Excellent reporting.
This is where we see Mitch reveal his true evil colors. He has handed the donald just enough rope to hang himself. It's no coincidence that a Republican challenger has declared his intention to run on the same day. Watch as McConnell hands trump an anchor as he sinks.
Howard Schultz and Mike Bloomberg should dedicate $50 million to take McConnell out!
If each of these billionaires are truly patriotic and against Trump and his ignorant racist followers they should dedicate $1 billion to winning Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida for the Democratic candidates in 2020.
Then a real focus on health care, climate change, and common sense gun regulation (well regulated militia) can become law along with a fair and appropriate tax code for the middle class that the wealthiest Americans citizens and business pay their share.
“Sentimental as a scythe”, brilliant, describes McConnell’s appearance as well as his mind-set. Didn’t think the prosaic NYT reporters had such a turn of phrase in them.
We have seen that movie before. How this hole thing started? Candidate Trump promising a free wall for which Mexico will pay. This is not the first time that the Republicans promise free stuff to the American people. In 2003 President GW Bush decided to invade Irak. Of course war like wall cost money. So how the war will be financed? Because remember the Republicans were cutting taxes which of course means less income. Well one of the answer provided at the time was that the income from the oil production in Irak would pay for it. In other words Irak would pay for the war. Well, we know how the story ended, the American taxpayers paid for it. So in 2019, the American taxpayers will pay for the wall. After all, as the conservatives say so well, nothing is free.
It's hard to believe the Congress is full of smart people who can't "fake it". I thought that what's politics was about. A month ago I advocated for allocating the money to the Army Corps of Engineers, where the project will take a very long time to come into fruition, and where actual analysis of the environmental and economic impacts (both extremely negative) will be performed and documented, thereby quietly killing the project while giving Trump his "victory". Now, our on-going Constitutional crisis has come to head. Good thing Justice Ginsburg is back on the job.
Mitch McConnell didn't HAVE to accept anything from Trump. So what if Trump vetoes the funding bill...McConnell has the ability to rally his caucus to override the veto, with Democrats supporting him the entire way. He has failed as a leader of the Senate and should step back into the shadows from whence he slithered out.
McConnell makes another deal with the devil. It appears Governor Newsom of California has said it best: republicans are quickly relegating themselves to third party status. Indeed, all that is left of the party now are Trump acolytes who are about as far out of the mainstream as we've ever seen. They've become the party of governing by circus sideshows.
Each day these past two-plus years, I would think that things couldn't get any worse. We are at the nadir of this complete debacle of a presidency. Then I read the news and am, once again, disheartened by this new reality. The buffoon-in-chief just keeps going lower and lower, doing and saying things that are more and more stupid and cavalier.
As a former NYer, I grew up reading about this bloated man-baby who cheated people who did work for him, and blundered his way through building and bankruptcies. There's a good reason that most people in NYC can't stand him.
I wish I had the resources to leave this country until sanity returns to our federal government.
3
McConnell had 2 options, to avoid another disastrous shutdown. He could act like a Senate leader and marshal his party to uphold the authority of the legislature by assembling a veto-proof majority for this compromise spending bill, thus offering Trump an important real-world lesson on the Constitution and separation of powers, or he could cave to Trump’s irrationality and promise to support this inane emergency declaration that even McConnell had previously stated was a horrible idea. One of these options would have shown leadership, but of course McConnell picked the other. Not that this was a surprise - McConnell permitted and prolonged the first shutdown with his statement that he would not bring any legislation that the president would veto to the Senate for a vote at all, thus signaling his complete lack of a spine for the world to see.
4
The media and public are not giving enough attention to the part Mitch has played in allowing Congress to become the puppets and lapdogs of Trump and through him, Putin.
It really is a time for a Constitutional Amendment to term limit Senate and House seats.
I suggest 8 years for each body, with a mandatory minimum of years OUT of power equal to the number of years in office. So a Rep with 8 years in their seat would have to be out of office for 8 more years before they were eligible to run for the Senate.
The same formula should apply to running for President by incumbents in the House or Senate.
I would also change the Constitution to prevent Politicians from getting "retirement" from the job and in the case of government shut downs, they would have their salaries PERMANENTLY cut by 1% for every day they keep us shut down and be barred from recovering that money.
Trump feels cornered and has one of his 'tantrums' - McConnell is called to pamper, persuade and smooth the feathers of this rogue President in order to save the Nation from a financial lock down, which is unique - only in the USA. McConnell continues to abide, therefore approving, Trump. Trump is circumventing the Rule of Law, (the Constitution) to achieve his wild idea of a dangerous invasion at our southern border. What would he'd have done on 9/11? or the 7th of December when the country was attacked without warning? However, Pres. Roosevelt was forewarned by more than one of his military generals, did nothing, not even put Pearl Harbor on red alert - why - he was being courted by an expert - Winston Churchill and that resulted in US fighting 2 wars simultaneously. We the People and Mr. McConnel are being courted by an expert con artist. Where will that courtship lead us?? A revolution - from all sides - 'the poor and down trodden' citizens; all persons who are not white skinned; all those who believe in honest government (definition - free of foreign national interference (#1. Israel's powerful lobby & highly suspected #2. Russia) That should put Trump in a rage - running for cover to the nearest sewer.
I guess this is what happens, Senate Majority Leader, when you choose party over country again and again...congratulations, your legacy is this President.
2
The majority of the American people couldn't care less if Donald Trump flies into a rage because the man- child in chief has another temper tantrum about being overridden by Congress . This is a pathetic display of leadership and it's an embarrassment of major proportions .
If Donald Trump wants a kind word written about him in the New York Times or the Washington Post, maybe the papers should attempt to do just that on the condition that he stops lying on a daily basis. Of course,this will never happen because the root of the problem is that Donald Trump cannot help himself - he doesn't know how not to lie. He doesn't know how to do anything else.
And incidentally , in case some of you are wondering, this is why many of us are seriously speaking about the 25th Amendment as a way to remove Donald Trump from office .
Reported this afternoon:
Aurora Shooting Updates: Multiple People Wounded, Killed in Illinois
GUNS are a national emergency.
Nancy Pelosi is 100 percent correct that the Democratic president elected in 2020 can use Trump's foolish and dangerous precedent to declare a state of emergency to seize guns.
2
A tragedy of unforced errors. Would you buy a used car from any of these corrupt incompetents? If so, you might be interested in a used wall.
The most apt description I've heard recently for Mitch McConnell is: "the gravedigger of democracy". There appear to be no limits to his undermining of the Constitution, of voters and of all accepted congressional and democratic norms in favor of raw power for himself and his tribe.
4
written by Lewis Carroll....
McConnell is Trump's accessory after the fact, enabling contra-constitutional actions by tin-pot Trump.
He should be impeached now, and should have been for stalling the nomination of Merrick Garland under Obama. He is violating his own oath of office to protect and defend the constitution....
1
If they are paying attention, and that's not something we should assume, then Americans have learned almost nothing about Trump, perhaps a bit about constitutional separation of powers, and a lot about Mitch McConnell's fundamental amorality. He will give away anything when politically expedient. More and more he reminds me of Kent Brockman, always poised to welcome our new Insect Overlords.
2
I am not a fan of McConnell, but let's understand what is happening here. Trump is focused on Trump - period. He is pushing around McConnell because he simply threatens to further distroy the Republican party. Does anyone doubt that he cares about nothing but himself? It is bad luck for the R's that he ran as an R and not a D. The R's chose Trump so they get to bear the consequences.
1
def: farce /färs/ noun - "a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations."
I'm tired, and I think we may all be. this is a farce not just in McConnell probably not being able to ensure backing the "emergency" but the law itself. any member of Congress can start to question it and then both chambers must review it. there is a question if Congress has to automatically deal with it after it's declared. BUT Congress is supposed to review all national emergencies every 6 months - it has NEVER done that. also, the president has to re-authorize each emergency yearly. oh, he has to report every 6 months on each emergency, its funding, and its continued need. again, not enough data if that has ever happened, and not just with Trump!
the point of the law is to immediately move on an emergency until Congress can act on it. in this case, Congress has already acted. it said NO!
the second point of the law is for Congress to monitor emergencies on a scheduled basis. as noted above Congress has NEVER done its 6 month requirement, neither has the WH.
there is so much "farce" in all of this when you see it keeps going round and round and round. the fear is it will continue unabated. that makes me even more tired...
So much wasted time and energy caused by this president. Lies, misinformation, disinformation, one feels an exhaustion similar to the end of a birthday party for 20 sugar stoked kindergarteners. The only thing this presidency is good for is the publishing business.
To me this is all surreal. People are starving in Venezuela. The issues of most import are. A wall for the White House. Green New Deal for AOC. For Ms Omar, Benjaminic malfeasance. All are suffering with various shades of foot in mouth disease. From the far left to the far right, digression in the face of knowing the right thing to do.
Why are Democrats so upset about “wasteful” spending of $1.4 billion on a wall and couldn’t care less about hundreds of billions of wasteful spending on other government programs? It’s a very peculiar obsession.
When the history books are written about this extremely dark period of our country's history, the scales will weigh more heavily against Mitch McConnell than Donald Trump.
Trump has said incredibly heinous things -- about Mexicans, immigrants, poor countries, Muslims, you name it. But what matters more than his damaging words have been his damaging actions, and McConnell, who has tight control over his Republican caucus, could have reined Trump in (on the shutdown, on the Wall, etc.) (with the help of the House Republicans, who would have followed McConnell's lead). And then, if McConnell had a conscience, he could have done some real good (e.g., on climate change).
I am hoping as mightily as I can that McConnell's refusal to do the right thing time and time again will spell political suicide for the Republicans in 2020.
1
It’s not Congress who pays a price; it’s the GOP...
“Who cares? This is America — everybody sues everybody else", says the hermaphroditical Mitch McConnell to the perfidious charlatan-in-chief, in a final conversation between the 2 before coming to an agreement on how to avert another shutdown. Really, ladies and gentlemen, considering that they comprise 2/3 of our country's top leadership, is it any wonder that decent Americans have had just about enough of hearing the fantasy that this is a "united" country? I speak only for myself, surely, but all I know is that those 2 cretins and the rest of the GOP enablers don't represent me or my values on iota and haven't for years. I cannot say that I'm a "proud American" but I CAN, at least, call myself a "proud New Yorker" and no, Trump does NOT represent the values of New York State so don't even go there.
1
We’re missing a big part of this — Democrats tried to ensure contractors who lost a month’s pay during the shutdown would get the money they were due. Republicans pushed back and Democrats dropped it. We were never going to get the beds. We should have gotten these people paid. How many of us can afford to lose a month’s paycheck?
1
In response to the threat of lawsuits following the declaration of a national emergency, McConnell asks, "Who cares? This is America. Everybody sues everybody else." Well, Turtleman, Americans care. Since this "national emergency" was something tRump admits he didn't have to do, since this "nation emergency" was inspired by conservative media, as tRump also admitted, this whole garbage show needs to end today.
Media needs to get into McConnell's face and the gop senate and ask them how they like working for the shadow cabinet, faux new entertainment, instead of upholding their oaths to the Constitution and the will of the people. Do it. Would like to hear what their response is.
1
This is simply a sad commentary on the state of our democracy. We have a President who has no understanding of the Constitution with a questionable policy demand. We have a Majority Leader of the Senate who is willing to placate the President's dubious policy demands by accepting his attempt to subvert Congress' control of the purse strings with this "Emergency" declaration. I hope the Supreme Court has more backbone.
1
"[McConnell] also used the check-ins to collect intelligence about Mr. Trump’s mind-set."
I laughed out loud.
A wonderful background story.
I liked "sentimental as a scythe" to describe the Majority Leader. I am going to remember that.
As to this politics - a lot was floated as trial balloons towards reaching this deal.
To me, from point of our country - was the eally really bad trial balloon that this bill would include language that would permanently ban shutdowns. With language that absent a resolution - 99% of previous appropriation would be available for a set period etc.
That too me - was most dangerous.
It would have left Congress off the hook to come to the table with POTUS - without whose signature - the whole exercise is meaningless.
So, I really think - the system worked - as it is designed to.
Madame Speaker saw the writing in the wall - gave in over this nonsense of beds - and walked back her "not a dollar" for the "immoral" wall.
While premature - POTUS may have won this battle decisively - but the real prize is 2020.
Mitch McConnell and the Republicans were outraged when President Obama, funding the ACA without Congressional approval, did what exactly what President Trump has just done. They sued. They won as well they should have.
As President Trump has acted they are silent. Partisanship over principal.
The GOP rejected executive power when it was in Democratic hands. They embrace it when it is Republican hands.
The road to fascism is being paved by Mitch McConnell and his GOP minions -- and yes this means you Mitt Romney (of the Massachusetts model for the ACA).
If there is a credible challenger to Mitch McConnell that person will be able to raise Beto like cash.
It's a race we all need to follow. And contribute to.
1
In the “ya gotta love it” category. Mr. McConnell previously said he did not support trump declaring a national emergency to fund his wall, but yet completely folded when trump had a tantrum over the bipartisan appropriations bill and capitulated and then said he would support trump’s unconstitutional declaration. Mr. McConnell should seek out Speaker Pelosi who can coach him on how to locate and strengthen his spine.
1
There are real national emergencies out there and Republicans have been thwarting every possible means to address them for a very long time. I wonder if the Democrat that is elected President in 2020 will consider this new precedent gifted to the President by Republicans as a possible means to deal with real issues that need attention?
3
Mitch McConnell’s actions present the most compelling argument that I’ve ever seen for the total dissolution of the Senate.
Ours’ is a crisis of Constitution, not immigration.
5
I've said it here before so hope I'm allowed to say it again.
Mitch McConnell is the "Gravedigger of American Democracy".
