comment: >
  
  House Republicans are preparing for a big confrontation with the Biden White House over the debt ceiling—a confrontation that could, if played wrong, collapse the U.S. financial system and drag down the world economy. President Joe Biden has been preparing for this fight since 2011, the last time Republicans tried a similar trick. That year, the doomsday device was switched off seconds before it detonated by an agreement on a sequester that automatically cut spending on defense and domestic programs with little regard to merits. Even so, the S&P rating agency downgraded U.S. debt below triple A for the first time, and the stock markets spasmed. The sequester was ultimately jettisoned by Republicans during the Trump years.
  Have the House Republicans planned more carefully this time? Have they figured all the angles? In particular, have they taken into account the near-infinite capacity for treachery and backstabbing of the once and maybe future leader of their party, Donald Trump?
  Trump announced his 2024 candidacy back in November. For weeks, he’s done nothing much about it, but in the past few days, Trump has emerged again. Last week, he made speeches in New Hampshire and South Carolina. He hit familiar notes of racial and cultural resentment. He denounced critical race theory and “left-wing gender ideology.” He proposed that parents should elect school principals. You know what he did not talk about? Cutting the federal budget.
  Trump’s never been a fiscal-discipline guy. In 2016, he repeatedly promised never to tamper with Social Security or Medicare. That was one promise he kept while in office. Now his party is rushing to create a crisis over exactly the issues from which he distanced himself. If all goes well for Republicans, Trump may be happy to scoop up the credit. But if things begin to go badly …
  Recall the Republicans who campaigned in 2022 on Trump’s grievances over the 2020 election. After so many of them lost, what did Trump do? He turned on some of the very people he himself had endorsed. On his social-media platform, he said of a Trump loyalist who had lost a Senate race in New Hampshire: “Don Bolduc was a very nice guy, but he lost tonight when he disavowed, after his big primary win, his longstanding stance on Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Primary. Had he stayed strong and true, he would have won, easily. Lessons Learned!!!”
  Trump even more triumphantly heaped scorn on candidates who had expressed a preference for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over him, such as Joe O’Dea, who lost a Senate race in Colorado. Trump ridiculed O’Dea, but the real target of his derision was DeSantis. “Will they ever learn their lesson? You can’t win without MAGA!”
  Republican Party elites have drifted toward DeSantis. Yet Trump remains the clear favorite among the Republican rank and file, maintaining a 15-to-20-point lead on DeSantis in the latest Morning Consult polling. While DeSantis avoids tangling with Trump, Trump cheerfully insults “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
  Trump’s going to be on the prowl for ways to elevate himself and disqualify alternatives. If the polls go negative for Kevin McCarthy & Co. in the impending drama, they should brace themselves for Trump to demean and disparage them. He will show no party loyalty. He will want to say that he alone is smart, that everybody else is stupid, and that no issue—not the budget, not anything—should take priority over Trump, Trump, Trump.
  In November, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained his party’s disappointing showing in the 2022 midterms. Voters felt, he said, that Republicans “were not dealing with issues in a responsible way and we were spending too much time on negativity and attacks and chaos. They were frightened and so they pulled back.” His House colleagues have responded to that astute critique with even less responsibility, even harsher negativity, and even more frightening chaos. Maybe that’ll work better for them this time. If not, watch for Trump to head the blame parade, to aggrandize himself by betraying them.
  They should see it coming. They never do.
context: For Trump, loyalty goes only one way, towards him. 
  He expects 100% loyalty from everyone, and in return he offers absolutely no loyalty at all. 
  I just can't understand how anyone can possibly trust a word he says. >
  
  I don’t think they do. So many of his people have turned on him.
  I think there is a lot happening behind closed doors. He’s lost his power.
  He has some of the lunatic fringe base clinging to him as their god emperor, but I think his days are numbered in the arena of politics. >
  
  Has he?  I’ll believe it when I see it but I think he still has a staggering amount of influence and power that people are sleeping on. >
  
