Trump's Got A Dirty Russian Secret. Wonkagenda For Monday, January 2, 2017
Happy New Year, Wonketariat! Shake off the last of your hangovers and grab your pre-brunch drinks because we got some stuff to 'splain! Here's some of the stories we may be talking about today!
Donald Trump knows something you don't know about the Russian hacking because he knows "a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else." It could be, but it's not.
The GOP doesn't care who's in charge, there are many of them, and they have a plan: pass the same string of 30-year-old failures on top of repealing Obamacare and setting rivers on fire.
Those posh liberals at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are nervous about Trump because he lies like a drunk husband covered in cheap lipstick and bad perfume. But don't expect the Wall Street Journal to call them "lies", they're more like unfavorable reality distortion bubbles; they are bad for business.
Sonny Perdue is the leading candidate for Agriculture Secretary, and that's great if you think the power of prayer can help end a drought, feed the icky poors, or stop rivers from catching on fire.
Darrel Issa wants tort reform instead of Obamacare because it's really all the law suits on shitty doctors that are driving up the cost of healthcare, and not excessive charges by insurance and drug companies.
Mar-a-Lago is set to be Trump's retreat, like Bush 43's ranch, or Reagan's spaced-out day dreams, allowing Donald Trump to hold court with the 1%, and still be able to shit in gold toilets.
A rich white lady wanted "black people food" for her dude ranch and, bless her heart, she just don't understand why ya'll might call her racist.
The U.S. is dumping spec-ops troops and cash in the Baltics in an attempt to prop up countries nervous about Vladimir Putin leering atop his step ladder at the former Soviet bloc.
Joe Scarborough really would like it if you'd stop gossiping about his gaymo-sexual love affair with Donald Trump. They're just friends, OK?
And here's your morning Nice Time, baby elephants!
Basically, it's political farce. Ideologically the GOP must follow through on repealing the ACA. But they're facing resistance from a number of sources including the insurance industry, medical and hospital associations, interest groups like AARP, etc., not to mention the apparition of some 22 million people losing insurance coverage. So their caught in a bind. Their plan appears to be to produce a smoke and mirrors trick that allows them to wave their ideological flag and replace the ACA with a remarkably similar plan branded with the GOP label that will not actually be activated for several years of "transition".
Ya know, I just have difficulty calling what the GOP says they stand for an "ideology". I'm no political scientist, but the hodgepodge of partisan political bullshit that is so commonly characterized as "conservatism" just sounds like the whinging of a bunch of spoiled children - no consistency except that it opposes anything they don't like and which doesn't provide them with any direct interest.
I guess in that sense, they have to follow through on their umpteen attempts to repeal....