2018 American Political Scene

[astralis]

speaking of career paths, Paul Ryan's looking for a new career path now.

[TopHatter]

speaking of career paths, Paul Ryan's looking for a new career path now.

How many job-openings can their be for "Spineless Worthless Pussy"?

[DOR]

House Speaker Paul Ryan will not seek reelection

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) told colleagues Wednesday that he will not seek reelection this year, ending a nearly 20-year tenure in Congress and adding further uncertainty about whether embattled Republicans can maintain control of the House.
“The speaker is proud of all that has been accomplished and is ready to devote more of his time to being a husband and a father,” said Brendan Buck, counselor to Ryan, adding that Ryan plans to serve out his term and retire in January.
The decision comes ahead of mid-term elections that were already looking treacherous for Republicans, who risk losing control of the House.
The party has seen a large number of retirements, and Ryan’s exit is certain to sap morale as Republicans seek to contain a surge in enthusiasm from Democrats, whose fortunes have been buoyed by the unpopularity of President Trump.
Shortly before Ryan was scheduled to hold a news conference announcing his retirement, Trump tweeted that Ryan is “a truly good man and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question.”
Applause could be heard outside Ryan’s office shortly before 9 a.m. as he was meeting with staff. He shared the news with GOP lawmakers in a closed door meeting shortly afterward.
“He is not running for reelection,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. “He has had an outstanding legacy as a conservative policy thought leader and will be successful in any future endeavor.”
The two Republicans most likely to replace Ryan are House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (La.).
Ryan, 48, was the vice presidential nominee in 2012 on the GOP ticket with Mitt Romney.
He had long championed tax reform, a goal accomplished with the passage last year of the sweeping GOP tax bill.
Ryan was elected by his colleagues in 2015 to replace John Boehner as speaker following Boehner’s retirement.
He has represented Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district since 1999. Ryan was previously chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and before that chairman of the House Budget Committee.
The news of Ryan’s retirement was first reported by Axios.
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) said Ryan’s family factored heavily in to the decision.
“He’s got young kids, and I don’t think people realize how hard my job is and look at his job, which must be five times more time consuming,” Grothman said.
If he sticks to this plan, Ryan will become the first speaker since Democrat Tip O’Neill in 1986 to announce his retirement so far in advance. Some of Ryan’s close friends believe this may be a mistake on his part.
Just two weeks ago Eric Cantor, the former House majority leader and longtime Ryan friend, predicted the speaker would serve out his term, run for reelection and then decide his future in November.
To do otherwise, Cantor told The Washington Post in an interview, would be to “abdicate” power and send a signal that Republicans had no chance of keeping the majority.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) defended the timing of Ryan’s announcement, saying, “It’s an honest timing of an honest man.”
“He didn’t want to imply that he was running for reelection when he knew he wouldn’t be staying,” Issa said. “And I think his honesty should be refreshing for everybody.”
In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Ryan “a good man who is always true to his word.”
“Even though we disagreed on most issues, in the areas where we could work together I always found him to be smart, thoughtful, and straightforward,” Schumer said.
Schumer urged Ryan, in his remaining time, “to break free from the hard-right factions of his caucus that have kept Congress from getting real things done.”
Other Democrats were quick to pounce on Ryan’s decision on Wednesday.
“Speaker Ryan sees what is coming in November, and is calling it quits rather than standing behind a House Republican agenda to increase healthcare costs for middle class families while slashing Social Security and Medicare to pay for his handouts to the richest and largest corporations,” said Tyler Law, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

-------------------------


Could it be that he's secretly a fiscal conservative, and can't stomach the GOPers any longer?

[astralis]

Could it be that he's secretly a fiscal conservative, and can't stomach the GOPers any longer?

lol...that's the funniest thing i've seen all week.

he viewed the recent tax bill as the cornerstone of his legislative legacy, which tells you all you need to know about his fiscal conservatism. although it's true he never achieved his college dream of cutting medicaid.

[TopHatter]

lol...that's the funniest thing i've seen all week.

