Brian Thompson was a part of the status quo, i.e. ‘Corporate America’, the ‘Deep State’, et cetera, while Trump is a total outsider (if you don’t count his long if largely inept history in real estate development, corporate acquisition, branding, entertainment, or and the pervious term as President) who is going to disrupt everything and break open the piggybank to make all of his supporters unimaginably wealthy, just like he did for students of Trump [Not A] University. Brian Thompson was a villain (in the public’s collective eyes, at least) even though he’s one cog in a vast, intrinsically corrupt system, while Trump is a vanquishing hero who people literally idolize in bizarre physical manifestation even though their special book that gives them all the rules for living tells them not to do that.
Yeah, one of those sucker losers who was playing by the system’s established rules (and screwing over the little guy because that’s what the rules said to do, not to make the little guy feel his power). Weak!
I’m 100% in agreement. We have until the midterms for people to open their eyes to what they’re asking for with their votes. After that, if nothing changes, we’re screwed.
Trump is at least making clear what he really wants: he doesn’t give a shit about “out of control” spending in the CR — he just wants Congress to postpone the debt ceiling or eliminate it entirely so that he doesn’t have to deal with it. That would be an enormous shit sandwich for conservative House Republicans to eat, but there’s nothing Trump loves more than forcing his allies to debase themselves.
Hopefully they really do get rid of the debt ceiling, and this is the last time we have to deal with this stupid posturing about who is responsible for raising it.
And yet, as a reaction to Trump, the Republicans have suffered at times in elections. There was a huge blue shift in 2018 for example. It’s not like they always get away with this.
Of course some will, but some won’t.
Either way, I don’t want a shutdown because that’s just bad for everyone. But I don’t want the Democrats to have to cower to Republicans to ensure it doesn’t happen. If the Republicans want to FAFO then let them.
But didn’t Trump say that with his awesome tariffs the US would be able to afford anything and everything? Certainly between the tariffs and DOGE, the US government is going to have so much money it’s not going to know what to do with itself. Right?
For shutdowns, which elections? The 2019 shutdown maybe affected a special election somewhere, but sure didn’t have any other electoral consequences. Nor did the 2013 one from my memory (or from reminding myself on Wikipedia). They’re unpopular in the moment, but seem to fade pretty quickly as an issue and we’re about as far from any election as we can get right now.
I was pushing back against the idea that all the Republicans have to do is blame the Democrats and they will get away with anything they do. They often haven’t been able to get away with that, and we’ve seen them face consequences at election time. There may be a bit of recency bias from an election that happened just a month ago to lead people to feel that they are omnipotent, but that flies in the face of evidence.
On the other hand, you are right that due to the timing of these shutdowns, they may not ultimately matter. In that case, they don’t even have to blame Democrats. They don’t have to do anything but wait for everything to eventually blow over and by the time that it matters, people won’t even remember it anymore.
(Of course, you can say the same thing for the Democrats; it won’t hurt them either.)
Speaking of government “shutdowns”, President Biden just declared Christmas Eve a “day off” for most federal employees, presumably excluding the USPS. This is only the third time since 1960 that this has been done; there was a half-day closure in 2002, and a full-day in 2019.
Lol, speaking as a government supervisor who just pre-approved a bunch of next-week timesheets (standard holiday practice), looks like we might have a double- or triple- mess of corrections in Jan - fun!
I do think it will matter in inside Congress - if there’s a shutdown now, no matter who formally kills the process I think Musk’s posturing means he’ll own it, with Trump playing second fiddle. If it becomes unpopular in the moment it could definitely effect how much political capital he’s got with Congress or Trump.
Obviously he knows that’s a lie, and he’ll be judged based on the outcomes of his shitty economic policies regardless of whether we actually get rid of the debt ceiling or just continue kicking it back and forth over the fence forever.
Trump also gave Xmas eve off in 2018 and 2020. The difference is that in 2019 and 2024, Christmas is on a Wednesday. Giving two days for Christmas makes the most sense when it lets you reduce the heat or A/C, in federal buildings, for four days in a row, so giving Wednesday off is not an excellent idea.
Centrist voters will not like the sound of the the current Musk-Trump shutdown push. But if they also hear about the day off, it will feed their idea that politicians are all bums. Right now, the news makes the GOP look bad, and Biden should not step on that.
If up to Musk, federal workers will be furloughed until inauguration day – and, unlike in the past, will not be paid for days not worked. If he gets his way there, he’ll say that in his great kindness, they can be paid for Christmas Eve – and no other normally scheduled unworked workday. (This paragraph is pure speculation, except that I read Isaacson’s biography of Musk, and so know a bit how Elon operates.)
I have no idea what will happen. If that farm money, in the continuing resolution bill, doesn’t get appropriated, Musk could already be on the way out.
ATTENTION: All Military Personnel, Spouses, and Dependents
Travel en masse to the closest home of Elon Musk, and camp out on his doorstep the day before Payday. Do not bring extra diapers, butt wipes, bottles of formula or milk, change of clothes, or comfort items.
Adults may bring ear plugs. This will be a hazardous noise situation.
Those with screaming, stinking babies may move to the front of the group.
If any reporters ask you, say, "This is the reality of no Federal budget. These people need food and shelter, and they are not asking for a handout. They need the military paychecks to be distributed now. A hungry child is not ‘pork barrel politics.’ "
Traditionally this kind of situation is addressed by a late night confab with three ghosts, but in this case I think stronger measures are called for:
I will believe this when I see him scooting out the side door of the West Wing with a box of junk, or Trump declares him persona non grata and attempts to have him stripped of citizenship and deported on the basis of Musk’s history of working on a student visa invalidating his original application for US citizenship. Until then, I assume he’s pulling strings and levers to see what kind of fuckery he can get up to.
