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babylonsister

(171,092 posts) Mon Feb 5, 2018, 09:46 PM Feb 2018

Pierce:This Is the Face of the Next Government Shutdown

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a16571909/mcconnell-govt-shutdown/

This Is the Face of the Next Government Shutdown
Mitch McConnell, multi-millionaire.
By Charles P. Pierce
Feb 5, 2018

Happy February to all! The president* is tweeting third-grade insults at a member of Congress, and he’s currently at war with every federal law-enforcement agency except ICE and the Border Patrol, both of which are running amuck out in the country. Also, hey, the government might run out of money again and shut down by the end of the week. And, as CNN informs us, it all depends on the good faith of Mitch McConnell.

The first deadline is Thursday, when government funding runs out. The second is to reach a long-stalled deal on immigration before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opens a promised freewheeling floor debate to try to settle the contentious issue. Congressional leaders from both parties have said they don't foresee a second shutdown, but as of Sunday evening, it's not clear if congressional leaders have the votes to pass such a measure through both the Senate and the House.

Of course, anyone who puts any trust in anything McConnell says is a sap. He’s already framing the issue as: a) a second political disaster for Senate Democrats, and b) an attempt by said Senate Democrats to throw Meemaw into the creek in favor of “Illegals.” From The Hill:

“I don’t think we’ll see a threat [of a] government shutdown again over this subject. One of my favorite old Kentucky country sayings is 'there’s no education in the second kick of a mule,' and so I think there will be a new level of seriousness here trying to resolve these issues,” McConnell told reporters at a Republican retreat at The Greenbrier resort. He said the threat of a government shutdown to gain leverage in immigration talks “has clearly been eliminated.” Senate Democrats said much the same after a three-day government shutdown last month.

(Mitch McConnell—net worth, an estimated $26.5 million—was talking in “old Kentucky country sayings” to a group of his fellow millionaire legislators at luxury resort in an impoverished and opioid-riddled state. This required a brief pause for nausea before we continue.) From The Hill:

McConnell on Thursday clarified the immigration pledge he made to Senate colleagues after Democrats agreed to reopen the government. “If the immigration issue was not resolved in the global discussions … then I’m perfectly happy provided the government is still open on Feb. 8 to go to the subject and to treat it in a fair way,” McConnell said of the prospect of a Senate immigration debate. “We’ll see who can get to 60 votes.”

Not to skip ahead to the ending or anything, but there is no halfway humane “compromise” available to the Senate that has a chance in the House of Representatives, any more than there is one that the president* will sign unless it contains money for his stupid, useless wall. McConnell knows this as well as he knows where all his money is stashed. But, as the Russian investigation heats up, and the shadowplay in the wake of the release of The Memo continues to entertain The Base, and the sense of unreality is beginning to feel extraordinarily normal. The country is in the hands of drunken puppet-masters.