Various sources report that Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor doesn’t have enough votes and will withdraw. You know what that means? It means he will pick someone worse, and then you’ll all feel REALLY dumb. Like for example…actually I can’t think of anyone worse. Carl’s Jr is pretty much the bottom of the barrel as far as labor practices go. Maybe one of the schlebby mammonites in charge of Wal-Mart wants the job. I don’t see why any of Sam Walton’s professional heirs would bother.
Replacing Putzder will be a fun test. You have to find someone rich and hateful enough to satisfy Trump. If that person survives nomination hell, the reward will be a prime chance to get blamed by Trump for some stupid thing Trump did, purged by Bannon and his right wing media for some petty heterodoxy, hauled in front of a Congressional committee or questioned by a grand jury. I find it hard to believe that anyone still thinks the Trump show ends well. Who would voluntarily join that?
Corner Stone
He’s probably going to nominate RoboCop. Or Johnny Five.
XTPD
Peter Kirsanow (he of the hipster douchestache) is in talks to replace Puzder.
Villago Delenda Est
Twist slowly, slowly in the wind…
GregB
Trump pulls Puzder.
hovercraft
According to the Vichy Times front page he has withdrawn his name.
Breaking News
Puzder, Labor Nominee, Withdraws Amid G.O.P. Doubts
By ALAN RAPPEPORT 35 minutes ago
Andrew F. Puzder, a fast-food executive, has withdrawn his name as criticism of his business record and character raised doubts that he could be confirmed.
Mike J
The replacement is irrelevant. Flynn is gone. Putzder is gone. Trump looks weak. Looking strong is the most important thing to trump and it is being taken away from him.
Brachiator
Probably someone who believes in child labor.
Mnemosyne
So a guy who abuses his employees also turns out to be a spousal abuser.
This is my not-shocked face.
D58826
OK, now it’s not funny
Trump is just the gift that keeps giving for every jihadist and wanna-be jihadist in the world. Rather than this drip drip drip approach just declare war on Islam and be done with it.
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/831974514938564609
Mai.naem.mobile
There’s Scottie Boy Walker, the mining company guy who poisoned the town and was bitching when the teevee reporter asked him about water and he was drink ng from a container of bottled water or the Papa Joe’s douchhebag who complained about Obamacare/ACA costing him an extra quarter on each pizza .
Elizabelle
One of the pizza douches. Papa John or Herman 999 Cain.
But I’m glad Puzder is gone. Horrifying jerk. Have lost any appetite for Carls Jr.
khead
@Corner Stone:
Dick Jones. Maybe Vilos Cohaagen.
Gelfling 545
Trump will be disappointed when he finds out that Simon Legree is fictional.
Mai.naem.mobile
@D58826: this is what I want fearing for the past week – that he’s going to do something really drastic to change the topic . Fucking WWC and their fee fees .
Calouste
@Mai.naem.mobile: I’m sure Bannon can recommend someone who has actually written articles promoting the reintroduction of slavery.
dr. luba
@Brachiator:
No, they all believe in child labor. Probably someone wanting ot bring back indentured servitude.
geg6
@XTPD:
I don’t have a clue who he or his mustache might be.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
So you’re thinking Newt will get the nod, then?
schrodingers_cat
CEO of Tyson Chicken.
Renie
@D58826: we know his tweets are diversion tactics but saying you are sending troops to Syria to change the news from domestic b.s. wow
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Brachiator:
So Gingrich?
D58826
@Elizabelle: Eichmann isn’t available?
MattF
Secretary of Labor in a run-of-the-mill Republican administration will be a joke, no matter what. In a Trump administration? We’re talking about dysfunction within dysfunction. Thing is, though, there are lots of people in Washington who are eager to play that role.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
That guy would be a twofer, because Tyson has been repeatedly caught recruiting illegal workers.
D58826
@Renie: wasn’t a tweet. Barbara Starr from the Pentagon
Mnemosyne
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
You owe me a Coke. ;-)
Elizabelle
@D58826: I know.
Hardly “the best and the brightest.” More “the crudest and the whack.”
