Be very skeptical about a House AHCA vote next week. Sr GOP aide: "There is no whip count being done right now because there is no text yet"
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 20, 2017
One theory in GOPland is that the White House is trying to manufacture momentum but lacks a strong understanding of House dynamics. https://t.co/g1vlzYN9Jb
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 20, 2017
Strong-willed toddlers go through a phase when they announce that they are a favorite cartoon character, or a superhero, or a bear. Ensues a period of days or weeks during which caregivers, for convenience, agree that toddler will be addressed as Spongepants Squarebob, or Ms. Mighty Morphin, or A Bear. Sooner or later, either the toddler gets bored with the rigors of performance art, or a crisis arises when toddler must be forcibly overridden because reality trumps performance — ursine behavior regardless, toddlers are *not* permitted to defecate in ‘the woods’ (i.e., nap corner of the daycare playroom).
Donald Trump is enjoying his second childhood in the Oval Office so much, he’s decided to pretend he’s A Legislator… again. Which fortunate Republicans will be given the thankless task of persuading the President-Asterisk to pull up his pants, and stop making things worse for the GOP?
Per the Washington Post:
President Trump is pushing Congress toward another dramatic showdown over the Affordable Care Act, despite big outstanding obstacles to a beleaguered revision plan and a high-stakes deadline next week to keep the government running.
The fresh pressure from the White House to pass a revision was met with skepticism by some Capitol Hill Republicans and their aides, who were recently humiliated when their bill failed to reach the House floor for a vote and who worry now that little has changed to suggest a new revision would fare any better.
The effort reflects Trump’s sense of urgency to score a victory on Obamacare replacement and move on to other legislative objectives, notably tax restructuring. Passing an Affordable Care Act revision would also allow the president to show progress toward a major campaign promise as he completes his first 100 days in office…
House GOP aides in Washington worked furiously to scale back expectations for a quick vote on the legislation, citing the fact that lawmakers have not been fully briefed on the discussions. There was no deadline for finishing the legislation as of Thursday evening, and GOP leaders have not committed to plans for a Wednesday vote, according to one House GOP leadership aide…
Republican leaders have already admitted that they are unable to craft a spending bill that can appease the far-right flank of the GOP, and they have turned to Democrats to deliver votes instead. Democrats have so far been willing to work with Republicans to avoid a government shutdown, but any effort to schedule a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act could destroy those talks and threaten a government shutdown that Republicans have vowed to avoid.Congress has five days next week to pass a spending bill, a tight timeline under the most generous of circumstance that would be nearly impossible to meet if House leaders also try to force a vote on the repeal legislation. Several Republican and Democratic aides said there is a chance that both parties could agree to pass a very short-lived spending bill — one that kept the government open one week, for instance — to give negotiators time to carefully complete a broader spending agreement. But Democrats are already warning that they could walk away if GOP leaders push for repeal…
Dangerous move for GOP to bring AHCA back. Our tracking polls for @prioritiesUSA show voters clearly rejecting Trump's health care policies: pic.twitter.com/xLyRFIvwS2
— Nick Gourevitch (@nickgourevitch) April 20, 2017
I am sensing HEAVY SKEPTICISM from senior House Republicans about a vote next week. And I'm putting that mildly.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 20, 2017
Trump's rhetoric on health has been completely consistent for two years: something good, something terrific, something I will not identify. https://t.co/UgDyP88Mda
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 20, 2017
The most devastating health care question a reporter could ask Trump:
"Mr. President, how exactly does your plan work?" https://t.co/Tbc9aVq4OM
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) April 20, 2017
Honestly, if Trump started insisting that they already passed the bill, 50% of GOP voters would believe him. https://t.co/VOABPHAVb6
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) April 20, 2017
opiejeanne
Isn’t there a so-called poison pill in the budget proposal, regarding funding the border wall? Lawrence O’Donnell was talking about that tonight, that Mulvaney will push for that in the budget talks.
Shalimar
Even more hilariously inept, not only is Trump pushing for AHCA so he will have a legislative achievement during his first 100 days, dumbass is simultaneously threatening a government shutdown if he doesn’t get spending bill concessions from Democrats, who have no reason to negotiate since Trump will get the blame. It seems 50-50 now that the 100 days will end with government no longer working.