(quoting Christopher Browning: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/10/25/suffocation-of-democracy/)
9
death of the Grand Old Party.
2
There actually is a national emergency in the United States: the national government is headed by a egotistical charlatan.
6
Mitch McConnell, at the cost of his own reputation, may have done the country a great service in preventing another government shut down. He has effectively protected us from the national psychopath by promising to support his foolish and easily challengeable declaration of a national emergency.
2
Mitch McConnell may be the single most pernicious man in America. His declared goal as majority leader? obstruct anything and everything proposed by the Obama White House, up to and including Merrick Garland. Prevent public dissemination of information demonstrating Russian interference in the election campaign aimed at ensuring Trump’s win. Declining time and time again to condemn Trump’s flagrant lies and misconduct - choosing to ride Trump’s fascist wave instead. Refusing to allow a vote on legislation to end the longest, most pointless government shutdown in history. Attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act with nothing — absolutely nothing — to offer as an alternative. Advocating passage of the most ill-timed, ill-conceived, destructive tax package since the Reagan era, which will exacerbate income and wealth equality and blow up the federal deficit for the next decade.
And now this... endorse a declaration of ‘national emergency’ that every sentient human alive knows to be a publicity stunt and a sham, selling out Congress and the Constitution in order to mollify an unhinged Republican in the White House, his cult-like followers, and right-wing radio hosts and television talking heads.
Not since Sen. Joseph McCarthy has a single member of Congress cut such a swath of destruction through America’s politics and so poisoned our public discourse. The very sight of the man — smug, shameless, matter of fact, the banality of evil personified — makes my skin crawl.
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"He's easy to get on the phone."-Mitch McConnell
Yeah, it's called Twitter.
3
For two years plus the GOP in both houses have been the enablers to the President. Yes, the Democrats were that in the 1930's. That was different. It REALLY was an emergency. McConnell is the leader of this group of enablers and with this statement of his is as anti-republic and authoritarian as POTUS. Trump and McConnell are as bad or worse than the most evil of our enemies.
5
Who can ever take him seriously next time he takes a "principled" stand??
3
I remember growing up in a community surrounded by Republican-voting adults. They were reasonable, responsible people who were compassionate and cared about our community. Today’s Republican party is anything but responsible. The party’s policy prescriptions defy description for their failure to solve problems for the American people in a way that the American people want them solved. Instead they focus on the needs of a wealthy and powerful minority, with solutions that are fiscally unsound, immoral, undemocratic, and in the case of the President’s wall, simply a stupid vanity project that has no merit. Bobby Jindal was right when he predicted Republicans were in danger of being viewed as the stupid party.
I will NEVER vote for another Republican as long as I live. Republicans got shown the door in 2018 but obviously failed to pay attention to the message. In 2020 they need a stronger message, to be shown the path to the wilderness and utterly banished from any significant role in public life until they come to their senses. Based on what I have seen in the last eighteen years, I don't know if they have the humility and capacity to learn that this will require. So be it.
9
McConnell will go down in history as one of the worst leaders of this country.
Someone needs to tell that big baby Trump that he can’t always have his way; that the government isn’t here for his whims.
Mitch passed the buck, didn’t want to challenge the infant, and here we are.
6
When will folks acknowledge that Mitch McConnell and his utter contempt for Constitutional norms makes him just as dangerous as Trump?
9
Mitchell stated a single aim after some presidential elections: to make the new President be a failure.
Unfortunately those were the terms of Obama, not Trump.
4
It takes two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 votes, to override a presidential veto. If McConnell truly believes that he cannot count on 19 Republicans to join 48 Democrats in forcing some semblance of rationality on president Trump to avoid a government shutdown while upholding Congress' prerogative to restrain national emergencies to bona fide cases, it is a sad commentary on the integrity of the Republican party.
The intellectual dotard and moral coward, Trump, tested the presumed master of negotiation and protocol, McConnell, to his limits and McConnell was found lacking. Finally, in some minute, contorted sense, Trump tenuously won something.
9
As long as our leaders can be can be so often and easily cowed by this President, we remain in peril. It would be so easy to neutralize Trump if he couldn't rely on Congress acquiescing to him at every turn yet their unwillingness to simply do their jobs emboldens Trump and strengthens his hand.
We need to seriously ask ourselves if these so-called leaders are acting solely out of fear of Trump the bully or whether there are other causes for this constant kowtowing, stemming from other forces and powers they may be beholden to.
5
Though it’s not clear that Trump cannot, as president, unilaterally declare a national emergency, he’ll have to be on solid factual grounds to be successful with this if the matter goes to court. Let’s hope for the integrity and rigor of the Court. Trump certainly has not revealed any such facts per se. But as the con man he is for the sake of being caesar-like, this and his redundant ... even silly ... demagogy shouldn’t be unexpected. From his perspective, further, it may we’ll be a no-lose situation to a degree for him, because even with losing in court he feeds, through heroism amounting to glamor (not beauty), his base which apparently wants in him an authoritative monarch. Unrelatedly, McConnell as a politician shows us what American politics has come to, in subverting the civil meaning of compromise to disgraceful appeasement. It’s amazing we have such weak people in Congress, particularly in leadership role.
Mitch McConnell would turn his children over to ISIS to get what he wants. The man's blood runs cold. No lie is beneath him; no devious path too unethical.
To encourage someone like Trump to pull an emergency declaration is unpatriotic and a dereliction of duty. As a Senator, McConnell has sworn to uphold the Constitution which gives the power of the purse to Congress. His legacy is locked in and negative.
6
Mr. McConnell, quickly shifting from opposing the declaration to managing its rollout, snapped back, “Who cares? …..
We, the taxpayers care!
We must find a way to hold self-interested and self-enriching Elected Politicians, government officials, their staffers and operatives from both parties personally and financially liable, responsible and accountable for the lies and half-truths they have told US, their gross mismanagement of our county, our $22 T and growing national debt (105% of GDP), and our $80 T in future, unfunded liabilities they forced on US jeopardizing our economic and national security, while benefiting themselves, their staffers, their party and special interest donors.
3
We can put the blame squarely at Mitch McCon(nell)'s well shod feet. It's time to shine the spotlight on his record, and his enabling of the monstrosity that is Donald Trump. And it ought to be relentless. He's not exactly an oil painting, and his tactics are know, so let's talk about this all day, every day. He does better lurking in the shadows than in full daylight.
6
It is beginning to "set " Me off that big wage earners like Trump are suggested to cheat, trim, avoid, and as last resort defer paying income taxes and then turn around and spend the taxes of the little guys like water. We know we paid more tax and got back less refunds. Let's see Trumps TAXES paid once and for all.
6
Well, so what at least some of us expected (such as me) has transpired. This president has revealed fundamental weaknesses in our system of government.
The wise choice would be for centrists (who make up the bulk of the population) to come together and make this impossible in the future. Centrists in this country seem largely inert.
Ideally, Dems will address these problems in the future when (if) they come back into power. I say, "if" because there may be a path Drumpf can take that would, essentially, allow him to remain in power until he dies, then appoint a successor. Dunno. At any rate, Ideally, Dems will address these problems, rather than take advantage of them to install their own demagogue, hated by half the population (conservatives) and repeat the cycle.
2
Mitch McConnell and his ilk care only about power and money, in that order. He does not care at all about the constitution. If he can get away with delaying a Supreme Court appointment for nearly a year, refuse to allow a vote in the Senate unless he knows the President will approve, and now supports the non-emergency "declaration of emergency" then the constitution means absolutely nothing to him. McConnell should be impeached, for neglecting his oath of office.
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Yeah, that's right, Mitch, this is America and we can and will flush people like you down the drain when the time comes. Just you wait and see...
25
so trump behaving like a three year old throwing a temper is now the standard for a nation emergency.
trump , previously throwing a temper tantrum also created the standard to hold Americans hostage and attack the financial well being of Americans to deal with his failures. what next, it will only get worse.
9
I don’t remember ANYONE electing Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Laura ingraham (who as a single woman adopted three FOREIGN children) or Rush Limbaugh to represent any of us in OUR government. Why is it that they have this power to determine our fate or tell us how best to spend the country’s money? This is a disgrace!
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@Sunshine
Power.
It's because they're TV Personalities that they influence millions of television viewers who happen to be Republican voters.
3
This is undercutting the US Constitution and the separation of powers. Mitch McConnell is derelict in his duty and is showing his true colors - partisan power over country. It is appalling and hypocritical that he is acting as the pawn of an autocratic executive branch and not as a leader of the legislative branch. Not acceptable for any president to usurp legislative powers for a whim.
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Watching Sean and Ann along with Laura and Rush is like witnessing married couples who are divorcing and battling for custody of the kids (the base).
3
Partisan Hack Mitch sold Corrupt Donnie on the bill by promising to support the "emergency declaration." He will support it, but I will be surprised if he doesn't give the other Rep senators leave to do as they see fit, knowing it will then fail at a veto-proof level.
2
Congress needs to start seriously considering whether or not we can wait another 2 years to remove Trump and McConnell. Trump has made this country very weak in a military sense, by creating chaos within the military by disrupting its missions, and commandeering our military to fool around with building an ineffective means of slowing the illegal border crossings that actually threaten our country's security. We are becoming sitting ducks for attacks by America's enemies, some of which were allies until Trump alienated them. I don't believe it's safe to wait until after 2020 elections.
7
How does Mitch McConnell live with himself? Quite happily, I'll bet. He probably thinks he's doing what he does for the greater good...Mitch, that ship sailed long ago, leaving you and the GOP behind and stuck with Trump.
7
@L He is not thinking about the good of the country. Only what is good for him. He needs to be gone. Hopefully, that will happen when his term is up and he is voted out.
8
Trump once again reneged on a deal. Why is anyone surprised? He agreed to it then did the end-run he telegraphed yesterday. The real evil mastermind is McConnell, who gave him the high sign to declare the emergency.
Anyone in either House who doesn’t fight this is complicit in allowing Trump to take his first step into true authoritarian power. Will an emergency be called before the 2020 election declaring he has to stay in power to save the country from socialists?
4
McConnell believes himself to be a practical man but he obviously doesn't realize just how cruel history will be to him.
12
We’ve had divided government many times but none in modern times has torn up and trashed our Constitution the way the Republican Party has succeeded in doing under McConnell and Trump. They both need to be removed from office by whatever means necessary.
14
By whatever legal means necessary.
1
If Trump gets his wall by declaring a fabricated emergency, this will not be the only time he tries it. Just like with the shutdown he will threaten "emergencies" every time it suits. Trump has abused every power he has ever had, whether that be money, employment contracts, NDA's, sexual harassment and assaults, the media, pardon powers - he even abuses his twitter account for God's sake (telling Megan Kelly back in the campaign that he would "unleash his twitter account on her" before doing so - Fox had to employ security & she received 50,000 abusive tweets daily).
Since becoming president Trump has abused every power he can get away with.
Do GOP members really believe that giving an ego maniacal malignant narcissist with an inclination to hedonism and tyranny yet more power is going to end well? America's real emergency is the same as the worlds emergency- namely that the US has elected an emotionally unstable man who is utterly deficient in temperament, morality, psychological stability and intelligence to be president. Giving him more power will not help the situation the world finds itself in.
15
@Emma-Jayne: Trump's most fervent supporters believe that everything happens the way God wants it to.
6
@Steve Bolger
Then they will applaud tRump's fall. It is surely coming. Vote Dem in 2020 straight up and down the ticket.
I wonder how President Elizabeth Warren will use this new power once she becomes our 46th president? Gun control? Health care? Education? Whatever area she decides to focus on in the national emergency she declares, one thing will be certain: she will have Donald Trump to thank for it.
10
@Larry Heathcare is a legitimate emergency, this wall is not.
4
It’s hard to believe how naive the President and his acolytes are. This entire exercise is going to blow up like the shut down with the President declaring victory in defeat that they all knew was coming. This is how great nations falter, when one party tries an end-around the constitution. How does it feel to be tackled for a loss when the other side knows what is coming? Or a boxer beaten to a pulp keeps trying to get up and continue the fight? The President and McConnell don’t seem to understand the words, “you lost”.
123
Except in their minds, they’re winning, but there’s no referee to end the match.
13
So: the tail continues to wag the dog, and responsible Republican leadership is nowhere to be found. Trump continues to be the petty tyrant; McConnell again covers himself in a blaze of utter cowardice; Pence is nowhere to be found; the feckless and grossly overmatched Kushner busies himself counting paper clips; the ever-hypocritical and equally feckless Mulvaney only roils the waters. Shelby, seemingly the only one on the Republican side operating in good faith, had to wheedle and cajole the infantile Trump into accepting the agreement. No one will stand up to Trump, stand up for decency, and force him to do the right thing.
That McConnell got his caught in a political wringer is not the price being paid here. He sold out a long time ago. The price being paid is normalization of the abuse of presidential power for narrow, selfish, political ends.
Trump is manufacturing a Constitutional crisis in an environment that includes a non-functional, compliant Senate and an ideologically biased Supreme Court.
We may have put a Democratic majority in the House last November, but our country very much still hangs by a thread. We are on the brink of a corrupt autocracy, and the so-called leaders who are supposed to safeguard us from exactly that are allowing it to happen.
15
@P. Sherwood Dont forget Trump was sent there by 63M people to burn it all to the ground. Thing is the Anglo-American world power will go off to its eternal destruction at the hands of Gods Kingdom completely intact, therefore Trump will never be dictator. The end is very very close.
Perhaps we could start with a quick overview of the last few months of the Trump circus.
Trump argues with the president of Turkey on the phone. Instant temper tantrum: Trump orders troops withdrawn from Syria without consulting the military or anyone else. Our allies are shocked. The Secretary of Defense resigns in protest. A few days later, Trump tells a Cabinet meeting that he fired General Mattis because he was doing a lousy job.
