Brane Space: State of the Union

Showing posts with label State of the Union. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Other Voices Sound Off On Dotard's Performance Last Night - And Stacey Abrams' Response

Nancy Pelosi has weaponized her applause.

Nancy Pelosi delivers a weaponized 'fuck you' hand clap last night to the charlatan in chief.

"That was a psychotic speech...a mix of cookies and dog poop"- Political organizer Van Jones on CNN after Trump's State of the Union.

Here are other voices sounding off on Dotard's 82 minute misuse of network time, given I had the good sense not to watch it!

Donald Trump

Trump's Verbal Filth, Just Hours Before the SOTU

by P.M. Carpenter | February 6, 2019 - 7:22am | permalink

Excerpt:

"One tell of a man, of a good man, is his amiable acknowledgement of his opponents' agreeable attributes, which at times is even an honest acknowledgement. When forced on occasion, such a recognition nonetheless shows some magnanimity and an admirable willingness to appreciate legitimate disagreements. (This observation assumes, of course, the actual presence of favorable assets amongst his opponents; otherwise, false praise comes across as little more than a Pecksniffian labor.)

Yesterday, however, we were again bludgeoned by that unpresidential model of a truly bad man. Trump told of himself with striking ease. Speaking with network television anchors at a closed-door luncheon, he proceeded to assess a few opponents with the crudity and vile disingenuity we've all come to expect from this Fifth Avenue con artist turned global abomination."

Donald Trump

Here Are 7 of Trump’s Most Outrageous Lies and Distortions During the State of the Union

by Cody Fenwick | February 6, 2019 - 7:40am | permalink

Excerpt:

"As Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale has noted, Trump’s on-script speeches tend to be much more accurate than his off-the-cuff rally tirades, which are filled to the brim with lies and distortions. When he speaks from a teleprompter, his staff produce formalized comments that sometimes withstand fact-checking scrutiny better than his usual claims.

But he still made many specific, demonstrably false claims. The greatest lie, though, was the basic premise of his speech: a supposed call for unity. Instead of a unifying rallying cry, it was filled with much of his typical divisive attacks and vicious fearmongering, particularly about immigrants.

Here are seven of his other false claims and distortions Tuesday night:

1. “After 24 months of rapid progress, our economy is the envy of the world, our military is the most powerful on earth, and America is winning each and every day.”

The implication here that Trump’s presidency oversaw a huge resurgence in the military and the economy is just flat-out false. The United States’ military has been the world’s biggest (and most wildly expensive) for generations long before Trump came around. And while the economy has continued to grow under this president, it has essentially carried on the trajectory it started under President Barack Obama.

Trump's State of the Union was exhausted, ugly, and simply devoid of any ideas

Excerpt:

"To call Donald Trump’s Tuesday night State of the Union address “chaotic” is giving it too much credit. That term implies some sort of manic energy. And “rambling” doesn’t capture the way in which the speech sandwiched a lot of general nastiness between two slices of generic calls for “unity,” by which Trump was clear that he meant everyone doing just as he wants. The best way to describe the speech is simply “atrocious”: listlessly delivered, horribly written, and above all free of any meaningful content.

If a State of the Union speech is supposed to be where the White House declares its vision for the coming year and beyond, what Trump demonstrated most convincingly is that he’s blind. A speech from Barack Obama or Bill Clinton might be full of lofty goals. Even Stacey Abram’s brief response carried with it a sharply packaged list of possibilities. But Trump’s speech was a hair’s breadth from being absolutely empty."

Democrats

Stacey Abrams Praises Immigrants, Slams Trump’s Shutdown ‘Stunt’ in SOTU Response

by Kasia Anderson | February 6, 2019 - 7:09am | permalink

"Just a few weeks ago, I joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers. They waited in line for a box of food and a sliver of hope since they hadn’t received a paycheck in weeks. Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games is a disgrace. The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the President of the United States, one that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people – but our values." - Stacy Abrams

Nancy Pelosi invents the F**k You clap for Donald Trump. Internet has ...

