Kind of weird that given the time political news regularly breaks for Camp drumpfco, we wind up with a variation of our hallowed West Coast trips

also, sorry to post so much but is there any way anyone could seriously consider naming Petraeus for the job, on the optics alone?

drsmooth wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:In non-Russia news, the Freedom Caucus (or Fuckhead Caucus, if you're tired and unoriginal) have taken an official stance that they will oppose any repeal/replace plan that preserves Medicaid expansion. Jon Favreau states that the Senate GOP does not have enough votes to end Medicaid expansion, putting ACA work in a bind.

This seems completely insane when you look at the states that have benefited from expansion. Scott Perry doesn't look completely acephalic. PA expanded Medicaid. Has he asked people running hospitals in Gettysburg or Camp HIll what they think about him signing on to this shit? Or maybe their employees, or those of businesses that have contracts with those hospitals?

ARI-FUCKING-ZONA expanded Medicaid.

Do assholes like Trent Franks or Paul Gosar or David Schweikert even know whether they have hospitals in their districts? Franks & Schweikert definitely do.

What in the literal fuck is wrong with these guys?

Arkansas and Kentucky expanded Medicaid.

Pubs won't investigate. They'll say Flynn made a booboo and resigned. Over. Done. Nothing to see here.

JFLNYC wrote:Pubs won't investigate. They'll say Flynn made a booboo and resigned. Over. Done. Nothing to see here.

Rubio already said today Flynn's role was going to come under scrutiny in the Senate Intel investigation of Russia's role in the election.

drsmooth wrote:also, sorry to post so much but is there any way anyone could seriously consider naming Petraeus for the job, on the optics alone?

He'd be good at it. Hope Donnie does it. He's eating shit on this anyway.

This is absolutely insane.

jerseyhoya wrote:

drsmooth wrote:also, sorry to post so much but is there any way anyone could seriously consider naming Petraeus for the job, on the optics alone?

He'd be good at it. Hope Donnie does it. He's eating shit on this anyway.

He'd be good at it in any other circumstance. He might be as good at it at "half-strength" as another guy without his baggage, but with him it's out of the frying pan & into the fire....

...unless of course he has the juice to pull the plug on the whole rotten cesspool, in which case let him run for replacement POTUS once the show trials are over and the firing squads have finished their work

jerseyhoya wrote:

drsmooth wrote:also, sorry to post so much but is there any way anyone could seriously consider naming Petraeus for the job, on the optics alone?

He'd be good at it. Hope Donnie does it. He's eating shit on this anyway.

Will he even last? I mean Trump had to have given the green light on this.

jerseyhoya wrote:
Rubio already said today Flynn's role was going to come under scrutiny in the Senate Intel investigation of Russia's role in the election.

do you think any Rs are aware their careers, maybe their party, may hinge on how they handle this mess? This ain't no piddly email server run by a hated opposition party enemy shit.

I just keep picturing Mitch McConnell google-eyed in the headlights. He's only ever been good at not getting anything done

Marco Rubio said it so it must be true.

If this were Clinton, Rs would be holding hearings tonight into eternity.

CalvinBall wrote:If this were Clinton, Rs would be holding hearings tonight into eternity.

This is undeniably true and something that should be reckoned with a bit by Hill Republicans. I think there was a ton about Hillary that was problematic and beyond the norms of problematic by normal politician scale. The thing is the poofy haired child my party saw fit to nominate and our country saw fit to elect is by every measure significantly worse even than her. I've been wondering recently if it wouldn't be better if the Dems would win the House in 2018. Get some realistic oversight of the admin. I hope we keep the Senate GOP (and with the map we have, we should), which is good so judges keep getting confirmed. I'm not saying a Dem takeover of the House would be good for America, but that it's crossed my mind is not a ringing endorsement of these first few weeks.

All I can say is I'm really really really interested in how Jerz sees senate & house factions coming to grips with this stuff.

Rubio could resuscitate his career, and shove Cruz right into the Rio Grande, if he plays his cards right. McCain could go out in a blaze of righteous glory. Ben Sasse! could steal MANY a juicy scene. Tom Gollum Cotton will surely play a role. And Mike Pence could dissolve in a pool of his own flopsweat. And that's just in the Senate(ish, throwing Pence in there)!

Gen. Barry McCaffery (ret) just assumes right off the POTUS knew all along what Flynn was doing from the campaign period & what the convos were about, very matter-of-fact like, all the while lauding Flynn as a terrific officer & intel guy.

Not that McCaffery often or always gets stuff right, but his lack of hesitation to say so seems kind of interesting.

Cover up worse than the crime. Trumps admin was given this information and it did nothing. Dems should be funding independent investigations.

What's fascinating (and scary) is that the civilian intelligence community is actively looking to bury trump. That's happening.

drsmooth wrote:All I can say is I'm really really really interested in how Jerz sees senate & house factions coming to grips with this stuff.

Rubio could resuscitate his career, and shove Cruz right into the Rio Grande, if he plays his cards right. McCain could go out in a blaze of righteous glory. Ben Sasse! could steal MANY a juicy scene. Tom Gollum Cotton will surely play a role. And Mike Pence could dissolve in a pool of his own flopsweat. And that's just in the Senate(ish, throwing Pence in there)!

We can dream. My sense is that they want to keep sweeping Trump dirt under the carpet until they get their pet projects on track. Of course, you can do them all - prolly better - with Pence. But you'd honk off the base to usher Agent Orange to an early exit.

DOJ told the administration their concerns regarding Flynn. Trump did nothing until it became public. Just yesterday afternoon Flynn had Trump's full support.

CalvinBall wrote:DOJ told the administration their concerns regarding Flynn. Trump did nothing until it became public. Just yesterday afternoon Flynn had Trump's full support.

Could be setting up some conflicts between DOJ, FBI, CIA and the Trumpettes. Hope so.

The Savior wrote:Cover up worse than the crime. Trumps admin was given this information and it did nothing. Dems should be funding independent investigations.

What's fascinating (and scary) is that the civilian intelligence community is actively looking to bury trump. That's happening.

That's because they know he's a russian stooge.

The strange part to me is that they likely have enough on him to make him look very very bad, but exposing him makes the US look bad and makes us vulnerable in the short term. Plus, who knows what he might do if he thinks the feds are coming for him. More importantly, what would Bannon do if he found out his chance at creating chaos was coming to an end? I don't think he goes out quietly, nor would Trump. If the intelligence agencies want to bring them down, I think it's almost better for them to wait for their case to be ironclad and then just show up with handcuffs. I doubt Pence is in on it, so he could step in. There would still be a fight for social security and ACA, but at least it would be a battle of ideas rather than this crap.