weeks away. The American economy isn't working for blue or white collar wage earners. There's no wall, not that anyone even cares about that any more. His Covid policies keep putting Americans in the ground as death rates increase. Working class misery is about to get much worse as landlords are now free to evict. A lot of those most affected are Trump's base.

Ms. Pelosi had said earlier on Tuesday that she was “optimistic” a deal could be reached with the Trump administration in the coming days. But Republicans are growing increasingly anxious that Mr. Trump and his team are too eager to reach a multitrillion-dollar agreement and are conceding far too much to the Democrats. Republicans fear that scenario would force their colleagues up for re-election into a difficult choice of defying the president or alienating their fiscally conservative base by embracing the big-spending bill he has demanded.

Republicans in the Senate were also concerned that any vote on such a package could interfere with the Senate’s hasty timetable for confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by early next week.

This must be driving the Mango Mussolini nuts. One thing he hasn't had from the Republican controlled Senate is disobedience. He expects to get his way. Congressional Republicans seem to have figured out that there's less to gain from appeasing Trump and little risk in defying the guy who may be on his way out anyway in another two weeks. 

  

9 comments:

Purple library guy said...

Pretty typical that the one time the Republicans threaten to defy Trump is, sheerly by co-incidence no doubt, also the one time he threatens to do something not wholly reprehensible. Fascism, they're fine with. Corruption, no problem. Vacillating incompetence, incoherent bullying, foreign policy blunders, all that they can roll with.
Possibly allowing the public to be helped out? A bridge too far for the Republican party.

Purple library guy said...

Pretty typical that the one time the Republicans threaten to defy Trump is, sheerly by co-incidence no doubt, also the one time he threatens to do something not wholly reprehensible. Fascism, they're fine with. Corruption, no problem. Vacillating incompetence, incoherent bullying, foreign policy blunders, all that they can roll with.
Possibly allowing the public to be helped out? A bridge too far for the Republican party.

Toby said...

So Trump has got himself between a rock and an hard place. Somehow that pleases me.

Anonymous said...

"Republicans fear that scenario would force their colleagues up for re-election into a difficult choice of defying the president or alienating their fiscally conservative base..."

Wrong! Their donors are fiscally conservative, their base is not.

"Republicans in the Senate were also concerned that any vote on such a package could interfere with the Senate’s hasty timetable for confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett..."

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! For McConnell it's all about packing the Court with wingnuts.

Cap

Cap

The Disaffected Lib said...

The Republicans have created a tightrope act that depends on their ability to get the Gullibillies to vote against their own interests to support policy that aligns with the donor class.

I've had a couple of ugly comments recently from QAnon types who see this election as America's last chance to fend off communism. They actually used the "C" word while demonstrating no understanding of what communism is. Apparently anything that falls short of tea party Republicanism is communism.

Once you have people that befuddled you should be able to manipulate their votes with ease. Neo-feudalism can't exist without a neo-peasantry, can it?

Owen Gray said...

Trump is running scared, Mound. And his party is running stupid. He is the Moron-in-Chief who attracts other morons -- in large numbers.

the salamander said...

.. Ergh, Mound !

Blindsided at Game One World series..
Trump gets nuked in Arlington, Texas
where voting is damn near impossible

The 'Stranger at the bar' from The Big Lebowski
voices a clean ad from Biden..in Texas

Trump all New Yawk dirtbag in a huge blue suit
was lucky he wasn't there for the radioactive aftermath
he'd have faint hope against The Dude, the Duderino
or the guy in the Stetson..
with the gargle with razor blade voice & dry wit

The Disaffected Lib said...

He does signal desperation, Owen. Then again, anyone who had to juggle his troubles and woes would reek of desperation. I read an opinion piece today suggesting we're about to see Trump go into full bargaining/extortion mode. The idea is that he'll bargain a peaceful transition in exchange for pardons, forbearances and other goodies that will give him at least a good head start on his likely pursuers.

The problem is that won't allow a new president to fix what's broken. Worse still is that Trump lies. He cannot be trusted to keep his word. He's malevolent. Any deal that doesn't keep a boot on Trump's neck will backfire.

A pardon might suffice for Bill Barr but even if they pulled a Nixon/Ford switcheroo and pardon, Biden wouldn't be able to spare Trump from NY state prosecutors.

The Disaffected Lib said...

Wow, Sal. I hadn't seen the Sam Elliott ad for Biden. The baritone moustache carries a bit of clout with the Trump "base" profile. The ad itself, however, made Biden look very, very old and what's he doing meeting and greeting his fans with no mask or social distancing? That seems very off message. I hope that ad doesn't turn out to be a blunder.