Swordfish Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 On 5/17/2017 at 9:49 AM, Fez said: The problem for Republicans is that too much of their base still likes Trump a lot; and impeaching him without something simply undeniable or explainable (e.g. Trump molesting an underage boy on camera) will lead to their base turning on them. Or at the very least staying home and making a 2018 Democratic wave even bigger. This calculus can change though; especially if the special elections in May and June go poorly enough for Republicans. And the base support may not be as rock-solid as it had been. Morning Consult, which has been one of the more favorable pollsters for Trump, has his approval rating among Republicans at 84 percent (which is about where its been in other polls, though pretty low for a President's own party) but his 'strongly approve' rating among Republicans has now fallen to 42 percent. And this poll was conducted over the weekend, before the latest news. I think the idea is that they don't go straight to impeachment, obviously, but instead start turning the abse. It won't happen overnight, but we are starting to see it already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 This is kinda amazing. https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-18/house-may-be-forced-to-vote-again-on-gop-s-obamacare-repeal-bill The House hasn't formally sent over the AHCA bill to the Senate yet because there's a chance it has less than $2 billion in budget savings, and if it doesn't it can't even begin to be considered under reconciliation. They're waiting for the CBO score to find out, and if it doesn't, they'll have to tweak the bill and vote all over again. They barely managed to whip the votes last time, and now they'll be the CBO score hanging over their heads. Also amazing, the bill cuts Medicaid spending by $800 billion, and they were so obsessed with maximizes the tax cut aspects of the bill that they couldn't ensure that at least $2 billion was held in reserve as Federal savings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 He's going to hire all the best people folks. The smartest people. /What sort of Law Enforcement experience does Lieberman have? How does this make any fucking sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swordfish Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 4 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said: He's going to hire all the best people folks. The smartest people. /What sort of Law Enforcement experience does Lieberman have? How does this make any fucking sense? Seems like an amazing opportunity for Lieberman to completely troll Trump. lead him on, get him to appoint you, and then when he does, pull an 'I can't in good conscience take the postion because... Trump'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Just now, Swordfish said: Seems like an amazing opportunity for Lieberman to completely troll Trump. lead him on, get him to appoint you, and then when he does, pull an 'I can't in good conscience take the postion because... Trump'. That would be hilarious - Liebermann doing anything out of conscience would be an incredible act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGimletEye Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Just now, Fez said: Also amazing, the bill cuts Medicaid spending by $800 billion, and they were so obsessed with maximizes the tax cut aspects of the bill that they couldn't ensure that at least $2 billion was held in reserve as Federal savings. Okay, I know the CBO scoring process is complicated. So I get that. But, it seems to me that the Ryan and Co. could have done at least a ball park estimate of where they needed to be to not go through this. After all, according to Ryan, "he's a numbers guy!!!" LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 36 minutes ago, Maithanet said: I actually read something that the FBI head had never been a career politician. I was surprised by this. I suppose it would therefore make sense that after Trump put so many non-politicians in political jobs that he fills the FBI post with a politician. Yeah that is surprising. It's kind of an odd pick though for a different reason. Lieberman left office with really low approval ratings. That doesn't seem like something that would appeal to Trump. Also, McCain's comments on Lieberman are both odd anf funny: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swordfish Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, Kalbear said: That would be hilarious - Liebermann doing anything out of conscience would be an incredible act. Ha. Man, you guys really are like, long term bitter about anyone who dares to not carry the DNC water, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Lieberman currently works (or "works" I'm not sure) at a law firm that regularly represents Trump; so that's the connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 So Lieberman is like 75 years old and retired, right? You're going to come out of retirement to get on this Poo-Choo train? Seriously, how stupid would you have to be? His wife must be driving him up the wall. That would be the only way this makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 1 minute ago, Fez said: Lieberman currently works (or "works" I'm not sure) at a law firm that regularly represents Trump; so that's the connection. Quote Lieberman is now senior counsel at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, a law firm that has represented Trump in various legal battles over the years. He probably didn't personally do much for Trump, but he still has a financial connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 You got to admit, he has a way with words, the best words that is: Quote Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump warned that the special counsel investigation into alleged links between his 2016 campaign and Russia's election hacking "hurts our country" after earlier branding the probe the "single greatest witch hunt" in political history. "I believe it hurts our country terribly, because it shows we're a divided, mixed-up, not-unified country," Trump said at a luncheon with a group of television news anchors." And we have very important things to be doing right now, whether it's trade deals, whether it's military, whether it's stopping nuclear -- all of the things that we discussed today. And I think this shows a very divided country," Trump said. The President also suggested that the investigation that will now be led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller was also motivated by an attempt to tarnish his election victory last year. "It also happens to be a pure excuse for the Democrats having lost an election that they should have easily won because of the Electoral College being slanted so much in their way. That's all this is. I think it shows division, and it shows that we're not together as a country. And I think it's a very, very negative thing. And hopefully, this can go quickly, because we have to show unity if we're going to do great things with respect to the rest of the world." Trump's push back contrasted sharply with the near universal welcome in Washington for Mueller, the former FBI director picked for the special counsel post Wednesday by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-appointment/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 If the Republicans leading the charge for getting rid of Trump don't play things very carefully I can see one of them being assassinated by a rabid Trump supporter, or at least an attempted assassination. Almost certainly there will be death threats. That strategy of turning the base off Trump is going to be important for avoiding right-on-right violence. At the moment Trump is still pointing fingers at the Democrats, but at some stage some Republicans are going to come in for some bad words from Trump and it will be all on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Elmer Fudd as FBI director really entertains me. Almost posted about it last night - primarily on how old Lieberman is, but by skimming the past couple pages it seems that's been covered. Importantly, a Lieberman appointment would also likely be very well received by McCain and Graham, which I suspect is Trump's primary motivation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 44 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said: He probably didn't personally do much for Trump, but he still has a financial connection. Apparently he has been a Trump lickspittle/surrogate for some time now. He introduced Betsy DeVos to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee as Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Joe Lieberman is terrible. I hate this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altherion Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 21 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said: So Lieberman is like 75 years old and retired, right? You're going to come out of retirement to get on this Poo-Choo train? Seriously, how stupid would you have to be? His wife must be driving him up the wall. That would be the only way this makes sense. It could also be that he is one of those people who will pursue power at any price. His decision to retire from the Senate was almost certainly influenced by the fact that he was extremely unlikely to win reelection in 2012. He endorsed McCain in the 2008 election and even campaigned for him which obviously didn't go over very well in Connecticut (where Obama won 61-38 in 2008 and 58-41 in 2012). Thus, it may be that he only walked away from power because it was going to be taken from him in any case and this directorship is a national-level position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swordfish Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 6 minutes ago, Mexal said: Joe Lieberman is terrible. I hate this country. In what way(s), specifically, is Joe Lieberman 'i hate this country' level terrible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Arryn Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 I used to wonder what it must have been like to live through like Watergate, MLK, Kent State, all that. Actually, by contrast, even on the Nixon tapes (where he comes off as a racist, sexist power-crazed paranoiac) you gotta say Nixon was light years better than Trump. What got him was back then party loyalty only went so far. No way Nixon gets impeached today, not for that (by comparison) penny ante stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGimletEye Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Just now, James Arryn said: I used to wonder what it must have been like to live through like Watergate, MLK, Kent State, all that. Actually, by contrast, even on the Nixon tapes (where he comes off as a racist, sexist power-crazed paranoiac) you gotta say Nixon was light years better than Trump. This isn't necessarily a defense of Nixon. But, by all accounts, unlike Trump, Nixon was a hard worker. He also took the time to learn shit. If I recall correctly, Nixon was famous for wanting "Brandeis Briefs", lengthy memos that went to great lengths to explain policy matters. Nixon might have had a problem with the truth, been extremely paranoid, racist, sexist and all that. But, at least, he wasn't as nearly as lazy, nor ignorant as Trump is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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