Trump gets schooled in the shutdown by an ‘alpha’ Nancy Pelosi

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | January 25, 2019 | Joe Garofoli

[artichokegrower]

Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States. — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 25, 2019

[JoSixChip]

Okay, your right. I took what you said out of context, it just struck me as so over the top that I looked no further. My apologies.

[MagillaX]

Trump just hasn’t found a good name to call them yet. I am partial to Dippy Dems

[JLAGRAYFOX]

I stand with Trump...too, 100%!!! Within three weeks Trump will have his wall funding approved or, he will declare a national emergency and take direct action to secure the Southern Border and protect USA citizens.

Pelsoi will be gone by the end of this year...she is mentally unstable, cannot communicate effectively and The Democrats know it.

Keep your eyes on the “Master”...Trump, this game is far from over. Trump gave Pelosi a way out...for the moment, but her glory will end within the next three weeks, one way or the other. There will be walls, barriers, fences, etc.

[hal ogen]

She is such an absolute drama queen who suffers from mittens admiration . Can you say “that time of month”?

[Shortstop7]

Agreed. Prayers for our President.

[Pagey]

The B—— needs to shut up. He has given himself 3 more weeks , of offers, back + forth w/ the RATS, who will NEVER come to the table , + on the 22nd day or so , he will proclaim a “National Emergency on the Southern Border”. Then + only then, will his lawyers have had the time needed to back up such a claim, that he is 100% allowed to do as President. In the end , I still won’t ever have to listen to her disrespect the President from afar again. Go Piss off Ann!

[Neidermeyer]

I can see parts of the budget being approved where there is no disagreement ,, I suspect Trump will not allow long term funding of the portions that he wants to eliminate as we were all suspecting would happen with RIF of the SES and others.

ALSO

I haven’t seen RBG in a long while ,, seems like a news blackout on her ... sick? or dead? I don’t think they can hide her (body) for 3 weeks if she is dead... we’ll have another Circus in confirmation hearings soon...

[Ancesthntr]

I ate some broccoli tonight that is smarter than Nanzi Pelousy. Trump just paid the federal workers and stopped massive air traffic problems, while continuing to look reasonable, and simultaneously laid down the gauntlet on the declaration of emergency issue. I can guarantee that everything that makes Trump who he is dictates that he will have to follow through with that.

[nathanbedford]

Downstream from the Culture

Much has been made of the fact that the president stands nearly alone, and so he does. The question is, why is the most powerful man in the world so lonely in fighting for common sense and entirely rational solutions to very real problems that confront the nation?

Conservative cite Rinos in the Senate who overtly and covertly desert the president on shutting down the government to gain the wall. Peel off this layer of the onion, why are these senators behaving like classic Rinos? The answer is deeper than the obvious, they are behaving like Rinos because they, of course, are in fact Rinos, but why so? Why do these senators regard it to be in the best interests of the country and more likely in their own best interests to be seen opposing the president? Why do many of them feel that they must soon openly oppose the president publicly in his fight for the wall? Why are so many Republican Senators silent in the face of atrocities by Mueller?

Put yourself in the shoes of a elected Republican official and ask yourself, what are the countervailing forces to which I must respond as a politician? Where does my survival lie? If I sustain the president in his fight, who will be for me, who will be against me and who must I fear the most? This elected official, let us say a Senator, hears from his base, he looks up and down the census tables at the demographics of the state, he surveys the donor lists which financially sustain him in his upcoming campaign, he considers the institutions which will react favorably or unfavorably and reluctantly goes public as and when he is forced to. Put another way, the Republican politician asks himself what will sustain me if I behave as a conservative and what will sustain me if I behave as a Rino?

So this politician looks at the landscape. He considers the base and it is clear that the base of Republicans is at best split. Most want a wall but most want the music to keep on playing. In other words, they want a wall but they do not want to pay a political cost to get it. The Senator knows that his base is divided between committed conservatives, opportunists, special interests, and many sunshine Republicans. He reasonably concludes that there is no special pain or gain to be had either way to conclusively drive a decision to support or not to support.

