What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[MadImmortalMan]

Our government is now a reality show. 

[CountDeMoney]

Trump has done nothing but launch blistering personal attacks on the Democrats for months. Was the idea they were going to be friendly to him something he really factored into his political calculus? If he thought he needed their help he sure did everything he could to undermine himself.

I don't know maybe behind closed doors he was offering them deals and trying to get them on board but I doubt it. I mean here he basically just bragged he is going to let serious and major damage happen to the United States until they come crawling for mercy. Hardly a political tactic of somebody who honestly wants votes and support. He is doing all this very publicly. Even if the Democrats wanted to support him, they couldn't. It would be a major loss of face.

How, exactly, is the minority party expected to help overturning its previous president's signature law?

Then again, these are the people who think it's completely acceptable for a foreign adversary to help them defeat political opponents, so who the fuck knows.

[CountDeMoney]

Our government is now a reality show. 

Yeah, it's fucking hilarious.  Until it isn't.

Breaking: Nunes Cancels Public Intelligence Committee Hearings

[crazy canuck]

Our government is now a reality horror show. 

[Grinning_Colossus]

I'm glad we have Republicans like Nunes to protect us from foreigners and communism.

[FunkMonk]

After this AHCA debacle I wonder if this is the point at which Congressional Rs might finally start to realize that, hey, Doeland Tramp is a big dumb idiot baby and can't really help them get what they want.

They're alone. My God, they're all alone.

[jimmy olsen]

So what will it be with the base? Double down on full repeal? Try to come up with something new? Or give up and pretend they were never against it?

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/millman/will-we-always-have-been-at-war-with-obamacare/

Will We Always Have Been At War With Obamacare?

By NOAH MILLMAN • March 24, 2017, 2:54 PM
   
I'm going to be boarding a plane shortly, and I'll likely be in the air when the AHCA vote happens. So it's possible that this post will look pointless in a couple of hours.

But assuming the vote fails, as it currently looks likely to do, we're about to learn just how Orwellian the GOP electorate is.

A failure of the AHCA isn't necessarily the end of the road for GOP attempts to reform President Obama's healthcare reform. They could start again pretty quickly in the Senate, which was unlikely ever to pass the House's bill in the first place. They could also move on to other business, hope to expand their majority in 2018, and then try again. They could even campaign on a particular vision of reform in 2018, and then claim a mandate if they did expand their majority.

But of course, to do that they'd need to have an intra-party debate about what that policy agenda should be. Which would require somebody — and that somebody is probably President Trump — to stand up and say: the House Freedom Caucus's vision is wrong, and here's my alternative, whether that's Medicaid for all or some as-yet undescribed alternative to both Obamacare and the status-quo ante circa 2008.

It's possible that's a fight Trump doesn't want, because he doesn't care much about healthcare except as a way of bashing Obama and the Democratic Party. Indeed, it's possible that much of the Republican party sees the matter in precisely the same way: that there wasn't anything in particular they objected to about Obamacare (other than the tax hikes to pay for it); they just hated that it was a Democratic initiative. It may be that Paul Ryan and the House Freedom Caucus folks are the only ones who actually want to have this fight on the merits. If that's the case, then if the bill fails that will be the end of any action on health care, and Obamacare will remain the law of the land.

The question then is: how will the party membership react?

If the reaction is fury and renewed attempts to unseat Republicans deemed insufficiently determined to repeal the ACA, and to expand the ranks of the ultras whose demands made any plausible compromise impossible, then we'll know that what we're dealing with is a real ideological conflict. Our political system might have a particularly hard time negotiating it, but a substantial irredentist faction would pose a real challenge to any political system.

If the reaction is a mix of soul-searching and teeth-gnashing, and a concerted attempt to find whatever formula delivers a more durable majority, then we'll know that at the end of the day the GOP is a normal party after all, one that, when it loses, tries to figure out how to win. It wouldn't be as encouraging as an open fight about policy and principles, but it would be far more encouraging than continued irredentism.