We deserve better.
scav
Several directions to take this. “Getting a bill for your own bullet”, “Mexico will pay for their own executions”, and the creation of legally recognized Gold-Star Class for High Status Criminals (Silken 4K-thread per inch ropes!): Arizona unveils new death penalty plan: bring your own lethal injection drugs
Spanky
My bet it’ll be the ex-mine owner who let, what?, 29 miners die in an unsafe mine?
And hey, what the heck. Let’s let children mine that coal, too.
efgoldman
Behind the scenes, this means that Yertle McTurtle bailed on Puzder. As we’ve seen, he’s perfectly capable of corralling any votes he needs.
Also, more just great investigating and vetting by the maladministration, innit? Even the cabinet members that got thru have disqualifying things in their pasts, under normal circumetances.
Spanky
@scav: So, the typical street-bought heroin, then?
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Also someone who doesn’t think he should have to put up with any kind of push-back.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
Well, Trump still owes him one, so he’s got to be on the short list.
Feebog
Not going to worry about who Puzder’s replacement will be. Savoring the fact that he has been rejected. Given the current dysfunction that is the Trump administration, it may be weeks before they even come up with a replacement. We can cross that bridge when we come to it.
Spanky
is our republitards learning?
MattF
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Hmm. Noot would actually be a plausible choice (for the value of ‘plausible’ under consideration here). I once watched an interview on CSPAN where Noot was expounding on some large theme, and actually not sounding too crazed. But then the subject of labor unions came up– His face turned purple, his hair stood up on end, and steam started to shoot out of his ears. So, a plausible choice.
permafrost
Maybe Betsy McCaughey would do it.
clay
@D58826: Jeez. I know it was completely irrational, but I was holding out some hope that Trump meant what he said (HA HA) when he talked about not getting involved in these foreign hotspots.
On the other hand, there’s a (tiny) silver lining that a Middle East quagmire would be the anchor that sinks his standing beyond recovery. I don’t think the average Trump (non-explicitly racist) voter has any desire for another one. He wouldn’t even have the inciting national tragedy that allowed Bush to maintain decent popularity for so long.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne:
His stated reason for withdrawing was that he was tired of the abuse. Wether it was the abuse that he was dishing out or the abuse that he was taking that proved so tiresome was not made clear.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: That’s exactly why I thought of him.
The Moar You Know
@Spanky: Nope, because that would be the second greatest gift they could give Dems.
First would be legit redistricting.
schrodingers_cat
OT aside about Islamophobia.
The other day when DougJ had a thread on musical number featuring the flute, I went searching one. I happened on a number from a 1960 Hindi movie, Kohinoor.
The number in question, Madhuban me Radhika nache re, Giridhar ki Muraliya Baje Re
Rough translation: Radha dances in a scented grove, while Giridhar (Krishna*) plays his flute.
After some research I found that almost everyone associated with that number is Muslim
Written by Sahir Ludhianvi (Poet from Ludhiana)
Music was by Naushad, it was sung by Mohammed Rafi. On screen it was performed by Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan) and Kumkum (Zaibunissa)
This was only 13 years after a bloody partition following independence where million of lives were lost and millions more were displaced. An event that in scale eclipses the one in 2001, many times over.
This was not some feel good PSA but a highly successful commercial venture.
Krishna* ==Vishnu’s most popular avatar.
ETA: The best thing, no one treated like it was a big deal.
clay
@Spanky: Hmm… Would the return of earmarks be a good thing, or a bad thing? I mean, I don’t have any particular love of them myself, but if it pisses of the teabaggers…
The Moar You Know
@dmsilev: you ever box? Throwing punches is exhausting. I managed to work my way up to ten minutes on the bag, but that was all.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Betsy Devos has a husband. Not sure he’d be worse, but he probably wouldn’t be any better. I’m sure he’s given enough money to the right people so the job is probably his if he wants it.
scav
@Spanky: Well then, a dedicated income and promotion scheme for police. Arrest and kill somebody and then catch and arrest their lawyer / family for attempting to provide a more comfortable death. Seize assets, execute, rinse and repeat. That’ll turn around the AZ economy and cut taxes, plus the security theater will seem all cosy and comforting to the protected classes.