Shalimar
@opiejeanne: That was one of them. There was something else too but I can’t remember and need sleep.
opiejeanne
@Shalimar: I loved how he said there would be no shutdown, nobody wants a shutdown. As if he could just command it.
Boussinesque
@Shalimar: To be fair, breaking the Federal Government through sheer incompetence in less than 100 days would be an impressive achievement of sorts…just not a legislative one, or one that any sane person would want.
Shitgibbons, however, are not known to be too discerning on this score.
Gvg
Who the heck cares about the first 100 days thing anyway? I don’t recall past presidents making such a big deal about it. Sometimes pundits did round up talks about it if nothing more interesting was going on. Donald is an entertainer. He just doesn’t get how anything really works and is too obsessed with how things look with no concept that reality matters.
He doesn’t get that our government has shared power and that each congress person has their own wants that don’t care about him. He doesn’t care about them so they are discovering they don’t care about him. Wonder why he thinks 100 days is so big a deal.
amk
It’s unfair to paint twitler alone as a toddler. The gop is full of tantrum throwing toddlers.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
How quickly we forget: Trump and Ryan repeatedly said “repeal and replace” would be signed the afternoon of the inauguration.
It was gonna be a “cake walk”
MattF
I think Weigel has it right. Reality is such a drag.
MattF
@Gvg: Trump wants praise for his accomplshments. Indeed, ‘wants’ is an understatement. Needs praise, requires praise, demands praise.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: It was going to be done on Day One.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gvg: The hundred day thing goes back to FDR, he promised to start to turn things around in his first 100 days.
TenguPhule
@opiejeanne: Obviously we’re gonna get a shutdown.
And a market crash right after.
amk
he has the bestest words alright. still can’t believe 63 million sucker fools fell for it.
Joyce H
@amk:
But, did they… {narrows eyes}… really?
I know we keep hearing that the vote tallies themselves weren’t tampered with, but with all the other weird sh!t coming out, I’m starting to question that.
I remember during the last debate, when Trump’s snappy comeback was “No puppet, no puppet! YOU’RE the puppet!”, and I said to myself, that’s it, folks. That’s all she wrote. He’ll be lucky to top 40%. Then when the final results came out, I sadly concluded that I’d seriously overestimated the intelligence of the American people.
But now. Well, now, I wonder. That’s all. I wonder.
Frankensteinbeck
@Joyce H:
They didn’t fall for it. Not in the conventional sense. He told them he would fuck over minorities – and they’re delighted with his progress towards that – and they agreed that this would fix everything. Destroy everything Obama believed in, and a paradise for the deserving (white people) would bloom. They don’t care about the rest. They hear about the horrible way the ICE is treating Hispanics, and the issue is settled. Trump has kept his promises like no other president. Even the ones mad about specific policies screwing them over would happily vote for him again, because he delivered where it counts.
J R in WV
I wonder too. Electronic voting machines with no audit trail, that’s such a good tool from our friends at Diebold, in the hands of Republican Secretaries-of-state..
Annie Laurie, thanks for helping get a go-fund-me up for Bella and her people! That worked out really well, and Bella is so pretty.
Elizabelle
@Joyce H: I wonder too. I’m not sure the polling was that far off.
FWIW, when I hear Trump and GOP talking about revisiting healthcare legislation, it’s like a form of terror. Stay away from it. You can do no good, but do a lot of evil.
I’m not sure Trump doesn’t make these statements just to (a) amuse himself, (b) fire up his supporters, morons and meansters that they are, (c) yank Congress’s chain, and (d) alarm those who oppose his administration. While he might not get his legislation through, he achieves a lot of his purposes.
Jeffro
@Shalimar:
I love how the 100 days mark is working against Mr. Shake-Things-Up. I may have to have a gathering of some like-minded flaming liberal friends that evening, just to gloat and to renew ourselves for the next 100.
rikyrah
@Frankensteinbeck:
Which is why don’t ask me to understand them
Geeno
@Gvg: It’s from FDR’s first 100 days and the whirlwind of legislation and activity to address the great depression he and that congress achieved, most of the big programs we associate with that were enacted in the first 100 days. Everyone since has been compared to that whether the comparison makes any sense or not.
Elizabelle
The other amusing thing: all this saber-rattling on healthcare, when — I would guess — the weekend’s biggest visual is going to be massive turnout for tomorrow’s Earth Day/March supporting Science events.
Worldwide.
