Well, you know, we would try to impede our nation’s march to destruction, but that would be unseemly. We’ll just work out a few compromises instead. Half a slaughter is better than a whole one, right?
From Dana Simpson’s I Drew This archives. I really wish a 20 year old political cartoon like that didn’t still apply today. (I’d actually argue that it’s only gotten worse.)
Poor tactics. Fight and call them out ALL the time.
They’ll still cut a deal when they need the votes. Probably a better deal.
Dang this is some serious receipt-havin’ snark here, narrated by a few lawyers, who may well be looking over their shoulders these days as 2024 draws to its ignominious close:
It’s GOT to work THIS time, right?!?
And that would be a fucking nightmare for so many people…
I don’t know… they keep managing to avoid that, so maybe the rumors of war behind the scenes are not as accurate as the media keeps saying…
I like how we have a representative government; where the politicians elected by the people make decisions.
Just think of the destruction that we’ll be witness to once trump can actually do some official @#$!
Trump and Elon Cause Shutdown S***show—and He Isn’t Even President Yet
SO MUCH WINNING
Trump and his billionaire buddy blew up a carefully constructed bipartisan package Speaker Mike Johnson had to pass by Friday to keep the government funded.
Updated Dec. 18 2024 7:49PM EST
Donald Trump and Elon Musk sent America barreling towards a government shutdown Wednesday night with a series of dramatic interventions which plunged Congress into chaos.The pair blew up a carefully constructed bipartisan package Speaker Mike Johnson had to pass by Friday to keep the government funded—with Musk using his X platform to throw bombs at the Republican Party he claims to support.
If both houses of Congress do not pass Johnson’s spending bill, hundreds of thousands of government workers would be furloughed days before Christmas and vital services like air traffic control could lurch into chaos. …
(here’s hoping that each and every @#$er who voted for trump also is delighted with having their country ruined by a druggie south-Aftrican billionaire <string of expletives>)
ELON iZ teH P3oPlE!!! /s
Ebeneezer Scrooge is currently wondering why all those spirits didn’t bide their time and save up their energy for a real bastard who oppresses in bulk.
The Republicans don’t know how to govern. They only know how to be the opposition.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” Trump and Vance wrote.
So none of this is about policy or the budget. It’s simply because they want the shutdown to happen while Biden is still in office.
They will 100% blame the shutdown on Biden, despite the fact he had zero to do with absolutely anything of this.
For the 100 millionth time, The House is responsible for funding the US government. 
A reply in that Bluesky thread:
I remember before his first term, People said Steve Bannon was really the President. And then after he did something that Trump didn’t like, he was out and someone else was really the President. And so on. All of these people who think they can control Trump always discover, eventually, that they can’t. Musk may have more financial influence over Trump than Bannon or anyone else did, but if he pisses Trump off, Trump will still kick him to the curb and replace him with the latest influencer of the day. And that issue, for Musk, may very well turn out to be tariffs. None of these corporate assholes want tariffs raised, but Trump is obsessed with the idea.
Skimming my news feeds, “Tim Apple” has already gotten a promise of a carve-out: no tariffs for Apple. And we can bet our last Federal Reserve Note that Elno will get all of his carve-outs.
Any late stage capitalist worthy of the epithet has acquired their Special Mar-El-Lago® Shiny Gold Kneepads (to match those limited edition sneakers and other classy golden signifiers) and hied themselves hastily to pay fealty to The Don. This is simply how it’s gonna go down for the next 4 years. Heh.
In other news…
… I’m probably gonna pop more popcorn that usual in 2025 because Seb Gorka has been tapped for Deputy Something Something National Security Something (sorry, I am not going to re-listen to that pol podcast, it was hard enough the first go-round). Imagine, just for a minute, Gorka, Pete Hegseth or maybe Ron Desantis, Tulsi Gabbard, Bannon, and the other dangerous clowns all in a room, sorting out U.S. national defense particulars. Just… imagine…
Yep.
"The Republican party still helps the rich and sticks a knife in the back of the poor.”
— Harry S. Truman
I wonder what independent 3rd party outfit will monitor U.S.ians human well-being and poverty in the next handful of years. Just as an object of study. So we don’t have to Do Our Own Research.
I’ve seen it suggested this is the real interest in tariffs in the first place…Fearless Leader gets to decide who is subject to them and who is exempt. Who cares if it destroys the economy when you get to rule the ashes?
