Trump just threatened Republican senators at a very awkward meeting at the White House

[deminks]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/trump-demands-gop-senators-keep-their-promise-to-repeal-obamacare/

(snip)

At one point during Wednesday’s meeting, Trump gestured to Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who was sitting next to him, and said, “Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn’t he?” Heller is considered one of the most vulnerable senators up for reelection in 2018. After initially rejecting a version of the GOP health care bill, Heller has not committed to voting a particular way on proposals this week.

(end snip)

Link to tweet

[Leghorn21]

1. Mobsters gonna mob, eh - Holy crap, how long will non-complicit repugs put up with this shit?! nt

[dem4decades]

5. "Nice Senate seat you have there.....I wouldn't want to see anything happen to it" kind of mobster?

[Leghorn21]

13. Perzaclly, dem. Will any of them ever get tired of being manhandled like this?! Oy!! nt

[dem4decades]

16. He may get to 25 %, the rest are in for the duration.

[asiliveandbreathe]

2. Why speak in third person, Heller is sitting right next to him -

HE? Oh, nether mind.....

[riversedge]

3. It is bullying!! Shameful of a President!

[MineralMan]

4. This strategy by Trump just might backfire on him.

He may be the President, but he's new at this. A lot of those Senators have been in office for a long, long time, and are not easily threatened. His bluster is probably not going to impress everyone he's talking to.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. You know, not that I actually *desire* Mike Pence to be President, but....

....what's stopping Republicans in Congress from saying to themselves, "You know we can do our same little dog and pony show with Mike Pence as President and avoid all this unnecessary drama, right?"

Seriously, why are Republicans still sticking with this guy?

[ProfessorGAC]

7. The Distractions?

Look what they tried to sneak into the AHCA! While it is providing 24/7 cover, they can sneak around and try to push their Randian nonsense.

Seems like, at the very least, a logical reason.

[tblue37]

25. Fear of Trump's cult--they are the GOP base, and they vote--combined with, probably,

being themselves compromised by laundered Russian money and/or other things that Putin has on them.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Maybe, But The Cult is 22%

These political professionals can't really be worried about 2 of 9 voters

[Volaris]

28. They can when all the districts are as gerrymandered as they are..

They went out of their way to make damned sure the rational voices of dirty liberals wouldn't outweigh the screams and delusions and WILL of the Crazies (and that goes for statewide races in a lot of Red places as well).

RE chicken tethering, this is a case of the dog swallowed the rope. Oh well. fuck em then=)

[Whiskeytide]

9. What the Professor said above (his drama is good cover), and...

... he can hurt them. His 35% will do whatever he says. And his 35% is about 60% of the R base.

"Don't vote for "Sen. Doesnthavemyback. He's a loser. Low energy. Sad";

They are expecting tough election fights in 2018. If Trump disses them to his zombies, they're toast. And they know it.

[OnDoutside]

20. 100% right.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Thanks, But Actually I Don't Think...

...they fear him or his base
I don't agree with your numbers (I think it's far lower), but really the R's in Congress are cynical jerks who put their dumbass high school sophomore philosophy above reality and other people
They don't fear his base of morons! They can execute their idiotic philosophical agenda under cover because IT is creating smoke and fog so nobody actually sees what they're up to
Perhaps you misinterpreted my post. While I appreciate the back up, it's not really what I meant

[Whiskeytide]

31. I think I did get the meaning of your post ...

... that Trump's idiocy is a distraction that covers their efforts to dismantle our democracy piece by piece. I've said that before, and I think we can agree on it being true - whether they are actually employing it as a strategy or simply benefitting from it incidentally. My suppositions about their fear of his influence was an "in addition to" your point.

My 35% comes from the latest polls. I think anyone who is STILL willing to tell a pollster that they support Trump is pretty hard core, and is not going to easily abandon him at this point.

I did simply guesstimate that 35% of those polled equates to about 60% of the base - but I think that's reasonable - or at least in the ballpark. But I'm not married to my numbers. You said above that the cult is 22%. I'll accept that too.

Where we may differ, however, is whether that scares members of the R cabal. I think it does.

Their allegiance to him is truly akin to worship. Like - as you said - a cult. If R congress members participated in any effort to remove their hero, they would certainly hold that against each of them. If he also tweeted his instructions to abandon these traitorous, "not loyal republicans", they would do it in lockstep.

And 22% is huge in a mid term. Dems will be motivated (although I would agree that removing Trump would lower our participation level too), and having even 5% of the R base stay home would be fatal in many districts. That's a lot of unpredictability to deal with. They'd rather swallow their pride.

But we're good, and mostly on the same page. And I will stlll have your back even if we don't agree on all of the details.

[irisblue]

8. I almostfeel sorry for Tim Scott(SC) on the other side.

[Thedemby]

10. Old movies

I think I saw this before. Is trump walking around behind them with a baseball bat?

[Brother Buzz]

17. Old movies? Think strawberries and ball bearings

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

11. This is nothing but fox news Viagra

Tonight they will blow this as if trump laid down the law.

[Shell_Seas]

12. It just dawned on me....

Russia is in out elections, our poll booths, our voting rolls.

Trump will not stop them.

He has some shammy voter fraud commission hell bent on voter suppression.

The top cyber security person at the State Department just left.

What if Trump actually can determine who will be in their position through hacking via Russia, through the voter fraud commission, etc?

What if it is already too late?

What if the Republicans already know this?

[Lyricalinklines]

24. Exactly!

Worth consideration when viewing the entirety of scope of investigation.

[fishwax]

14. of course he wants to remain a senator. That's why he's waffling on repealing Obamacare

Duh

[Bradical79]

21. Exactly!

He knows what the polls say.

[Initech]

15. To extrapolate, he's solidifying his bid for impeachment.

Keep digging that hole, Donnie!

[NCjack]

18. I never feel sorry for Repugs. If he wants to be reelected in 2018, he should flip to DEM,

stand against Trump with the DEMs, and run as a DEM.

[OnDoutside]

22. This is the inevitable result of pinning themselves into a corner OF THEIR OWN MAKING, no one

else should be sorry for them, except themselves.

[Grammy23]

19. I am wondering how much arm twisting and humiliation

these guys will allow tRump to do before they give him a big FU. This show today was so trumpeter can show off, be the big man and bully the senators into passing something---anything. He wants a win. He does not care who gets hurt, who suffers. This is about making him feel good. But many of those people in Congress have been there a lot longer than tRump has been involved in politics. They are not going to let him run over them without consequences. Will they?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Apparently White House has been interviewing/recruiting primary opponents against Heller. . . nt

[UTUSN]

29. Saddam, anyone?!1

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. I'm going to get vewy vewy mad - Donald J Drumpf