And whatever we learn about Jason Fucking Chaffetz’s predicaments, if his resignation is prompted by more than eagerness to remain unscathed for the Utah governor’s campaign.
efgoldman
Corrected for truth
They couldn’t legislate a bathroom break
I wonder if they’ll turf Granny Starver if he and Nancy SMASH cooperate on a phony budget bill to keep the lights on and the doors open
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Trump is pre-whining about the 100 day mark media coverage on Twitter this morning. Such an insecure child. He’s like a rat in a Skinner box, and the only lever that will keep dispensing reward pellets will be the one labeled “demagoguery,” so he’ll keep doubling down on the racism, sexism, xenophobia and militant ignorance.
Jeffro
@Joyce H: @J R in WV: @Elizabelle:
I have wondered if all these supposedly very infrequent GOP voters’ vote last November – just enough of them to win Wisconsin Pennsylvania and Michigan – were added in later in the day by some means/method. It’s just too odd that Trump “won” by almost the exact same slim margin in each of those three states, The same ones that Paul Manafort was telling him to focus on.
And then let’s not forget there was the Jill Stein-backed “recount” that both delayed liberal outrage and screwed up any chances of a proper investigation (while also wasting what, $7-9M of people’s money?)
Elizabelle
@Jeffro: Yeah.
I suspect Obama’s DOJ looked very closely at that, and decided they could not actually make a case, even if there was a huge chance it happened.
That said, maybe some more information will come our way. If election malfeasance can be proven, I think we should have fresh elections, a one-off. If Trump falls, why reward the Republicans with Mike Pence or another placeholder?
I hope we get a lot of solid, accurate information, and fresh air on this. Make them pay so badly for malfeasance they don’t try it again. Because you know they will.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@amk:
Look at the approval polls and how quickly Trump tanked – that was 63 million votes against HRC, not for Trump. The second they started looking at Trump he was down at 40% were he should have been.
Woodrowfan
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The hundred day thing goes back to FDR, he promised to start to turn things around in his first 100 days.*
* Citation needed. He did promise to “do something” and he did have an incredibly active first 100 days. Is that what you are referring to??
Thru the Looking Glass...
The laws of physics… nature… basic math… how gubmint’s supposed to work… sometimes it seems the only things the WH has learned to do is lie and speak Russian…
Jack the Second
@Elizabelle: Honestly if I were in a position to do so, I’d be looking way more closely at Pence, Ryan, etc’s involvement and complicity in prosecutable offenses. Trump is a tired old man without any real political clout inside Washington; no one would be particularly surprised if he walked away, and no one expects him to accomplish much beyond the mismanagement of the executive branch. Might as well let him twist in the wind and focus on the wicked men lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to sweep in to cheers and sighs of relief and do some real damage.
Rob in CT
@Joyce H:
A lot of us did. A wise* populace would’ve elected HRC in an historic landslide. It wouldn’t have been close enough to ratfuck.
They didn’t tamper with the vote. Vote suppression, yes, though that probably wasn’t enough to flip any of the states – Michigan is arguable. No, what happened was that 63 million Americans disgraced themselves and their country, not because they were all stupid (some are, yes), but because they used that big brain we have in all the wrong ways (our brains are great at rationalization – we have a tremendous capacity to fool ourselves). And those people were distributed such that our terrible electoral system put the pop vote loser in office.
* as a reminder, INT != WIS. Different traits, and this matters. Tons of intelligent/educated people voted for Trump.
glory b
@Joyce H: I said that also. I’m in PA. EVERY OTHER Democrat on the ticket won statewide office except Clinton and McGinty (for Senate).
Both were ahead going into election day.
In the previous election, Dems over performed significantly, won every Supreme Court seat. I’m happy about that, because we’ll have a 5-2 majority on the Supreme Court and it gets the last word on redistricting (have I mentioned that PA is probably the most gerrymandered state in the country?).
pluky
I like the equation of Performance Art to the acts of a toddler. So much that previously befuddled me is now much easier to comprehend.
TenguPhule
@Rob in CT:
Actually Adam Silverman posted something that said otherwise.
TenguPhule
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
And they can’t even speak Russian well.
David Spikes
Most interesting to me is that international man of seriousity Paul Ryan is in London telling parliament how legislating is done, instead of in Washington, you know, LEGISLATING. He don’t want no more stink of failure making people ask what has he ever actually done.