Before Christmas, Trump agreed to a funding bill with no money for his beloved wall. Ann Coulter calls him a wimp. Instant temper tantrum: a month long government shutdown. Trump finally signs a funding bill and resorts to declaring an emergency to fund a wall that will never be built.
In the midst of a government shutdown, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers going without pay, Trump has a $50,000 golf video game installed in the White House. We're told that he arrives for work at the Oval Office at 11 am and more than half of his schedule is "executive time." Fox News, tweeting, and playing video golf?
This a toddler run amok. The House of Representatives needs to convene hearings and seriously consider invoking the 25th Amendment. Mattis, Kelly, Tillerson, Sessions, and Preibus, amongst others, should to be subpoenaed and asked to testify in public. My hunch is they will only reveal further horror stories.
Mr. McConnell has only done his country a grave disservice by placing a pacifier in the toddler's mouth.
15
It is time for roll call.
There are enough Republican votes in the senate to pass the joint resolution against this farce of an emergency. Trump will veto it, of course, but that will force a roll-call vote requiring each GOP representative and senator to declare him- or herself. Do they stand for the rule of law and their own constitutionally mandated power over the people’s purse? Or do they enable this would-be king with a blank check on the people’s account, to spend as much as he wants, however he wants—regardless how blatantly political and publicly unpopular?
2020 is coming, not just for the president but for his enablers. We need to know exactly who they are—not that anyone in the GOP deserves our vote, but so we can hang this albatross around the necks of this overreaching President’s most craven lackeys and target the ones who are most vulnerable.
10
A US Senator takes an oath to "support and defend the constitution".
Every single GOP Senator who supports Trump in this power grab is repudiating his oath of office and should be removed.
This is a blatant, naked attempt to usurp the power of Congress and should be blocked by both houses of government immediately.
16
"Who cares?" A fitting end to the article, perfectly encapsulating the quality of McConnell's (and congressional Republicans') moral compass.
8
Mr. McConnell and his republican cohorts who have a lock on the Senate, have ceded their democratic responsibilities to a demagogue president. Trump's declaration of a national emergency is the act of a tyrant. That McConnell licks his boots is a sad spectacle for those of us who, perhaps unwisely, believed in our democracy.
4
Bleed poor country bleed. Goodness dare not check thee.
Where good men’s lives expire before the flowers in their caps.
Orange tyranny.
Rise people of America, reclaim the dream .
6
The takeaway for Democrats is don't waste time dealing with Kushner or Pence.
6
Frankly, I am all in with the declaration of a National Emergency especially if it avoids a shutdown of the government which only hurts underpaid government employees. It will make the President and his supporters feel they have pushed the ball of their accomplishment a little closer to the goal line, but will actually do little more than tie the "wall" up in the courtrooms while we edge closer and closer to election day 2020; as well as "stimulating" the economy by giving work to countless well paid and needy attorneys.
2
There needs to be a concerted effort to remove Mitch McConnell as leader of the Senate republicans and from the Senate altogether. He's either owned and controlled by Trump or Putin, or both. I would suspect he's beholden to the Russians. Trump's too stupid to control anyone, he's just good at doing what someone else wants him to do and say, such as FOX News.
Democracy or dictatorship? Time to choose.
14
Mitch helped himself out, but jammed his Republican Senators. Now they will have to vote on whether the emergency is valid. SAD! No courage, no integrity.
9
Republicans cried bloody murder when Obama started writing executive orders like they were going out of style. And, in retrospect, Democrats have now had ample opportunity to regret celebrating that relatively modest expansion of executive authority.
You'd think recent history would have given Republicans sufficient reason to question the wisdom of creative presidential schemes to dodge Congressional oversight, but here we go again.
Maybe, from now on, we assume that any strategy for expanding executive control of the government is only a good idea if you can imagine the other party using it for the worst possible reason, and still genuinely be cool with it.
4
The time has come for Mitch McConnell to step down or be forced out of office. He has failed the nation at every turn since trump entered the Oval Office. There can be no other outcome of his abandonment of his sworn Constitutional duties. McConnell has provided aid and cover as Trump has shown that he is the nation’s number one enemy, all in pursuit of the Republican agenda.
.
228
McConnell also failed the American public when he would not join Obama before the election in telling us that the government had proof of Russian intervention in our election process.
44
@Philip
Actually, while he no doubt brought it on himself, I think McConnell is playing it the only way he can in order to get the bill signed and fully fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. No doubt he's counting on litigation to take away Trump's punch bowl.
5
@Philip
How did he get elected in the first place?
2
King McConnell was elected by 800,000 Kentuckians. That should not give him authority over the rest of the country. Our Constitution needs some checks and balances on this kind of power, regardless of which party is in the majority. Speaker of the House and leader of the Senate should be subject to recall via national referendum of the other 300 million Americans.
11
Yes indeed, Mr. Mulvaney is very dangerous. He and t-Rump are one of a kind. Very dangerous. This whole scenario could have been so different and even never occurred with a real leader. Hopefully the gop and its hanger oners have learned a lesson. One can always hope.
Somehow, someway, we need to find democracy again.
5
What happened to our check and balance system? That is the whole reason for a house and congress and president, so nobody holds all the power and is not doing what is best for the whole country. President trump is only concerned with his ego, not what is correct and just. We, the american people, need to open our eyes, STOP believing something just because it is said over and over. That is brainwashing and manipulation. We do not need this border wall, read the facts, do not follow somebody blindly. Trust out system our check and balances and stop allowing a bully to control the country and worse, peoples minds.
3
This looks like a potentially smart play for McConnell. With Trump's national emergency declaration, it's Trump's wall and his alone. Not the issue of the Republican party. He's probably betting it will fall in court anyway... It better.
What the republicans have done is opened the door to presidential abuse of the “national emergency” declaration to try and get what he wants for his minority base. As with everything the Republican Party has done under the so called leadership of McConnell, is a two edged sword that the democrats will now feel inclined to use when they come to the White House. The next president that is a democrat can use the National Emergency declaration for things like healthcare, or any number of issues that would require congress to appropriate funds to pay for.
While the democrats have bent rules from time to time, they have never done what the Senate has done under the so called leadership of McConnell, they have never changed a rule to allow a nuclear option, they are guilty of not providing advice and consent when it came to a legitimate SCOTUS nomination by a sitting president. The whole purpose of a filibuster is so the the minority party can have a voice in legislation being debated, but McConnell changed all that by changing the rules. The changing of those rules essentially means that the Republican Party thinks that they will never be in the minority, a space they occupies for 40 years.
It will come as no surprise when the next democrat that occupies the White House, uses the same tactics that McConnell and his thugs have been so willing to use. And rest assured, if McConnel, and Graham, and the rest of Trumps enablers, will scream the loudest.
4
@James: The tactics of that mumbling bagman and bribe distributor are beneath contempt. I'm astounded by the low conduct of politicians that Americans put up with, in the name of God, no less.
3
Wonderful line: "The majority leader, sentimental as a scythe and not one for small talk, decided it was up to him." More great writing please! This is why I subscribe to NYT. Well done.
1
The wall is a racist trope for Trump. He has a long history of racism going back to housing in the 70s and more recently attacks on everything Obama, plus he has deliberately opposed the Dreamers, leaving them in limbo. The press keeps saying "to please his base". No he is his own leader here, infecting those who support him, many of whom should know better, especially his inner circle and Republicans in Congress. The divisiveness he portrays everyday also pleases Putin. Remember this was their major theme in their calculated disruption of American Democracy.
E pluribus unum--One from many. Mr. McConnell may have given ground on "an emergency", but he can regain some esteem by keeping his word, and allowing an up or down vote on just DACA in the Senate.
3
It is amazing to see the flurry around this announcement as every one knows that nothing will happen because this patently unconstitutional move will be challenged in courts.
But, has someone thought that this nitwit could be managed by giving him a drama every week that allows him to posture as the great white chief?
Hey, we have Hollywood which can put their story writers to work and come up with various faux cliff hangers that allow him to "vanquish" his enemies, while the real work of the govt goes on in the background.
Just because McConnell gave his support to the Emergency Declaration does it mean the 20 Senate Republicans up for reelection in 202, have to support him? Do any of them have backbone? I am torn between hoping they do and hoping they don't. If they don't support this nonsense and break away, we get to have a semblance of a government for the balance of king donald's term; If they support it, Democrats get to run against their failure to uphold their Oath of Office.
1
"Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader..."
"Leader" should no longer be used in reference to McConnell.
4
Now we just need Mitch McConnell “to wake up in a rage” tomorrow morning and tell the President, “No, I won’t support your so-called emergency.”
2
Why do Senate Republicans keep supporting their majority leader when he bends to the WH? By not challenging him on this very important constitutional point, they are being as spineless as he is and I hope voters punish them next year. I WILL NOT FORGET! Here's hoping all the legal challenges keep the issue on front pages and in the spotlight until we remove as many as possible in 2020.
Mr. Majority Leader, declaring our country as litigious, not only disgraces all of us but demeans the entire GOP and Senate. Your reign as majority leader will go down in infamity!
4
@Lawrence: Leadership networks in Congress and Senate track the distribution chains of campaign contributions.
The US coddles people who bully with frivolous litigation. It is rare for a motion to dismiss to be allowed anywhere.
1
The President is in a rage because Valentines day passed and he didn't get his 5.7 billion gilded bauble from congress. It would have looked so great draped across our whole southern border.
How To Start Dictatorship 101 page 1 step 1 Declare Emergency.
5
It seems quite clear that Pence, McConnell and others know they walk on eggs with this cumbersome prez who won't study issues, seems to have a reading disability and is mercurial as hot air spouting Limbaugh and Coulter.
3
@Jean
Very nicely put!
Mitch McConnell? Oh, you mean President Trump's cabinet member Elaine Chao's husband/puppy?
Got it.
1
One Federal court, against our elected official's wishes, has already ruled that the ACA is unconstitutional. Certainly if Congress wanted to get rid of ACA they would have passed legislation to eliminate it, as opposed to legislation that solely eliminated the tax. Seems pretty obvious, yet the court "legislated" ACA out of existence. Next up, the courts will rule on the issue of Trump's "emergency", another area where legislation and funding was completely denied by our elected officials.
What role remains for our elected officials in the Congress if the President and courts can overrule the legislative branch of government?
Calling this a "manufactured crisis" is one of the most understated euphemisms I've ever heard.
57
@Martin: The Court dallied with the meaning of the word "taxation". We are all subject to the "mandate" to contribute to Medicare. The "mandate" to pay a tax penalty for not joining Obamacare was found to be different.
@Steve Bolger - There is NO mandate. It was scrapped by Congress, and at the same time they were ending the mandate they left the remainder of the law in place. Congressional intent could not be any more clear. If Congress wanted to scrap the law, they would have.
This is the very definition of legislating from the bench.
3
Mitch McConnell surrendered to Trump who ceded power to Hannity and Ingraham. In the process all of them caused deeper divisions among Americans, weakened
government structures, created chaos, and put the United States future in jeopardy. The question remains, "Who benefits?"
1
Those who keep power benefit.
That’s all they care about.
McConnell is as weak as Trump and so completely cynical he is a disgrace to the Republican Party. The Trump wall has never been about border security. It's always been about dividing Americans and creating a campaign issue. American's that believe in our Constitution need to speak up forcefully and force Congress to reject Trump's power grab.
121
@Catalina
+1 but I believe we need to go a step further and take out the Trump Trash , Abolish Asset Forfeiture and anything else that takes the power from the people and gives it to someone else. Asset forfeiture allows the police to steal from the people instead of protecting us. Next they will put the lives of officers from all law enforcement agencies above the lives of those they are sworn to protect. They might as well shoot unarmed civilians.... ohhhhhh my we have a lot of work to catch up on. We CAN NOT! allow our kids to become the next generation of victims.
McConnell and Pelosi are the embodiment of a failing democracy. As long as they can stay in office, please their minders, keep their millions and make their salaries, they thumb their noses at the citizens of this country.
Now, they, the House and Senate, will take another vacation, while Trump goes about being autocrat in chief. He will steal from the Pentagon and build his wall.
Too bad Federal HR doe snot dock House and Senate members fro taking six month off each year. When you think about, there are few places you can earn over $200,000 a year, work less than 50% of the time, and act in an incompetent manner.
The people of this country need to realize that neither party operates in their interest, and start voting for independents. Maybe they will realize by 15 April, they were scammed, with lower tax refunds and that their salary "increase" was incorrect withholding.
By the way, wait until October, where Trump commits extortion something else, and shuts down the entire government. What will eh extort for? How about cutting the deficit on the backs of people receiving Social Security and Medicare (draconian "entitlement reform"). That means all federal workers, no contractors off the job.
And, in the mean time, McConnell and Pelosi will play the partisan game and make fools of the 99%.
1
@Nick Metrowsky: "Independent" is not a political party and it has no articulated agenda.
2
This series of events is a disaster for Republicans. The Dems are receiving so much fodder for a successful 2020 campaign, they won't know what to do with it all. With every passing day, Trump hammers more nails into the emerging GOP coffin. This "National Emergency" is a tremendous gift for Democrats.
81
@Jon Very true. And the Republicans in office are too spineless to stand up to him and stop him from ruining their party and damaging our nation.
10
@Jon. All you say should be true yet the Dems have a talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
6
@Jon
True, but don't forget these are Dems who have an uncanny ability to assemble a circular firing squad and all fire at the same time.
For weeks McConnell warned Trump against declaring this non-existent emergency citing the possibility of both Congressional and legal pitfalls.
Then the rubber meets the road , McConnell goes belly up like the puppy dog that he is , and supports Trump's obsession with a border that is actually a non issue except for the inhuman treatment accorded those seeking asylum from violence and the drug cartels that supply the U.S. of A. with the wherewithal to support the monkey on America's back.