Brachiator
@Feebog:
Yep, especially if it causes Trump some distress that he is not getting his way.
I think that especially when it comes to Energy, Labor, maybe HHS, Trump and the Republicans want people who will kill the departments, so anything that slows them down is good.
joel hanes
@D58826:
just declare war on Islam and be done with it.
So far, Trump seems to be ignorant of the existence of Indonesia.
No one tell him, ‘k ?
Peale
@clay: Its actually a good thing, IMHO. We’ve got a whole generation of noobie Congressmen who don’t behave like Congressmen in part because they’re willing to starve the folks back home. But because they’re willing to starve their own resident, that doesn’t mean everyone has to starve.
? Martin
I wanted to loop back to that Pew poll, because there is a really interesting take-away in it.
If you look at the 18-29 year-olds vs the 65+ what you see in the former group is a tight clustering of their views toward various religious groups, ranging from 54% to 66%, and Mormon is hanging out there as a bit of an outlier at 54%. Muslim is 58%. With the 65+ group the range is 44% to 75% with mainline protestants and jews at the top and atheists and muslims at the bottom. It’s also interesting that if you compare the distribution, you see it tightens at both the high and low end for each successive generation, but with the 18-29 year olds while the clustering tightens, it also increases almost across the board. Jews and mainline protestants move from clear winners to middle of the pack, but everyone else comes up, sometimes a lot.
What I suspect you’re really seeing here is a large cultural shift from older generations seeing specific religions being proxies for adherence to social norms that they have placed specific value on, or even more – proxies for morality. In the younger generation, with everyone being weighed more or less equally, they don’t see religion this way but more as a personal choice rather than a proxy for anything. I would attribute most of this to Obama. Not necessarily him personally but the general contours of civil rights under him. The 18-29 year olds were 10-19 when Obama was elected. They were 3-16 when 9/11 happened. Their views of the world were largely shaped under his presidency, and not in the immediate pre or post 9/11 world. Preserving that is critical for Democrats, and while we clearly had some blowback in 2016, that generation of voters and the generation that follows them are key for future victories.
? Martin
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: She’s got a brother, you know.
Starfish
@clay: Though it is essential bribes to critics in districts, it was a small price to pay for a Congress that actually got things done. They would have incentives to not bring everything to a screeching halt all the time.
efgoldman
@clay:
It’s old-fashioned horse trading: vote for my bill and I’ll vote for this bridge in your district. Absent any actual desire to legislate and perform public service (which describes the kkkrazy kkkaukus) it’s about the only way to get stuff done. It’s also a way for the RWNJs to look good for their districts, which they really need right now.
MattF
@? Martin: A problem I see with that poll is that the underlying distributions may not be unimodal or may not be symmetric i.e., may not have just one peak in the middle or have a peak that may be strongly skewed. If there’s more than one peak, it would be a sign that there are well-defined sub-populations with distinct views. With the given numbers, you can’t tell– but it could be significant. I’d want to know how much the results are affected by people with strong opinions on the subject.
clay
@efgoldman:
It’s that last part that concerns me. The last thing WE want is for Republican congressfolks to look good to their districts.
jl
Need to call Congress about this nonsense:
” Trump is considering a draft order that would require Census Bureau to ask about citizenship + immigration status ”
https://twitter.com/BrennanCenter/status/831984945715347456
Edit: Trump is an ignorant vengeful white bigot (yes, you knew that, I know), and I hope he starts getting called that to his face in public, often. At public events.
The Moar You Know
@Starfish: Yup. You want to end the era of the “do-nothing” Congress, bring earmarks back. It also has a curious way of motivating voters.
? Martin
Any gamers out there, Humble Freedom Bundle has raised $4.2 million for the ACLU, Doctors Without Borders, and International Rescue Committee. Lot of really good games in this bundle for really good causes.
