Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Republican Venality
Psaki responds to McConnell saying "100% of my focus" is on "standing up" to Biden administration: "The contrast for people to consider is 100% of our focus is on delivering relief to the American people, and getting the pandemic under control, and putting people back to work" pic.twitter.com/wmUlUPYzLF
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 5, 2021
Biden dismisses McConnell’s pledge that he’s ‘100 percent’ focused on stopping the administration Via @Eugene_Scott https://t.co/uo9bJeqIIW
— DonnaCassata (@DonnaCassata) May 5, 2021
REPORTER: Mr. President, do you have any comments on efforts to oust Liz Cheney from the House Reublican leadership post?
BIDEN: I don't understand the Republicans.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 5, 2021
bipartisanship is talking to people who tell you to go die https://t.co/wgmrv5Yu6m
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) May 5, 2021
President Joe Biden talks about the Republican drive to oust Donald Trump critic Liz Cheney from the House of Representatives pic.twitter.com/1Bf4yHV5y7
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 6, 2021
I like the Democratic message!
Shots in arms, money in pockets, people in jobs. https://t.co/qVq5FLazs4
— Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) May 5, 2021
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Not Our Circus, Not Our MonkeysPost + Comments (75)
This post is in: GOP Death Cult, NANCY SMASH!, Your Place Is In The Resistance, Schadenfreude
https://t.co/yLqbECSk6T pic.twitter.com/iA0cgeRUQ1
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) May 4, 2021
Donald Trump is an old man, not in the best of health, facing considerable legal jeopardy compounded by his failing business enterprises. Some (noisy) portion of the Republican party’s voters have pledged fealty to him, regardless of what Trump’s wavering attentions might mean for other, less prominent GOP members and their districts. Most of the national GOP leadership, elevated by the same Wingnut Wurlitzer tropes that crowned Trump, have publicly announced their loyalty to the Man over the Party (or our mutual commonwealth).
Liz Cheney is still young, by political standards — a full generation younger than TFG, or for that matter Mitch McConnell. She’s already volutarily unpersoned herself in the current Republican Party; the attention-seekers and sycophants who crowd Fox News’ greenrooms will never let her ‘disloyalty’ be forgotten, nor will the hardcore MAGAts forgive her for spotlighting their god-emperor’s nakedness. So she’s nothing to lose, and potentially much to gain, by assuming the mantle of Sensible Republican Anti-Trump Spokeswoman.
Worst that happens is she spends the next couple of decades giving I told you so statements from the security of conservative think tanks & corporate boards. But assuming that the current uneasy Republican balance collapses — that the contradictions between the permanent-party ‘conservatives’ and the manic Trumpistas fails — well, who better to lead the inevitable Not-Democrats party that survives, or arises, in a country where no less and no more than two national parties can thrive?
The GOP is at a turning point. History is watching us, @RepLizCheney writes in an op-ed: https://t.co/f6XTfJnzm7 pic.twitter.com/XmpVz9NrKq
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) May 5, 2021
This is the most perverse take. Donald Trump, the man who, according to practically every elected Republican, still speaks for the party, continues to swear up and down that the 2020 election was stolen. But no, it's CHENEY who's causing problems and rocking the boat. https://t.co/UrXRPMGeFg
— Andrew Egger (@EggerDC) May 4, 2021
Captain Obvious Has Joined the Chat –
If the House GOP ultimately takes stronger action against Liz Cheney than it did against Marjorie Taylor Greene, then one has to wonder if it's time to make tough choices about the continued unity of the party. https://t.co/5g9rd6nMqw
— David French (@DavidAFrench) May 4, 2021
the election results, rather than go along with the rest of the cult-like 'up is actually down' litmus test, then they all turned on her, just like that. It has nothing to do with 'rejecting interventionism' or w/e & everything to do with the GOP becoming a personality cult.
— Centrism Fan Acct ?? (@Wilson__Valdez) May 4, 2021
The irony of far right House Republicans losing their minds over Liz Cheney:
She stole their playbook.
The caucus can’t afford to lose even a small bloc of Representatives.