  I mean, throughout his presidency, he had an unprecedented amount of leaks coming from his administration, which is a stark sign of mistrust of his leadership.
  Almost his entire cabinet turned on him, you can see in the 1/6 testimony video their non verbal and facial expressions telegraphed they were over his bullshit.
  Fox News has even started turning on him, running critical segments. New York Post published that famous cover of Trumps face on Humpty Dumpty that was embarrassing, signaling he is losing support of Murdoch’s media empire.
  That’s telling, as it was his media empire that shielded his supporters from his malfeasance and misdeeds (I’m convinced through interactions many trump supporters have no clue of the extent of his misdeeds and failures, it just wasn’t covered/reported on, they maintained a narrative of “fake news”).
  Then you see some people speaking out in the GOP, I just think behind closed doors they are all sick of his bullshit but in a tough spot because they are scared of his base. 
  But I think his base has waned a lot too, the tide has seemed to shift towards DeSantis.
  I could be wrong, but I just don’t see him having a grip on the party like he used to. His presidential announcement for running went over like a wet fart, was low energy, the crowd looked bored as fuck.
  There were a couple of media invites to Mar-A-Lago for press conferences, and no one showed up. Not right wing media, not any media, no one. 
  It’s soft power at this point. His truth social tweets get like 3,000 likes or retweets (retruths?) 
  There’s enough for Republican opponents to eviscerate him on the debate stage. He’s at his best when he’s on the attack, not the defense, and there will be a LOT of ammunition that his GOP opponents will hammer him on the primary debate stage.
  He has 23 separate criminal and civil investigations and lawsuits happening, he is going to be tied up in court. Law firms have dropped him as a client in spades, he doesn’t have access to top attorneys anymore, and his legal battles are going to be exorbitantly expensive.
  He’s only getting older, and his ramblings are getting worse. He has rallies where people left early, and he just rambled forever, boring the crowd to death.
  I just don’t see it. >
  
  I mean, all of those things and he BARELY lost. Repubs fell in line and all of his “enemies” that actually got elected completely forgot he tried to kill them in a coup.  The two most vocal GOP members kinzinger and cheney immediately were removed. 
  This is trotted out over and over again.  Yes he fucks everyone over. Yes they all hate him. The moment push becomes shove, they fall in line and support him. He calls their wives ugly and tells everyone they begged him with tears in their eyes and they don’t even try and respond.  
  If there was even a remote chance in hell the GOP thought his time was up, they would be eviscerating him in the press and Desantis, who is evil but decidedly NOT stupid, would be releasing an easy slam dunk statement fighting back. But he isn’t and they aren’t. Why?  Because his supporters are willing to murder you for him the second he asks and they know this. He has so much power.
  Trump is bad for the GOP. He is their Pyrrhic victory when he wins because he doesn’t actually help them over himself and they know he’s going to clean house of all but his most loyal supporters. And still, they tweet and obstruct and protect him from those lawsuits. A normal government would have brought him to trial already. There’s a reason why he hasn’t actually been charged yet and it’s because the GOP is protecting him. >
  
  Fantastic points.
  I think of Peru’s recent election and the President tried to do something similar, and dissolve congress, they arrested him the same day.
  It’s sad that Peru (nothing against their country) was a model for addressing corruption so much better than America. >
  
  
  While DeSantis avoids tangling with Trump, Trump cheerfully insults “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
  
  lmao, you just know he stole that from someone. Sanctimonious is a five-syllable word. >
  
  Forsooth…
  Interesting also how no conservatives who crow on about “big words”, seem to have a problem with it? >
  
  That's because Trump has the best words. /s >
  
  Bigly! >
  
  Hamberder >
  
  Yeah but the reason this works with his base so well is because they don’t like the leaders in their own party. >
  
  Yeah but the reason this works with his base so well is because they don’t like ~~the leaders in~~ their own party. >
  
  Or themselves >
  
  To paraphrase Gandalf when he is explaining Gollum's attachment to the One Ring:
  They love and hate Trump, just as they love and hate themselves.😉 >
  
  Like a baby with a jack-in-the-box - always a surprise! >
  
  It will be glorious to watch. >
  
  Leopard face eating party? >
  
  Who would agree to be trump's VP candidate?  After he advocated for the last one to be killed by his followers as they bashed windows and doors at the capitol to try and depose the US Constitution?  George Santos maybe? >
  
  All of them would. It’s just about making a name for yourself so you can build a brand and go on speaking tours at the least. This is all just about money/notoriety. Spouting maga bullshit is easier and more profitable than working. 
  Fucking Kyle Riflehouse is getting paid now for speaking at gop events. It’s a rich mine, there’s room for a lot to suckle, apparently. >
  
