Lieu to Trump on spending bill: You got rolled

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Hill

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.) taunted President Trump on Twitter Friday evening after the president signed a massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill. Trump threatened to veto the bill before ultimately signing it, decrying the bill's lack of funding for his border wall proposal.

Lieu mocked Trump on Friday after the bill's signing, saying that Trump was "rolled" by Republican leaders in Congress who failed to secure a deal with Democrats over border wall funding or a legislative fix for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients.

"Dear @realDonaldTrump: You wimped out. You failed to deliver on your veto threat. Now we in Congress will believe you even less," Lieu tweeted.

"The Republican controlled Congress just rolled you. And they will roll you again. Because when the moment of truth came, you showed great weakness," the California lawmaker added.

-snip-

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/380047-lieu-to-trump-on-spending-bill-you-got-rolled

---

Link to tweet

[quartz007]

1. Lieu is correct on all counts.

[Honeycombe8]

2. I don't think that was a wise tweet. nt

[Owl]

5. I agree.

[babylonsister]

6. I'm not crazy about it either. nt

[Wednesdays]

25. Well, if it causes tRump to come unhinged,

[onetexan]

33. agree

[jaysunb]

7. Me either. n/t

[John Fante]

9. Why?

[Honeycombe8]

13. Hard to explain. But I'll try.

I have a gut reaction to it, that it's not the wise thing to do. Something about poking a sleeping tiger with a stick. Let him sleep.

He's been possibly snookered by his own party. It should not be the Dems that awaken him to what's happened. He might lash out at the Dems, instead of his own party, which is where his anger should go. He is the sort who might react simply at being taunted, rather than the bill. Trump's a bully. He will want to protect his status as chief bully. We've all seen it. And I don't mean calling people names.

Trump will hear about the unhappiness of the Republican voters and the far-righters soon enough. He won't be sure at first that he's been snookered. But when he catches on, his anger will be directed somewhere. (Although, he knows there's a lot in the bill that will anger people; he said so.)

Not that we fear the wrath of Khan. But ideally, we want the Repubs to fight each other. Not us. We should stay out of political plays between the Repubs, which is what this bill may have been, at least in part.

The Dems got some good stuff in that bill. We want to lie low right now...let the Freedom Caucus and the extremists and the deficit hawks fight it out and call each other names. If the Dems involve themselves, then they may join forces to vent their anger at the Dems. Not what we want.

Just my gut reaction. We got some good stuff in that bill. Lie low & prepare some ads about it for the mid-terms.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

20. Lieu points to Repubs

Lieu points to the "Republican controlled Congress". TrumPutin will lash out at them -- they tricked him, they failed to protect him and do his bidding. Look at how he has treated people he appointed; he attacks when he feels they fail to be loyal enough. That seed is now planted.

[Honeycombe8]

22. Trumpers already thought that. They didn't need a DEM pointing it out.

That just focuses attention and anger at the Dem.

When you attack the chief, the troops circle the wagon to protect him.

Best to stay out of it, except to say the bill is good for the country and the people in many ways. And then smile.

That's what Schumer did. Trumpers know what that means. If a Dem likes it, it's terrible.

Look at Breitbart and read the comments. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/23/donald-trump-signs-bloated-1-3-trillion-omnibus-bill-military-funding/

You’ll also be glad to know that Congress gave themselves a great big fat raise in the Omnivorous Spending Bill.

Right, I got 3% raise this year, and a little tax break.

Oh he is right, his presidency just came to a screeching halt, he can GFH!!! All done with the Trump train, just got run over by it!!

DUMP TRUMP!

and

Trump really let us down today. With all due respect to the military, people were not shouting "Build the Military" at his rally's, they were shouting "BUILD THE WALL". Swamp dwellers McConnell and Ryan finally did it. They figured out how to split Trump's base and bring him down.