— from Alternet

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

As Before, No One With A Brain Ought To Waste Their Time Tonight On Trump's Hog Swill

"Oink, Oink! Now I got the whole country as my captive audience and I can tell 'em anything I want."

"With near-certainty, Trump will utter repeatedly debunked lies, lots of them. He’ll talk about national unity but take no responsibility for the deep divisions he has caused nor for the racism and hatefulness he has exhibited. He’ll make a slew of unfounded foreign policy pronouncements attributing newfound (and nonexistent) respect in the world to his own brilliance. (He seems not to notice that he is the subject of international derision and an endless source of frustration to allies.)

At least with a teleprompter, he can avoid the kind of word salads — or as Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) calls them, “word vomit” — he tossed up in his interview with CBS’s Margaret Brennan" - Jennifer Rubin, 'Can We Skip To The State Of The Union Response', Washington Post yesterday.

Fellow citizens, the state of our Union is currently foul and riven by divisions. We know this because the human swine occupying the seat of power is the source of the pestilence and division. With every byte of effluent he spouts or tweets the corruption eating away at the body politic increases. Therefore, we know that the stage of the State of the Union tonight will only be used to further the pestilence by spreading more lies, discord and fear. No one with a mind or what the theologians call "soul" needs to watch his performance to confirm that.

Look, Trump, aka Dotard, is a DNA fusion of swine and human slime, a liar and common thug running a criminal and treasonous enterprise from the White House. Now...think I am suffering from "outrage fatigue" like too many screen -addicted Americans these days? Think again! I wake up every morning outraged at the spectacle of a bipedal maggot, barely human in any reasonable sense, fouling the People's house every day he exists, breathes and spouts more venom, lies and braggadocio. I don't do small screens, nor am I hostage to Twitter, so I can devote my attention to many other more useful things, as well as reading.

And the more I read about Trump's planned State of the Union spiel tonight, the more I realize it will be more lying, more grandstanding to again try to make a specious case for his mythical wall. And bear in mind this was never ever real, it was designed as a mnemonic. The fact is we now know the "wall" was invented by Trump's then advisers as a memory image for when he was planning his campaign run. They needed some quick and dirty device to keep Trump's diminished and demented brain focused on immigration and figured a "wall" was the best bet. "Just keep repeating 'wall, wall' wall'...". See e.g.

How the Border Wall Is Boxing Trump In

Trump's defenders - even the semi-clever ones like Peggy Noonan - don't seem to get this. In her last column ('Mr.President, Tear Down That Word', Feb. 2-3, p. A15) Noonan seems on the surface to grasp that Trump is boxed in by his own fetishistic obsession with the word "wall" - which initially he didn't seem to care how defined ("They can even call it peaches!") But then she resorts to taking backhanded slaps at both Pelosi ('What if a Prada bag with a gun in it became a person?') and the Dems in general ("The Democrats must defeat the president on that one word"). Failing to comprehend it isn't the word but rather the fact if the Dems cave to the Swine-in- chief's extortion he will use it again and again to try and get what he wants. This we cannot allow, not the Dems nor any upstanding citizens who declare they are genuine patriots - not paper patriots.

But this is exactly why Trump is now salivating for the chance to spew his lies about his mythical "wall" on the grand stage tonight, to try to appeal to lower IQ people to back his spurious case that "we need it".

Why should Trump lie? Why wouldn't he, especially after being afforded a grand stage, which personally I don't think ought to have been offered until and unless the government was fully open. Not like it is now, with a Dotard Damocles' shutdown sword hanging over it if the man baby doesn't like what the bipartisan conference come up with - threatening daily to order a "national emergency". So all that's happened is that the extortionist has been given a national megaphone to renew threats and recycle his lies and fear mongering. No one with a functioning brain deserves that. No one with even a half-functioning brain ought to subject it to such toxic twaddle.

There is now indeed even more reason to dodge this farce given we know how much time this fool is wasting in office, thanks to Axios. They got hold of his schedule and published it on their website - with the orange spaces all denoting "executive time", i.e. wasted time.

