Unless Congress passes some kind of spending measure by December 8, our government will run out of money and face another government shutdown. With a majority in both the House and the Senate, Republicans would have no trouble doing it themselves, if they were not so incompetent that the Plutocons and the Insanity Wing refuse to compromise with each other. Therefore they need Democratic help to pass something. Instead of negotiating in good faith, Trump ran a scam and is putting the nation at risk.
Less than two weeks before much of the government runs out of money, President Trump on Tuesday escalated the threat of a shutdown, accusing Democratic congressional leaders of plotting to use their leverage to raise taxes and flood the country with undocumented immigrants.
The Democratic leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, responded to the president’s provocations by pulling out of a scheduled White House meeting meant to address the thorny issues that lawmakers are facing as the end of the year approaches.
Mr. Trump then doubled down, posing for television cameras at the White House next to empty chairs and calling his would-be negotiating partners weak on crime, weak on immigration and weak on the military.
“They’ve been all talk, and they’ve been no action, and now it’s even worse,” Mr. Trump said. “Now it’s not even talk.”
The spectacle was an unpromising start to the difficult negotiations ahead, with a deadline of Dec. 8, when government funding runs out. Democrats hold significant leverage because Republicans do not have enough votes to pass a spending measure next week without some Democratic support…
Inserted from <NY Times>
Trump did far more than just falsely accusing Pelosi and Schumer. He said that because of it, he would not make a deal with them. Pelosi and Schumer pulled out only after he said there would be no deal. Blaming them for not coming adds insult to injury, as Lawrence O’Donnell explains.
If Republicans want to avoid being blamed for a government shutdown, all they have to do is agree among themselves and pass a measure. But since Republicans are incapable of governing, they can damn well apologize, stop the bullshit and negotiate in good faith. I am not predisposed to bend over and grab my ankles to save their bacon.
RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!
8 Responses to “The Empty Chairs Scam”
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Lawrence definitely has a handle on this. Egberto Willies did what I think is a pretty good analysis of this on Daily Kos. The thing he missed, and which was brought up in the comments, is that these petulant man-children do drama better than we do, and Lawrence will not convince a single Trump voter of the truth. But I do hope that Chuck and Nancy listen!
Paul Ryan, Ugh!! Lyin’ dt reminds me of the melting of the evil witch on the Wizard of Oz…imho.Well said, Mr. O’Donnell.
BTW…twitter went wild with pictures of dt and ‘the empty chairs’…
Just to get to the meat of the matter, this is Twitler’s Tweet that made it clear to Sen. Schumer & Rep. Pelosi that they were just going to be used at the “meeting” as a photo op for Twitler:
NYT: Yes, that was my understanding of it: First, tDump tells the Dems that there will be no compromise, then, when they respond to this particular idiocy by not bothering to play along with his script, he puts the blame on them…just another day in the world of tDump! Faux NotNews probably had a ball with this one!
MSNBC: Just had a dinner of delicious leftovers…not going to watch what appears to be a coming interview, or something, with Lyin’ Ryan! Was that McConjob, Ryan and tDump putting on a morality play around the empty chairs? In my line of work, we sometimes encourage people do do an “Empty chair” Gestalt Therapy type of exercise, telling the person who is not in the chair what the client thinks of him/her, how the “Empty One” has been toxic in the client’s life, an so on. Boy, could I do such an exercise with those three empty human-like beings!
Just don’t do it at a political convention!
The whole bunch in Washington right now are useless.
Lawrence O’Donnell couldn’t be more clear: The Republican majority in both Houses is completely incapable of governing and they need to Democrats to show them how its done. And they were well on their way with Mommy and Daddy helping them with their homework and giving them the support they needed until the idiot couldn’t bear that he wasn’t going to get any credit and tweeted his lies just hours before the meeting in an attempt to show himself the better dealer.
And now it is up to the Democrats again. This time not by negotiating, but by refusing to negotiate unless Drumpf apologizes. The GOP has a majority in either House, so there’s no need to negotiate, they shouldn’t need Democratic votes and can’t pass the blame to Democrats for their own failure. O’Donnell makes an excellent case for NOT negotiating any further for the good of the country. Returning to the table without an apology and setting the record straight on Democrats not wanting “immigrants to flood the country” nor to “raise taxes” will undo everything the Resistance has built up over the last year. If Pelosi and Schumer go along now they accept Drumpf’s lies and let him win. Drumpf then can prove to his base he’s the best negotiator, never mind he’s mentally incapacitated and unfit for the presidency, or the GOP is incapable of governing even with a majority.
Please, “Nancy and Chuck”, for the good of the country stop being a Democrat for once and DON’T GIVE IN!
Thanks and hugs. All your observations are spot-on!