This is what your wingnut uncle was watching tonight on Hannity. Nothing is at it seems. A vast conspiracy of disloyal Republicans has plotted against President Trump. But their deeds have been uncovered. They will soon all be in prison. And all will be well. Watch this short video after the jump. Read More
The Senate is now voting on the House CR. Still expected to fail. Our report from the Hill soon after the vote …
Earlier this month, the White House announced it was ending so-called “temporary protected status” for some 200,000 Salvadoran migrants living in the United States. The migrants were allowed into the US following two major earthquakes in 2001. El Salvador is a poor, small country. Reintegrating 200,000 people will likely be a highly destabilizing process and certainly very expensive. According to reports in Al Jazeera and Reuters, the government of El Salvador is in talks with Qatar to see if those migrants expelled from the US can be sent to Qatar. Read More
A new poll from The Washington Post shows that the public overwhelmingly blames Trump and the GOP for what seems to be an imminent government shutdown. 48% blame Trump and Republicans, 28% blame Democrats. A key indicator: independents fault the GOP 46% to 25%. None of this is a surprise. Those who are surprised are deluded or not paying attention. Every factor that plays into how the public views these questions makes the Republicans seem like the ones to blame. Read More
House passes stopgap spending bill 230-197: 5 Dems voted for it; 11 Republicans voted against it. Senate passage appears unlikely and so Friday will probably be another day of intra-party brinkmanship.
The Freedom Caucus, after its usual Hamleting, has agreed to support the House GOP leadership’s short-term budget, virtually guaranteeing it’s passage this evening.
There’s goes most of the evening’s drama. Or … was there really genuine drama in the first place?
The dance is so well-rehearsed at this point that maybe the price of Freedom Caucus acquiescence is allowing them to Hamlet. The legislative “concession” they extract is more or less besides the point. The real point is public prancing about being more purely conservative than Ryan et al.
It’s getting tired.
Senator Cotton confirms that his office sends out ‘cease and desist’ letters to constituents “under extreme circumstances.”
A few interesting things to note about Bannon’s House testimony today, as described by Axios. Having started by saying he wouldn’t answer any questions about events during the transition or his time in the White House, Bannon flubbed and did discuss a key event: a conversation with Priebus, Spicer et al. about the Don Jr./Trump Tower meeting. Accident? That indisciplined? (The idea that privilege applies to the transition seems to be a complete nonstarter.) Read More
Longtime TPM Reader BW has an interesting hypothesis about the chatter surrounding President Trump’s medical exam results. Read More