Nah, his assertion that Bernie is the Socialist "right" was even funnier.

Dunno about his economic prowess but DOR certainly has a future as a comedian.

[astralis]

all a matter of perception and relativity.

if you ask the folks at Jacobin, you'll see that among the true believers of the hard left, Sanders is the just barely-tolerable gateway for Americans to socialist paradise. as Vox put it, "First Sanders, then a Brooklyn Soviet."

for context, Vox is center-left, essentially what the hard-left Jacobin reader would call neo-liberal scum.

human idiocy truly has no bounds.

https://www.vox.com/2016/3/21/112650...haskar-sunkara

As any Jacobin editor would be the first to tell you, Sanders is a normal labor liberal, or at most a social democrat. He doesn't go far enough. After Sanders delivered a speech defining what he meant when calling himself a democratic socialist, NYU grad student and ISO member Paul Heideman wrote in Jacobin that it "offered much for American socialists to cheer, and much that could only be greeted with puzzlement, or even disgust."...

What we really need, Sunkara insists, is democratic worker control of the means of production...Sunkara is surprisingly dour when asked how his vision of socialism could actually be achieved. "Can you legislate your way all the way to the kind of socialist society you want, with no capitalists, with workers democratically deciding things?" he asks, thinking out loud as much as anything.

Trying to get more of a handle on his politics, I asked Sunkara to pick between Eduard Bernstein — the incrementalist German Marxist who sowed the seeds of modern social democracy — and Rosa Luxemburg, who assailed Bernstein for abandoning hope of revolution. "Kautsky," he answered, naming Bernstein and Luxemburg's contemporary who split the difference between the two. "Maybe more Luxemburg."

[TopHatter]

The Ship Is Sinking. The Rats Are Scrambling.

The president is losing whatever grip he had.

The hinges are all hanging loose and broken.

From the The New York Times:
Inside the White House, Mr. Trumpfurious after the F.B.I. raided his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohenspent much of the day brooding and fearful and near what two people close to the West Wing described as a meltdown. Mr. Trumps public and private wrath about the special counsels investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election are nothing new. But the raids on Monday on Mr. Cohens Rockefeller Center office and Park Avenue hotel room have sent the president to new heights of outrage, setting the White House on edge as it faces a national security crisis in Syria and more internal staff churn.

I am fully aware that, more than any other occupant of that office, this president* is capable of creating a sturdy bubble in which he is the indomitable and wise master of the universe, all objective evidence to the contrary. But, ever since the FBI dropped by Michael Cohens office, it seems that this might be the event that shatters the bubble for good.

We can safely speculate that Cohen knows everything: the money, the scams, the women, the Russians. All of it. And in the days since the raid, Cohen has abandoned the truculent public persona that had served him so well in the past in favor of being someone who seems grateful that he wasnt hauled off to Pelican Bay on the spot.

From CNN:
"I am unhappy to have my personal residence and office raided. But I will tell you that members of the FBI that conducted the search and seizure were all extremely professional, courteous and respectful. And I thanked them at the conclusion," Cohen said in a phone conversation on Tuesday with CNN. Asked if he was worried, Cohen said: "I would be lying to you if I told that I am not. Do I need this in my life? No. Do I want to be involved in this? No." The raid was "upsetting to say the least," he added.

This would seem to indicate that Cohen has sized up matters and decided that his best move is to flip on the president*. Back in 73, you wouldnt have seen Gordon Liddy complimenting the FBI on his arrest, Ill tell you that. They dont make thuggish apparatchiks like they used to.

Anyway, back at Camp Runamuck, things are going pretty thoroughly haywire.

From the Times:
Mr. Trumps mood had begun to sour even before the raids on his lawyer. People close to the White House said that over the weekend, the president engaged in few activities other than dinner at the Trump International Hotel. He tuned into Fox News, they said, watched reports about the so-called deep state looking to sink his presidency and became unglued. Mr. Trump angrily told his advisers that people were trying to undermine him and that he wanted to get rid of three top Justice Department officials Jeff Sessions, the attorney general; Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed Mr. Mueller; and Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director according to two people familiar with what took place.

