What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Valmy]

Call your representatives and Senators. Every day. Do not relent.

We are but they don't give a shit about us. They are ignoring us. They are tuning us out because we are leftwing extremists who don't reflect the electorate. They have stated this over and over again. They just assume that they are going to be elected bigly in the midterms if they just do nothing. Brilliant strategy.

But to do what? What are you going to do once you are elected Democrats? Make excuses why what Trump has done is irreversible for ever and ever I suspect.

It's a legitimately tough decision because if Congress doesn't authorize funding, it gives Trump and Musk more legal cover to gut the departments, perhaps fatally.

However, I still think the answer is clear because the bill cedes Congress' exclusive taxing power to the President, which is unconstitutional and tactically disastrous.  The Democrats have to hold fast on that point.

Oh it's worse. Now maybe this isn't true, I don't know this blog, but it sure feels true.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/black-thursday-in-the-democratic-senate-an-explainer

There was a recognition up in the Senate yesterday that letting the bill pass was a bad idea, but that was matched by a pained realization that the caucus wasn't ready for the fight. They hadn't laid any of the groundwork. They didn't have a clear answer of what they'd be fighting for if a shutdown happened. They'd put their bets on Mike Johnson not being able to get a bill through the House without Democratic votes. When he did, they were caught flatfooted. But the "they" here is Chuck Schumer. That's the leader's job. He lead them into a corner.

Aparantly Chuck Schumer's strategy is wishful thinking and then reacting incompetently when that fails.

Can you guys do something about this guy in New York?

[Admiral Yi]

Kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If they don't folder the trump economic cluster fuck will be blamed on them and the GOP will have an easy scapegoat because people are stupid.

bingo

[Valmy]

You do tend to be outmaneuvered into bad circumstances when you have no plan and make no moves and just sit around wishfully hoping everything will magically work out.

Why do I feel like a competent political leader would have come up with a way to spin this to his advantage?

Instead we have a situation where the Republicans needed Democratic votes and managed to not only seemingly get them BUT EXTRACTED CONSIDERABLE CONCESSIONS FROM THEM.

Are we really expecting these clowns to be able to achieve anything when they win an election in the future? Will have actually think about legislation they want to pass and make sure their caucus is in favor and sell the public on it and be ready to go? Or will they just sit around, do nothing, win because Trump sucks and then flail about incompetently? I think I have seen this movie before.

[grumbler]

Lutnick is an utter tool.

All too true... and he's the brains of the bunch.

[The Minsky Moment]

Good day for the courts doing their job.  The DOGE fraud is collapsing the instant it comes into contact with the need to provide factual evidence and legal justification. Two district courts entering injunctive orders requiring firings to be rescinded.  Next step is for the appeals courts to hold the line.

[Sophie Scholl]

Aparantly Chuck Schumer's strategy is wishful thinking and then reacting incompetently when that fails.

Can you guys do something about this guy in New York?

I wish. I loathe him. Also, Gillibrand has been horrible, too. Like Hochul. And Adams. And... ok, yeah. New York Democrats are awful by in large. I really hope AOC primaries Gillibrand or Schumer. At least she's *trying* to fight Trump and company instead of just rolling over.

[dist]

Kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If they don't folder the trump economic cluster fuck will be blamed on them and the GOP will have an easy scapegoat because people are stupid.

Robert Reich's take on the situation:

Friends,

On Tuesday the House passed legislation to fund the government through September 30 and thereby avert a shutdown at the end of this week.

The measure now goes to the Senate, where Democrats must decide whether to support it and thereby hand Trump and Musk a blank check to continue their assault on the federal government.

The House bill would keep last year's spending levels largely flat but would increase spending for the military by $6 billion and cut more than $1 billion from the District of Columbia's budget.

In normal times, I recommend that Democrats vote for continuing budget resolutions because Democrats support the vital services that the government provides to the American people: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans services, education, the Food and Drug Administration, environmental protection, and much else.

In normal times, Democrats want to keep the government open.

In normal times, Democrats would be wrong to vote against a continuing resolution that caused the government to shut down.

But these are not normal times.

The president of the United States and the richest person in the world are already shutting the government down. They have effectively closed USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They have sent half the personnel of the Department of Education packing. They are eliminating Environmental Protection Agency offices responsible for addressing high levels of pollution facing poor communities.

