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Cleanup in Aisle Lunatic (h/t romad1)


chasfh

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2 hours ago, mtutiger said:

 

As far as Chas' second point goes, though I understand the skepticism, I do think he stands a good chance at conviction here. In particular, his whistleblower lawsuit has brought other members of the House and Senate to the brink of legal liability (ie. Paxton making asks of them that would lead to the FBI knocking on their doors) and they aren't interested in that.

Either way, in any one party state, whether it be a GOP one like Texas or a Dem one like Illinois, you are gonna have factions within the party and they aren't always gonna align. Which means that just because Ken P wears the "R" after his name doesn't mean he's universally loved or doesn't have enemies within his party. Particularly given all the criming he has done over the years. 

The combination of these factors just means it's his chickens coming home to roost imo.

I'm definitely no expert on this but does the dude have a constituency left that can vote to acquit?   When I saw the GOP was leading this I assumed he was toast. 

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17 minutes ago, pfife said:

I'm definitely no expert on this but does the dude have a constituency left that can vote to acquit?   When I saw the GOP was leading this I assumed he was toast. 

I don't see why Trump wouldn't have that constituency still available to him. Not only is he the leading candidate by a country mile to win the Republican nomination, he has also become the north star of his party, and every politician dovetails their efforts into appearing to be with him and on his team.

But it's also a symbiotic relationship. It's not only that Trump's blessing gives those lesser pols legitimacy—it's also that their very fealty gives Trump his legitimacy as well. Everyone comes of as being on the same page, and constituents respond positively to that kind of unity at the top of their preferred structure.

I would bet that if R politicians could manage to peel off from Trump en masse, preferably maintaining the Trumpy populist appeal, Trump himself would be finished. That's a tricky task, because as we have seen recently from DeSantis, nobody can Trump like Trump. It's not just his cruel policies or his middle-school-level nastiness—it's also the Trump charm, such as it is. No one has been able to come close to replicating whatever that thing Trump has that charms his fans so.

As a result, no one lesser light can effectively be the one to lead that defection, and every one who has tried over the past several years has failed, for reasons. That's why Republicans keep rooting for someone else to magically break Trump's spell, finally, because they can't do it themselves. They know all that red meat is bad for them, but they just can't stop eating it. In order to survive, they need someone to force them to stop. Who going to be the one to do that?

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1 hour ago, pfife said:

I'm definitely no expert on this but does the dude have a constituency left that can vote to acquit?   When I saw the GOP was leading this I assumed he was toast. 

To be honest, not really.... maybe some of the hardliners in the House will vote against articles of impeachment. 

But again, it's no coincidence that this is happening as Paxton has gotten to a point where he's more of a liability to other elected GOP pols than an asset at this point. 

And no, I don't think Trump will be a knight in shining armor for Paxton... if the winds are blowing toward impeachment, he's not going to expend political capital to save him.

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On 5/24/2023 at 10:08 AM, gehringer_2 said:

I have mixed feelings about this. One one hand, I can approve of a 'no negotiation with hostage takers' stance by Biden if it comes down to it. But on the other hand, Biden also may have a "Nixon goes to China" moment here if he is clever and skilled enough to use it. There have to be many things that have become somewhate sacred cows of spending that even a liberal old hand like Biden must know can and should go. Here is a chance for him to get a little useful reform if he can control the process. Give away things he doesn't want anyway, let the GOP get their fig leaf, and all the while the Dems can still blame it all on the GOP to the complaining constituencies (which there always are). 

That's IF Biden is that smart/clever. I don't know if he is.  but I would guess he does have some kind of 2nd level strategy for his decision to engage after initially saying he woudn't. Say what you will about the man, if there is anything we should know about him by know, he thinks tactics/strategy in longer terms than your average DC pol.

Looks like Biden, somehow, landed the plane (pending the actual vote)...

Not a perfect deal, but exceeds the insanely low expectations

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36 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

Looks like Biden, somehow, landed the plane (pending the actual vote)...

Not a perfect deal, but exceeds the insanely low expectations

LOL - if having McCarthy's word on a deal actually means anything back in the Chamber. Boehner's didn't and things were less crazy then in the House than they are now.

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10 hours ago, mtutiger said:

Looks like Biden, somehow, landed the plane (pending the actual vote)...

Not a perfect deal, but exceeds the insanely low expectations

"Have you heard of Henry Clay? He was the Great Compromiser. A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied, and I think that's what we have here."

-Larry David

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10 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

LOL - if having McCarthy's word on a deal actually means anything back in the Chamber. Boehner's didn't and things were less crazy then in the House than they are now.

That's a good point... really it's McCarthy plane to land.

Does that make Joe the Leslie Nielsen and Kevin the Robert Hays of this situation?

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