The Democrats are planning to stage a horror show at the presidential address to a joint session of Congress. They openly speak of; floor demonstrations complete with shaken fists, signs, illegal immigrants in the gallery, tearful foreign travelers to the US meditating on their inconveniences. It will be entertaining.
One must ask why Trump is doing this speech at all. There is not a requirement in law or custom for this.
IMO he seeks the confrontation in the belief that the Democrats will look foolish and disrespectful to his office. There is also the possibility that he fears republican support for him is declining in Congress. He needs that support to pass important legislation like the corporate income tax reduction. A Democratic "riot" in the capitol might be helpful in rallying Republican support.
IMO his main interest is in staging a scene that will focus middle America on a need perceived by him and Bannon for a cultural revolution in the country. That might work. pl
The Democrats are following the lead of the British Labour party - making themselves increasingly irrelevant.
Posted by: TV | 25 February 2017 at 05:25 PM
Maybe Trump can limit robotics in manufacturing and increase the price of Chinese goods at Walmart. That should help re establish US hand made goods sector.
Posted by: LeeG | 25 February 2017 at 05:29 PM
mishkilji
You would approve of that? I thought the last one should have been censured by Congress. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 25 February 2017 at 05:50 PM
What ya gonna do with this guy Tyler? "(CNN)New national security adviser H.R. McMaster is already setting a strikingly different tone than his ousted predecessor, Michael Flynn, and President Donald Trump, saying the term "radical Islamic terrorism" isn't helpful for US goals.
At an all-hands meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said jihadist terrorists aren't true to their religion and that the use of the term "radical Islamic terrorism" doesn't help the US in working with allies to defeat terrorist groups, an official present at the session confirmed to CNN.
McMaster also spoke in starkly different terms about Russia, saying the talk about Moscow being a friend of Washington is over, the source said."
Posted by: raven | 25 February 2017 at 06:05 PM
I refuse to give any money to the DNC. I will support local/state candidates and causes but nada to the DNC.
Posted by: Nancy K | 25 February 2017 at 06:17 PM
Colonel,
Donald Trump will do the presidential address now that it has been announced. He won’t back down. It will be pure theater like his press conference.
I was in the First Cold War and Steve Bannon reminds me of those charismatic provocateurs in the 1960s. I was there. This is not right verses left. It is Nationalists verses Globalists. The ruling oligarchs don’t give a damn for the little people left or right. They are fighting over who controls the federal government. I have never seen anything like this before. Faux-Liberals are labeling the Trump Administrations as “a Russian puppet government”. This is insane hysteria. WWIII will kill everybody in the Northern Hemisphere.
The weird thing about the alt.right’s xenophobia and deconstruction is that getting rid of federal laws and regulations is a fast track return to the 1846 Wild West and the inevitable Calexit. Americans, once again, will not be sure that the food is pure, medicines effective, water safe to drink or if the air is fit to breath. Those living in mid-America’s No Man’s Land will again have to contend with Bushwackers.
Posted by: VietnamVet | 25 February 2017 at 06:24 PM
Censure? Yes, I agree, but it didn't happen.
We both come from a background where policing one's ranks is an imperative--and the GOP failed miserably in this regard. In fact, the jerk became a hero to some.
So would I approve of a silent protest sign if President Trump crossed a moral redline in the course of this speech?
Yes, but it would have to be a reprehensible utterance.
Now ask yourself two things: do think that is in the realm of possibility? (I do).
What course would you suggest if he did?
Posted by: Mishkilji | 25 February 2017 at 06:53 PM
Just curious, why don't Democrats feel lied to by the MSM? Was not the Coronation stated to be a "sure thing".
Posted by: BillWade | 25 February 2017 at 07:27 PM
"Slightly eroding support" may have been an insensitive, a result of reading too many tea leaves. It might have been better to say "There is also the possibility that he fears republican support for him is declining in Congress. He needs that support to pass important legislation like the corporate income tax reduction. A Democratic "riot" in the capitol might be helpful in rallying Republican support", except that was said in the original posting. Bannon's point about "wrestling for the gun" seems apropos.
Posted by: Dabbler | 25 February 2017 at 07:53 PM
mishkilji
An affront to the president is never justified. If they know in advance that they will object to his speech they should not attend. If they do they should be silent. Yes. I remember that I am a retired offifer. I would never offer a rebuke to the CInC even if I felt compelled to disobey an order. Apparently you do not feel the same way. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 25 February 2017 at 09:03 PM
raven
Perhaps this is public diplomacy aimed at the gathering lynch mob and the Congress. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 25 February 2017 at 09:09 PM
True - but jobs is the one thing Trump cannot deliver. They are gone because of structural and technological issues that no President can touch, I'm afraid.