He eventually calmed down and the anger abated. But it was stoked anew on Monday, after the F.B.I. raids on Mr. Cohen. Mr. Rosenstein in particular was a source of Mr. Trumps anger on Monday, and some aides believed the president was seriously considering firing him, to a degree he has not in the past.

Ah, but the strawberries, thats where I had them

Few people still at the White House are able to restrain Mr. Trump from acting on his impulses after the departures of crucial staff members who were once able to join forces with other aides to do so. That included Hope Hicks, his former communications director; Rob Porter, his former staff secretary; and, in 2017, the chief of staff Reince Priebus and the chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon. John F. Kelly, the current chief of staff whose influence over the president has waned for months, appeared beaten down and less hands-on, according to two White House officials. Mr. Kelly has told Mr. Trump it is frustrating for staff members that the president deems most news media stories fake news but believes the ones accusing various advisers of leaking, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Let us sum up, shall we? We have a deeply corrupt and incompetent president*, whos never been entirely on the rails, sensing quite accurately that hes very close to being run to ground by a prosecutor he cant bully or bribe out of his way. And, as this Times story indicates, as the ship continues to list, the traffic down the ratlines is getting awfully heavy.

All these anonymous quotes are coming from people who are clearly immunizing themselves against ever having signed aboard this catastrophe, in the hopes that they will one day have careers in politics again. This has to be stoking the president*s paranoid rage to the point where its melting ice lagoons on Neptune. Meanwhile, theres a genuine crisis brewing over Syria, and theres only one person who can give the national command orders, and he may be unravelling by the hour.

Maybe voting for someone just because he pretended to be pissed at the same people youre pissed at wasnt the best idea in the world. Link
_________________

Ahhhhh *sigh of pleasure* This is just as beautiful as that Bernie Sanders article I posted.

Maybe Trump can serve as an object lesson to the American people for decades to come. I doubt it. But it's a nice thought.

[GVChamp]

I'm more concerned about Mueller tanking the republic's foundations than Trump at this point.

[hboGYT]

The Ship Is Sinking. The Rats Are Scrambling.

The president is losing whatever grip he had.

The hinges are all hanging loose and broken.

From the The New York Times:
Inside the White House, Mr. Trump—furious after the F.B.I. raided his longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen—spent much of the day brooding and fearful and near what two people close to the West Wing described as a “meltdown.” Mr. Trump’s public and private wrath about the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election are nothing new. But the raids on Monday on Mr. Cohen’s Rockefeller Center office and Park Avenue hotel room have sent the president to new heights of outrage, setting the White House on edge as it faces a national security crisis in Syria and more internal staff churn.

I am fully aware that, more than any other occupant of that office, this president* is capable of creating a sturdy bubble in which he is the indomitable and wise master of the universe, all objective evidence to the contrary. But, ever since the FBI dropped by Michael Cohen’s office, it seems that this might be the event that shatters the bubble for good.

We can safely speculate that Cohen knows everything: the money, the scams, the women, the Russians. All of it. And in the days since the raid, Cohen has abandoned the truculent public persona that had served him so well in the past in favor of being someone who seems grateful that he wasn’t hauled off to Pelican Bay on the spot.

From CNN:
"I am unhappy to have my personal residence and office raided. But I will tell you that members of the FBI that conducted the search and seizure were all extremely professional, courteous and respectful. And I thanked them at the conclusion," Cohen said in a phone conversation on Tuesday with CNN. Asked if he was worried, Cohen said: "I would be lying to you if I told that I am not. Do I need this in my life? No. Do I want to be involved in this? No." The raid was "upsetting to say the least," he added.

This would seem to indicate that Cohen has sized up matters and decided that his best move is to flip on the president*. Back in ‘73, you wouldn’t have seen Gordon Liddy complimenting the FBI on his arrest, I’ll tell you that. They don’t make thuggish apparatchiks like they used to.