McConnell is effectively assisting Trump once again , in subverting the Constitution that he is sworn to uphold by allowing the separation of powers to be negated by his cowardice.
Trump eschews pets because his needs for same are more than satisfied by the acquisition of lap dogs named Senator McConnell and Senator Graham.
What a pleasure it will be to watch him walking them on the White House lawn armed with all the latest in pooper scooper technology.
3
If Mitch McConnell was so concerned about Trump's threats of another shutdown, and he is strongly against Trump's emergency declaration, why has he not garnered support among the GOP to override a Trump veto? Seems to me that it is time for the Republicans to quit the hand wringing, and to join with the Democrats in removing Trump from office, either via the 25th amendment, or the impeachment process.
10
"But Mr. McConnell is nothing if not adaptable."
"Mr. McConnell, quickly shifting from opposing the declaration to managing its rollout, snapped back, 'Who cares? This is America — everybody sues everybody else...”
I submit that this is not leadership. This is spineless, self serving, obsequies toadying for power and should be called out as such over and over again. Mitch McConnell is one of the very few with the power to stand up to the egregious behavior of this tantrum throwing man child and where is Mitch? Hiding and asking, who cares. The American people care, Mitch. Do your job!
8
@Edward: This is a fact. Americans waste more time and money suing each other in courts that decide nothing, to benefit lawyers happy to charge their clients for nothing, until they give up and settle, than any other people on Earth.
2
@Steve Bolger And that has what to do with McConnell toadying up to Trump while pretending to disapprove, not showing a spine, not doing his job?
McConnell has all the self-preservation instincts that Donald has, but he's smarter. He didn't want to run for re-election with his opponent reminding voters the congressional leader couldn't even keep the government open.
Mitch is always calculating. He won't like it when the House sends over a bill disapproving Trump's emergency declaration and he must allow a Senate vote. He's afraid of dividing his caucus, thus reducing his power.
His eel-like maneuvering won't save him from the Mark of Trump.
5
Why does the headline suggest it's Congress that is responsible? It's Mitch McConnell, isn't it? I wish the NY Times would not add to the destruction of the Constitution via its misleading headlines.
3
@ Linda Wing. Unfortunately it is true that Congress is responsible for passing legislation many years ago, that is the basis for this “emergency” declaration. I believe there is a reasonable need at times for emergency power’s being granted to the president However I believe it is past time that Congress revisited the legislation and improved the language to prevent dictatorial powers be granted to the president without firmer limitations.
Don't take political statements at face value. McConnell merely gave lip service to the emergency declaration. He is apparently opposed to it, so the lip service was a tactic. Let's wait and see how much actual support he gives it, or what difference it makes.
3
In my non-expert opinion, Trump just made a mistake and not only hurt himself, but republicans in general.
Private land owners along the border are going to fight against eminent domain in court. That could take years. Pelosi will likely pass a resolution, along with filing a lawsuit in court to block Trump, as well; forcing the Senate Republicans to vote with the Democrats or with the president. It's a no win situation for them. They'll either be viewed as holding water for Pelosi or for Trump; but weak and spineless regardless.
And if by some miracle, Trump is able to pull this off; get ready for climate change, gun deaths, lead in the water, etc., to be a national emergency by the very next Democrat that wins the presidency.
7
McConnell, overrated as a master deal maker, clearly does not appreciate the leverage he has that could be used to bring the president to accept useful solutions, to maintain the power of the Congress as a co-equal and independent pillar of government, and to enhance the re-electability of people in his party. This source of monumental leverage will be forever hidden from him, he is completely blind to it: Reaching consensus with the opposition party.
Were he to actually work with the Democrats to craft a legislative solution that, forgive the bad pun, fences in the president, forces it to a vote, perhaps a veto, and then an override, he likely could steer Trump to agree to legislation that actually solves problems. But no, his obtuse partisanship makes him insensible to this possibility, and dooms him to the role of feckless ineptitude.
Can't wait for the 2020 election. Get rid of Trump. But more importantly, get rid of McConnell.
5
@Thomas M: The Congress and Senate are really the superiors of the US president, because they can remove the president by super-majority vote. The president has no comparable power to call a spot congressional election when he or she loses confidence in it.
1
Mitch McConnell .... always willing, and often able, to treat the U.S. Constitution like it's written on toilet paper. We're shocked!!
3
@Dennis: McConnell stands firmly on the shoulders of people who fervently believe that God runs everything anyway.
1
McConnell is just a puppet of Trump with no backbone of his own. A disgrace to all Republicans and Democrats as well.
17
@Dr. B At this point, I don't think it's possible to disgrace the Republicans. Even Susan Collins's will-she-or-won't-she-vote-with-her-mates game has gone completely stale.
5
Just out of curiosity, aside from the criminal malfeasance, the seditious obstruction, the brazen flaunting of the Constitution and our democratic norms and traditions, and their complete and disgraceful corruption, am I the only one who is just plain sick and tired of the constant drama, childish idiocy, and stressful nonsense that the Republican Party - no, make that the Republican Criminal Organization - inflicts upon our nation on a daily basis? Not a hour can go by without one these pernicious GOP idiots, from the President on down, making some noxious statement, stirring up needless strife, creating another phony controversy, walking back some dumb lie or obnoxious bigoted remark, or throwing new and inventive monkey wrenches in the already difficult business of governance? It's always a hissy poo fit, faux outrage, trauma, and threats, just like dysfunctional parents or a cluster of petty adolescents one upping each other in the schoolyard. Only the schoolyard is our Congress.
Tired of this nonsense? May I suggest a solution?
Get rid of Republicans. All of them. Each and every one of them.
November 2020: No more Republicans. None. Not one.
64
Totally agree with you about getting rid of all Republicans but the only way to do that is to secede from the red states that are making our country totally dysfunctional and us miserable. We get to keep our tax money within the blue states that actually believe in good government. They can keep their guns and fake religiosity, their five SCOTUS judges (we know who they are). We can assign the state of NY to try Trump and his criminal cohorts. Oh and maybe we can then build a wall to keep them away from us.
2
The extraordinary power grab in the form of an "Emergency" for an ego- crutch- vanity project, if allowed to stand, puts us this much closer to accepting a declaration of Marshall Law.
Can't happen here?
10
@Robert FL: Don't worry, they will go after people who can spell "martial" correctly first.
2
It’s frowned upon in most countries to use taxpayers money to get re-elected.
11
The price Congress paid: their integrity.
11
@Sunny - pffft. Congressional integrity has been long gone for a loooong time.
@Sunny No, the thin veneer that made it APPEAR they had integrity.
1
Republicans, lead by their fearless leader in the Senate, have in the past two years:
- abrogated any oversight of the Executive Branch
- abrogated their Party's stated values of fiscal responsibility
- feigned the factual nature of; and refused to impartially investigate Russian meddling & Presidential complicity in the 2016 Presidential election
... and now feckless Mitch relinquishes the Constitutional mandate of the Legislative Branch - "funding of the government" to a President profoundly unfit to serve.
It seems that Mitch is as transactional as the President... and also as unfit to serve.
24
We have crossed the Rubicon as a nation. This is how despotism rises.
9
I always hoped that as McConnell got older and closer to the end of his career, he would begin to care more about his place in history and would at least occasionally put the common good above his personal political interests. I guess I was naive, as McConnell has shown no inclination to act more like a statesman and less like a shape-shifting politician.
16
W, you may now move down to a lower perch. Trump has stolen your distinction as the worst president in our nation's history.
And your supporters now confirm what everyone already thought of them. This is truly an historic moment.
9
Who will be paying for the lawyers that will be defending the President's Emergency Plan???
6
@David Howard
We taxpayers
McConnell is absolutely worthless.
5
The Republicans are like the Dutch boy with a finger in the dike.
2
Yes, they are. And they don't feel heroic about it.
1
Look up hypocrite and you'll find a picture of McConnell.
6
"Who cares? This is America — everybody sues everybody else,”
I think this is Mitch-speak for "I'm tired of handling this stupidity, let the courts take it from here."
7
Is not McConnell perhaps giving DT more rope with which to... well, you get the idea...
4
Poor Mitch.
It used to be easy to be obstinate and stupid.
Much more difficult with Nancy who is obstinate and smart, and of course, the Donald who behaves universally more obstinate and stupid.
4
Trump may be an incompetent president and a bully but McConnell is worse. He's been a public servant far longer than most. Isn't he supposed to uphold the constitution and protect the country from all enemies, foreign and domestic? He doesn't have a backbone. He has a green twig where his spine is supposed to be when it comes to standing up to Trump. Trump has overstepped his bounds far more than any president who preceded him, even Obama whom the GOP lackeys loved to thwart. They deserve each other. We deserve better.
4
Mitch McConnell is the biggest traitor to our country since Benedict Arnold. He sold out our Constitution to assuage Trump, instead of confronting the toddler in chief. His hope and assumption that the courts will thwart Trump’s attempt at dictatorial powers is dangerous and an abdication of his constitutional duties. He should be impeached.
37
@J. McConnell was elected by all of the Republican senators. They are the board of directors he reports to.
@J. I can't agree about one thing...Trump is the closest thing we have to a modern day Benedict Arnold, or maybe Aaron Burr.
1
Down at 'Stoats & Martins' (the Weasel League of America clubhouse) Sen. McConnell is trying to squirm out of 225 years of precedent and turn the Senate Gavel over to the latest mealy mouthed incompetent sent over from 1600.
But the WLA is having none of it. Expressions of disbelief at a member giving away the chicken coop has caused much alarm.
" We had assumed that Member McConnell would uphold the tenets of our fraternity and get something more from a mark like Pinky. Majority Leader and this is it?"
5
So the Senate Majority Leader, arguably the most powerful member of Congress, became the key enabler for the President’s end run vis a vis the declaration of a National Emergency, a blatant subterfuge to divert funds to build the Trump’s WALL.
Have to wonder if there is another like incident in which the leader of the Senate has become such an enabler in perverting the fundamental authority of the Congress?
12
@G. Sears: McConnell's hold on power rests with the political donations he has discretion to disburse to his colleagues.
1
This is a made up emergency made up by a unbalanced president. The fact that McConnell supports it over what the American people want and he knows is right is criminal and he should resign. What would he and the GOP say if Obama did this over gun safety?
14
Trump and his third of the electorate have initiated an attempt to end our republic. Our system is not designed to deal with Presidents who want to become the sole authority of government which is what Trump is attempting to do. Trump is attempting to act against the will of the clear majority of the people and of the Congress to satisfy a minority who fear that the country is becoming unlike what they knew half a century, ago. He has neither the mind nor the courage to disappoint their desire to turn things back to what they were.
The courts will be unwilling to decide whether what a President decides is an emergency is an emergency absent a clear definition in the laws enacted by Congress. This means that after the law suits are resolved,
Trump’s declaration will be found to be Constitutional unless the Congress votes that his action was unjustified. That act must be done with legislation that the President must sign to make effective. Only a supermajority in each chamber of the Congress may override the veto. If they cannot, the President enjoys the poet to act despite the will of the Congress and of the people.
That simple act will have occurred because just over a third of the members of either the House or the Senate are willing to eviscerate the spirit and operations of our Constitutional system to further the interests of some against the interests of the rest of the people. The fundamental trust in the rule of law and the mutual interests of all ends.
12
Ca-ching ca-ching. Everyday the bill for this nonsense gets higher and higher and higher. And guess who's paying for it?
Clue: It ain't Donnie or Mitchie. They don't pay taxes
16
Most notably, it is not Mexico.
5
It is sad that the man who occupies Henry Clay's desk is such a disgrace to the Senate.
Total capitulation to a usurping President who has no understanding of anything other than personal dictatorship as a form of government.
History is going to be very, very unkind to Mitch McConnell.
297
@Howard Eddy I'd like to be unkind to him right now. History won't help if our Democracy is overtaken and he's seen as a hero by dictatorial winners.
24
Let's not wait for history.
1
@Howard Eddy, something tells me that such people do NOT care about history. They only care about themselves. It is how they are built. Shame does not work on such people. The best thing you can do is remove their power so they cannot do more damage.
Don't worry about any "concession" Mitch McConnell made to Trump.
He'll just change his mind and say the opposite tomorrow like Trump does.
That seems to have become the GOP MO.
2
In my lifetime I have seen many instances of Congress overriding a president's veto of a bill -- even a Congress of the president's own party.
Guess those days are over, huh? Something in the water.
5
That something in the water is called Kool Aid, and Jim Jones used Kool Aid very effectively on his followers.
McConnell (channeling the late Rep. Tim Campbell) to Trump: "What's the Constitution between friends?"
3
Texas, the state where most of the land for this wall is private, will surely be using the courts as Trump tries to use eminent domain to take the land. A by-product of this may be that Texas turns blue in the next election as they finally see the GOP for what they are.
11
@Tentative I think you are dreaming, but it is a nice thought.
From now on, McConnell should either be called HMV Mitch or Baa Baa Mitch sheep for rolling over to Trump.
6
Trump's two most important allies are Mitch McConnell and Sean Hannity.
Mitch is married to Trump's Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, and the husband of Elaine's sister, Gordon Hartogensis, is now Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation at the Department of Labor.
Sean Hannity is Michael Cohen's other client.
The Trump Swamp is bubbling over.
22
What ever happened to Trump draining the swamp, anyone that’s over 40 can remember candidates running on that same platform, along with the “I’m going to fight the special interests lobby, except look who’s in Trumps cabinet, lobbyists. And those lobbyists do not have the public’s best interests in mind, they never have, so how is it we voters stand by and let this happen. We need to lobby those we elect to write legislation codifying ban lobbyists from being nominated and confirmed.