The terrorists are now the hostages to someone willing to go full reverse-Tea-Party.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) May 3, 2021
Jon Chait, at NYMag:
… The rationale for Cheney’s defenestration is that she has violated decorum. Her forceful denunciation of Trump’s lies “suggested that Cheney was not looking to persuade but to bludgeon. Rhetorical devices like putting THE BIG LIE in all caps gave the tweet a feeling of something one might hear on CNN or MSNBC,” explains Byron York. “The question is, how to address those Republicans and their beliefs.” National Review’s Dan McLaughlin adds, “If she can’t move off this topic as Mitch [McConnell] has, she needs to do that from the back benches.”
The catch, of course, is that Trump and his minions have neither modulated their tone nor moved off the topic. Nor, for that matter, has the rest of the party. The Republican establishment has made a display of affirming the defeated president’s status as its leader. Republicans leaders have made the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring of their president-in-exile. Aspiring candidates — including not just Trump sycophants like Josh Hawley, but even candidates who have maintained some distance from him, like Nikki Haley — have announced that they will defer to Trump rather than run against him….
The demand that Cheney stop forcefully refuting Trump’s lies about the election is designed to force his enemies into unilateral disarmament. Republican leaders are free to flatter and placate him, but they are not free to call out his lies or return his attacks in kind. Trump’s critics can stay in the party, for now, but they must act like guests in somebody else’s home.
What’s astonishing about Cheney’s dissent is not only that she is such an unlikely figure to mount a doomed and lonely stand. She was born to the party and the conservative movement; she hasn’t got a moderate bone in her body. What’s more unusual still is that she has no obvious rationale other than sheer principle. Elected officials, faced with an unwinnable fight, nearly always yield to realism. Cheney apparently believes that respect for the rule of law is a nonnegotiable principle of conservatism…
Hard to find a lawmaker with a more conservative voting record than Cheney. The GOP is now living in Jonestown. https://t.co/QAprZj5ikm
— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) May 5, 2021
Frankly he’s right. And it’s damning. The message is Trump and the Big Lie, and pretending the insurrection didn’t happen. There’s no other message to deliver. Any policy issues don’t hold a candle to that. https://t.co/0vC7lUy7gt
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 4, 2021
New via CNBC: House Republican Liz Cheney’s top donors are standing by her despite the effort to oust her from the GOP leadership — and some say they will withhold contributions to anyone who opposes Cheney.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) May 5, 2021
REPORTER: Mr. President, do you have any comments on efforts to oust Liz Cheney from the House Reublican leadership post?
BIDEN: I don't understand the Republicans.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 5, 2021
<em>Repubs in Disarray!</em> Open Thread: Liz Cheney Has Calculated Her OptionsPost + Comments (88)
This post is in: Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You
Pres. Joe Biden visited an immigrant-owned Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., announcing to the taqueria the amount of their grant through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which provides relief for restaurants hit hard by the pandemic. https://t.co/9BdXae5qsl pic.twitter.com/kfMDGU6QD7
— ABC News (@ABC) May 5, 2021
Give the man credit, he loves being a politician, in the best old-fashioned sense. From AP, “Biden touts $28.6B restaurant relief program, orders tacos”:
Setting foot in a restaurant for his first time as president, Joe Biden made a Cinco de Mayo taco and enchilada run to highlight his administration’s $28.6 billion program to help eateries that lost business because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The president went to Taqueria Las Gemelas in Washington on Wednesday and ordered lunch. The restaurant, owned in part by Mexican immigrants, was a beneficiary of a pilot version of the restaurant relief program. It went from 55 employees to seven during the pandemic, though it was able to rehire some workers through the Paycheck Protection Program that predates the Biden administration…
The White House said that 186,200 restaurants, bars and other eligible businesses had applied for the program over its first two days of accepting applications. More than half of the applicants are owned by women, veterans or people from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. The aid for eateries was part of the Biden administration’s broader $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.
The coronavirus outbreak was especially brutal for restaurants. America lost nearly 2,700 dining establishments through last summer, according to the Labor Department. About 1.8 million food service jobs also have been lost, though the sector has been gradually returning jobs since last May…
Under the Biden relief program, which started accepting applications on Monday, restaurants and bars can qualify for grants equal to their pandemic-related revenue losses, with a cap of $10 million per business and $5 million per location.
