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The traitorous a-hole in the White House would sure want to forget this day as quickly as possible—but how could he, given he has one of the world’s great minds?
There’s the humiliation of caving on his wall and government funding, after saying he’d be “proud” to shut it all down if he didn’t get what he wanted. Donald Trump turned what was supposed to be a private negotiating session between him and Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer into a televised circus, supposedly to showcase his brilliant negotiating tactics. Instead, Pelosi and Schumer emerged the clear winners.
But not undisputed winners, because the #MAGA crowd convinced themselves that Trump had shown them! Except … he has now caved. To NANCY PELOSI!
Meanwhile, New York has shut down Trump’s illegal slush fund, er, “charity”. The AG said that investigators found “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation — including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more.”
(And a reminder, while literally dozens of reporters from major media outlets like the New York Times crawled over the Clinton Foundation looking for dirt during campaign season, they all but ignored the Trump Foundation, despite evidence of wrongdoing hiding in plain sight. Only one reporter—the Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold—dug in, and won a Pulitzer for his efforts. The rest of the media helped give us “President” Donald Trump.)
Then there’s the Michael Flynn sentencing trial.
Trump had gotten all excited about it, probably since the Flynn sentencing requests suggested that he had been entrapped by the FBI, feeding into Trump’s “witch hunt” narrative. But in court, Flynn backed off those claims as the judge surgically eviscerated every GOP conspiracy theory on the case. Flynn had to admit, under oath, that he knew that lying to the FBI was a crime, and that yes, he had knowingly lied. Oh well.
And finally, after decades of NRA-fueled hysteria about Democrats limiting the Second Amendment rights of gun nuts, it is Donald Trump who has finally delivered on those warnings, announcing the literal grabbing of bump stocks—devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire faster. They’re a favorite of terrorists and the NRA, since they burn through ammo faster, allowing the (faster) killing of more people, while keeping ammunition makers fat and happy.
This grab is a good thing! Bump stock owners will have 90 days to turn in or destroy their bump stocks from the date the final rule is published. However, Trump is president by the grace of the Russian-backed NRA, and his supporters have been primed with decades of conspiracy theories about big government taking their weapons away. Trump has just stepped into a hornet’s nest, pissing off his dwindling base, with little political upside among people who already loathe him.
It’s clear Republican strategists are sweating the GOP’s loss of suburban white women. This is an attempt to pacify and lull them back to the Republican tent. But absent more significant gun reform measures, that is unlikely to happen (not to mention absent a change in Trump’s entire personality). But the crazies in the GOP will certainly notice this, and the last thing Trump needs is a revolt on his right flank.
Taking away bump stocks and caving to Nancy Pelosi won’t do wonders with his base.