Anyway, back at Camp Runamuck, things are going pretty thoroughly haywire.

From the Times:
Mr. Trump’s mood had begun to sour even before the raids on his lawyer. People close to the White House said that over the weekend, the president engaged in few activities other than dinner at the Trump International Hotel. He tuned into Fox News, they said, watched reports about the so-called deep state looking to sink his presidency and became unglued. Mr. Trump angrily told his advisers that people were trying to undermine him and that he wanted to get rid of three top Justice Department officials — Jeff Sessions, the attorney general; Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed Mr. Mueller; and Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director — according to two people familiar with what took place.

He eventually calmed down and the anger abated. But it was stoked anew on Monday, after the F.B.I. raids on Mr. Cohen. Mr. Rosenstein in particular was a source of Mr. Trump’s anger on Monday, and some aides believed the president was seriously considering firing him, to a degree he has not in the past.

Ah, but the strawberries, that’s where I had them…

Few people still at the White House are able to restrain Mr. Trump from acting on his impulses after the departures of crucial staff members who were once able to join forces with other aides to do so. That included Hope Hicks, his former communications director; Rob Porter, his former staff secretary; and, in 2017, the chief of staff Reince Priebus and the chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon. John F. Kelly, the current chief of staff whose influence over the president has waned for months, appeared beaten down and less hands-on, according to two White House officials. Mr. Kelly has told Mr. Trump it is frustrating for staff members that the president deems most news media stories fake news but believes the ones accusing various advisers of leaking, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Let us sum up, shall we? We have a deeply corrupt and incompetent president*, who’s never been entirely on the rails, sensing quite accurately that he’s very close to being run to ground by a prosecutor he can’t bully or bribe out of his way. And, as this Times story indicates, as the ship continues to list, the traffic down the ratlines is getting awfully heavy.

All these anonymous quotes are coming from people who are clearly immunizing themselves against ever having signed aboard this catastrophe, in the hopes that they will one day have careers in politics again. This has to be stoking the president*’s paranoid rage to the point where it’s melting ice lagoons on Neptune. Meanwhile, there’s a genuine crisis brewing over Syria, and there’s only one person who can give the national command orders, and he may be unravelling by the hour.

Maybe voting for someone just because he pretended to be pissed at the same people you’re pissed at wasn’t the best idea in the world. Link
_________________

Ahhhhh *sigh of pleasure* This is just as beautiful as that Bernie Sanders article I posted.

Maybe Trump can serve as an object lesson to the American people for decades to come. I doubt it. But it's a nice thought.

Are the red texts your input or were they in the original article?

[TopHatter]

I'm more concerned about Mueller tanking the republic's foundations than Trump at this point.

I'd say Mueller is preserving the Republic's foundations. Trump is the one taking a sledge hammer to everything America stands for.

Are the red texts your input or were they in the original article?

They were in the original article. Although, they could just as easily have been my words. The author of that op-ed read my mind.

[tbm3fan]

I'm more concerned about Mueller tanking the republic's foundations than Trump at this point.

I'd say that Trump is trying to do more to undermine confidence in the FBI and DOJ than Mueller as a start.

[GVChamp]

I'd say Mueller is preserving the Republic's foundations. Trump is the one taking a sledge hammer to everything America stands for.

I'll let the chips fall where they may, but there's nothing released so far that supports this. I'll wait to see actual indictments that are something besides wire fraud and failing to register as a lobbyist.

What's revealed about this incident is so far is Banana Republic worthy. Congress empowers someone with practically unlimited budget and unlimited authority to investigate a specific incident relating to fundamental national security, and now we have raids because of hush money paid to a porn star. This is not at all the way I want my government branches to interact with each other, and this is not at all the way I want the government to be treating its citizens.

I'd say that Trump is trying to do more to undermine confidence in the FBI and DOJ than Mueller as a start.

I lean libertarian, so this is not something that keeps me up at night.

[TopHatter]

Congress empowers someone with practically unlimited budget and unlimited authority to investigate a specific incident relating to fundamental national security,

The problem is, none of that is true.

