Hey all, its Early Monday Morning and I am writing this from bed. Because I broke my computer chair and I can’t sit in it comfortably anymore (I can sit in it, but it hurts if I do for long periods.) So Until I buy a new stool, I’m gonna be on the foot of my bed for a while.
But we’re not letting that dampen our good spirits. Its the week of Thanksgiving, and we got a lot to be thankful for this year to be certain. We’ve retaken the house, won a ton of Governors seats and state level elections, and Trump is starting to feel the pressure. As I have mentioned, I think Trump will be dropping out soon. He is not a man built for the long turn.
But enough speculating about the future. Its the here and now, and now is time for good news.
Newly empowered House Democrats are vowing an all-out fight to salvage the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the face of the Trump administration's drive to curb the agency's power.
Party lawmakers have seethed for the past year as Mick Mulvaney has cut back on enforcement and curtailed funding requests for the bureau, the brainchild of President Donald Trump's nemesis, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Mulvaney, Trump's budget director, will soon depart as acting CFPB chief to be replaced by his little-known lieutenant at the Office of Management and Budget, Kathy Kraninger, who has no experience in consumer affairs or banking. That could give the Democrats a much stronger hand in defending the Obama-era bureau, by doing everything from securing its independent source of funding to conducting endless oversight hearings.
Fending off further GOP attempts to rein in the CFPB "would be a battle with this administration, and it would be a test of wills," said Rep. Lacy Clay of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services subcommittee with jurisdiction over the agency.
"I'm ready to fight that battle," Clay said.
Go get em Democrats. Bare those teeth. Show the GOP you aren't messing around.
Retired Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the U.S. operation that killed Osama bin Laden, doubled down on Sunday on his criticism of President Trump's treatment of the press after the president went after McRaven in an interview with "Fox News Sunday."
Trump dismissed McRaven as a "Hillary Clinton fan" and an "Obama-backer," and suggested the U.S. took too long to hunt down bin Laden after anchor Chris Wallace noted that the retired admiral has called the president's rhetoric toward the media "the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime."
McRaven told CNN in a statement that he stands by his comments.
"I stand by my comment that the President's attack on the media is the greatest threat to our democracy in my lifetime," he said. "When you undermine the people's right to a free press and freedom of speech and expression, then you threaten the Constitution and all for which it stands."
McRaven, 63, noted that he did not back former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton or any other candidate in the 2016 election, and that he worked under both former President Obama and former President George W. Bush.
The president routinely derides negative press coverage as "fake news" and has referred to members of the media as the "enemy of the people."
The retired admiral previously criticized the Trump administration over its decision to rescind former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance. McRaven praised Brennan's integrity and professionalism, and said it would be "an honor" for the Trump White House to revoke his security clearance as well.
"If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken," McRaven wrote in August. "The criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be."
So the criticism is going to continue forever is what you are saying :P. But yeah, just a reminder that Trump is taking it from all sides.
ashington Post columnist Michael Gerson posed an interesting question in the aftermath of the midterm elections: Would a Republican candidate dare challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 primaries?
Gerson conceded a major obstacle to such a scenario, that "toppling a sitting president of your own party is a maneuver with the highest degree of difficulty."
Indeed, it seems like a political fantasy to suggest a sitting president could lose in the primaries. It's been 50 years since there was anything remotely close to such a situation. Democrat Eugene McCarthy used his opposition to the Vietnam War and his 42 percent showing in New Hampshire to expose President Lyndon Johnson's vulnerability. Johnson, who had served more than a full term due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, ultimately decided to not seek the nomination.
There are key factors that point to Trump running unopposed in the 2020 primaries, with the most notable being that he has considerable support from Republican voters. According to Gallup's most recent poll, Trump has an approval rating of 91 percent amongst Republicans.
A Republican challenger may also feel justifiable pessimism to face Trump in the first primary. In 2016, Trump easily defeated a very crowded GOP field in New Hampshire, pulling in 35.23 percent of the vote, while his closest competitor, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, drew just 15.72 percent of the vote.
However, some Republicans might see Trump as a weakened candidate. Not only is he facing an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller but Trump also has a disapproval rating over 50 percent. A GOP candidate may want to take a chance and challenge Trump in the primaries should things not improve for the president in 2019.
There might be political will for a challenger, as well. In a poll conducted in November by the American Barometer, 72 percent of voters said Trump should face a primary opponent and that included 43 percent of Republicans.
There are also a number of Trump critics within the GOP and they date back to when he was a candidate. Late into the primary season, and with Trump gaining in popularity, Kasich and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas coordinated a failed attempt to deny Trump the nomination. It was an unprecedented move and it spoke to the level of discontent that some Republicans feel about a political outsider who embraced controversial and inflammatory rhetoric. Even little-known Evan McMullin, a former CIA officer, ran in 2016 as a conservative independent and in direct opposition to Trump.
So who might throw their hat into the Republican primaries in 2020?
John Kasich
Jeff Flake
Sen. Ben Sasse
Not that I think any of these jokers would be a better president than Trump, but its always good to see the GOP fighting itself. Maybe after the massive loss of 2018 these fools will get a clue and drop Trump like the hot potato he is.
“The New York Times did a phony story, as usual, about my relationship with [Pence],” Trump tweeted Saturday morning. “They made up sources and refused to ask me, the only one that would know, for a quote.”
“I can’t imagine any President having a better or closer relationship with their Vice President [than] the two of us,” Trump added.
The president was responding to a Friday Times report by Maggie Haberman and Katie Rogers in which sources claimed that he had been privately questioning Pence’s loyalty.
Loyalty is something of an obsession for Trump, who demands it of everyone from his former attorney general to the former FBI director.
Pence has largely appeared to be a loyal servant of Trump, supporting the president’s policies, rhetoric and even some of his high-profile feuds.
Why am I posting this? Because as we all know, when Trump goes out of his way to defend one of his subordinates like this, its shorthand for “Umm, dude, better get your resume ready. Just in case.”
Of course, Trump can’t actually fire Pence, but it will be hilarious to see him try.
And, as you know, I always like to finish the GNR with a softer story. So here’s one:
"I'm never ever stopping. Ever. I might get some ice cream, do something, but I'm never ever stopping."
...Huh, I actually thought that one would be an actual article. Ah well. Still its a pretty sweet thing to do on ones Birthday.
That’s it for now. Before we go though, once again its time for the Good News Roundup official playlist. Brought to you by Spotify. Almost 90 songs and nearly 5 hours of music, the official playlist of the resistance, filled with songs picked by you the loyal GNR readers, and best of all its free (As long as you don’t mind ads).
Have a good Monday all. Keep fighting, keep resisting. Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate, and if you celebrate something else then have a happy (or Solemn) one of those too.