But I wouldn't be completely shocked if the whole debate just dropped down the memory hole, and the party leadership acted like repealing Obamacare was never that big a deal — and the rank-and-file mostly went along as the party moved on to whatever they are told was always really the priority. Which would be the most depressing — indeed, alarming — possibility.

The vote's in half an hour. We'll find out pretty soon whether my whole premise is fallacious.

[FunkMonk]

Here you go, Yi. Hope this helps.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/president-trump-called-my-cellphone-to-say-that-the-health-care-bill-was-dead/2017/03/24/8282c3f6-10ce-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?tid=ss_fb&utm_term=.f0b25b92a00a

President Trump called me on my cellphone Friday afternoon at 3:31 p.m. At first I thought it was a reader with a complaint since it was a blocked number.

My favorite thing about this is that the first thing he does is tell Robert Costa of the failing Washington Post. 

Fake news! Sad!

[Grinning_Colossus]

The Republicans couldn't come up with a conservative healthcare plan because Obama already passed it.

I think they'll do their best to make sure that it fails, but they'll put off having another swing at repealing it until after the Democrats win the house in 2018. Healthcare will be a big electoral issue again in 2020, but I have no idea what the party system will look like then.

[CountDeMoney]

Here you go, Yi. Hope this helps.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/president-trump-called-my-cellphone-to-say-that-the-health-care-bill-was-dead/2017/03/24/8282c3f6-10ce-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?tid=ss_fb&utm_term=.f0b25b92a00a

President Trump called me on my cellphone Friday afternoon at 3:31 p.m. At first I thought it was a reader with a complaint since it was a blocked number.

My favorite thing about this is that the first thing he does is tell Robert Costa of the failing Washington Post. 

Fake news! Sad!

Great piece, I like Costa.  I suspect Trump does, too.  Mainly because he has a dick.  TELL THE TRUTH KATY

[viper37]

And Trump and his bullshit "we'll just sit back and let Obamacare explode". What about the people who need that health insurance?? He's such a narcissistic prick.

It's unlikely to explode in all States.  Most of the States are doing fine.  And experts says it will stabilize over time.

[FunkMonk]

Now both the Freedom Caucus loonies and more moderate Republicans know they can stand up to Trump and win, even against their own leadership.

This will make it very difficult for the administration or Congress to get anything substantive done in a quick manner. I foresee lots of angry 3am tweets on the horizon.

[CountDeMoney]

And Trump and his bullshit "we'll just sit back and let Obamacare explode". What about the people who need that health insurance?? He's such a narcissistic prick.

It's unlikely to explode in all States.  Most of the States are doing fine.  And experts says it will stabilize over time.

It's interesting how states with state governments that want it to work are actually working, isn't it?  Go fig.

[viper37]

And Trump and his bullshit "we'll just sit back and let Obamacare explode". What about the people who need that health insurance?? He's such a narcissistic prick.

It's unlikely to explode in all States.  Most of the States are doing fine.  And experts says it will stabilize over time.

It's interesting how states with state governments that want it to work are actually working, isn't it?  Go fig.

yes, it's one of those unsolved mysteries.  Maybe they should revive that old tv show to investigate.

Now, seriously, I don't know about everything, but I know Tennessee (Red) has problems, and Pensylvania (Blue?) did suffer massive hikes too.  I lack sufficient data and understanding of your byzantine health care process to form an opinion on the cause. 

[jimmy olsen]

Lol, money well spent.

http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/basketball-fans-treated-to-ads-congratulating-republica-1793629526

Basketball Fans Treated To Ads Congratulating Republicans For Repealing Obamacare

Timothy Burke
Yesterday 9:52pmFiled to: TV IS LYING TO YOU


Basketball fans tonight in several Republican-adjacent TV markets are enjoying a series of ads, prematurely bought by the American Action Network PAC, inviting viewers to call their representatives to thank them for repealing Obamacare today—something that did not happen.

Above you see an ad praising Virginia's Barbara Comstock; it ran during the Wizards-Nets game. Below are ads for Fresno's David Valadao and Des Moines's David Young; both ran on CBS stations before March Madness coverage. Money well-spent, we think.