First, Mueller's authority comes, not from Congress, but from the Department of Justice, specifically Trump's own appointee Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

And far from "investigate a specific incident", Rosenstein authorized a very broad investigation:

The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James 8. Corney in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:

(i) any links and/or coordination bet ween the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and

(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and

(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a). [including perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses. - TH]

(c) If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters.

Speaking of Rosenstein, it looks like his head is next on Donald Trump's chopping block"

The level of concern about Rosenstein's fate is so significant that, within the past 24 hours, a group of more than 100 former Department of Justice career officials organized a statement telling Congress to be ready to take action. The officials, who've served under both Republicans and Democrats, include former U.S. attorneys John McKay of Washington and Kevin Techau of Iowa.

"Many of us served with Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein"

"We know the people who serve at the Department will bravely weather these attacks and continue to uphold their oaths by doing only what the law dictates,"

"But it is up to the rest of us, and especially our elected representatives, to come to their defense and oppose any attempt by the President or others to improperly interfere in the Department's work, including by firing either Mr. Mueller, Mr. Rosenstein or other Department leadership or officials for the purpose of interfering in their investigations,"

"Should the President take such a step, we call on Congress to swiftly and forcefully respond to protect the founding principles of our Republic and the rule of law"

[zraver]

The problem is, none of that is true.

First, Mueller's authority comes, not from Congress, but from the Department of Justice, specifically Trump's own appointee Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

The special counsel statue was passed by Congress this is important.

And far from "investigate a specific incident", Rosenstein authorized a very broad investigation:

Which is a violation of the specific statue. Rosenstien effectively invented law where it did not exist.

§ 600.1 Grounds for appointing a Special Counsel.
The Attorney General, or in cases in which the Attorney General is recused, the Acting Attorney General, will appoint a Special Counsel when he or she determines that criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted and -

Where and what is the predicate crime?

The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James 8. Corney in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:

(i) any links and/or coordination bet ween the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and

(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and

(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a). [including perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses. - TH]

Except that is not what the reg says. The regs require a predicate crime, not an open ended fishing expedition. Predicate crimes require probable cause worthy of a warrant, not salacious and unverfied slander.

(c) If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters.

He still has to obey the law, something Mueller has not done on several cases.

Speaking of Rosenstein, it looks like his head is next on Donald Trump's chopping block"

Good riddance, he has undermined actual justice at every turn.

The level of concern about Rosenstein's fate is so significant that, within the past 24 hours, a group of more than 100 former Department of Justice career officials organized a statement telling Congress to be ready to take action. The officials, who've served under both Republicans and Democrats, include former U.S. attorneys John McKay of Washington and Kevin Techau of Iowa.

Meanwhile the IG investigation has resulted in multiple people demoted, transferred, and fired. The whole thing is tainted from the beginning.

[I]"Many of us served with Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein"

"We know the people who serve at the Department will bravely weather these attacks and continue to uphold their oaths by doing only what the law dictates,"

Where is the predicate crime?

[Firestorm]

all a matter of perception and relativity.

if you ask the folks at Jacobin, you'll see that among the true believers of the hard left, Sanders is the just barely-tolerable gateway for Americans to socialist paradise. as Vox put it, "First Sanders, then a Brooklyn Soviet."

for context, Vox is center-left, essentially what the hard-left Jacobin reader would call neo-liberal scum.

human idiocy truly has no bounds.

https://www.vox.com/2016/3/21/112650...haskar-sunkara

From that article

The modesty of the event undersells it. Jacobin has in the past five years become the leading intellectual voice of the American left, the most vibrant and relevant socialist publication in a very long time.

Really? Maybe the American left is far more fucked up than I thought. Socialist Worker's paradises? Did these idiots never read a history book? And no "The Communist Manifesto" does not count. For a moment I thought I was reading an Onion article. That Vox journalist goes to great lengths to label the Jacobinites as everything except what they are: frickin commies.