  Every stimpee watcher when a player knows who he is but still trusts him. >
  
  Can anyone share text? >
  
  House Republicans are preparing for a big confrontation with the Biden White House over the debt ceiling—a confrontation that could, if played wrong, collapse the U.S. financial system and drag down the world economy. President Joe Biden has been preparing for this fight since 2011, the last time Republicans tried a similar trick. That year, the doomsday device was switched off seconds before it detonated by an agreement on a sequester that automatically cut spending on defense and domestic programs with little regard to merits. Even so, the S&P rating agency downgraded U.S. debt below triple A for the first time, and the stock markets spasmed. The sequester was ultimately jettisoned by Republicans during the Trump years.
  Have the House Republicans planned more carefully this time? Have they figured all the angles? In particular, have they taken into account the near-infinite capacity for treachery and backstabbing of the once and maybe future leader of their party, Donald Trump?
  Trump announced his 2024 candidacy back in November. For weeks, he’s done nothing much about it, but in the past few days, Trump has emerged again. Last week, he made speeches in New Hampshire and South Carolina. He hit familiar notes of racial and cultural resentment. He denounced critical race theory and “left-wing gender ideology.” He proposed that parents should elect school principals. You know what he did not talk about? Cutting the federal budget.
  Trump’s never been a fiscal-discipline guy. In 2016, he repeatedly promised never to tamper with Social Security or Medicare. That was one promise he kept while in office. Now his party is rushing to create a crisis over exactly the issues from which he distanced himself. If all goes well for Republicans, Trump may be happy to scoop up the credit. But if things begin to go badly …
  Recall the Republicans who campaigned in 2022 on Trump’s grievances over the 2020 election. After so many of them lost, what did Trump do? He turned on some of the very people he himself had endorsed. On his social-media platform, he said of a Trump loyalist who had lost a Senate race in New Hampshire: “Don Bolduc was a very nice guy, but he lost tonight when he disavowed, after his big primary win, his longstanding stance on Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Primary. Had he stayed strong and true, he would have won, easily. Lessons Learned!!!”
  Trump even more triumphantly heaped scorn on candidates who had expressed a preference for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over him, such as Joe O’Dea, who lost a Senate race in Colorado. Trump ridiculed O’Dea, but the real target of his derision was DeSantis. “Will they ever learn their lesson? You can’t win without MAGA!”
  Republican Party elites have drifted toward DeSantis. Yet Trump remains the clear favorite among the Republican rank and file, maintaining a 15-to-20-point lead on DeSantis in the latest Morning Consult polling. While DeSantis avoids tangling with Trump, Trump cheerfully insults “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
  Trump’s going to be on the prowl for ways to elevate himself and disqualify alternatives. If the polls go negative for Kevin McCarthy & Co. in the impending drama, they should brace themselves for Trump to demean and disparage them. He will show no party loyalty. He will want to say that he alone is smart, that everybody else is stupid, and that no issue—not the budget, not anything—should take priority over Trump, Trump, Trump.
  In November, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained his party’s disappointing showing in the 2022 midterms. Voters felt, he said, that Republicans “were not dealing with issues in a responsible way and we were spending too much time on negativity and attacks and chaos. They were frightened and so they pulled back.” His House colleagues have responded to that astute critique with even less responsibility, even harsher negativity, and even more frightening chaos. Maybe that’ll work better for them this time. If not, watch for Trump to head the blame parade, to aggrandize himself by betraying them.
  They should see it coming. They never do. >
  
  Thanks >
  
  Are they smart enough? >
  
  Planning ahead isn't something fascists are known for. >
  
  The media wants trump to be a thing again so badly. He’s not going to be a thing again. >
  
  The leopard won't eat my face. >
  
  For Trump, loyalty goes only one way, towards him. 
  He expects 100% loyalty from everyone, and in return he offers absolutely no loyalty at all. 
  I just can't understand how anyone can possibly trust a word he says. >
  
  I don’t think they do. So many of his people have turned on him.
  I think there is a lot happening behind closed doors. He’s lost his power.
  He has some of the lunatic fringe base clinging to him as their god emperor, but I think his days are numbered in the arena of politics. >
  
  Has he?  I’ll believe it when I see it but I think he still has a staggering amount of influence and power that people are sleeping on. >
  
