Freak Out Friday – June 23, 2017

It’s been a relatively quiet week for Trump. Aside from his usual litany of idiotic tweets and his speeches to crowds as he is apparently already running for a second term, Trump has been rather sedate. But that doesn’t mean stuff hasn’t been going on.

1). Keep it to yourselves. For the first time in my memory–maybe anyone’s–the White House has declared that henceforth press conferences will not be televised. Because that’s what all fascist regimes do: they endeavor to operate behind closed doors whenever possible and keep everything to themselves. The administration has been at war with the free press since before Trump took office, and this is just another attempt to separate themselves from the public learning what they’re doing. Not only that, but they probably figure that they can then deny anything that the press says by claiming No, that didn’t happen, it’s just fake news. And if the press broadcasts excerpts in their news broadcasts, the White House can just claim that they were taken out of context. Very slick maneuver that will undoubtedly play to the Trump supporters.

2). Healthy, Wealthy and Wise. So the Senate finally unveiled its hidden health care bill, the one that they rushed through in secrecy, doing all the things that they falsely accused Obama of doing. Unfortunately the early reports indicate that it is not only no better than the House version but that it is actually worse. Billions gone from Medicaid while the rich get a tax cut. It’s so bad that several GOP senators have already said they won’t vote for it, and considering they don’t have THAT huge a majority, that would seem to kill the chances of it being passed. And the support for it among the American people is non-existent.

Yet the GOP could actually salvage this mess. Here’s how: The GOP pulls itself together and votes it into law.

And then Trump vetoes it.

It’s a win/win situation. The GOP manages to do what they said they were going to do and vote to overturn Obamacare. And then Trump gets to be the hero by declaring, “No, this bill is terrible and I must save the people from it.” The American public would absolutely love it. See! See! Trump is fighting to protect us! His sagging poll numbers would skyrocket. Sure, the Senate would take a hit, but everyone hates them anyway, so the damage is minimal. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see it pan out that way.

Did he do anything right this week? Didn’t do much of anything, which for him is a win.

PAD