A closed-door lunch Tuesday with Senate Republicans and administration officials left lawmakers feeling confused and concerned, as President Donald Trump’s people spoke in ambiguities despite the looming tariff decision.
According to a Politico report, Republicans spent the lunch hammering White House deputy counsel Pat Philbin and Assistant Attorney General Steve Engel about their dislike of tariffs, threatening a veto-proof vote to nullify Trump’s national emergency declaration.
Some Republicans, more wary of defying the President, came away frustrated, as the officials could only speak in broad-strokes about alternate plans. Trump and most of his Cabinet are currently in the UK, leaving behind few people with decision-making power to caucus with the Republicans.
Trump has said he’ll decide whether or not to levy tariffs on Mexico in less than a week.
Hmmm, a vote to nullify the emergency, thereby blowing up the build the wall effort as well?
Yeah, I should live so long to actually see the rethugs do the right thing.
I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again. Trump is going to announce some sort of bullshit progress being made, a reduction in migrants crossing the border. Some government monitoring agency somewhere in the bowels of DC will cough up statistics backing his assertion Mexico has done as he’s asked, and the tariffs will be suspended until further notice.
The Repukes are caught in a bind. They can make Trump back down and lose the deplorables vote or let the tariffs stand and get punished in the 2020 election because the economy will have cratered. I would prefer the former because of the suffering an economic collapse would cause but they don’t care about anything other than getting reelected.
Maybe in Trump’s eighth term, the Republicans might finally wake up, splitting headache and every movement painful, and regret this binge. Right now, though, they are drunk on power, and enjoying being belligerent and abusive too much to stop.
When are the Republicans going to wake up to the fact that DJT does not give a damn about them just as he doesn’t give a damn about anyone other then himself and Ivanka.