Go ahead. Impeach Trump. I don't care anymore. Just primary any Republican who voted for this.

and

He will get the votes that he was mostly going to get anyway from the military but how many votes did he just lose. He will damn sure know what a deficit is come 2020 when he has one concerning the votes he gets.
Wall - let us down
Immigration - let us down
Healthcare - let us down (Still a huge frigging mess)
Spending - let us down
Me in 2020 - Will let him down (Your Fired)

and

The democrats thank you for your support...

and on and on. Those are far-righters. They're hopping mad and ready to turn on him. Dems do NOT need to get in the middle of that fight and turn the anger onto the Dems. The anger is directed right where it should be.

[LovingA2andMI]

11. Agree...

The Last Major Piece of Budgetary Legislation was Signed (By Force This Year) and It Favors Most of What The Democrats Wanted. Push That Victory To Inspire Voters For The Mid-Term. No Trolling of Drump, Necessary.

[sharedvalues]

12. It was smart. Best way to defeat an autocrat? Point out their weakness

The autocrats’ supporters think the autocrat is strong and relish it when he damages the country and institutions.

But showing the autocrat is weak, that he’s not wealthy as he claims, that he is a loser and a fool — THAT is how you peel off supporters.

Lieu’s tweet is excellent public relations and a heavy blow that cuts the president to the core.

[Honeycombe8]

14. You need to get around more. The far-righters are already very upset with him. WE don't want...

the anger directed at us. The Repubs fooled him. Not us. It's THEIR fight. We want them to fight each other, not blame us for anything.

We just take our spoils....and do ads for the mid-terms, praising the gains we got in the bill and/or how we prevented the harm that was about to be done.

Trump is asleep. WE don't poke him. He'll be poked soon enough, by his own kind.

[sharedvalues]

16. No. Lieus comment is highly effective.

That’s the way to get at an autocrat: call him weak.

Lieu did EXACTLY the right thing.

30% of Americans are brainwashed by right wing propaganda to support the president. If we can get that to 25% impeachment will begin. The best way to reach those people is to call him a weak loser who got rolled in something he claims to be an expert in. Trust me. I do PR and communication. This was effective.

[Honeycombe8]

18. No. You're wrong, IMO. We don't need to get involved in taunting someone that someone else fooled

him. The fight is between them.

It's enough, and more effective, and would get to Trump and Trumpers MORE if we smile and say that this bill could have been very bad, but we were able to make some changes, get some amendments in, so there are parts of the bill that are very good for the country and for the people. Then smile.

Trumpers would go ape over that. They KNOW it's bad, if Dems like it.

Trust me. I've been a political junkie since Jimmy Carter. I've seen the best politicians. The best ones don't taunt. They smile and point out what's good for US. (By definition, in a Trumper's mind, what's good for Dems is bad.)

But they're already over the internet, slamming the bill. Some are saying Trump betrayed him or her We don't need to interfere with their anger at their icon. We don't want that anger directed at US for taunting.

It's like kids. If you taunt, the person you taunt will try hard to make the bill seem better than it is. To prove the taunter wrong. Taunting serves no purpose....at this time. That's just my take on it.

[sharedvalues]

27. "Making him look like a loser is CRUCIAL".

Read this from Kasparov:

https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/2/11/14577834/garry-kasparov-putin-trump

A top Putin critic on how to oppose Trump: “making him look like a loser is crucial”

The courts are important, but things won’t really change unless enough Republicans start to see Trump as a liability to their fundraising and reelection chances. That could be quite soon if he can’t fulfill his many campaign promises. Making him look like a loser is crucial. Either the GOP will turn on him or he will be chastened and more likely to compromise. If a demagogue succeeds in claiming credit for wins and scapegoating his enemies for losses, he’s very hard to stop.

I'm in communications. I know how to run PR campaigns. I know the presidents' weakness. It's not that he's attacking democracy or institutions (his base doesn't care). His base DOES care that he is strong.

That's why making him look like a loser is crucial. Lieu is smart. He's right on.

[7wo7rees]

31. You convinced me...

[Chemisse]

32. I agree. There are few things that will upset the base about Trump.

But seeing him as weak could start the erosion process. Especially when the weakness allows for out-of-control spending.