Since the mid terms that translates into 60 percent of his time in office being "unstructured". The details include:

"Trump, an early riser, usually spends the first 5 hours of the day in "Executive Time". Each day's schedule places Trump in "Location: Oval Office" from 8 to 11 a.m.

But Trump, who often wakes before 6 a.m., is never in the Oval during those hours, according to six sources with direct knowledge.
Instead, he spends his mornings in the residence, watching TV, reading the funny papers, and responding to what he sees and reads by phoning aides, and tweeting about those who upset him."

"He's always calling people, talking to people," a senior White House official told Axios. "He's always up to something; it's just not what you would consider typical structure."

But why be surprised? We've known since Day One that Trump can't handle the job. Recall the guy has never really worked at a real job outside of his family branding business, being a part time reality TV prop and a real estate weasel and con man. In the latter capacity he used bankruptcy (of multiple casinos) to make $$$ including off state governments as well as marks to whom he owed millions. This according to author and Trump specialist David Cay Johnston. The little orange bitch even bawled that the presidency had turned out to be too much for him to deal with. Too many details, too much stuff to master and nowhere near the brain power for the task. Hell, he refused to even read his daily briefs! Hence, his penchant for becoming a cable TV and tweet addict. See e.g.

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/donald-trump-stunned-to-learn-presidency-is-an-actual-j-1792215349

Excerpt:

“Being president is harder than Donald Trump thought,” begins the article, neatly capturing the blithe, criminal ignorance that characterizes both Trump himself and the many dozens of millions of morons who thought he should be the leader of the free world. Yes, being the president is a harder job than Donald Trump would expect, because Donald Trump had never previously held an actual job, because actually, spending your inheritance on a succession of failed cons is not an actual job."

Now, given all this why on earth should any sensible person - far less responsible citizen- let this grandstanding buffoon con him or her out of their time as well?

This is why wifey and I plan to forego the SOTU to instead watch the next to last episode of 'Counterpart' . After which we will likely tune back in to MSNBC, after the dais has presumably been fumigated, to watch Stacy Abrams' response to Dotard's word vomit. This will be worth watching given we know Ms. Abrams can separate fact from fiction and BS.

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Ann Coulter Admits To Being "A Stupid Girl" To Bill Maher- And Why There Won't Be Another Shutdown In Three Weeks

Incredibly, harpy and Right extremist bomb thrower Ann Coulter admitted on 'Real Time' in front of millions to being a "very stupid girl". Well, we knew that already. Here's how the interview's key segment went. The White Nationalist Harpy Hag began by telling host Bill Maher how it was “crazy” that she expected Trump “to keep the promise” to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border that he’d made “every day for 18 months.”

Maher: "You voted for him, Donald Trump, and now you’re finding out he’s a lying conman. What was your first clue?”

Coulter: “OK, I’m a very stupid girl, fine.”

Well, at least she's finally admitted it. And yeah, there are worse things than brainless blonde viragos who spout xenophobic venom. There are racist, xenophobic presidents who have no clue how to do the job and mainly seek to inspire fear and hatred. But Coulter and her devolved ilk are bad enough and emblematic of what's wrong with the Right wing in this country who seek to rule by fear and lies. Coulter herself last night pumped out the usual bilge, i.e. that illegal immigration is actually favored by the ultra-rich Koch-level Republicans, asserting:

“They want cheap nannies."

Maybe some do but that misses the larger point: That American businesses, from landscaping, to restaurants in need of kitchen help to crabbers (in Maryland), to agricultural operations in California, , are finding that there aren't the American workers to do the jobs needed. I repeat, the Americans. Given the Trump cabal has cut immigration quotas, many businesses have been left to chase the labor they need via lotteries. But these seldom deliver the numbers needed to meet demand, so often the businesses - like lobster distributors in Maine, or CA fruit grower- have to shutter, or let crops rot. As a result, productivity is lost, and GDP takes a hit

From another perspective we beheld the federal shutdown of the last 35 days which cost millions of paid-hours in economic activity and still is! The reason is that very few of the media reported about the lost income of the federal contractors, only the 800,000 core federal employees (IRS agents, TSA screeners, FDA inspectors etc.) But as Paul C. Light noted (WSJ, 'The Hidden Cost of a Government Shutdown', December 28, p. A15): "There are two federal workforces, the contractors and the regular federal workers." For perspective, these include no fewer than "1.2 million grantees and 4 million full time contractors."