The democrats should include banning lobbyists, at the same time they are codifying a law demanding that all candidates running for office release their tax filings, as well as codifying that a sitting president must by law extricate themselves from any business they own, any stocks in companies. Rome didn’t fall in a day, it took 400 years, but it finally did fall. This country has been in decline for a couple of decades and we will continue to decline in the eyes of the world as long as we have a government that isn’t by and for the people, rather, like Rome, it became a government by and for special interests, greed, and power, all the things Trump is. Trump is the Nero of our times, he will sit by and watch this country burn, if that’s what he thinks his minority base wants.
1
Has Trump actually signed it yet? McConnell is flattering the Emperor to get the legislation signed, but has it happened?
2
Hey Jared, now that you have taken care of the wall, how is that Middle East peace thing going?
2
Jared Kushner, "the self-proclaimed master deal maker" and principle advisor to the President of the United States on all matters critical to the security and well being of all US citizens.
You just can not make this stuff up.
8
Palace intrique...
Now, just so we're clear on this: Mexico is paying 8B dollars 'indirectly'. It will also be emblazoned with 'trump' at every mile marker.
But for now, we pay for it.
Did I miss anything? Any alternative facts?
2
"Mr. McConnell is nothing if not adaptable" - just say it, he's spineless...
7
First the liar in chief said he welcomed a shutdown. He claimed we could all blame it on him. When it happened, he blamed Nancy and the Dems.
Then, the liar in chief realized he would NEVER get his border funding, regardless of what his advisers Anne Coulter and Sean Hannity wanted. So, he backed down and stopped starving the government workers.
Now, he lost and got less than what he'd originally been offered for the wall. So, he subverts Congress and the Constitution (not as bad as colluding with the Russians, but close) and declares an emergency.
What's next? Invalidating the mid-term election? Declaring marshall law? All to appease his base and they fall in line behind him.
8
Trump, Pence, and McConnel need to be impeached for failure to honor the oaths of Office they made to We the People. The dog and pony show these men have put on for the last two years is a disgrace to our nation. Enough.
19
Perhaps we could give Donald Trump a shovel and pail and fly him to the bank of the Rio Grande or the Sonora desert where he himself can build the wall he so desperately needs to prove his manhood. So Sad.
8
Democrat hatred for Trump caused the last shutdown.
Democrats voted for border wall funding in Obama's administration. Dick Durbin complained it was not enough money, and illegal immigrants would cross the border-less areas.
The citizens want the wall, democrats want the wall - but hatred for Trump is stopping the democrats.
Hurry up 2020!
@99percent I'm a Dem. I don't want the wall.
7
Democrats were trying the path of bipartisan cooperation and look at what they got for it.
1
I’m kinda wondering what planet you live on, or are you Mitch McConnell.
Didn’t you Notice it was the GOP Led Government of Paul Ryan, in the GOP controlled House Mitch Mcconnell in the GOP controlled Senate and Trump in the Whitehouse who after to years in Power appear to have built No Wall.
It would appear that the recently completed section was approved by the Obama Whitehouse.
So who does the Government find itself where it is.
Who is controlling this Who has the most to Gain, McConnell took the President Hostage when he said we’re not voting unless the President is signing, which means the President has to Plead with McConnell to get anything done.
Why is this we ask well the GOP just got a serious beating at the Polls and only the Heavily Small State GOP saved the day they got Twice as many Senators as the Dems with one third the votes.
Do you or McConnell feel chastened no McConnell sets out to divide to rule the last thing McConnell wants is the House Dems Herding Trump into a populist anti GOP policy.
So McConnell pretends to be a peacemaker and you scream at the Dems because they refuse to give in.
Trump Reacted to the GOP defeat exactly as a mob chief would he doubled down and went for Blackmail.
Meanwhile 72% of the population say The a President should not be given the money.
It a totally uncosted proposal with no plan and no future.
2
We do have a national emergency -- we are being run by a buffoon who flouts the constitution whenever he doesn't get his way. Where are Rand Paul and the supposedly principled libertarian wing of the GOP on this? Oh yeah...cowering under their rocks and hoping for donations from Trump supporters.
9
@Ginny: When a grownup wields power over a child who acts defiantly because they can't have it their way, things only get worse for the child.
What you consider Nancy Pelosi's abuse of power, others would call it leverage over Trump. If you can't see who's the grownup here, nobody can help you.
5
Did you say Pelosi’s abuse of power, see this is the problem with the far right, unless you walk in lock step your abusing your power, these are things that uneducated, Facebook following Trump supporters always say, naturally without one link supporting their assertion. Since it’s clear that you are out of touch, Pelosi, and the house have just been voted back into power. And for those Trump supporters that think that it was a minor midterm victory, has clearly missed the bigger mid term picture, it’s only the beginning, in 2020 more Republican senators are up for re-election, the party for the GOP is coming to an end. Ask yourself, are you better off today, than you were two years ago.
The answer is no, your not.
Now that's lively reporting.
2
What do the Russians have on McConnell and the RNC?
9
Trump is at best a reality show host. He is a mediocre businessman with many bankruptcies in his past. He is a seedy grifter putting his name on everything and anything which could bring him money even a "university" that was nothing more than way to take money from rubes. Everyone should constantly be reminded that Trump is wholly unqualified for the job of President of the United States. He doesn't understand what democracy is because he has always been "the boss" which only an ignorant person would see the President to be. He believes he knows better than people who have spent their entire lives studying and working in a given field. He respect nobody and nothing but himself and the people who support the belief that he is an extraordinary human being.
How much time and energy and resources have been wasted and lost trying to legitimize a bad mistake? The Republicans should have barred him from running as their candidate as they knew he was unqualified and ill-suited to be President. It was exclusively their desire for power and not the well being of their constituents that made them allow him to run under their banner. He should have been a failed third party candidate but he would have taken away too many conservative votes.
Trump is nothing but a disgrace to this country, to democracy, to the spirit of the Constitution and it is beyond time that everyone that understands the greater truth to say in one voice that he should be removed from office.
23
McConnell and the Republicans have a structural advantage in the Senate that is likely to continue to grow. He has already established the precedent that no Democratic President will ever appoint a Supreme Court Justice again unless the Democrats control the Senate - which will be hard for them to do.
Democrats are likely to continue to control the House as population flows into the urban centers and redistricting reflects that. Gerrymandering is being struck down and that will benefit Democrats.
So from McConnell's perspective, anything that happens with Trump is a short-term issue. He could lose the Senate majority in 2020, knowing he'll probably get it back in 2022. So there's a logic to just rolling with Trump on whatever he wants to do.
5
@Jeff If McConnell wants to hang onto GOP majority in the Senate --wouldn't it be a good idea to show that Republicans are actually willing to do their job as a co-equal branch of government, and override the president when he's doing stupid things?
1
@Jeff: There's no way for these guys to lose legitimacy when God purportedly runs this circus.
1
Mitch is a clown in Trump's circus. He and Lindsey Graham wear little outfits and red noses that go beep-beep when Trump hits play.
38
Trump always wanted the emergency. He likes the spectacle of it. McConnell promised support in exchange for a signature on the spending bill. That much is successful. However, I think McConnell miscalculated on the law suit pivot though. His first read was the correct one.
An emergency is going to split the Republican Senate. The law suits won't be resolved in time for full swing election season. They aren't even going to be decided before the next budget negotiations begin. You'll find vulnerable Republicans peeling off from unity in short order.
No wonder McConnell looks haggard. Trump succeeded where decades of political warfare has failed. Trump fractured the Republican Senate.
25
@Andy: Every crackpot judge in the federal judiciary is likely to weigh in with God's opinion of the matter.
1
Let us NOT forget: McConnell will support Trump re national emergency plans. We must not forget, McConnell's wife is Secretary of Transportation. If/when McConnell starts to support our Country, and NOT the job of his wife, perhaps we may see some progress made for our Country. McConnell knows - Trump could easily 'fire' his wife and quickly name a new Secretary of Transportation.
9
McConnell has no beliefs, no ethics, and ultimately no spine. He'll do anything to retain his seat and his position and pander to the extremists in his party. I look forward to the day when he is sent into retirement by the voters in his state.
35
@JLD
If there were any justice in this country, McConnell would be sent, not merely into retirement, but to jail.
But what the heck. Either way he will be supported by us taxpayers for the rest of his miserable life.
3
@JLD
I despise him too, but don't hold your breath waiting for his constituents to vote him out.
Just a month ago 11 Republican senators joined the Dem minority in rebuking McConnell and Trump for attempting to ease sanctions on Russia.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 57 to 42 against the attempt by McConnell, R-Ky., to table a resolution to aid the so-called president's chronic Russophilia.
The Republicans who defied McConnell on the procedural vote were Sens. John Kennedy, Susan Collins, Marco Rubio, John Boozman, Tom Cotton, Steve Daines, Cory Gardner, Josh Hawley, Ben Sasse, Martha McSally and Jerry Moran.
Can we expect to hear from these Republican Senators today?
12
All it takes is 4 Republican senators to say they are temporarily becoming independents and caucusing with Democrats in order “to save the Republican Party”.
That would immediately remove McConnell from the position of Senate Majority Leader.
38
Make no mistake..I have little use for McConnell. He is as sly as a fox and devious when it relates to the self-serving power grab of his Party. But he is now dealing with an unhinged president consumed by self-glorification in the form of a monument to memorialize historically unprecedented notoriety. Who would ever think that this majority leader would come so close to being worn down? I would have laughed not too long ago when describing Mitch M as "weary." Well, welcome to the club, sir. But it is correct to say that this is a sue-happy government and nation. If that is what it takes for an irrational president's delusions to boomerang back at him and knock him down, I'm for it...even if it is my tax-paying dollars being spent.
11
@Kathy Lollock: McConnell overplays his hand of Senatorial malapportionment as extravagantly as Trump overplays his presidential victory by minus three million votes.
1
" ... “I think the president has finally learned that shutdowns don’t work ... "
Umm ... was it Samuel Johnson who remarked that second marriages were the triumph of hope over experience? Same here. Sen. Leahy has yet to learn that Trump is not just ignorant - he is unteachable.
8
“ 'I have the absolute right to do national emergency if I want,' [Mr. Trump] insisted ... " To a baby with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Also, that statement seems to say there does not have to be an actual emergency (which there isn't). Apparently Mr. Trump believes it is his "right" regardless, i.e. for whatever reason he has, such as pandering to his base. That is not true, but its chilling that the POTUS believes it.
4
Mitch McConnell needs to move on. Go fishing in Kentucky or something.
He has for at least the past 10 years sabotaged everything Obama including a Supreme Court nominee, then pushed through ultra conservative Judges, refused to fight for "genuine" healthcare for America, rushed through a Sham Tax Bill whose negative effects are being felt now, refused to allow Democratic bills aimed at reopening the government after the most recent government shutdown, and now publicly stands with (instead of against) trump if he proclaims a FAKE National Emergency at the southern border.
Mitch...your long overdue time has come.
20
Listening to NPR this morning, I heard how Trump said he wouldn't sign anything that included back-pay for the thousands of low-income contractual workers who lost a month's worth of pay during the shutdown. All these huge pots of money being tossed around and he--in his infinite mean-spiritedness--wants to gut the little guy. As always.
81
The reporting presents a curious situation. The report of the conversation between Trump and McConnell is a gem of insight but why did McConnell repeat it to "to [an unnamed] person the leader spoke to late Thursday"? How was if then transmitted to one or more of the journalists who wrote this story? Did McConnell share this widely? Why was it shared? And since no sources are revealed, how was it verified?
McConnell has cloaked himself in the toga of Senatorial tradition, but in fact he is as driven to power as Trump. Trump’s power base is personality based, as evidenced by the rapturous reception he gets from The MAGAs. McConnell has none of that magic, but he does understand and have institutional power. But take McConnell out of his comfort zone in the Capitol and he is a wimp; Donald beats him up, insults him, forces him to stand next to an empty chair. McConnell despises Donald in the way any brainy, but scrawny, high school kid fears and hates the football bully. This is what the Great Proposition has come to; the chimp politics of a school lunchroom.
10
@Robert Goodell: The collective public mental age of the US lies somewhere in the high single digits.
1
So trump woke uo in an angry snit, what's new? It is now apparent that McConnel's job is solely to appease & manage the petulant child in the oval office and his own brats in the freedom caucas, while allowing both to subborn the constitution and congress' prerogatives. A very dangerous precident and a serious weakening of checks & balances. In addition big mick should be fired. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who is willing to stop the government from its business, which is working for U. S. citizens, should be removed from office. It's disruptive, harmful to government employees and exceptionally fiscally wasteful. In the game of political power it should simply be made a "no go."
7
To all those that bash Trump and call him an immature child, understand....he is not trying to please you. You voted against him. He is trying to please the 63 million people that voted for him because they wanted the things he promised in his campaign, and the wall was one of them. Maybe you should take another look at the 2016 election map....see all that RED. Thats how much of the country wanted change. President Trump is far from perfect just like the rest of us, but he is the only person trying to live up to the promises he made to all those that voted for him.
20
@Jess....Maybe you have already forgotten that there was a more recent election in 2018. Trump tried to make it an election about the wall by railing about hoards of immigrant caravans storming the border. The people voted and clearly expressed their sentiments. Trump lost.
78
@Jess
In a democracy, the majority is supposed to rule, not just Trump voters. His own Republican party didn't build the wall for the last two years. This is all on his failures to accept previous wall deals. Now public opinion has shifted, he lost the last election, it's too late.
45
@Jess
Mr. Trump doesn’t care about fulfilling promises to anyone; you give him far too much credit.
This is only about his “ratings” and his narcissistic need to be popular, cheered, hailed.