They are usurping from Congress the power of the purse — the power to decide what services are to be funded and received by the American people — and are arrogating that power to themselves.

In 1996, when I was in Bill Clinton's Cabinet, we opposed Newt Gingrich's budget bullying. We also understood that Gingrich's demands would seriously cripple the federal government. So Bill Clinton refused to go along with Gingrich's budget resolution, and the government was shuttered for four long painful weeks.

Today's situation is far worse. Trump and Musk aren't just making demands that would cripple the federal government. They are directly crippling the federal government.

Why should any member of Congress vote in favor of a continuing resolution to fund government services that are no longer continuing?

Why should any member of Congress vote to give Trump and Musk a trillion dollars and then let them decide how to spend it — or not spend it?

Why should Congress give Trump and Musk a blank check to continue their pillage?

The real choice congressional Democrats face today is not between a continuing resolution that allows the government to function normally or a government shutdown. Under Trump and Musk, the government is not functioning normally. It is not continuing. It is already shutting down.

Today's real choice is between a continuing resolution that gives Trump and Musk free rein to decide what government services they want to continue and what services they want to shut down — or demanding that Trump and Musk stop usurping the power of Congress, as a condition for keeping the government funded.

Trump, Musk, and the rest of their regime have made it clear that they don't care what Congress or the courts say. They are acting unconstitutionally. They are actively destroying our system of government.

The spineless Republicans will not say this publicly. So Democrats must — and Democrats must insist on budget language that holds Trump and Musk accountable.

The House's Republican-drafted budget resolution isn't contingent on Trump observing existing laws. It does not instruct the president to stop Musk from riding roughshod over the federal government. It doesn't tell the president and his Cabinet to spend the money Congress intended to be spent.

Members of Trump's team are already saying that if a continuing resolution is passed, they will not observe laws that Congress has enacted and will not spend funds that Congress has authorized and appropriated. Marco Rubio, for example, says that even if the State Department is fully funded, he will void 83 percent of the contracts authorized for USAID.
Senate Democrats are needed to obtain the 60 votes necessary to pass the House's continuing budget resolution through the Senate. But there is no point in Democrats voting to fund the government only to let Trump and Musk do whatever they see fit with those funds.

Senate Democrats have an opportunity to stop Trump and Musk from their illegal and unconstitutional shutting of the government. Democrats should say they'll vote for the continuing budget resolution to keep the government going only if Trump agrees to abide by the law and keep the government going — fully funding the services that Congress intends to be fully funded and stopping the pillaging.

If Democrats set out this condition clearly but Trump won't agree, the consequences will be on Trump and the Republicans. They run the government now. They are the ones who are engaging in, or are complicit in, the wanton destruction now taking place.

This is an opportunity for the public to learn what Trump and Musk are doing, and why it's illegal and unconstitutional.

In 1996, when Bill Clinton refused to go along with Newt Gingrich's plan to cripple the federal government, causing the government to shut down for a month, Clinton wasn't blamed. Gingrich was blamed.

If you live in a state with a Democratic senator, please phone them right now and tell them not to vote for the continuing resolution that gives Trump and Musk free rein to continue shutting the government.

[Syt]

Sanders is older than Biden or Trump or Schumer. Why is he the one who seems to have energy and be lucid?

[viper37]

In other news, the Trump administration has asked Denmark for eggs.

First, they asked Canada who said maybe, then no.

Then they ask Denmark...

I wonder why they don't ask their good friend Russia?

[Syt]

"Give us eggs or we'll take Greenland" seems like something out of a really bad satire.

[HVC]

The egg wars is going to be a strange section in future history books.

[Jacob]

Denmark is big on agricultural exports, so I don't see why they shouldn't do it.

Assuming it's at all feasible, of course.

[mongers]

Denmark is big on agricultural exports, so I don't see why they shouldn't do it.

Assuming it's at all feasible, of course.

But that would be tribute.

Though in trump's mind fitting.

[HVC]

Denmark is big on agricultural exports, so I don't see why they shouldn't do it.

Assuming it's at all feasible, of course.

But that would be tribute.

Though in trump's mind fitting.

The tariffed countries should put export tariffs on eggs

[Duque de Bragança]

Denmark is big on agricultural exports, so I don't see why they shouldn't do it.

Assuming it's at all feasible, of course.

But that would be tribute.

Though in trump's mind fitting.

The tariffed countries should put export tariffs on eggs

Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.