So even as regular American business activity has contracted on account of not enough immigrant workers to do the jobs needed, so also has there been a massive economic stagnation and contraction arising from millions of federal workers not receiving pay the past month. This lack of income has directly affected the communities in which they live, from which they purchase groceries, or pay rent or whatever.

Coulter, earlier in the day yesterday, tweeted that Trump was “the biggest wimp ever to serve” as president, after he agreed to reopen the federal government for three weeks without having convinced Congress to fund the wall.

Let's recall here it was Coulter (along with Rush Limbaugh) who had not only advised Trump to shut down the government in order to fund his border wall pet project but called him out when he caved Friday. That cave in to Pelosi and the Dems saw her branding Dotard (her former "god") “the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.”

Even before these latest insults, Trump either blocked or unfollowed Coulter on Twitter in December 2018 after she called him “gutless.” Many political observers claim Trump believes Coulter represents his base, which she alluded to her in her sit-down with Maher, and that her views can affect his decisions. (Well, they did in December, after having agreed to a continuing resolution to keep the gov't open, he acceded to the vitriol of Coulter, Limbaugh & Co. and scrapped the deal-- leading to the shutdown.

Obviously, this means the putative leader, the president of this once powerful nation, is a slave boy to Right wing loons. He's prepared to do their bidding - go over board for them - even shutting the government down for 35 days - to pander to them.

Will it happen again on February 15th? No way in hell, and even today's WSJ editorial ('After The Shutdown Fiasco', p. A12) admits:

"Trump's problem is that he is still largely at Ms. Pelosi's mercy. He said Friday that without the money for his wall he'd shut the government down again in three weeks or declare a national emergency himself.

Trump would be blamed for another shutdown and an emergency declaration would be enjoined by the courts or set a precedent that the next President could exploit to go around the GOP."

In other words, 'game, set, match', Trump and the Trumpers lose. And no, there will be no future round in which they win. Not now, not ever. Their best bet is to keep the government open, do the work of government and the people- i.e. governing - and cease the terrorist hostage taking, narcissist theatrics and bad faith. They aren't going to get the better of Nancy Pelosi, who basically schooled these reprobates on the extent of her powers and how they can be skillfully used - especially against a know nothing, bombastic buffoon.

Despite these realities, the Trump nativist xenophobes remain enthralled and obsessed with half-baked notions of retribution and that "it is too early to declare victory". Actually, it's just the right time.

These nitwits can't seem to process that the debacle their brainiac mutt caused is still a rolling disaster which will take weeks, months to play out, as millions of the federal contractors are still feeling the pain. Unlike the regular 800,000 federal workforce they get no back pay - so they are now (many if not most) in hock up to their eyeballs for utility bills, medical needs as well as rent and mortgage payments.

Will the (sentient, sane) American populace tolerate another shutdown after the spectacle of pain they've beheld in the just concluded one? Absolutely not. And Trump also knows if he tries it his disapproval numbers will tank even further, to levels unseen even for Nixon in the Watergate era. In a word it would be political suicide. He knows it, his staff knows it and his fawning toadies and groupies know it, not matter what manner of bilge and bollocks they spout on Sunday talk shows.

As for the State of the union, it still should not go on for Tuesday night, all Peggy Noonan's mawkish sermonizing ('The State of the Union Is Missing', WSJ, p. A13) notwithstanding. The pain is still too unbearable- feelings too raw, especially after the spectacle of federal workers in breadlines (even as asshole Wilbur Ross divulged on CNBC he "couldn't understand why they just didn't take out loans"). Besides, Dotard - the imp and swine that he is - would still use the occasion to bloviate more lies out of his ass, and attack Pelosi and the Dems. There is no reason on god's green earth to commit the unforced error of giving him a national stage to lick his wounds in front of his deplorables as he attacks the rest of us.