He is over his skis daily and likely the least qualified occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
More importantly, he doesn’t have any interest in serving his followers or this country; he must prove to his old New York competitors that he “won” and he is better than all of them.
So, no, he is not tryin to fulfill his promises to anyone...he is incapable of such a noble idea.
56
Where is Mueller?
21
Once again, McConnell has demonstrated that Republicans believe that "loyalty" to their party is more important than responsible governing.
And once again, McConnell has demonstrated that Republicans are hypocrites. (i.e. They had hissy-fits over Pres Obama's "ruling by decree" when he couldn't get enough votes in Congress; but it's fine for Trump to do the same.)
And once again, McConnell has demonstrated that he believes that it's OK for RepugniCants to trample the rule of law. (Remember Merrick Garldand?)
McConnell has done more to destroy our country than any other Senator or Congressperson since McCarthy. Shameful!
98
"President Trump awoke in a rage."
Why does he have any right to be mad? He is the one breaking his campaign promise. He promised Mexico would pay for the wall and now he's trying to make the American taxpayers pay for the wall.
79
@Ann: Agree. Not to mention: He lives in a rage. He embodies rage. That he awoke in one is just a funny idea.
11
Depressing news everyday. Some good news please. Enough is enough.
11
The president acts solely for his 'base'. The emergency declaration will fail in the courts. Key to watch will be Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.
15
Mitch McConnell is the sleeziest politician ever to grace the halls of the Senate. And that's saying a lot. The people of Kentucky need to wake up and send him packing.
113
@Trg Actually, I think he defiles the halls of the Senate rather than graces them.
1
@Susan Dean: Good point. Thank you.
McConnell could have seized the moment, essentially daring the Fake President to veto the Congressional bipartisan funding legislation, after which Congress could have overridden Trump's immensely unpopular, second shutdown act of stupidity. Thereby, Republicans would serve notice on the unhinged Trump that they were not prepared to sacrifice their own political futures to blindly serve his narcissistic impetuosity and recklessness. Instead, McConnell and his gang have inextricably linked their fates with Trump's and his brazen and illegal emergency declaration overreach, branding them still further as his sycophantic stooges. This momentous error will return to haunt them in 2020, a strategic ploy with long term impacts well deserved.
37
McConnell had no choice: their base is also Trump’s base and we know those people will never abandon Trump no matter how much he wrecks this once great country. No Profile in Courage from this crew of deplorables.
1
Who is running this country anyway? Seems to me that Nancy Pelosi has a strangle hold around the neck of the nation. Who appointed her "queen"? She wields way to much power. God bless the USA.
1
What are you talking about ? The house elected her to Speaker six weeks ago.
5
@Ginny
Perhaps you should refresh your memory of our Constitution. We have three equal branches of government, so no one person is "running the country". The duly elected Speaker of the House is third in line for the presidency.
9
You might find this astonishing, but the House of Representatives has primary responsibility for the budget.
13
Mr. McConnell is a pretty clever fellow. He is not in favor of this emergency declaration, but agreed to support it to get the spending bill passed.
He knows very well that the emergency declaration will get tied up in the courts and Mr. Trump will not get anymore money for his "big beautiful wall" by declaring a national emergency.
That is why he said "Who cares. This is America - everybody sues everybody."
I think he is correct. So let Trump declare the emergency and then the State of California will sue and the case will end up in the Ninth Circuit Court which has had a record of trashing every immigration measure Mr. Trump has tried to do so far.
Nicely done Mr. McConnell.
12
@gpickard
The Emergency declaration is a winning gambit for both Trump and McConnell. Both know that between the inevitable congressional resolution (which Trump may or may not veto) and the inevitable lawsuits that will follow, not a single dollar of money will be diverted from current spending until after the next election. But in while this is all going on, Trump can crow to his base that he's fulfilling his campaign promise, despite the work of the "Leftist" judiciary and whatever insulting names he wants to call party leadership in Congress. He'll keep his base energized without actually having to DO anything. Which has been his way all the time. He goes through the motions of fulfilling his campaign promises, often walking it all back or leaving the decision to wane after the new cycle moves on.
4
Sadly, I fear even this is too long for our president to read. It's a government, not a board of directors...
Our federal government has three
parts. They are the Executive,
(President and about 5,000,000
workers) Legislative (Senate and
House of Representatives) and
Judicial (Supreme Court and lower
Courts). The President of the United
States administers the Executive
Branch of our government.
7
I find it very troubling that McConnell is supposed to lead the Senate independently while his wife, Elaine Chao, is a Cabinet member of the Trump administration.
Mitch's loyalty to Ms Chao must have something to do with how loyal he is to Trump.
This is on top of McConnell repeatedly putting party over nation, from obstruction of everything President Obama did to promoting Trump's pro-Russian policies and looking the other way to allow Trump's corruption.
25
@D.A.Oh
All of Washington and every city/state political framework today is incestuous, predicated on the stench of stifling cronyism and lack of fresh air.
1
The lesson here is never vote in a person as inferior and insecure as Donald Trump to be president.
Overcompensation is a real thing.
10
When did America cease being able to do many things at the same time - all well? When did federal and state governments become so overrun with lame opportunistic lawyers and snake oil salesmen using taxpayer funded elected and appointed office as a stepping stone to money and fame? When did it become wrong to enforce laws? Why should it be okay for there to be illegal immigrants in the U.S. or any country?
3
Lock him up! Lock him up! Is there a clearer demonstration of violating one's constitutional oath?
5
Here's my take: another shutdown would have been so bad that McConnell would have said anything he had to say in order to get Trump to sign it. But he knows that the emergency declaration is going to be unpopular in Congress and the voters, and more so as the money is taken from things Congress (and presumably voters) like.
So is McConnell going to put any energy into defending Trump's emergency declaration once the ink is dry? Will he pressure anyone to vote to uphold the emergency in six months?
1
Is it really possible that the first time the President has heard from his White House counsel regarding an Emergency Declaration was late this week? The inmate is truly running the asylum.
5
When and if America has a chance to clean this mess up, we must include an examination of the power of the Majority Leader of both the House and Senate. The actions and conduct of some of it's "leaders" has been at times self serving, un-democratic, and contrary to the will of the Majority of Americans. McConnell is the poster boy of power run amuck. Willfully stealing a SCOTUS position, acting solely on behalf of party or financial puppet masters, to not do the work of the people is un-Patriotic, and against our Constitutional Heritage.
17
The GOP has allowed their party to degrade to the point where it routinely sends forth people who are either unable or unwilling to govern based on norms and Constitutional principles. They are a drag on American progress; time to cast them aside and move forward. They are useless.
17
None of this has anything to do with the safety and security of the nation. It’s disgraceful, petty, and absolutely what you would expect from this administration.
18
We're reaching the final steps of the GOP death march.
All of their lies, racism, religiosity, disregarding facts and pandering to the rich have destroyed their ability to protect the Country and act on their sworn oath to guard the Constitution.
America will return to what our Founding Father's envisioned, the progressive thinking needed by the Country and as it turns out the Earth.
Look out Putin!
8
McConnell just scripted his own irrelevance. It came far too late for many Americans but at least he is done. He has hit his expiration date. The GOP will spend the remaining days figuring out how to rid itself of the stench of his political corpse.
4
Two words come to mind to describe Mitch McConnell [once again]: Trump lapdog.
3
It's a scene straight from the reboot of Dr. Strangelove;How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Blame Mexicans. In this version the lunatics are completely running the asylum while obsessively lying about the "dangers" of those evil Mexicans. Those women and children can be really dangerous. They must be stopped at all costs. End result? The leadership destroys their own country.
Luckily no one has suggested tactical nuclear weapons - yet. Or have they?
2
Watch out, Republicans, if you lay down for this like the "mumbling" McConnell - the Democratic president elected in 2020 will use your cowardly precedent to force you to lay down your arms and battle climate change instead of innocent people. And we will rejoice. That's why McConnell is mumbling.
11
While Ann Coulter thinks this is a horrible bill and Trump is stupid if he signs it and ... the rest of the Trump supporters have spun it this way.
HE [not the people of the US] got enough money to continue building HIS most important macho campaign promise through the end of the fiscal year, and can grab on to a few hundred millions easily.
Then, the SCOTUS will have decided in his favor, so he CAN get his way. And maybe even pay for it with El Chapo's money.
The real reasoning is that this will get him re-elected from the 63 million who voted for him, and it has very little to do with the facts about illegals and refugees and in general immigration from across the border [nothing to do with the half who are coming from elsewhere].
He, single handedly, has taken away almost every reason for the Democrats to negotiate, although he may have driven enough of the GOP away from himself so that Congress can do something for the next 18 months beyond naming post offices.
1
Your use of demeaning words and descriptions for our leaders does not contribute to a believable story. The President awoke "in a rage"? Kushner "bragged" about his involvement? These belittling descriptions only hurt the NYtimes believability (at least what's left of it). Sigh
Those words may be biased but they are far from demeaning. Trump’s school yard nicknames for his opponents are demeaning. Describing anger and pride are not demeaning. Sorry that there aren’t positive words to describe negative traits, but that’s the way language works.
6
McConnell knows a national emergency declaration would be wrong but evidently felt he needed to make this concession to appease Trump and get a spending bill signed. He should just renounce his support for the emergency declaration once the spending bill is signed. That’s exactly what his president would do if forced to make a promise he didn’t like.
Just avert this constitutional crisis please. We decided 200 years ago that we wouldn’t be part of a monarchy. Time to step up regardless of your political affiliation and make that declaration anew.
29
The legislation being cited to justify the declaration of a "National Emergency" has never been challenged in the courts. They will now, and that will be a good thing. It will tell us if the USA is still operating under the constitution and laws or if we have become a democratic-republic limited by oligarchs and a de-facto dictatorship.
Out track-record as a nation has proven our constitution and laws to be strong enough to survive the current moment. However, the shift in position of elected officials who now think that allowing the president to override the will of congress by the fiat of a declared emergency sets a dangerous precedent.
One has to wonder what, and/or who, shifted the elected officials thinking. Did they get blackmailed, threatened, or convinced that soon Trump and his family will declare themselves presidents for life to be passed from generation to generation all having absolute power.
This moment will tell us if the experiment that began in 1776 was a success or a total failure and we wind up with a despotic king who answers only to himself.
11
I love to read comments. NYT comments under such articles about Trump give me plenty of material to study the culture of aged boomers, limousine left, and Starbucks Marxists who got stuck in the 1960s. It is amazing to watch the apocalyptic vision they has formed for themselves (Russian "collusion", conspiracies, the end of the world global warming prophecy). In this intellectual bubble, people seriously believe that Trump is the agent of "Prince Vlad" from Moscow and that he is bringing fascism to US. Guys, read Richard Hofstadter's "On Paranoid Style in American Politics" (on the 1950s anti-communist scare among the right; only now the shoe is on the other foot).
2
@Andre Van Doren
Read your Constitution, compare it to Trump and his Party, and get back to me.
6
@Andre Van Doren
Have I got a Manafort et al, for you.
Tasty word salad. Maybe stay out of the comments section and try to read the articles.
1
The senate majority leader is a major position in our country. Such a person should have the guts and courage to do what is in the best interests of America as a whole, not just for a select group of people that includes the President, his base and some political commentators. But Mitch McConnell possesses none of the skills of a true statesman who would place country above personalities and whims. I can't wait for President Trump to lash out against the senator again when things don't go the President's way. Senator McConnell will be ready and waiting to grovel before Mr. Trump and lick his shoes.
9
@Howard Herman
Yes, Trump wants to Make America Grovel Again.
1
Always really to sell basic principles— the GOP is now firmly against the separation of powers... and they already stacked the Supreme Court with low life’s that will go along with them
5
"No matter how cynical I become, I can't keep up." Attributed to Lily Tomlin
And with this latest information about McConnell, I'm now three steps behind where I should be in my wallow of cynicism - and Mulvaney doesn't help, with his "giddiness" about shutdowns.
6
The next 6 years are going to be very interesting.
1
Hard to deal with a president with the demeanor of a 10-year old. Next election can't come soon enough!
4
Every day, in every way Trump shows what an incompetent man he is. He is willing to defy every political ally on the planet, but he grovels for the approval of Ann Coulter! The border wall crisis was an invented issue created by Steven Miller and repeated so often that even Trump believes his own lie. Our Constitution is at risk. Therefore, the future of our country is at risk.
4
@Maureen Steffek
Instead of assuming that a guy that managed to get elected is incompetent, ask yourself, what are Trump's competencies, and what do they mean for our Republic?
Trump had been manipulating the media and white supremacists for decades. The didn't care what you think a president should do.
Don't ask what you can do for your Country. Ask what you can do for Trump.
@Maureen Steffek ...and therefore the future of the planet.
I wonder if someone can please present a sound case for Trump remaining in office until January, 2025. How is it good for the country and the world? 3-4 bullet points will do, and I don’t want to see “better than Liz Warren” or anything relative like that. I just want to see what Trump will do, on his own or with Congress, that you consider to be a plus, advancement, benefit, etc for a majority of Americans. For the common good, if you will. Curious what anyone can come up with. Thanks!
3
It's just past 7 AM here in the desert southwest. I expect a series of bombshells later today as an entirely unpredictable president, cornered and outraged, melts down. A shutdown remains a possibility, the declaration of a National Emergency on the border 60 miles from our home a near certainty, and a constitutional crisis inevitable.
Mitch McConnell, in fine form, waffles and appears to have thrown in the towel personally and for his political party. This is normally where I advise all to break out the popcorn and cerveza, kick back and enjoy the show. But today we are witnessing the opening skirmishes of a battle between our executive and legislative branches to be adjudicated by the judiciary. This battle is foolish, unnecessary and dangerous.
