About today, not to be a downer, but

[DonCoquixote]

Look, I am as happy as everyone else to see Donald Trump have the worst week of his life, the sort of week that would ruin many in administration. His ability to be a deal maker has been shown to be false. Please remember, it was not the Paul Ryan wing of the party, nor was Democrats that brought him down (more on that point later.) Donald was brought down by people who thought his plan was actually not mean enough. No matter how many times he promised in the campaign to "repeal and replace" the the ACA, it turns out that his party did not want to replace anything. They wanted more people to die so that they can keep more of their money and spend it on more of their ego. Even with the far right wing of his party, the ones who are using Trump to do everything from making racism normal to giving cops a hunting license for young black men and Muslims still were not satisfied, they wanted more, the same way crack addicts who know that every hit can be their death blow, wanted more. Nevermind the fact that it makes Trump look awful right out the gate, and brings attention to a lot of things he did not need paid attention to, be it Russia, China, North Korea, Germany you name it. So yes we have every right to celebrate the fact that Trump has egg on his face. Heaven knows we needed a bit of sunshine.

So why am I about to play Cassandra,and warn of dangers to come? bear with me on this.

One: while the media is certainly enjoying yet another Trump provided feeding frenzy, do keep in mind that they are not our friends. They were willing to pillory Obama as he made the ACA, and despite what should be at least a partial vindication of Obama's work, Bill be the first to assist Trump as he plans to demonize and start that program. You will hear the mantra over and over again that Obama care was doomed from the start, and the fact that it will be just in time to try to influence the midterm elections is just a coincidence right? The media may be enjoying free food now, but they know that they can enjoy making us the free dinner in about a year, especially as their coverage of Trump has not evolved one iota,, and they also know it does not need to because the money is rolling in.

Two: in many ways, this is the return of the Coke brothers. Yes the misspelling is intentional, because they put out a lot of addictive money. remember that Trump actually ran to the left of the Coke brothers, something they are still mad about, and please remember this is the family religion is vindictive revenge. they will go ahead and appeal to everyone to the right, and sad to say the deplorables will gladly eat up whatever the Coke brothers serve, because long before Steve Bannon, they wrote the playbook on it. We can actually expect to see a tea party rise that makes the original tea party look like Bernie Sanders, especially as many neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, gun nuts, and every son of Aaron Burr knows that Trump invited them into the party with open arms, and they will use their right to bear arms to threaten second amendment remedies. What's Trump going to do?, Send the feds after a bunch of skinheads?


Three: good old Steve Bannon. Supposedly he has already made a hit list of those who need to be punished for embarrassing Trump. You know he is going to fight even dirtier than he typically does, because he knows that if Trump goes he goes. Pence isn't going to keep him, and you know Paul Ryan won't. And that makes a wonderful laid up to:

Four: Paul Ryan. At this point, he can go ahead and blame Trump and continue his quest to steal the presidency. All he would need to do is join John McCain in the "Trump is a Russian spy " banter and he has a way of not only getting rid of Trump, but of compromising Pence. You can hear it in the smoke-filled rooms now "Mike, if you were to leave, it would give our party a chance to start a new, with a fresh young conservative leader like Paul Ryan."

My point is not to be a downer. My point is that the same problems we had before are not only still around, but now the GOP knows that we can make it bleed. They will step things up. The only thing that is ever been able to stop Trump from doing something bad is intense, consistent pressure. Until the day that any Democrat is inaugurated in January 2021, we cannot let up for a bit. Would sadly brings me to point number five, the worst point.

Five: Democrats. To be honest, I was really offended when Nancy Pelosi was doing a victory lap as if she had somehow managed to win. The Democrats are not putting nearly enough pressure on Trump. Granted, this could be a wonderful lesson on why no Democrats should cross party lines on anything. Yes the house Democrats stayed firm, but we know that Joe Manchin would've crossed the line, as would many have. If someone like Elizabeth Warren can actually vote yes to allow our not so favorite brain surgeon to become the head of HUD, we cannot count on any vote.. Let's also be honest, what we are really saying is that Democrats are very much used to crossing party lines and the pressure will be on them to do more of that. What we need to do is place pressure against them, something which we have been reluctant to do. I don't care if the people whipping them into a frenzy wind up being Obama, Clinton, Sanders, Michael Moore, insert liberal here; we need to make the Democrats actually hold a line, and if that means directly ripping off of the Mitch McConnell playbook, all I have to say is that our goal is to make Trump a one term president. Actually should go for more, our goal is to go ahead and make sure that Trump dies in prison. Lock him up locked him up locked him up!

[MFM008]

1. Whatever works

For us.
Just stall until November 2018.

[panader0]

2. "Donald was brought down by people who thought his plan was

actually not mean enough."
Amazing isn't it? Just astounding.

[Kimchijeon]

3. All very astute observations

We just have to keep the pressure on, and don't stop now. I hear ya! Lock him up!

[LeftInTX]

4. It was a sigh of relief that the AHCA was not passed

But I agree with you 100 percent. Attributing this as a "victory" isn't quite right. More like a stroke of luck because the GOP is so fractured.

[brush]

5. Agree except for the Ryan part. Ryan is a loser and empty suit.

He's been speaker for at least a year and an advocate for repealing the ACA for much longer. Why hasn't he at least had his staff working on a replacement all the time he's been championing repeal and replace?

He's just another white guy who's never held a job outside government and has been continually kicked upstairs off a false reputation as a policy wonk. Remember his famed Ryan budget that he pushed for years? That was another pos that the nunbers never added up as well.

He stood before the cameras, what was it, just last week, in an almost orgasmic state, holding up a copy of that crappy AHCA and gushing how this is what he had been dreaming about for years, that repealing and replacing the ACA was finally within reach.

The fact that the cobbled together pos bill was going to snatch health care from millions didn't bother his phony ass at all. All that was important was that a nearly trillion dollar tax cut to his rich clients was written into it.

He may be trying to maneuver to be president but what has he won at? Joe Biden kicked his ass in the VP debate and exposed him as a light weight. He put this bill forward and lost spectacularly. He's just not that smart. I would say not smart enough to be president but intelligence it's now apparent that intelligence is not a job requirement for that office anymore.