  I mean, throughout his presidency, he had an unprecedented amount of leaks coming from his administration, which is a stark sign of mistrust of his leadership.
  Almost his entire cabinet turned on him, you can see in the 1/6 testimony video their non verbal and facial expressions telegraphed they were over his bullshit.
  Fox News has even started turning on him, running critical segments. New York Post published that famous cover of Trumps face on Humpty Dumpty that was embarrassing, signaling he is losing support of Murdoch’s media empire.
  That’s telling, as it was his media empire that shielded his supporters from his malfeasance and misdeeds (I’m convinced through interactions many trump supporters have no clue of the extent of his misdeeds and failures, it just wasn’t covered/reported on, they maintained a narrative of “fake news”).
  Then you see some people speaking out in the GOP, I just think behind closed doors they are all sick of his bullshit but in a tough spot because they are scared of his base. 
  But I think his base has waned a lot too, the tide has seemed to shift towards DeSantis.
  I could be wrong, but I just don’t see him having a grip on the party like he used to. His presidential announcement for running went over like a wet fart, was low energy, the crowd looked bored as fuck.
  There were a couple of media invites to Mar-A-Lago for press conferences, and no one showed up. Not right wing media, not any media, no one. 
  It’s soft power at this point. His truth social tweets get like 3,000 likes or retweets (retruths?) 
  There’s enough for Republican opponents to eviscerate him on the debate stage. He’s at his best when he’s on the attack, not the defense, and there will be a LOT of ammunition that his GOP opponents will hammer him on the primary debate stage.
  He has 23 separate criminal and civil investigations and lawsuits happening, he is going to be tied up in court. Law firms have dropped him as a client in spades, he doesn’t have access to top attorneys anymore, and his legal battles are going to be exorbitantly expensive.
  He’s only getting older, and his ramblings are getting worse. He has rallies where people left early, and he just rambled forever, boring the crowd to death.
  I just don’t see it. >
  
  I mean, all of those things and he BARELY lost. Repubs fell in line and all of his “enemies” that actually got elected completely forgot he tried to kill them in a coup.  The two most vocal GOP members kinzinger and cheney immediately were removed. 
  This is trotted out over and over again.  Yes he fucks everyone over. Yes they all hate him. The moment push becomes shove, they fall in line and support him. He calls their wives ugly and tells everyone they begged him with tears in their eyes and they don’t even try and respond.  
  If there was even a remote chance in hell the GOP thought his time was up, they would be eviscerating him in the press and Desantis, who is evil but decidedly NOT stupid, would be releasing an easy slam dunk statement fighting back. But he isn’t and they aren’t. Why?  Because his supporters are willing to murder you for him the second he asks and they know this. He has so much power.
  Trump is bad for the GOP. He is their Pyrrhic victory when he wins because he doesn’t actually help them over himself and they know he’s going to clean house of all but his most loyal supporters. And still, they tweet and obstruct and protect him from those lawsuits. A normal government would have brought him to trial already. There’s a reason why he hasn’t actually been charged yet and it’s because the GOP is protecting him. >
  
  Fantastic points.
  I think of Peru’s recent election and the President tried to do something similar, and dissolve congress, they arrested him the same day.
  It’s sad that Peru (nothing against their country) was a model for addressing corruption so much better than America. >
  
  
  While DeSantis avoids tangling with Trump, Trump cheerfully insults “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
  
  lmao, you just know he stole that from someone. Sanctimonious is a five-syllable word. >
  
  Forsooth…
  Interesting also how no conservatives who crow on about “big words”, seem to have a problem with it? >
  
  That's because Trump has the best words. /s >
  
  Bigly! >
  
  Hamberder >
  
  Yeah but the reason this works with his base so well is because they don’t like the leaders in their own party. >
  
  Yeah but the reason this works with his base so well is because they don’t like ~~the leaders in~~ their own party. >
  
  Or themselves >
  
  To paraphrase Gandalf when he is explaining Gollum's attachment to the One Ring:
  They love and hate Trump, just as they love and hate themselves.😉 >
  
  Like a baby with a jack-in-the-box - always a surprise! >
  
  It will be glorious to watch. >
  
  Leopard face eating party? >
  
  Who would agree to be trump's VP candidate?  After he advocated for the last one to be killed by his followers as they bashed windows and doors at the capitol to try and depose the US Constitution?  George Santos maybe? >
  
  All of them would. It’s just about making a name for yourself so you can build a brand and go on speaking tours at the least. This is all just about money/notoriety. Spouting maga bullshit is easier and more profitable than working. 
  Fucking Kyle Riflehouse is getting paid now for speaking at gop events. It’s a rich mine, there’s room for a lot to suckle, apparently. >
  
  Every stimpee watcher when a player knows who he is but still trusts him. >
  
  Can anyone share text?