We should expect and demand more of our government than putting up with the wild rhetoric and insane posturing of Mr. Trump. There are real dangers facing our nation and they are not to be found on the southern border. Why, like a former vice presidential candidate, I can see the border from my back porch. Not much there except brush and coyotes (the ones with tails).
4
Trump should accept his lame duck status; the mid-term Blue Wave was a message from the American people: his policies are no longer fully embraced, and executive action looks like the desperate plea it is.
2
So, after almost 250 years of Americans venerating their Constitution, a caustic loudmouth television personality turned president throws the document into the shredder and the Republican head of the Senate...goes along with it? It is becoming very clear that the outsized pride Americans take in their country's institutions is radically misplaced. The vaunted separation of powers, the vaunted Constitution, the vaunted Office of the President of the United States, all are ephemeral wisps compared to a thuggish ignoramus with a xenophobic mob to keep happy.
Mitch McConnell has exactly one option to avoid being remembered for all time as an abject coward. He must announce, the moment Donald Trump signs the bill, that he is reneging on his promise to support the national emergency. Trump has literally made a career out of reneging on contracts. It's time he feels the sting of being the one who gets stiffed. We're waiting, Mitch.
5
If Obama had even hinted that he might declare a state of emergency, mitch McConnell would have been all over the place saying the president was becoming a dictator and would violate the constitution. But this time it's trump, so it's all good, everyone move along nothing to see........
12
We’ve seen Mitch Mcconnell divide Washington before. He blew up a president’s lawful duty to present a Supreme Court vacancy to the Senate for its “advice and consent,” and trashed the Constitution.
Now, when deep statesmanship is required to stave off a one-man takeover of the country—not just the government—the neo-Confederate General from (fittingly) Kentucky via (even more pointedly) Alabama, rather than fulfill his “sworn” oath to the Constitution and “to the country for which it stands,” Mcconnell is riding shotgun for the bank robber who held up the town and is getting out of Dodge.
Washington was divided in 1994 after Newton Gingrich rolled out his toxic “Contract With America” in which the hard Right all but declared a war to the death with moderation. On a time, centrist Republicans would fear to tread where McConnell is now: shoulder-deep in the fetid swamp of political ideology. He’s a savvy enough denizen of the swamp to know that there’s no going back and that the larger creatures eat the smaller ones.
The Southernor has, for all time, let us know who had his allegiance—and it’s not America. It never was.
9
Voters in South Carolina need to know that their Senator, Mr. McConnell, supports the destruction of the constitution in his support of the "Emergency" declaration. In other words, he is unAmerican.
What will be fun to watch in a few years will be the expressions on the faces of people like McConnell and his voters when the newly elected Democratic president uses emergency declarations to:
Ban the sale of guns to white men (they are a danger with guns);
Ban the sale of SUVs (their pathetically low mpg ratings are a danger to the environment);
Ban overpriced drugs and healthcare (their prices are a danger to the national well-being);
Ban drilling in the arctic (because American seals and polar bears are American too and they will be in danger).
Love the circus, thanks Mitch.
Or maybe, Mitch, it is time to support our government at the expense of your record of always winning for your rich overlords. Real Americans believe in the American Constitution, what about you Mitch?
Why didn't McConnell just let Trump veto the deal? He must have known there were plenty of votes in both houses to override because hardly any one, including McConnell, wanted another shutdown. Instead he promised Trump he'd support the executive order/emergency declaration, making things worse. What a wimp.
2
"Who cares? This is America--everybody sues everybody else."-Mitch McConnell: law maker, patriot, a Banana Republican who is focused on making the Supreme Court and the entire federal judiciary subsidiaries of the Federalist Society. Our democracy is in good hands.
1
This is a smarter move by McConnell, as long as you don't mind hanging Trump out to dry. He accepts a bad deal for Republicans and gets Trump to sign it. The only way he gets Trump to sign it is to make him think they can use an emergency to build it without Congress.
The wall will get dumpstered by the courts. Trump gets to play victim of the "liberal activist court system" that is majority conservative. He appeases his base. Trump gets embarrassed once again. And McConnell finally gets what he wants - the pressure off congressional Republicans on the stupid wall issue that was dragging on them like an anchor. McConnell has probably already accepted that the next president will be a democrat. But he got his tax cuts and SCOTUS seats, and now all he needs to do is play damage control until Democrats manage to shoot themselves in the foot over the Green New Deal or something similar.
2
The Con Don's mafia - hard at work:
The Butterfly reserve on the border is a safe place for butterflies to rest on their journeys south and north during migration. A wall would cut the property in half so the people in charge filed suit to stop a wall. The Con Don's boys are cutting down the trees right now - before any legal action can be taken. Just like the mafia and other crooks who think they are above the law.
They took federal employees and WE THE PEOPLE hostage while they shut down OUR government so they could rob it and try to evade OUR laws without interference. Just like the mafia.
His man in charge of trying to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was put in place by President Obama and Senator Warren to protect 99.9% of us from them, has rolled back controls on payday lending, which is mafia-type loan sharking.
They are all laughing at WE THE PEOPLE. Who is going to stop them? They don't think anyone has the guts to stop them. They are the biggest, most lying, corrupt, socially unconscious, morally/ethically bankrupt people who have ever inhabited OUR planet.
What if all the students in a school kept in fear by a bully and his/her few accomplices confronted them and had them kicked out of school? The school would return to civility and a nurturing educational environment.
People in power must step in right now and put The Con Don, Minister Pence and Traitor McConnell under citizen's arrest so Speaker Pelosi can take over.
4
Mitch McConnell is always happy to suspend the Constitution and flush democracy down a drain for Grand Old Power.
He did it in 2016 with Merrick Garland.
He did it in in 2017 when he removed the 60-vote rule for the Supreme Court nominations with the biggest popular-vote losing President in history.
He's doing it again now to support Trumpty Dumpty's Martial Law Wall.
There is no greater enemy of American democracy than the wretched Mitch McConnell and his Republican monarchy.
416
@Socrates FYI
The sixty vote filibuster rule was never in the Constitution, it Is just a Senate rule passed in 1917 to allow closure of debate. Senate Rule 22 allows cloture, the end of debate, if voted for by 60 Senators. The rule was first removed for Federal judges, except for the Supreme Court, by Harry Reid when the Dems had the majority but McConnell kept blocking Obama appointments. It was used by McConnell to block Garland, then removed to get Gorsuch.
It still remains in effect for all ordinary Senate bills unless they can be passed under a provision called reconciliation to save the government money.
4
@Socrates
The Founding Fathers " flushed democracy down the drain."
By creating a divided limited power constitutional republic of united states where they only intended that all white Anglo-Saxon European Protestant men who owned property were divinely naturally created equal persons with certain unalienable rights. And they originally allowed and trusted even them to directly vote for and elect their member of the House of Representatives.
Because votes cast in one state do not matter nor count in any other state in allocating meaningful Electoral College votes majorities, Trump won the only popular vote that the Constitution requires, recognizes and reveres.
McConnell is the enemy of the Constitutional American republic checks and balances. After the judiciary the Senate is the second least democratic branch of our republic. Every state has two Senators.
12
I wonder how many people don't realize that when the constitution was wrote that it had a checks and balance system built into it.
I know one person that doesn't understand that, Donald Trump.
Congress comes first in the document and the founding gathers did that to keep all the power out of one person's hands and it should be congress that stops Trump.
However if they don't then the third party will be called on the courts and they have in the past stopped presidents from rewriting the constitution.
Come on congress do your job.
25
He doesn't care, BTO. His International Mafia brethren put him into OUR white house to try to destroy the rule of law - and OUR America.
It must not stand. Not now. Not ever.
Glad Trump is declaring a national emergency. We have 20MILLION illegals in the country, each of whom takes an American’s job and/or depresses wages.
The only people that don’t care are the ones who sit behind computers for work and don’t have to compete with them for work. Plus they get cheaper fancy meals and cheaper condos and cheaper nannies. Completely selfish.
Trump has much more empathy for the working folk. A wall will work great against these monthly migrant caravans, just like it has for Israel on its border with Egypt. Just Wikipedia it.
Everyday would work great but result in the 20 M illegals already here to be out of work and on the streets. Very cruel liberal proposal.
5
@Jay Lincoln thank you for the honest comment. I too go to the dying legacy media left-lib media sites like this to pick up fights. It is a good time to fight. My cordial wishes to you
1
@Jay Lincoln, you're about as uninformed about this as a person can get.
3
@Jay Lincoln
Thanks Vlad, we don't need your division. Nice touch invoking Lincoln.
3
So Mitch McCoward, despite being the senatorial parent in charge of White House toddler control, had to give in to yet another tantrum by the Whiner-in-Chief. Thankfully, House Democrats won't let him get away with it. And the raging reality show brat will have a hard time convincing the courts that the refusal of Congress to fund his campaign ploy amounts to a "national emergency" on the southern border.
24
Congress, the only thing you need to be doing it your constitutional obligation to protect the country from a deranged madman. Stop rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic and do it.
91
McConnell, "sentimental as a scythe." Nice.
70
“Who cares? This is America — everybody sues everybody else,” said McConnell.
Mitch McConnell is reckless and feckless and it will be great day
when he is voted out, when his party fails miserably.
193
@Franomatic
Dear Franomatic,
I think you misunderstood Mr. McConnell. He is not in favor of this emergency declaration, but agreed to support it to get the spending bill passed.
He knows very well that the emergency declaration will get tied up in the courts and Mr. Trump will not get anymore money by declaring a national emergency.
That is why he said "Who cares. This is America - everybody sues everybody."
Mr. McConnell is a pretty clever fellow.
1
@gpickard
Pretty clever? How about one of the worst and most divisive people this Country has ever produced?
20
@gpickard
LIAR!
McConnel has more than what you claim at his disposal to run circles around the President. and he simply won't do it.
3
Mitch McConnell should know nothing is over in Trumpland until Ann Coulter, et al have spoken.
19
Watching this “sausage “ being made I find it amazing that our government works at all, particularly this administration
6
“I think the president has finally learned that shutdowns don’t work — at least I hope he has learned that — because you never know,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Are we about to learn that the presidential declaring of National Emergency, because Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs are throwing a fit, does not work either?
Where does it end mumbling Mitch? When the despot in chief calls for your head on a pike?
16
"Who cares" ? You, Mr. McConnell should care. This is a grievous distortion of the legislative process, and a frightful setting of a precedent we will all, no doubt, come to regret. Once out of the bag, there's no turning back. And for what? The vanity of a deeply disturbed individual who wants to see his name on plaques every few feet. Shame, shame, and shame again--you are living up to you reputation as the Senate's most unprincipled leader in history.
150
Quote from this article:
“Who cares? This is America — everybody sues everybody else,” according to a person the leader spoke to late Thursday. “”
We care! We the people of the United States.
We are better than this nonsense.
Shame on you!
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@M
Every once in a while a politician accidentally lets the truth slip out.
8
“Sentimental as a scythe” - lovely turn of phrase
20
Every story is framed like a pinch-fight between the President and the press.
Mr. McConnell has clearly lost his mind. He decided it was more important to bend to a tantrum throwing poor excuse of a president than to uphold the constitution that is the breath of our country. Shame on you, Mr. McConnell. I hope you lose your position in the next election.
38
What a fitting legacy and epigraph from Mitch McConnell: "Who cares?"
142
Senator McConnell is getting exactly what he deserves. He made his political bed with this president and now has to lie down with him and support what he knows is an un-Constitutional power grab by an enraged despot.
His fellow Senators don't like this move nor do the majority of Americans. Maybe McConnell now knows why he was foolish to put the president and his party over the good of the country.
32
So, Congress' power of the purse will be challenged, resulting in a constitutional crisis. Meanwhile, Trump maintains his cult like hold on his base. And McConnell, once again, puts party before country. The GOP is a destructive, contemptuous party that only pretends to care about the rule of law when it suits them. Beyond disgusted.
71
And thus the sausage is made.
7
"Mr. McConnell, quickly shifting from opposing the declaration to managing its rollout, snapped back, “Who cares? This is America — everybody sues everybody else,”
As one who fervently hopes that Mr. Trump finally gets what's coming to him, I would like to amend my wish list to include Mr. McConnell. He has single-handedly caused more damage to our democracy than any other. From his blatantly anti-constitutional denial of President Obama's SCOTUS appointment, to his craven support for the ignorant narcissist currently in charge, he has much for which to answer. Karma, if you are listening, I hope you find a fitting way to chastise the miscreants who have so defiled our democracy.
247
@Kevov Perfectly stated, and I would add Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham to that list of miscreants for Karma's reprisal.
29
@Kevo
Here, here. All in agreement raise your hand. Both of mine are up.
12
Every day I awaken & cautiously read the news to learn of the latest Trump horror story. What has the narcissist done today? Last week, there was a 3 day hiatus when Trump did not dominate the front page. I felt relieved but here we are with another assault on our democracy as Trump seeks to expand his power to match Putin.
Trump has the perfect scam. Aided and abetted by McConnell, Trump is free to abuse the Emoluments Clause, he's became dictator via "emergency powers", and the long awaited Mueller report we hoped would save our democracy may never see the light of day.
All it takes is an aberrant "tweet" to push stock prices higher or lower, aka: "inside trading" heaven. Incredibly, many believe Trump can pardon himself no matter the crime.
With Russian help, America’s transition to an Oligarchy is complete. Trump can do whatever he wants and amass unlimited wealth & power.
Rest in Peace that America that led the world in innovation, that saved WW II. The America of Eisenhower, FDR & Lincoln is no more.
45
Frankly I think the real explanation for McConnell's behavior is his wife. Trump is using her for blackmail!
We've seen how Trump treats his cabinet secretaries when they fall out of favor. McConnell knows well that will be the fate of his wife, Elaine Chao, the Transportation Secretary, if he crosses Trump.
