The Beginning of the End: The Lame Duck Period of Joe Biden’s Presidency

[chasfh]

I figure a thread dealing with the transition in the next few months from the Biden administration to whatever is looming on the other side would be appropriate, and let’s start it off with this. 

 

[chasfh]

https://x.com/axios/status/1854167037586595937

[guy incognito]

Anyone who thinks they’re actually going to limit the deportations to undocumented immigrants is deluding themselves.

[chasfh]

50 minutes ago, guy incognito said:

Anyone who thinks they’re actually going to limit the deportations to undocumented immigrants is deluding themselves.

Also, native-born American citizens who just look like Mexicans. Collateral damage.

[LaceyLou]

He seems nice....

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-ag-hopeful-says-he-wants-to-drag-democrats-political-dead-bodies-through-the-streets-and-burn-them/ar-AA1tFN6P

[romad1]

33 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

He seems nice....

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-ag-hopeful-says-he-wants-to-drag-democrats-political-dead-bodies-through-the-streets-and-burn-them/ar-AA1tFN6P

I think he will have a rough confirmation in a sober senate. 

[LaceyLou]

11 minutes ago, romad1 said:

I think he will have a rough confirmation in a sober senate. 

Hopefully... unless he finds a way to install who he wants without needing a confirmation.

[romad1]

33 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

Hopefully... unless he finds a way to install who he wants without needing a confirmation.

We can't hope for the parasites to be kept out of this government but we can fight them when they need confirmations.   The checks and balances need to be more than eye wash.

[chasfh]

6 hours ago, romad1 said:

I think he will have a rough confirmation in a sober senate. 

He’ll be named acting attorney general. Everyone will be named acting everything and no one will go through a confirmation process.

[chasfh]

I wonder whetehr Joe will attend the inauguration. I can’t imagine him just sitting there listening to Trump insult him incessantly to his face. Joe also stands a non-zero chance of getting arrested on the spot.

[CMRivdogs]

One of the things the Trumpublicans will definately try to do is privitize Medicare. They have actively pushing Medicare Advantage. MA is the biggest piece of **** disguised as "health insurance". Maybe Congress and the White House should also be enrolled in it as well. 
 

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/07/nx-s1-5183092/trump-election-2024-medicare-advantage

[LaceyLou]

24 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

One of the things the Trumpublicans will definately try to do is privitize Medicare. They have actively pushing Medicare Advantage. MA is the biggest piece of **** disguised as "health insurance". Maybe Congress and the White House should also be enrolled in it as well. 
 

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/07/nx-s1-5183092/trump-election-2024-medicare-advantage

A lot of people seem to not realize that it's not medicare, too. 

[Tiger337]

11 hours ago, guy incognito said:

Anyone who thinks they’re actually going to limit the deportations to undocumented immigrants is deluding themselves.

Wait until they figure out how much it costs.  

[LaceyLou]

Just now, Tiger337 said:

Wait until they figure out how much it costs.  

In this case, I think they don't care about cost. The cruelty is the point. 

And anyway, any additional deficit will be blamed on Democrats.

[chasfh]

10 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Wait until they figure out how much it costs.  

They can help fund it the way the Germans funded the holocaust: by seizing whatever undocumented immigrants’ assets they can. They know it’s not much and it definitely won’t cover the costs, but it would be more about points for style than actually funding the operation.

[chasfh]

11 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

One of the things the Trumpublicans will definately try to do is privitize Medicare. They have actively pushing Medicare Advantage. MA is the biggest piece of **** disguised as "health insurance". Maybe Congress and the White House should also be enrolled in it as well. 
 

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/07/nx-s1-5183092/trump-election-2024-medicare-advantage

Just in time for me to get there!

I would not be surprised to see Social Security having been made age-ineligible to me, maybe even eliminated as a government-guaranteed program, by the time I’m scheduled to qualify in 2028.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/raising-the-retirement-age-for-social-security-would-cut-benefits-by-thousands-of-dollars-each-year/

[chasfh]

By the way, as long as we are now in this new world, we might as well actually read Project 2025, so at least we know what’s coming.

Here’s a nicely annotated website that might help. I should probably keep this bookmarked. I hope their servers are in Switzerland or someplace equivalent.

https://democracyforward.org/the-peoples-guide-to-project-2025/

[Tigerbomb13]

 

https://x.com/nytimes/status/1854953824038846691?s=46&t=3ctbOgSCV364nyjksmSu5g
 

Musk clearly went all in on MAGA because he knew he’d be able to be a shadow president. 

[Tiger337]

Wall Street wants to keep Trump in check: Evil versus Evil

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-is-going-to-check-trump-why-wall-street-is-bracing-for-the-job-0761c55d?mod=home-page

 

Quote

 

President-elect Donald Trump could face a surprising check on power in his second term, even as he’s primed to benefit from a “red wave” in Congress.