Besides, technically the government still hasn't opened for good. Let's see how the next three weeks play out and whether Trump is an honest broker before giving him the Capitol bldg for the SOTU.

See also:

Donald Trump | Government

Trump Folds on Shutdown After Yet Another Historically Bad Week

AND:

Conservatives and the Right | Donald Trump

The Fractured Right. Thanks, Donald.

by P.M. Carpenter | January 27, 2019 - 7:54am | permalink

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Pelosi Merits Kudos For Teaching Man Baby Dotard About Article I Powers Re: State Of Union Speech

Image result for smirkingchimp, Nancy Pelosi with gavel

"The people in this country are now getting a forced lesson on the Article I branch of the Constitution - for which Nancy Pelosi is putting on a clinic. She's wielding her power so thoroughly and efficiently as well as publicly that we normally don't see women do. She's not doing it in the usual demure way women do. And we're so used to weak speakers, we're just not used to it. So Donald Trump is getting this lesson along with the rest of the country, because he knows nothing about the Constitution.

So for the first time, his infliction of pain on people, his lack of empathy for people is coming up against another power trying to stop him. The tragedy is the other half of the Article I power is apparently just as callous as Donald Trump. I see no more concern or compassion in Mitch McConnell than I see in Trump." - Joy Reid, on All In last night.

"The result of this is that the obscuring fog of both-sidesism lying atop this whole situation has been dissipated. What has been laid bare, instead, is a simple reality: Democrats actually do control one chamber of Congress, after having won a major electoral victory, and that actually does give them some veto power over Trump’s conduct and agenda. Pundits can claim all they want that Pelosi is being “as petty as Trump,” as if this is all just a matter of interpersonal conduct. That objection is now irrelevant: What really matters is that Trump will not deliver the speech. He will not use this ceremony as a platform to browbeat Democrats or to spread gales of disinformation about the shutdown and about the wall fantasies driving it." Greg Sargent -'There Is Only Way To Break Trump's Pathology, Pelosi Has Found It'. Washington Post today

It was the stuff of political high drama as the bombastic con man and criminal in the White House actually dared the Speaker of the House - Nancy Pelosi- to stop him from giving the State of the Union next Tuesday. Well, Dotard met his match and more when Nancy replied after Trump wrote:.

“I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union,. I look forward to seeing you on the evening on January 29th in the Chamber of the House of Representatives.”

Trump, as uninformed on the Constitution as he is everything else, actually believed HE could just sashay into the House and deliver his spiel of lies and braggadocio. Further he was challenging Pelosi to stop him. He bluffed like the con man he is (as with all his phony real estate deals) but Nancy called him on it, writing:

“I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened.”

The message was clear as day: She was informing Donnie Dotard there's a new Sheriff in town and she isn't taking any more shit from him, or his sycophants and disciples. Meanwhile, the hedge fund-owned, corporate mainstream media (in their cartoons) can make all the fun of her they want, e.g.

But contrary to their Neoliberal ignorance and skewed perceptions, it is actually Pelosi who is now the adult in the room, showing the sentient part of the nation (not including these imbecilic cartoonists with heads up their asses) that the First Brat will not be unilaterally appeased, or accommodated anymore just because he pitches a hissy fit or bawls about "unfairness". In other words, checks and balances have at last returned after a 2-year hiatus dominated by Repuke enabling. That these cartoonists don't grasp that discloses they're really zombie dolts playing into the Swine-in -chief's hands as his putative bitches.

Janice's take is basically the same as mine but with some added snark, e.g.

"The male cartoonists are just male chauvinist pigs and misogynists like Trump, terrified of strong, intelligent women leaders. The female cartoonists mocking her- if any- are just slaves to their male captors, suffering from Stockholm syndrome. They lack brains and courage and ought to be looking up to Nancy as an inspiration instead of playing into the hands of their corporate male bosses!"

Ouch!