The program has set aside $9.5 billion for the smallest restaurants and bars, and a third of the applications were filed by businesses with annual pre-pandemic revenues of less than $500,000. For the program’s first 21 days, applications from women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged people will have priority for being reviewed and funded…
Or, as the sad Breitbart luzers see it:
Restaurants owned by white men will be last in line for federal relief under President Joe Biden's "Restaurants Revitalization Fund." https://t.co/s8kKcSTP4V
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 5, 2021
186,200 restaurants, bars and eligible businesses applied for help from a $28.6 bil federal aid program in the first two days it accepted applications.
The Restaurant Revitalization Fund was created by Democrats as part of the relief bill passed in March. https://t.co/6QKhTKVRMP
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 5, 2021
Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Restaurant Relief (& Tacos)Post + Comments (73)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, President Biden
Biden hops out of motorcade in Yorktown to greet supporters gathered outside the local high school pic.twitter.com/flO9U9BdCq
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) May 3, 2021
?? "We are revising up our outlook for real GDP growth this year to nearly 7% and to over 5% next year. If we are right … this will be the strongest two years of growth since 1950-1951 at the height of the post-World War II economic boom." – Mark Zandi, @MoodysAnalytics
— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) May 3, 2021
Jen Rubin is still having fun handbagging her old GOP comrades, and I am here for it. “Be optimistic — unlike the sad-sack Republicans”:
… ABC News reports on its latest poll with Ipsos: “Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) are optimistic about the direction of the country.… The last time the country came close to that level of optimism about the coming year was in December 2006, when 61% said they were optimistic about where the country was headed.” (I promise, Americans won’t get tired of winning.)
Nevertheless, most Republicans remain grouchy, angry and depressed. The poll reports: “Partisanship appears to be the largest driver of pessimism with Republicans (60%) most likely to say they are pessimistic. Aside from Republicans, no other group appears to be more pessimistic than optimistic.”
These sad sacks would rather deny good news and continue to catastrophize about the downfall of Western civilization than acknowledge improved conditions as the country clears the 100-day mark under President Biden. They might be right to be gloomy, given that Biden’s success is a repudiation of the former guy; that a jury convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd (right-wing media seems crushed by the verdict); and that center-left policies remain popular. On that last score, 52 percent “think the federal government should spend to revitalize the economy, even if it raises taxes — including 80% of Democrats and 54% of independents.” Bidenomics seems to be doing fairly well…
They gripe about policy “crises,” such as the rise in unaccompanied minors arriving at the southern border. But as soon as the situation improves, they instantly lose interest. It seems their response to good news amounts to, “Well, that’s not going to work to inflame the base!”…
If the goal of Republicans is to create a parallel political universe that corresponds to their white grievance philosophy and antagonism toward functional democracy, I suppose they are right to be down in the dumps. The rest of the country can breathe easier, enjoying the presence of a decent, empathetic and generally competent administration.
And then there’s this guy…
What a day for Stephen Miller, when the families he separated begin to be reunited, the cap on refugees he instituted is lifted, and his alma mater hosts John Legend as its graduation speaker. May there be many more days like this for Stephen Miller in the future. https://t.co/gIz34kDR6D
— Jorge Guajardo (@jorge_guajardo) May 4, 2021
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Be Optimistic!Post + Comments (131)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, President Biden, Repubs in Disarray!
Senator John Cornyn, too inept to even insult correctly. pic.twitter.com/eB75dtJ5Hh
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) May 1, 2021
Chance favors the prepared mind, goes the saying, and Fortune favors the prepared President…
This is actually a good description of what Biden is doing.
The GOP's problem is that it doesn't have a good answer to it. https://t.co/DTjvDgEh8R
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) May 1, 2021
Last week, I raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for people working on federal contracts.
Now, it’s time for Congress to do its part and make a $15 minimum wage the law of the land for every American.
Let’s get it done.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 2, 2021
Trump allies in Congress had his cellphone number and could reach him 24/7 for the same reason that Trump shows up/speaks at every Mar-a-Lago wedding… because he's a friendless loser. https://t.co/avwYGADE4J
— Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) May 1, 2021
America is on the move again.
We are choosing hope over fear.
Truth over lies.
Light over darkness.There’s nothing we cannot do if we do it together.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 2, 2021
Trump: If Biden is elected, "the stock market will crash!"
Republicans: Unless the money goes to Corporate Polluters and the Top 1% it's "Communism!"