[Maeve]

34. I hope you are right

I've never liked the game of "Let's you and him fight"--it's a mean kid's trick. But playing nice doesn't work with someone like tRump, so...I prefer Schumer's approach by nature. Which is why I never went into PR.

[sharedvalues]

35. Yes, progressives and conservatives have different values

And different ways of thinking.

Progressives like to learn, they like diversity, they hate violence, and they like ideas and intellectualism. They want ideas to win, not merely power and strength. But Conservatives like to be told what to do. They like strength and dominance.


That’s why it’s so important to show the president is a loser. People like me and you hate it and think it is infantile. But it works with the GOP base. (Lakoff has written a lot about this).


Ps that’s the same reason why Joe Biden’s fight challenge also plays well with the GOP base, and not with progressives. Biden is smart. He knows how to go after a GOP autocrat.

[Pachamama]

3. Rolled and Trolled....

[FSogol]

4. Trumpy just wanted to scurry back to Mar a Lago for Big Macs and golf. n/t

[babylonsister]

8. That is so sadly possible. nt

[sharedvalues]

10. Showed great weakness. President is a coward and a fool.

[Tatiana]

15. This tweet is either brilliant or dangerous.

I'm not quite sure which, yet.

[sharedvalues]

17. Brilliant. Call the president a weak loser and fool.

That’s his kryptonite with his supporters. They believe he is amazing and strong and love it when he trolls Democrats and those who care about Democrats.


If you can expose him as the weak loser he truly is, that will destroy his base.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. tag team him

I've been wishing since the election that Dems everywhere would tag-team that thing with ridicule on twitter, fakebook, the news, anywhere the message might get to him.

Wish Franken was still there. Warren, Duckworth and Franken could expose twitler's dementia in a week of round-robin trolling.

The more he is occupied responding, the less time he has for doing real harm.

[sharedvalues]

28. Yess!!! Ridicule is absolutely key. It's his kryptonite.

His base respects people who are strong and wealthy. In actuality he is weak and has done nothing but destroy businesses and the wealth he inherited.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. The Trumpanzees are livid about the spending bill several ways & split on Bolton. . nt

[truthisfreedom]

19. Pretty fucking funny if you ask me.

Burn. Who gives a flying fuck what his base thinks.

They’ll always hate us. We might as well point out that he’s a fucking buffoon. They should be reminded of it all the time.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Trump doesn't know how to negotiate with powerful entities. He only knows duping gullible suckers.nt

[sharedvalues]

30. I love that quote, right on

I saw it first from Frum:

Link to tweet

[NoMoreRepugs]

26. Don't poke the Tiger.... let Rethugs do it.... c'mon people..

U want to win a street fight or talk about Queensberry Rules? Call the douchebag out and let's throw down.

[sharedvalues]

29. Why Lieu's "loser" "rolled" "great weakness" comments are REALLY SMART

Read Lakoff on the psychology of the president and his supporters.

https://georgelakoff.com/2016/07/23/understanding-trump-2/

Weakness is kryptonite for autocratic leaders. That's why Putin cultivates a bully personality and highlights his athletic prowess - to seem strong.

Check this review of Masha Gessen's book on Putin:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/26/vladimir-putin-masha-gessen-review

The other word, zhulik, usually translated as "crook", is quite different: the zhulik is mean, treacherous, a cheat, a sneaky hooligan, a small-time rip-off merchant of primitive appetites without loyalties or wisdom. Nobody, not even a vor proud of his vorness, wants to be called a zhulik. As Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi, Silvio Berlusconi and many others have found, the perceptive transition can be sudden and politically fatal. The man on the Volgograd trolleybus might support a tough, patriotic vor long after the liberals of Moscow had marched against him, but not a shifty, swindling zhulik only out for himself.

The autocrat wants to portray themselves as powerful and strong and their supporters love it. That's why showing what a weak loser the president is is so important. He has done exactly ZERO deals while in office. He keeps getting rolled by Dems and GOP alike. He's a corrupt loser.