Not long after Ms. Pelosi's missive, Trump conceded the whole charade, saying he would use an “alternative" method of delivering his address and that it wouldn’t be in the Capitol. In a word, He caved and admitted his bluff got called - big time. But instead of manning up he reverted to his two year old diaper -soiling self, bawling out:

“The State of the Union has been cancelled by Nancy Pelosi, because she doesn’t want to hear the truth,"

Actually, Dotard, she didn't want to hear your shit-faced lies on a grand public stage and was reminding you who else has power in the Beltway now. And again, there's that education aspect that too many media pundits and scribes (as well as brain -dead cartoonists) forget when they blab about "both sides" tossing tantrums or draw cartoons mocking Pelosi.. The past two years' exposure to the brat- in- chief & Twitter Troll has doubtless taken its toll on most citizens' minds and emotions, I admit. But that's no reason for the rest of us to cede ground to the Trumpers or to forget that Nancy is the now the strict mom prepared to call 'time out' on the orange- hued man baby. And even deliver the occasional lash or two on the backside, if needed. Besides she has every right.

Legally speaking, Trump has no right whatsoever to deliver the SOTU in the House chamber. The Constitution only stipulates that a president must provide an update on the state of the country. This used to be done in writing. This was also an option Pelosi helpfully suggested in her letter to Trump last week, though she had to know that apart from signing his scrawling name he doesn't know how to write. Hell, he can't read.

It is true that Congress can provide the venue and has for more than 100 years, but it is not a gimme. It must be done through a joint resolution.

Basically, Pelosi made Trump eat shit...errrr...humble pie. She has also shown she has steel cojones and won’t back down from a fight. In other words, she's shown what a strong female leader can do, especially one who isn't prepared to kowtow to male fantasies of domination.

We look forward to many more of Nancy's showdowns with Trump and his getting his fat orange heinie handed to him . At least until we get rid of him permanently- probably in the 2020 election.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

The Moral Hazard Of Appeasing Trump - And Why Pelosi Is Correct To "Disinvite" Him To The House For SOTU

The Swine and thug holding the nation hostage must not be rewarded for his terrorism. Nancy Pelosi is correct to disinvite him to the House for the State of the Union - and no 'security' pretext is needed. If he wants to deliver it, let him either drop his terrorist extortion - or do so from a Senate backroom toilet.

"There have been many policy disasters over the course of U.S. history. It’s hard, however, to think of a calamity as gratuitous, an error as unforced, as the current federal shutdown.

Nor can I think of another disaster as thoroughly personal, as completely owned by one man. When Donald Trump told Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, “I will be the one to shut it down,” he was being completely accurate — although he went on to promise that “I’m not going to blame you for it,” which was a lie." Paul Krugman, 'Donald Trump and His Team Of Morons', NY Times

"Trump is not entirely to blame. The United States Senate could take up legislation that it passed just a few weeks ago, that they thought was a good idea, to open government and continue this debate over how we exercise border security. Why not do that? I blame the Senate. I blame those who are essentially handing over their responsibility to the president. Mitch McConnell has made Donald Trump the majority leader of the United States Senate. - Rep. Dan Kildee (MI), last night on 'All In'.

"Donald Trump has apparently outsourced his presidency to the notoriously anti-immigrant Ann Coulter, as she bragged about it in an interview last night." - Chris Hayes on 'All In' last night

According to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, "moral hazard" is defined as arising:

" When an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities for its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions"

For example, if after days of pleading for "a few extra bucks", I were to lend a friend $40, and he used it for gambling at a Sports Book, then: a) he isn't accepting the full consequences of his own poor money management and decisions, and b) he will treat my $40 less carefully say - than if he was really down to his last nickel and had to go and earn that money, in say five hours of 'sweat equity' flipping burgers at Mickey D's.

In addition, he leaves me holding some of the responsibility for his ill-chosen actions, since I am enabling them by giving him money! Thus, I am countenancing moral hazard and he is ensnared via my own ill-considered decision to "help" him to dodge full responsibility for his own individual choices.

The situation becomes more desperate and pregnant with moral hazard if - after being denied a loan- he vows to jump in front of a passing car. He's now ratcheted up the stakes and worse, tried to take me hostage, by putting the onus on me for his living, or not.