If Republicans want to avoid the disaster (for them at least) this precedent will establish when the next Democratic President is elected, they need to ask McConnell (or his wife) to step down NOW!
15
So after criticizing Trump for threatening to declare a national emergency, Mitch McConnell announces that he is "going to support the national emergency declaration." Seldom have such meaningless words been uttered on the Senate floor. The whole point of Trump making a national emergency declaration is that he doesn't need anyone's support to do so. McConnell knows that his support of the emergency declaration is a hollow gesture. But consider how absurd it is that he believed that without this hollow gesture Trump would refuse to sign the funding bill. Consider further how absurd it is that this hollow gesture was enough to convince Trump to sign the bill. What's wrong with this picture? How can anyone in Congress, or anyone in the Trump Administration whose name is not Trump, not realize that our entire system of government is in shambles because of Trump? Enough is enough.
38
Can we please stop having government actions that arise from "Trump awoke in a rage....."
The headline I'd like to see next is: "Trump declared an emergency -- but at a price." The price needs to be that he's booted out of office.
19
"Conservative commentators who had been cajoled into accepting the deal..."
Wait, what? So this is confirmation that the country is really being run by a bunch of professional right-wing propagandists and latter-day Father Coughlins?
Not a surprise of course, but seeing it expressed so directly really reminds how low we have sunk.
83
This is the continuation of the "scorched earth" politics that started 30 years ago when negotiation models at the dinner table began to see its sunset. The new generation has lost it's way and we will pay dearly for this dysfunction.
9
I’ve come to the conclusion that McDonnell has become Trump’s biggest toddler coddler and enabler. The primary facilitator of a not so slow moving train wreck. The man who stood up to Obama in violating the Constitution on Senate “advise and consent” re: Merrick Garland now bows down and gives in to a fraudulent National Emergency that abdicates Congressional authority without so much as a wimper.
History will not look kindly on this man; a man who will trash the Constitution and governing norms to get his way at all costs. Very, very sad.
44
OK, Democrats. If this phony emergency goes through with the support of McConnell and his rubber-stamp Senate, we fully expect emergency declarations on the things that actually matter to large number of Americans like health care, gun control, etc.
If this is going to be the new normal, we should demand that Democrats work it just as hard as Republicans. No more turning the other cheek, no more playing by Marquess of Queensberry rules while the other side is kicking, gouging and shivving. Bring it on.
19
What a brutal degraded view Mr. McConnell has of our country.
We have all been distilled to litigants in a massive suit?
I hope the electorate and liberals wake up. Mr. Trump is merely a symptom of a much larger problem.
61
Patriotism is following the Constitution. Wrapping yourself in the flag and singing the anthem while you rip up the Constitution makes you a traitor, not a patriot.
Read your Constitution and its amendments, including the Bill of Rights. The Republicans are against almost all of it.*
Now they have a president using a campaign slogan a wedge to seize the power of the purse from Congress, with the help of the Senate majority leader!
This is not about a wall. This is about abusing the president's emergency powers to undermine the Constitution. This is how all democracies are taken over by dictators.
Trump said he wants to be president for life and keeps doing everything that a wanna be doctor does
*Republicans are against Justice and Tranquility, replacing them with unjust laws and order enforced by a violent militarized police state.
Instead of defence, they demand a global violent offense.
They are against promoting the general welfare. Instead, promoting the particular welfare of global billionaires.
They reserve liberty for the rich and measure posterity with quarterly reports.
So much for the preamble.
Article I clearly authorizes Congress to tax, regulate and spend. They are against iRepublicans borrow to finance cost plus contracts for their corporations while slashing their own taxes.
Republicans call the Bill of Rights "technicalities,"' and think they only protect Trump.
They want corporate theocracy.
Don't compromise with traitors!
14
@McGloin
Patriotism is a lie.
People misuse the ideology of patriotism.
What they mean is loyalty.
@Moehoward
Feudalism was about personal loyalty to the king.
Loyalty to your Constitution and We the People is actual patriotism.
Wrapping yourself in the flag and singing the anthem while dancing on the Constitution is what the Party of Trump does, and it is neither loyalty, nor patriotism.
3
Ever wonder if Mitch McConnell has any remorse for what he’s done?
11
@Ziggy Remorse would require a soul. McConnell has none.
@Ziggy No. I'm sure he doesn't.
“But Mr. McConnell is nothing if not adaptable.”
Indeed.
To a person like Donald Trump, that translates as: “Mr. McConnell is nothing.”
7
Mitch McConnell, enemy of democracy, rule of law, the Constitution of the United States, and the Nation as a whole. A man who has done more to undermine our nation's institutions than anyone else during my 61 years on the planet. Spineless and unprincipled to boot. A pox upon his house.
191
McConnell may be a great political tactician, but he just took a huge step toward opening Pandora's Box. If an administration can create dire conditions - as the Trump administration has with his draconian immigration policies ... and then exaggerate that, and wrap that in a tissue of lies, and fabricate a National Emergency, we are all in a lot of trouble.
To then use this as an excuse to take funds that congress has appropriated for one thing and redirect them to something for which congress has not appropriated funding ... WOW, by supporting this strategy McConnell is giving up its largest power - the power of the purse - and greatly increased executive power.
With this precedent, we can expect to presidents see presidents of both parties create national emergencies to make policy and pay for things not authorized by congress,
A dem president might declare climate change, or gun violence national emergencies to take funds from say the military to enact carbon reduction.
I actually think that climate change and gun violence ARE national emergencies - but the point is, by supporting this charade, congress is giving up its constitutional power to decide how taxes collected are spent.
This is what we get from the republican's political expediency of supporting this woefully unfit, uneducated, intellectually incurious, self aggrandizing person - Trump.
You got big tax cuts for the wealthy and business, and 2 Supreme Court justices. was it was not worth it?
NOT!!
14
So Mr. "Art of the Deal" rejected a bill last summer and had to accept a bill giving him less this time around. Now, that's leadership.
6
If this is indeed how the deal went down — McConnell changed his position on the national emergency declaration as a concession to the president for signing the compromise bill and averting a shutdown — he is even stupider than I thought him to be on Wednesday. Had he any testosterone in his body, he would have told the president that if he declared a national emergency, he would personally marshal enough Senate votes to pass a disapproval resolution with a veto-proof margin. The only way to negotiate with bullies is to assure them that you hold all the cards, and you will not be intimidated. Just ask Nancy Pelosi.
119
@Ockham9
You misunderestimate McConnell. He is attacking the Constitution as much as Trump and has been doing it far longer.
6
President who? Apparently ruling by fiat, threats, tantrums, rages, and executive orders hasn't worked so well lately. Declaring a National Emergency should also prove fruitless.
We have grown-ups in the room now who know how to govern.
Get out of their way. Please.
12
The picture of Sean Hannity and Jared Kushner says a lot about the influencers of Trump. Chuck, Nancy and even Mitch don't hold sway with Trump as much as Sean, Rush and Ann do.
12
Scott,
Great call on the photo! That photo shows the same kind of "minders" as seen in N.K. and a few other places.
Who cares indeed. Not this president. He's just trying to placate some know-nothings that want a wall. And for what, to end our democracy! If he follows through with the "emergency" declaration, it is the beginning of the end of the Constitution.
Let's see those tax returns. Lock him up.
49
McConnell the shrewd politician and baby sitter. Every day, I am speechless to the new lows that occur in the White House.
20
There is nothing "shrewd" about McConnell. Shrewdness requires intelligence, and I am not impressed by his.
The republicans controlled all branches of government for two years and did absolutely nothing about the wall. Suddenly in late December, as democrats are about to take control of the House of Representatives, it becomes a cris and a “national emergency”. If Trump and McConnell thought building a giant wall was such a great idea, why didn’t they do this a year ago? This is a cheap political stunt. When trump sizes up the American electorate he bets on fear and racism every time. Is he wrong?
513
@Baldwin
All true, but I think this is more than a stunt.
It is far more likely that he whole point of the wall was to give Trump an opportunity to test his emergency powers. If he can build a wall no one wants, without Congress, he can declare an emergency and suspend elections.
32
@Baldwin
this is not cheap. this is at the minimum cost of redefining what a national emergency is and how presidents can use it as theater. the maximum price may be democracy itself as we waddle into an authoritarian state.
19
@Baldwin
What does logic and principle and reason and facts have to do with winning and keeping partisan political governing power in America?
In the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Presidential elections 57%, 59% and 58% of the white European American majority voted McCain/Palin, Romney/Ryan and Trump/Pence.
Obama won by turning out black voters particularly black women in record numbers. Hillary Clinton was unable to do that.
There was no greater " cheap political stunt" in American history than turning the inheritance of a New York City real estate empire and playing a businessman on a reality TV show into occupation of the Oval Office of the White House.
Aided and abetted by Julian Assange, Bill Clinton, James Comey, Mitch McConnell, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
11
By not giving Trump a real compromise, Nancy Pelosi brought upon her base, her institution and the nation real problems. Now the Dreamers and Temporary Protected people will lose their protected status. If Trump declares an emergency and the court approves it, Congress will lose its power to the President. Illegal immigration issue will continue and it will create more problems for the poor and ordinary people of America by taking away their jobs, depressing wages and taking away their public resources. Trump will retain a political issue that will please his people and depress democratic base. Good job, Nancy!
3
@Alex E: So it’s Nancy Pelosi’s fault for “not giving Trump a real compromise”? No measure that was a compromise would be acceptable to Trump. He doesn’t even know the meaning of the word. The only way to deal with Trump is to wrestle him down to the floor and force him to concede. And McConnell should have done that too by threatening to override any veto Trump made.
26
@Alex E
"It's all Nancy's fault!"
The sequel no one wanted to the GOP's last hit, "It's all Obama's fault!"
7
@Alex E
Not everything is worthy of compromise.
Republicans did not compromise one inch on the ACA, which was trying to deliver better health coverage to Americans. Trump's idiotic wall, an ineffective waste of money that was only ever intended to be a red-meat applause line, is nothing but a political stunt that does not deserve to be rewarded.
10
Mr.McConnell made the wrong decision in response to the rage of Trump.He should have said, “ There is no sentiment in Congress for a government shutdown.You can veto the bill and we will override it”.Why do people humor Trump- he needs to learn how government works and abide by the law! Republicans allow him to create havoc- I hope voters punish these Republicans.
363
A veto over-ride requires the same number of votes as throwing Trump out of the White House. That would be the smarter option.
24
@Steve Bolger Technically, it requires more, as the veto requires 2/3 in both houses. But a veto override is (and should) be standard operating procedure to keep the government functioning and to provide checks on the executive and the Republicans have abdicated even that limited responsibility.
10
McConnell appears to believe that they need Trump's supporters to hold their own seats. They fear Trump. Far as I'm concerned, that makes them more useless than Trump.
10
The GOP, across the board, reinforces an emerging truism that they are incapable of governing.
209
@Joe Bigsley: Incapable of basic decency and humanity.
4
Just as the GOP can no longer claim to be the party of fiscal discipline, if they let this declaration stand, they will no longer be qualified to express any concern about executive overreach.
Caveat emptor.
253
WE THE PEOPLE must not let it stand, Joe C.
WE are the only ones who can will stop them. Who has the courage? Two women got angry enough to start the Women's March on Washington the day after the hostile financial takeover sham inauguration.
Step up Truly Good People in power in OUR political, legal, military and secret service complexes and STOP THEM NOW. You lead, WE THE PEOPLE will follow.
2
@njglea-Along those lines, taxpayers in mostly blue states with higher costs of living have been unfairly targeted by the Trump Republican tax overhaul (aka wealth transfer). Blue state residents pay for the bulk of federal government-derived benefits enjoyed by red state residents. Seems like the blue states should be able to push back threats like this latest from Trump, who by the day proves he is mentally and emotionally unstable.
1
Hello, the Congress just passed a budget to fund nine cabinet departments and dozens of agencies, allocating hundreds of billions of dollars.
How much money? Where does it go?
Yes, the trumped up immigration issue is important, and the impending constitutional crisis is much more important. But isn't the budget itself -- total spending, big ticket items, comparison of social to military spending, and changes from last year -- worth even a mention?
36
@Albanius
You're looking behind the screen. You're looking at the REAL bargaining that's going on. No Fair!
4
@Albanius It's Mr. Trump who made this about immigration. Not the Times.
The question is whether Congress-people will feel that their power has been usurped and act to take it back, either through legislation or impeachment. Not sure if there are enough good people to do this.
33
"Then President Trump awoke in a rage Thursday, feeling cornered into accepting a bipartisan funding deal struck earlier in the week that would deprive him once again of money for his long-promised wall along the southwestern border. "
I'm sick and tired of government by presidential rage. I'm sick and tired of the way Republicans tip-toe around this rage, and support his move into uncharted territory that could change this country forever.
Mitch McConnell is actually more dangerous than Donald Trump, because he knows the Constitution, while Trump really doesn't.
This short-term answer to Trump and McConnell's political dilemma is turning us into crazy land. These men are so obsessed with maintaining power, that they will use a law never designed for use by an authoritarian.
Shame on both of them and the entire Republican party.
577
@ChristineMcM
This is just the purest, undiluted evidence that the Republican party on behalf of its oligarch paymasters, is conducting open warfare on the majority of the country.
McConnell and his rubber-stamp Senate don't care in the slightest what Trump does as long as they can continue deregulating, ramming through right-wing judges and justices, gaming the tax code, etc.
144
Life is evidently a continuous state of panic in Trumpland.
19
@Steve Bolger: Given your glib and snarky comment reply to my post, please tell me how you feel about this entire sorry episode. I've never found you particularly partisan, usually reasonable, but you seem awfully sanguine about an angry president grabbing power from Congress for something that is truly not an emergency.
13