Wall Street investors have begun bracing for a battle over policies and plans that Trump campaigned on, but which risk adding greatly to the U.S. debt load and tarnishing the ability of America to receive favorable financing in world markets.

“Absolutely,” said Bill Zox, a portfolio manager at Brandywine Global, which oversees about $63 billion in assets under management, when asked if the bond market was ready to serve as a check on Trump’s agenda.

 

Quote

 

Anxiety has been rising among many investors on speculation over Trump creating a “shadow” Fed chair, as well as the off chance that Trump attempts to fire Powell before his term ends in mid-2026.

Brian Kennedy, a portfolio manager at Loomis, Sayles & Company, which has roughly $388 billion in assets under management, said any significant move away from an independent Fed could see an immediate move higher in Treasury yields — akin to what happened after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressured the nation’s central bank to lower rates, even though the country’s economy was struggling with high inflation.

 

Quote

However, Trump’s vow to quickly close the border and to deport people who entered the U.S. illegally has been pegged as inflationary, since many blue-collar jobs like construction rely on Hispanic immigrants due to chronic shortages in the domestic labor force.

 

[CMRivdogs]

I am rapidly coming around to the JV Last philosophy. Let Trump have his way. Then when everything falls apart (by 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence) do everything you can to point out that everything, the economy, lack of available workers, lack of decent healthcare falls on the backs of the Republicans (even the ever rising deficit). 
 

Campaign like hell in every Congressional district, every incumbent senate seat. The U-S has become a hell hole because of Trump's policies.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/a-modest-proposal-let-trump-be-trump?r=45wcm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

And if things are surprisingly better in 2026 and I'm still above ground, I'll own it. Til then let Trump be Trump and just smile when the Trumpaholics complain. (Actually they'll be surprisingly quiet by then) 

[CMRivdogs]

7 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

I am rapidly coming around to the JV Last philosophy. Let Trump have his way. Then when everything falls apart (by 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence) do everything you can to point out that everything, the economy, lack of available workers, lack of decent healthcare falls on the backs of the Republicans (even the ever rising deficit). 
 

Campaign like hell in every Congressional district, every incumbent senate seat. The U-S has become a hell hole because of Trump's policies.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/a-modest-proposal-let-trump-be-trump?r=45wcm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

And if things are surprisingly better in 2026 and I'm still above ground, I'll own it. Til then let Trump be Trump and just smile when the Trumpaholics complain. (Actually they'll be surprisingly quiet by then) 

Quote

At the end of the day, that should be the precept that guides Democrats’ decisions about when and how to spend capital trying to obstruct Trump during the next two years.

If Trump is trying to break the rule of law, then yes, Democrats should attempt to stop him.

If Trump is taking an action that would hurt a Democratic voting group or a Democratic state, then yes, they should attempt to stop him.

But for everything else? Democrats should stand back and stand by.² And then, when the fit hits the shan, they should demagogue the ever-living-crap out of Trump for any bad outcome that occurs, anywhere.

Make him own it. All of it.

The American people have chosen. They should not be insulated from the consequences of their choice.³

 

[RatkoVarda]

i get what Last is writing, and it could work

the American people may very well blame Trump is thing go sideways (but they will never blame themselves)

but this is basically the Susan Sarandon argument -  put in Trump, not Hillary, and people will be so shocked that Bernie will rise from the ashes and lead us to Nirvana - obviously, that did not happen

i guess I am saying that if Trump meltdowns the national or world economy, we don't really know if America will blame him and the GOP in 2026 and 2028.

[chasfh]

16 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

i get what Last is writing, and it could work

the American people may very well blame Trump is thing go sideways (but they will never blame themselves)

but this is basically the Susan Sarandon argument -  put in Trump, not Hillary, and people will be so shocked that Bernie will rise from the ashes and lead us to Nirvana - obviously, that did not happen

i guess I am saying that if Trump meltdowns the national or world economy, we don't really know if America will blame him and the GOP in 2026 and 2028.

Well, good lord, Susan Sarandon is an actress, for crying out loud. She has a B.A. in Drama. No wonder she wants Trump in there to screw everything up for four years so Bernie can rise from the ashes. She likes drama.

[romad1]

The GOP got where it is by fighting everything and anything and having a bigger bullhorn and having billionaires pumping their views on all media resources through all manner of things at their disposal.

Edited November 8 by romad1

[CMRivdogs]

How is Last's argument much different from Mitch McConnell's vow to make Obama a one term President. The GOP has been stonewalling everything Democrats have proposed for years, without offering any viable alternatives.