Trump's America

[Frelga]

Pushing through Kavanaugh was a great move for Trump.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Did you see his sing-song recitation about how they will be sued in the Ninth Circuit and they will lose in the lower court and then lose in the appellate court and then win in the Supreme Court, like with "the ban". It was truly scary.

[RoseMorninStar]

And how 'bout that ...er... um.. 'speech' in the Rose garden? We have a national emergency alright, but it's not on the border.

Trump takes the office to new lows every day. Repeating the talking points of Sean Hannity & Rush Limbaugh in a rambling, sing-song voice was bizarre.

yov, I'm hoping the 'threat' of what a Democratic president would do with such 'emergency' powers will be enough to give many Republicans pause. That Trump immediately left to go golfing at his resort doesn't really set an 'emergency' tone. I'm sure he is counting on 'his' judges to put this through.

[Frelga]

yov, I'm hoping the 'threat' of what a Democratic president would do with such 'emergency' powers will be enough to give many Republicans pause.

Narrator voice: it will not be enough.

[RoseMorninStar]

Ugh. Don't make me cry. I had a conversation with a relative recently and the amount of misinformation she was armored with was astounding. Given that we have a president who can't seem to speak without lying I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[River]

So the national emergency has been declared to divert military funds to build a wall on the southern border...except the military hasn't decided on the necessity of a wall on the border

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Saturday he had not yet determined whether a border wall with Mexico was a military necessity or how much Pentagon money would be used.

President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border without congressional approval.

By declaring a national emergency, Trump can use certain Department of Defense funding to build the wall.

According to the law, the defense secretary has to decide whether the wall is militarily necessary before money from the military construction budget can be used.

[Frelga]

Do we even have a Secretary of Defense? I thought Shanahan is acting.

[River]

He is. And his replacement has yet to be nominated. But an Acting Secretary has all the power of a fully confirmed one.

[RoseMorninStar]

I think we should all go golfing at our Florida resort and mull it over. You know, what anyone would do in the face of an emergency.

[yovargas]

If few Republicans in Congress are willing to at the very least criticize this, if not actively oppose it, then things are a bit worse than I was hoping.

Per 538, Every Republican senator’s stated stance on Trump’s declaration of a national emergency here:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/co ... claration/

Current tally
18 - Supports
15 - Concerns/doubts
8 - Opposes
7 - No statement

Roughly half expressing at least some concerns is kinda sorta pretty decent, I guess?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

As the article states, "Opposing the declaration and voting for a resolution to end it are not the same thing."

[Frelga]

They've been expressing "concerns" since the primaries, and then fell in line every time.

[yovargas]

I don't bring it up with any hope that Congress would be able to stop it because that's nearly impossible. I'm just wanting to see that there is still enough principle left out there that some Republicans in Congress can put partisanship aside to call obviously wrong things obviously wrong.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm not quite buying that . Mitch McConnell himself called declaring a national emergency wrong, and now he is completely on board with it. If all of the GOP senators who expressed doubts about the national emergency declaration voted for the resolution, not only would it pass, it would also override Trump's veto. But that won't happen.

[Primula Baggins]

My guess is that as they see things, the shortest way out of the Trump mess is through—to close their eyes, pinch their nostrils shut, and stick to the plan. They hope that they won't have to debase their principles any further than they already have. Maintain the Republican hold on the presidency, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, and all will be well in the end.

Of course, it's still always a downhill road with Trump, and at some point many of them may realize, too late, that they've gone farther than they can come back from.

[yovargas]

I'm not quite buying that .

Not buying what?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Not buying that there is still enough principle left out there that some Republicans in Congress can put partisanship aside to call obviously wrong things obviously wrong. If they are not willing to vote on the principle, it doesn't exist.

[Frelga]

I can't remember if it was Nate Silver or someone else who pointed out that at this point, Trump's game is to play to the base that is probably too small to reelect him but large enough that Republicans need them for their own reelection. It doesn't even matter if it pushes away more moderate Republican voters - that only makes the base more important in closed primaries.

[RoseMorninStar]

I read an article earlier this morning that reminded me of a conversation we were having a week or so ago. To note: This article does NOT link or imply that any current elected official is being targeted, however, there are several articles from various publications on this subject & I have not read the others.

ANYWAY.. it discusses the Equifax breach of Sept. 2017 and how curious it is that no sign of the stolen data has shown up on the Dark Web nor is there any sign the data was used, which have led some experts to believe the data is being used in another way, likely by Russia or China. They suspect that they may have scanned the data for those in power/influential positions who are in debt and may be easily compromised/blackmailed/coerced into spying. I don't find this beyond the realm of possibility.

[yovargas]

From 538:

"An NPR poll found 85 percent support [for Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency] within the GOP, and the Morning Consult survey found 77 percent support. The HuffPost/YouGov poll found that 84 percent of Trump voters supported the declaration."
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tr ... unpopular/

I find this so terribly dispiriting.