In a real way, he's no longer a friend but has become a psychological extortionist - even terrorist- instead.

This is no different to what Trump is doing now with this federal shutdown - except he is promising to take the whole nation with him as he dives off the precipice And already we see the risk markers in abundance, as 40,000 Coast Guard members are now without paychecks along with TSA screeners, air traffic controllers, IRS employees and many others. Many of these are now having to visit food pantries, and a mere weeks from being evicted from homes or apartments.

Should this piece of pseudo-presidential shit be rewarded with a State of the Union address in the House of Representatives, where he can sashay in as if nothing is wrong and be accorded a respect he doesn't merit? Worse, be granted the media stage to belch the lie that "The State of the Union is sound, blah blah..." Absolutely not! He must not be given the time to grandstand for his derelict base, his sycophants, and his overseers in the Reich media machine - namely Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.

This is the same reason the Dems must never yield to this degenerate and give billions for his fucking, stupid border wall. Because as one Dem Senator confided to MSNBC's Chris Hayes: "We won't move. We cannot. If this works for Trump the country will border on ungovernable." Meaning, having won in this hostage taking showdown he will use the same game of shutdown 'chicken' again and again, i.e. when the debt ceiling deliberations come up or for any other appropriations bill. In Times' columnist Michelle Goldberg's take, "Trump would be completely unbound in using this tool".

It would be as if my 'friend' used the "suicide or gimme a loan" gambit every time on me. To unplug the moral hazard my only option is to tell the friend, 'do what you want, I am not lending you a red cent'. In the same way, Dems cannot give Trump and his Reich cohort a dime for his mythical wall to embolden them to shut the government down in the next budget kerfuffle.

Thus, no matter how much devastating crap is going on Trump must not be appeased !  It is true there is increasing collateral damage from Trump's political terror and hostage taking. We know 800,000 federal employees are either at home or working without pay on "furlough", but that's merely the tip of the iceberg. Another 3-4 million contract workers are also not being paid. Whole towns - like Ogden, Utah - are also being adversely affected and may have to pull back services because tax receipts are vanishing since their resident federal workers can't spend without incomes.

While I can certainly sympathize with all of these Trump victims, they are basically in the same position as hostages taken by a demented terrorist.  Sadly, this terrorist cannot be rewarded any more than if it was a high level ISIS vermin who'd taken prisoners. That means, above all, the Democrats cannot give into his insane demands, not now, not ever. However long this thing drags on, it is up to Trump and the Republicans to end it.

How bad can things get? Yesterday's Denver Post featured a litany of the ills that are yet to come if this shutdown lasts beyond February, including:

- 38 million losing their food stamps when the SNAP program runs aground from lack of funding. This loss of food stamp funding alone would strip at least 0.53% from the GDP.

-The Department of Housing and Urban Development has said it will not be able to renew 1, 150 rental assistance contracts with private land lords that expired in December. This means tens of thousands could be shoved into the streets.

- Another 550 rental assistance contract expire in February affecting an additional 16,000 households.

- By March, subsidies for the great majority of contracts will end jeopardizing the vouchers (e.g. Sec. 8) used by 2.2 million low income households. This according to Sharon Parrott, a senior fellow at the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities.

- By end of March TSA screeners may walk off their jobs en masse leaving thousands of flight cancellations in their wake, especially if joined by the air traffic controllers (who have already filed a lawsuit against Trump's government.)

This little gem has already been dropped into the meme pool, as Robert Costa reported in the WaPo. Costa noted a couple of Republican lawmakers confided that "the only way this breaks open is if TSA workers stay home and Americans get furious about their flights". Well, maybe a certain class of Americans, the business passengers, as the WSJ reported last week.

As Sam Berger, a senior adviser at the Center for American Progress, observed: "Shutdowns don't get bad linearly, they get bad exponentially, the longer they go on."

The problem is that too many of the conservo persuasion are unable to process exponential increase, another reason they fail to grasp the peril of climate change- which manifestations can increase exponentially, e.g. with forcing factors.