The politician considers the demographics. Of coarse this survey varies with the peculiar geography of his state but more and more demographics to a politician mean race, age and gender. As America turns from white to brown, this politician must be mindful of the risk that he will offend voters of color in supporting a wall. If he considers the age of his constituents he knows that those most consistently in support of a wall are dying off and those who are young, while not consistent voters, are consistently against anything, such as a wall, which even smacks of racism. He knows there numbers are swelling rather than dying off. The Politician looks at gender and concludes that the Republican message is being rejected by women, especially by single women and the trend is worsening by the election cycle. We white male conservatives would do well to take a look at women's magazines especially those aimed at teenage girls in order to understand why it is we are losing the women's vote. Women do not want the government shutdown, they do not clearly favor a wall, they certainly do not want to see children ripped from their mothers breasts. Many take their opinion from magazines which ostensibly deal with fashions and cosmetics.

Next our politician turns his attention to his donor list. The first name on that list is Mitch McConnell because McConnell, like Pelosi, gains his power because he is a fount of money at election time. McConnell has demonstrated in the last few cycles that he can make or break a Senator with few exceptions, such as Ted Cruz insurgency in the Texas senator's initial campaign. We have seen the ruthless power of Mitch McConnell and it has not been exercised on behalf of conservatism or on behalf of those who might conceivably be conservative if they gain the Senate. To the contrary, time and again we have seen Mitch McConnell use his financial clout to advance Rinos who will not challenge his power. If the politician considers other sources of money, he sees a diffuse electorate in favor of the wall and a phalanx of special interests who want cheap labor. For most senators if the issue is to be decided on the matter of money alone, it is a no-brainer.

Finally, a Senator looks at the institutions which shape our culture and mold our opinion. If he is a conservative he is looking at a bleak desert. He considers the media and finds that he is confronted with very few exceptions at home by nothing but enemies. The State newspapers, the local television stations, the local radio stations, newscasts are all blatantly leftist. He must rely on national and local talk radio and some social media but otherwise the media climate is utterly hostile to conservatism. He considers the role of opinion makers other than the media such as universities and concludes that if he presents himself as a conspicuous conservative the university culture in his state will isolate and humiliate him. He notes that the universities are becoming demographically significant tumors of liberalism in conservative states. He also notes that the reason the youngsters are opposing every conservative initiative, especially the wall, is because they have emerged from our institutions of learning fully indoctrinated. What about the churches, he asks? Catholic or Protestant, these institutions have been subverted by the left. The open attack against Christianity has not for the most part caused these institutions to fight back against their leftist tormentors, rather they submit their doctrine and their faith to ever more ignominious appeasements. Why should the politician go for the wall when the church will not go to the wall for him? The Catholic Church is under assault, the national Council of churches has been fully subverted; explicitly fundamentalist faith is the subject of incessant public humiliation. There is no longer a real Christian base for conservatives that can carry the day. What about the institutions of business, are they not inherently conservative by nature? Not today. Once the left succeeds in hanging the label of a racist on any policy position they do not favor, businesses have no viable option but to play along.

So the treacherous Rino Senator, or House Representative in the mold of Paul Ryan, may be less than noble but he is fully rational. We fulminate because these people will not act against their own perceived best interest. We should be angry at ourselves for it is we who have debased our culture and left our politics to be dominated by those who immorally control the culture. Archimedes said, give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I will move the world. Leftists know how to move the levers which control our culture. In fact, they are so good at manipulating the culture they actually get us to pay for their manipulations. Why do we sustain National Public Radio and National Public Television? Why in the last so-called "budget" did Planned Parenthood receive a quarter of $1 billion from you the taxpayer? Why are we so lavishly funding global warming alarmists? We actually pay for everything we hate, we pay to call evil good and we pay to lose elections, we pay to kill babies.

Leftist control of the culture has become so invasive that the governor of the state of New York can actually safely celebrate the murder of babies in the womb seconds away from natural and healthy birth by ordering the Empire State building to be illuminated in pink light. Recall that Ted Kennedy's despicable indictment of judge Bork was not that abortion was a positive good but that Judge Bork's opposition to abortion would lead to back alley abortions. Today, the governor of New York is telling us that abortion is a moral good to be flamboyantly celebrated. This is how far we have come.

Politics is downstream from culture. Yes, the president is very much alone but America will not be made great again from these skirmishes along the Potomac, the whole American moral experiment must be conserved against a virulent leftist culture.

[SandwicheGuy]

I’m not sure what Trump will do, but I for one would be very cautious about gloating like Chuck and Nancy are doing. I hope the schadenfreude is on the way

I'k with you. I second-guessed Trump a few times and his way was always right. So I figured out he knows more than I do.