Anonymous At Work
Next nominee, if you continue with fast-food CEOs, will be Dan Cathy (CEO of Chik-fil-A). Religious testing for all employees. No Non-Southern-Baptists allowed.
? Martin
@MattF: That’s an extremely valid point. There’s at least a little bit of insight in the cross table on that, but yeah, not nearly enough.
Aleta
@D58826: There will be a DoD-involved announcement or action whenever the hounds get too close. Eventually I expect it will move closer to blackmail. I hope the armed forces will be able to resist this exploitation. The Tea Party in Congress already appropriates them shamelessly.
PST
@Elizabelle:
Oh, we’ve got more pizza douches than that in this country! Certainly Tom Monaghan of Domino’s qualifies.
Mike J
@PST: I thought he was dead, but google says he’s alive at 79.
randy khan
This is great news: Trump continues to look weak (and remember that he lost the nominee for Secretary of the Army and Abrams got nixed for Deputy Secretary of State, too), and Puzder was the most deplorable of the deplorable nominees. It really would take some effort to find someone worse for that job.
EBT
Shade: Thrown.
https://twitter.com/reidepstein/status/831959272741298177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
SiubhanDuinne
Today was the final day for candidates to qualify for the special (non-partisan) April 18 election to replace Tom Price in the House in Georgia’s 6th District.
Eighteen candidates qualified: 11 Republicans, 5 Democrats, and 2 Independents. With so many in the field, it’s almost a certainty that nobody will be able to muster a 50%+1 majority, so the top two vote-getters in April will face off in a runoff in June.
I won’t be able to vote in this one — I’m in adjoining CD 7 — but I know JPL lives there (and I think at least one other regular commenter) and may have some useful insights on this race.
efgoldman
@clay:
From our immediate, short term political point of view, absolutely right. That’s not how the question was framed.
LeonS
@Starfish: Every now and then it would even fund a worthwhile project. But yeah basically it was legalized bribery, and apparently our government does not work without that.
Mnemosyne
@EBT:
Wow. Buncha people with no sense of humor on that thread. Lots of whiny-ass butthurt.
Redshift
@EBT: I don’t bother to click through on a lot of stuff, but that’s funny.
EriktheRed
Hell, that’s likely the real reason he withdrew.
Mike J
Next up:
http://mainepublic.org/post/i-will-vote-no-susan-collins-says-she-ll-oppose-scott-pruitt-lead-epa#stream/0
Immanentize
Earmarks — I have always been a fan of them. Full disclosure, I funded some really great juvenile justice programs on earmarks. That said, the system could be improved by guaranteeing a minimum amount to each district (on the theory that the rep knows best) with additional funds for Seniority. The previous system was almost entirely a system of chair nobles oblige.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Geeze, there are so many different dramas every day that I completely missed this one. Is this a hopeful sign that Republicans are not a monolithic block on following Fearless Leader and some could be peeled away for other matters, such as the odd investigation or impeachment trial?
Or was there something particularly egregious about this case? Hard for me to imagine what, as all the evidence to date for the last couple decades has been that they would vote in lockstep to confirm Satan.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Moody has deep pockets and Handel already mentioned that she is not necessarily in Trump’s pocket. Handel campaigned with Sarah before, so even though she has name recognition, that might hurt her. I’m glad Price’s wife didn’t run, cuz that would definitely be an easy win. (unfortunate but true)
efgoldman
@Mike J:
We’ll see, but it looks to me like another free vote, that Yertle has the confirmation in his pocket.
MisterForkbeard
@D58826: Given Trump’s directives to “shut down ISIS by Easter” or whatever, this might actually be the best/only way to do that.
I mean, it ignores the incredible problems it’s going to cause, the other terrorist groups it’s going to inspire, the international relationships it’s going to fuck up, etc. But it does check off that one bullet point, so there you go.
Mike J
@efgoldman: Probably, but we always need to flip at least four. This is step one.
Brachiator
So, in a press conference with Netanyahu, Trump says he is not committed to the two state solution.
But he thinks he’s the magic man who can come up with the perfect deal.