Posted by: PeterHug | 25 February 2017 at 09:16 PM
Peter Hug
But you are not willing to give him a chance, are you? pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 25 February 2017 at 09:25 PM
Raven,
"...the [highly mysterious un-named never to actually materialize if it ever even existed] source said" in other words, FAKE NEWS.
Posted by: Eric Newhill | 25 February 2017 at 09:42 PM
23 years ago I questioned one of my colleagues - a 50 something man with a Ph.D. in Mathematics who hailed from Georgia - along similar lines as you have stated above.
His reply:
"It is our country and we can destroy it if we want to."
There really is no answer to the man who still lives in kinder-garten, is there?
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 25 February 2017 at 11:07 PM
Dabbler,
That was actually my point (me!) in regards to "wrestling for the gun", in that Bannon recognizes that we are on the edge here and there is no backing down.
Unless of course, you are insinuating that I am Steve Bannon, to which I can only state that I am far prettier. Regardless...
He doesn't need Republican support to "pass a corporate tax income" - this is where your bias keeps on showing. He needs Cuckservative support to do something like reform the dumpster fire that is Obamacare, enforce the statutes of the INA to the hilt, and keep Juan McAmnesty and Lindsay "The Lisp" Graham from brinksmanship with Russia in order to avoid a nuclear exchange over the Ukraine or Syria.
Posted by: Tyler | 26 February 2017 at 01:34 AM
raven,
What are we gonna do with this guy, raven? Running in here quoting pieces that quote unnamed sources. I took blindly accept everything that confirms all my long held biases.
lmbo what's the going rate for a CTR shill nowadays? Whatever it is, they paying you too much.
Posted by: Tyler | 26 February 2017 at 01:36 AM
VV,
Good gosh, talk about projection.txt.
Bannon is diametrically opposed to the actual neocons who want to start WWIII, and you're talking about "insane hysteria" because Bannon wants to deconstruct the unelected mandarin state?
Yeah bro, there's hysteria but it's not coming from him.
Posted by: Tyler | 26 February 2017 at 01:38 AM
Sir,
Or, raven is just a (poorly) paid shill here to push the silliest fake news to distract from the dumpster fire that is the Left right now.
Posted by: Tyler | 26 February 2017 at 01:41 AM
Bill,
Because they really, really, REALLY believe that the Russians stole the election by hacking the voting machines.
Posted by: Tyler | 26 February 2017 at 01:47 AM
Peter:
- He won't make it to December
- He won't make it to Iowa
- He won't make it to Super Tuesday
- He won't beat Jeb!
- He won't beat Rubio.
- He won't beat Ted Cruz.
- He won't win the primary.
- He won't be nominated by the party.
- He won't last the summer.
- He won't come back from Access Hollywood.
- He won't win the debates.
- He won't win Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida, and Wisconsin.
- He won't be nominated by the electoral college.
- He won't be inaugurated.
- He won't block terrorists.
- He won't deport illegals.
- He won't order the wall built.
- He won't bring back manufacturing jobs.
******YOU ARE HERE**********
- He won't make peace with Russia.
- He won't build the wall.
- He won't defeat IS.
- He won't put colonies on the Moon.
- He won't put colonies on Mars.
Posted by: Tyler | 26 February 2017 at 01:51 AM
"He doesn't need Republican support to "pass a corporate tax income" - this is where your bias keeps on showing." - You're pulling the trigger beforeyou distinguish the target. The bit about Trump needing Republican support to pass a corporate income tax reduction was a direct quote from Col. Lang's original post in this thread.
On the other hand, if "wresting for the gun" is your phrase rather than Bannon's, good job, bro. As for my bias, this whole thing is much more interesting (and entertaining) than any politics since I was a kid. I'm just watching...
Posted by: Dabbler | 26 February 2017 at 03:35 AM
Amazing thing that "Good Ship" Clintitanic, for it was sunk by colliding with an ice cube.
Posted by: David | 26 February 2017 at 04:24 AM
Yep, silly indeed and I'm rollin in dough from Soros.
"Retired Army Col. Peter Mansoor, who served with McMaster during the 2007 surge in Iraq, told Fox News, before McMaster's meeting, that the general "absolutely does not view Islam as the enemy. He also believes McMaster will "present a degree of pushback against the theories being propounded in the White House that this is a clash of civilizations and needs to be treated as such."
Posted by: raven | 26 February 2017 at 06:49 AM
A more cursory check on the topic debated here suggests to me that this is launched by a limited group of democrats that may slightly hyperventilate. Notice in spite of the use of this term no harm meant.
Vaguely this reminds me of Harper's recent contribution. Trying to give their voters the impression: we'll stand up for you? But also somewhat misuse them in the process?
Thus, is there really enough fodder to base grand theories on?
Posted by: LeaNder | 26 February 2017 at 07:23 AM