I'm sure he has this under control also. I think he is just leading Nasty Nancy and Doofus Shumer down the primrose path so he can play Whack-a-Mole in twenty-one days.

[trebb]

Don’t be a snowflake weenie - Trump is not only fighting hordes of evil armies but even the fickle “base” decides it hasn’t the balls to fight with and for him....the dictionary is going to get a lot bigger for all the pictures it will have to post of Trump “supporters” being pathetic.

[odawg]

Well, if you can break away from your hilarity, even Leftist need a smattering of credibility, and her double dealing would be just a bit too much out in the open if she reneged on her statement that she would open up the House chamber for a speech once the government shutdown was ended.

And, if she did, it would make her position weaker with the American people, not Trump.

[newnhdad]

Credibility? why will she care if her approval drops from 40%-35%? she doesn't have to worry about being elected.

She won because Trump backed down. If she opens the chamber, I'll be surprised. There is no reason for her to negotiate or cooperate. There is no downside for her except if she sits down with the president and validates his authority.

[Nicojones]

Excellent analysis, Nathan. Unfortunately, I see no historic reference where a society was able to peacefully and painlessly turns things around. In fact, the most likely scenario, based on history, is that we descend further along the path until everything collapses, just like where Venezuela now. Sadly, the open border policies from he 1960s and 70s have set our destiny. Resist we must and fight to stem the bleeding is our only rationale path, but are we just delaying the inevitable?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I can’t imagine he wouldn’t be. Not sure who our next Scott Walker will be, though. :(

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I, too, am convinced that this is FAR from over. :)

[avenir]

Saved to read this morning and did. Enjoyed your assessment. Made me think of this (an ancient problem of fallen man in every era):

“And now, go, write it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.
For they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

[nathanbedford]

…are we just delaying the inevitable?

This is the existential question and for me it is more than of just academic interest. I have six kids, six grandchildren, one great grandchild and I ask you, what should I advise them to do as they make their way at their various ages into the world? Do I tell them to live the life of an open conservative as I have not so subtly encouraged them to do, or should they affiliate themselves with some less distasteful manifestations of the leftist movement to disguise themselves during the time of trials to come?

Anticipating what might come, one in all good conscience has to seriously evaluate whether, for example, to join the NRA, to register a firearm, to register as a Republican, to profess a Christian faith because the downside implications after the deluge are ominous. My assumption is that it can get as bad as Venezuela, certainly careers will be ruined, social standing dashed, property confiscated and access to education, capital, associations will be foreclosed and, inevitably, everyday freedom will evaporate. Should the kids put their own yellow armband on or should they play it smart?

Against the course of all history as you have pointed out, what hope do we have that America will not go the way of Rome or England or any other great nation state? Well, there is the hope of technology. No one can predict where technology will lead us and it might come to pass that technology will prove our salvation. On the other hand, as Churchill put it, we may enter a darker age thanks to the lights of perverted science and it seems that Silicon Valley is rushing headlong to take us there.

We can hope for a spiritual awakening such as occurred in this country prior to the Declaration of Independence and at around the time of the Civil War. Perhaps it would be better to pray for such an awakening because rational hope in this cultural atmosphere is a very thin reed indeed.

You are right, "resist we must" because it is the duty of our generation to soldier on but I am concerned about the kids.

[nathanbedford]

Yup.

[slimer]

Celebrity Contestants

Sleeping Beauty, Superman and Pinocchio were walking down the street together when they came to a Night Club with a sign that said, "Beauty Contest - $50,000 prize and a trophy to the winner". Sleeping Beauty said, "wait here for me, I think I can win this contest". She goes in and a short while later comes out with a trophy and $50,000 dollars in cash.

So they walk a couple of more blocks and come to another Night Club with a sign that says, "Strongest Man in the World Contest, $50,000 and a trophy to the winner. Superman says, "wait here for me I think I can win this contest. A short while later he comes out with a trophy and $50,000 in cash.

They continue walking along and soon come to another club with a sign that says, "Greatest Liar in the World Contest, $50,000 and a trophy to the winner. Pinocchio says, "wait here for me I think I can win this contest. He goes in and Sleeping Beauty and Superman are waiting and waiting and waiting when finally Pinocchio comes out with a bewildered look on his face and nothing in his hands and says, " Who the hell is Nancy Pelosi?"