This is depressing.
trollhattan
@MisterForkbeard: Easter, huh, I’m surprised he didn’t declare to finish them off during Bacon Week.
Crusade much, Donnie?
trollhattan
@Brachiator: Depressing, but 100% unsurprising, yes? I listened, did not watch, but the mutual reacharound came through quite graphically on the radio. Bibi’s little “history” lesson seemed over the top even for him.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
Not surprising at all. But he backed away from antagonizing China and embraced the “one China” policy. I thought for a hot second that he would not so emphatically screw up Middle East policy.
But he has crossed the Rubicon here.
ThresherK
@Corner Stone: Not ED-209? What’s better for a Trump nominee than something with unchecked power, and no discernment of boundaries, which short-circuits accepted norms and commands?
bystander
Caught the odious Kay Bailey Hutchison on MSNBC for a few moments. She was quite obviously plumping for President Pence. So steady, so serious.
I also caught Li’l Lindsey and his pal McSame both talking “punishment”. Makes me think they already know where the road leads and they’ll do all they can to get it going. But I could be dreaming.
Brachiator
Too ridiculous to ignore:
With a few adjustments, you could use this to fling immigrants over Trump’s wall.
Cacti
We missed a real Idiocracy moment with Puzder.
The Secretary of Labor, brought to you by Carl’s Jr.
Corner Stone
@ThresherK: Can’t go down stairs. Lots of flights of stairs in schools, malls and other retail spots.
Corner Stone
On the one hand, Putzder is done for. In the other hand, Kate Upton is back on the cover of SI. So…
Corner Stone
Fake Media.
I just don’t even know what to say about this ignorant fucking POS.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
My simplistic assumption about “No greater friend to Israel than me, believe me!” Trump is any actual policy is subbed out to the son-in-law.
efgoldman
@Brachiator:
Government-funded trebuchets for all!
Corner Stone
Bibi looks embarrassed for this POS in that presser sit down.
chopper
@Cacti:
“fuck you, i’m eating”
Corner Stone
Sen Klobuchar should never go on TV without her glasses on.
*rawr*
MCA1
All the news these days can, I find, be sardonically described in sarcastic tweet form with Drumpf campaign quotes.
Yesterday: “Not a puppet. You’re the puppet.”
Today: “I will hire the best people.” I guess that one could have been applied to yesterday, too.
Every day: “Loser. Sad.”
Gin & Tonic
@Brachiator: That was in an earlier thread, too. Gotta give them props – they welded the damn thing to the wall.
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne:
OMFG. I am going to have to pie you.
Patricia Kayden
@Mike J: Exactly. This is not the “you will be winning so much, you will be tired of winning” Trump that ran his mouth making nonsense promises during the election cycle. This is the “corrupt to the bone, unpopular, scandalous” bloated man shuffling around in the White House sending out periodic tweet rants.
Bad. Weak. Low energy.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
A pot trebuchet is probably one of those things that sounds like a great idea after you smoke a lot of pot.
lollipopguild
So how do we put troops on the ground in Syria and keep them supplied? You have the troops who are doing the fighting and the support troops and the medical people. Do you build airfields in Syria? Do you have aircraft carriers off the coast of Syria? How many ground troops? 10,000 or 100,000? This makes everything else look easy by comparison. This is insane but President Queeg wants it done.
Patricia Kayden
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I also don’t understand what was so horrible about Putzder that he had to flunk out. All of Trump’s nominees are unqualified and horrible (perhaps Chao is the one exception). I guess Putzder knew that he wasn’t going to be confirmed and didn’t want the aggravation and embarrassment. If I were him, I’d look in the mirror and ask “Why me?” Given all the other odious nominees, why Putzder, indeed?
evodevo
@clay: The Teabaggers wanted “fiscal purity” in their bills, i.e. they mainly objected to the normal legislative horse-trading that occurred when earmarks were routine. You pass my bill with your earmark in it, and I’ll vote for your bill. It made compromise easier, because you could go back to your district with a win – some project that employed locals or enhanced your conservative/liberal credentials with the voters. The way things work now, NO ONE has any incentive to vote for anything but the most ideologically radical bills, and all the Teabagger caucus will include may be poison pills to kill anything you might be interested in. Hence, congressional inertia.