And smiling and gloating behind all the pain is the venomous, extremist bitch, Ann Coulter, proud of the havoc she's wrought. Coulter bragged in a VICE-TV interview she's been in regular communication with Trump on Twitter. She actually confided to the reporter that she has him by the balls and regularly orders him to "play this out and focus on immigration." Her own words from the interview:

"I've been advising the president in my columns and in my Twitter conversations - that you're not allowed to know about - to play this out. To keep it focused on immigration. As long as people are talking about immigration you are winning, Mr. President. But whatever happens, just build the wall."

Asked why Dotard's digging his heels in, Coulter replies:

"It's self preservation. Because he is dead in the water if he doesn't build that wall. Dead, dead, dead."

In other words, Donnie Dotard has become Ann Coulter's perpetual bitch. As for all the federal workers impacted by the shutdown, many now having to turn to food pantries, the harpy had this to say to the VICE-TV reporter:

"It's very silly for the Democrats to hold up funding the government while they're weeping about federal employees with benefits: retirement plans, and vacation and sick leaves better than anyone watching this program has."

In other words, dismissing and denigrating all those federal workers, many of whom literally have her life in their hands. So much for gratitude.

Let me reiterate again that it is standard procedure among most law enforcement agencies not to reward terrorists or hostage takers with payouts. That now includes Ann Coulter who seems to be dictating Trump's every move - if we are to believe her. The reason is simple: Though the refusal to give in may likely cost lives, it is much worse to reward such vile behavior and encourage further hostage taking, terror in the future. The exact same holds true with the current domestic terrorist named Donald Drumpf occupying the Oval Office. The selfsame mutt threatening all manner of mayhem - and even trying to blame the Dems for the deaths of two migrant kids.

Look, if this asshole truly wanted a wall for "security" - as political commentator Ezra Klein noted three weeks ago- he'd have signed off on the $25 billion offered in 2017 as part of a DACA deal. He didn't do that, crapping all over the deal instead after the Right's screech monkeys blew a gasket. Just like barely 3 weeks ago he saw himself harshly criticized in the Reich media by Limbuagh, Coulter, Ingraham & company and then turned around and crapped on a CR that was already voted on by 100-0 in the Senate and which he'd agreed to! He rejected the continuing resolution because a gaggle of right wing lowbrow apes and blowhards went apoplectic and called him "gutless".

The most amusing aspect is how the Trump terrorists are claiming Pelosi's disinvite move is a sign of "weakness" because she's afraid of giving Trump a mammoth media stage to "gain advantage". Well, true, but the issue is gaining advantage by spewing lies, now approaching the 7,000 level according to the WaPo lie counter. That said, the REAL weakness is on the Trump and McConnell hostage taking side, given they are now trying to split the House Dems - to no avail. (See e.g. 'White House Fails To Split Democrats'. WSJ, yesterday, p. A5). In addition, we know the Trump hostage takers are aware this "wall" is something most Americans - the sensible faction - don't want (cf. 'Trump's Pinned To A Wall Few Americans Want', WSJ, p. A15, by William Galston).

As Galston wrote at the end of his column: "The art of the deal isn't bludgeoning everyone else into submission. It's providing them incentives to give you what you value most."

What Trump should be valuing most is not his nutso fantasy "wall" but his whole economy as well as the stock market he constantly brags about. As this shutdown insanity goes on and the collateral damage multiplies, chipping away at retail sales and shaking consumer confidence, he is looking at a major recession by year's end if not sooner. Jamie Dimon has already predicted a zero growth in GDP this quarter and other financial experts assert we are looking into the maw of a financial disaster rivaling the one in 2008 if Dotard doesn't come to his senses.

In the meantime, my only advice to Nancy Pelosi would be to drop the "security" ruse about stalling the State of the Union. Just come right out and say Dotard is NOT invited to the People's House until and unless he drops the terrorist hostage taking. Look at it this way, Nancy, we do not reward terrorists in the country - whether of the Isis brand or domestic ones like Trump, Ann Coulter and Mitch McConnell.

See also:

Ninja Nancy Pelosi is on a roll. Her letter to Trump is more proof

And:

Republicans

A Short and Future History of Republican Poopery