Warren Buffett: The US economy has been "resurrected in an extraordinarily effective way" https://t.co/AprDZjfI2k
— Richard Hine (@richardhine) May 2, 2021
President Biden’s massive spending proposal for infrastructure, families and education has sparked inflation concerns. But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that since the plans would be rolled out over 10 years, inflation should not be an issue. https://t.co/Bg0OvmEZzS
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 2, 2021
Monday Morning Open Thread: Teflon President JoePost + Comments (167)
This post is in: GOP Death Cult, Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat
President Biden marked his 100th day in office thanking Georgia voters for putting Democrats in control of Congress and by promoting his plans to spend trillions of dollars to rebuild the U.S. economy https://t.co/exPn5yCu0P pic.twitter.com/QACzgnMQNq
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 30, 2021
U.S. President Joe Biden stops to pick a dandelion for first lady Jill Biden as they walk to board the Marine One helicopter on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, U.S. April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst #reutersphotos #Biden pic.twitter.com/5gaWTsUStI
— Jonathan Ernst (@j_ernst_DC) April 29, 2021
Speaking of Georgia… Return of the Cavuto Mark!
Neil Cavuto demolishes Kelly Loeffler’s Georgia election conspiracy theory with one question pic.twitter.com/1us0ziGlyQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2021
Joe Biden, major train nerd:
A moment ?@POTUS? has been waiting for pic.twitter.com/EX6R8d9qwu
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) April 30, 2021
Just in: Biden admin moves to scrap Trump border wall — canceling construction contracts, repairing environmental damage in the Rio Grande and returning to the Pentagon more than $14bn in funds seized by Trump.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 30, 2021
Yeah, people trust Biden. We don't have to panic watch. https://t.co/VPFjMsor9D
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) May 1, 2021
The look of disappointment on GOP faces when Biden announces the goal of cutting child poverty in half.
— Robert McNees (@mcnees) April 29, 2021
And this differs from how Republicans do it only in that they cut taxes instead of raising them, to destroy the jobs, industries and kinds of childcare they hate.
Elections have consequences. America voted for the Democratic vision. https://t.co/1RDW0qjvh8
— DCPetterson (@dcpetterson) April 30, 2021
Obama roasting Trump is fascinating to watch 10 years later https://t.co/Ki8g7kemDO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2021
Saturday Morning Open Thread: Scrapbook MemoriesPost + Comments (190)
This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Civil Rights, Open Threads, Vice-President Harris
. @VP Harris crosses through the Capitol rotunda on her way to Pres Biden’s joint address: pic.twitter.com/bjccIMVB2p
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) April 29, 2021
.@KamalaHarris will lead the Biden administration's push to bring every American online
via @Cat_Zakrzewski w @aaronjschaffer https://t.co/lA5qEUaJX3— Rachel Van Dongen (@RachelVanD) April 29, 2021
… President Biden announced the veep would take the lead on the issue during his first address to a slimmed-down joint session of Congress, where he touted his proposal to create new jobs through investment in expanding Internet access. Biden said his Americans Jobs Plan, which includes $100 billion for broadband expansion, will ensure that rural Americans who still don’t have access to fast Internet connections can get online.
“It’s going to help our kids and business succeed in the 21st century economy,” Biden said. “And I’m asking the vice president to lead this effort, if she will, because I know it will get done.”
The announcement signals that closing the digital divide is a top priority for the administration during the pandemic…
Harris is taking on the broadband work at a critical point, as the world is watching to see if she emerges as the clear heir apparent to lead the Democratic Party after Biden, as my colleague Cleve R. Wootson Jr. wrote earlier this week. Biden also announced she would lead the administration’s work on immigration, and he has also kept his promise to have Harris be the last person in the room when important decisions are being made.
“Among other things, he’s already put the Vice President in charge of handling the immigration crisis, and to me, that means that he trusts her to tackle big challenges,” Sohn said…
“No, I don’t think America is a racist country, but we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today," VP Harris tells CBS. "I applaud the president for always having the ability and the courage to speak the truth about it."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 29, 2021
Started/Going pic.twitter.com/ywCIRC1cNQ
— PLAYING POLITICS (@PlayingPolitics) April 29, 2021
Friday Morning Open Thread: Vice-President Harris, Leading the WayPost + Comments (61)