Ack! efgoldman beat me to it.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@jl: Actually, it wouldn’t be the first time such questions were included on the Census.
Patricia Kayden
@lollipopguild: Whose side will American troops be fighting on? For Syria and Russia? Or for a collection of anti-Assad militia? I hate to say this but Trump is sending soldiers to their death — especially any who fall into the hands of ISIS. This is not going to end well. I would have hoped that after the fiasco in Iraq, Americans would be defiant about not engaging in unnecessary wars. Sigh.
EBT
@Mnemosyne: It’s a fairly common way to get stuff over the wall actually. That wasn’t the first one.
Patricia Kayden
@Anonymous At Work: And all fast food restaurants would have to close down on his Sunday Sabbath like Chick-fil-A does. Throw in a side of hatred for gays, and it’s all good.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
What CEO likes to be challenged?
Victor Matheson
@Immanentize: A colleague and I published a study on earmarks a decade ago. We found that the tenure of your state’s senior senator made a huge difference in how many earmarks your state got and thanks to the undemocratic Senate, small states got way more earmarks per capita. We also found states with republican senators had more earmarks, but we chalked that up to the fact that republicans were in the majority during this time not necessarily due to profligate spending tendencies.
Kathleen
@Cacti: Who will also take your children if you can’t pay.
lollipopguild
@Patricia Kayden: Any soldiers on the ground will be a magnet for any and all who hate America which is many of the people in that area. It could end up being “Blackhawk Down” X a thousand.
TS
@SiubhanDuinne: This is the one that Rachel mentioned where the democrats were saying it was a foregone conclusion the GOP would win – but the district’s majority for trump was only 1.5%. Surely it has to be fought against trump not against anything the GOP candidates might be talking about.
D58826
@joel hanes:
well the Indo part probably means that is where Pocahontas lives
Mnemosyne
@EBT:
Yes, but my version is funnier, so I’m sticking with it.
Mnemosyne
@Patricia Kayden:
It was because he was exposed as a wife-beater. Even Trump fans don’t like being associated with that.
clay
@Mnemosyne: Does not compute. Trump has wife-beating allegations against him that are just as credible.
Not that the media paid much attention, for some odd reason…
john fremont
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Rich DeVos as Secy of Labor. So no more labor union protection, but hey you can buy an Amway starter kit and retire in five years. Just show the Plan and leave the Stinkin Thinkin behind!
Gvg
@clay: return of earmarks would be a good thing. Like most people I thought they were bad and corrupt for years until they were banned after a series of them that got too much bad publicity. What I didn’t appreciate until they had been gone awhile is that they were the carrots that got most congress people to vote for things that they didn’t see a direct selfish immediate benefit. I have come to the conclusion that banning earmarks are mostly the reason government came to a stand still for the last several years. Congress can’t get along, not even in the same party without some grease. I even think we almost defaulted because of the lack of well allowed bribes for districts. Infra structure is especially dependent on earmarks.
I don’t want Ryan to get legislation through though. On the other hand I think the lack of earmarks changed what successful traits are in congress and we’d have fewer nut all grandstanders if we had earmarks to sooth voting districts. I really wanted them to come back during a democratic administration.
prostratedragon
@trollhattan: I also wondered about the Easter thing. Then I noticed that the Western holiday is April 16 this year. One wouldn’t expect him to deadline on tax day.
Seth Owen
@lollipopguild: We are already next door in Iraq. Logistics would be the least of our problems.
J R in WV
@Elizabelle:
Never been to a Carls Jr. Never!
The name isn’t grammatically correct, even.
I was eating breakfast in a Denny’s once, and the exhaust fans in the kitchen blew the breakers, and just resetting them didn’t work. They threw everyone out. Is that the same guy, running Denny’s?
Mnemosyne
@clay:
Ivana’s story didn’t get a spot on Oprah, with cable news-ready video.