Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 5
So the Epstein bill passed 427-1 in the House and 100-0 in the Senate. On for Trump's signature.
The democrats have staked their reputations on this. If they come up with nothing, then they'll look like a bunch of random political drive by shooters. They will have wasted tons of capital on an issue that did nothing but cost them the scalps of prominent left wing politicians and supporters while getting nothing in return for it. Plus the opportunity cost of having wasted the country's time on this instead of building back their (very) damaged brand and credibility among the electorate.
It's tough times for the democrats. They have to run on something and so far they've...not got much. They can't say, "We're better on affordability" given that they're the ones that ran prices through the stratosphere the last time they were in charge. They can't say, "trust us on crime and the border" because it took Trump only 3 months to do what the democrats claimed for years was either impossible or required a ridiculous new piece of legislation to do. And they can't say "trust us on national security" when several major regional wars broke out under their watch in the last 2-3 years and China has continued gaining strength.
Their identity politics scheme is petering out. The stylish europeans figured out that handing out puberty blockers to kids ~11-12 years old and subjecting them to life-altering surgeries was and is a bad idea so they're banning it. The notion that schools can hide crucial health and medical information from parents is also as popular as gonorrhea at a frat party. No help there.
Climate change as an issue isn't dead but is on life support. Can they conjure images of Bambi dying to frighten the electorate into passing more ruinous boondoggles, or twist things to consent to sending more money to China? Unlikely. EV car sales are in jeopardy as only Tesla sells them and without the federal subsidies holding prices down - and ironically, the democrats helped kill this, too - it doesn't look good for the artificially propped-up market. Plus, it's hard to tout success when you spent $7.5 billion to build 37 or so charging stations (Side note: That is the single most unintentionally hilarious Politifact "Fact check" ever). Real people say, nah, bruv.
What about health care? Surely they can campaign on how the Affordable Health Care Act made prices cheape-, erm, no. They can't blame the Republicans for the dems' own bad health care legislation needing to be propped up with federal subsidies that are going to big health insurers so that early retirees in their low 50's don't have to work anymore. That dog ain't gon' hunt, either.
And finally what about the "We stood up to Twump!" hijinks. I'm sure the families on SNAP are breathing a sigh of relief that when their fully paid democrat Senators and Representatives threatened to take food off their families' table that Trump Was Being Stood Up To. Ditto the tens of thousands of air travelers who either had their flights cancelled or stood in hours-long lines at TSA checkpoints.
So let's see. Somewhere in dnc headquarters the people who run the democrat party have one fist clutching a fifth of Fireball and in the other, extra-strength Pepto. They won some races...but the people that won on the local level don't necessarily call themselves "democrats". They call themselves "democrat Socialists".
Interesting times. The liberals saddled a tiger. Now that tiger is hungry.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Dope 1,
since you posted the house and senate votes on this fiasco, let's highlight the lone dissenter, Clay Harris R-La.
The ONLY principled voter of the lot. He voted against it because it contradicts 250 years of procedure and principle of protecting the confidentiality of innocent witnesses, victims, informants, and so forth.
I don't know anything about Clay Harris but I like someone who stands up for what is right, especially when he is all alone.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Speaking of scalps, gonna be fun watching Hakeem 'splain this one:
https://x.com/GOPoversight/status/1990849651130397...Hakeem has been on a media tour the last few days on Epstein, but refuses to condemn Stacey Plaskett.
Epstein documents reveal that Hakeem's consulting firm reached out to Jeffrey Epstein to arrange a dinner between them.
Is "Brooklyn's Barack" telling us everything he knows?Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
No. of Recommendations: 4
And here's Exhibit A of how the democrats have dug themselves a hole:
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1990888081973...Jamie Raskin — one of the worst to ever disgrace the halls of Congress — says
@StaceyPlaskett
was just "taking a phone call from her constituent" when she colluded with a convicted sex offender during a committee hearing.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
How many constituents are so wired in with their House reps they can dictate questions to witnesses?
Jeffrey Epstein was bigly connected with the democrat party.
No. of Recommendations: 19
Dope1:
Speaking of scalps, gonna be fun watching Hakeem 'splain this one...that Hakeem's consulting firm reached out to Jeffrey Epstein to arrange a dinner between them... https://x.com/GOPoversight/status/1990849651130397...He already explained it.
1. A Democratic fundraising group called Dynamic SRG -- not Jeffries's consulting firm -- sent an email to Epstein in May 2013, promoting then-freshman Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and inviting Epstein to a fundraising dinner (hosted by the DCCC, not a cozy dinner between the two).
2. There's no record that Jeffries was involved in writing or sending the invitation, nor that his "consulting firm" was in any way involved.
3. There's no record that Epstein accepted the invitation and attended.
4. Jeffries called for the release of all Epstein-related files, including any documents about his connections to Epstein.
5. Stop getting your news from morons on Xshitter.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
No. of Recommendations: 2
A Tisket, a Tasket, look who's coaching Plaskett....
Dang it writes itself!
No. of Recommendations: 2
Dope1,
Possibly (similar reasoning to shutting down the government in some respects)--the Dems never wanted any of the files actually disclosed at all. They just wanted to make it an issue and claim the Republicans obstructed disclosure.
Trump figured that out and said "fine go ahead release them." (We will see if he signs the legislation though.)
The Plaskett thing where she's literally on the phone with Epstein feeding her what to say while she's on the floor of Congress is absolutely hilarious.
And Raskin's explanation is "unsatisfactory." No, it's idiotic.
No. of Recommendations: 2
And Raskin's explanation is "unsatisfactory." No, it's idiotic.
Beyond idiotic. Stuff like that is going to be impossible to explain. Ditto "Brooklyn Barack", whose team was still soliciting donations from Epstein five or so years after his first arrest for sex crimes.
How many more dems are in there? Guess we get to see :)
From now on every time I type Jeffries' name it's going to come with the tag - "Jeffries - whose team solicited donations from a convicted sex criminal - ,...". Hahahahahahaha!
No. of Recommendations: 2
Dope1,
Possibly (similar reasoning to shutting down the government in some respects)--the Dems never wanted any of the files actually disclosed at all. They just wanted to make it an issue and claim the Republicans obstructed disclosure.
Trump figured that out and said "fine go ahead release them." (We will see if he signs the legislation though.)
Or, it is as it looks like (Occam's Razor), that there's a lot pressure on Congress being responded too, and Dems are - let the chips fall where they may.
BTW, she get removed from 1 committee, remains on another committee. Later, she may get it back. Surprising how many people he knew and talked with though.
No. of Recommendations: 2
The Plaskett thing where she's literally on the phone with Epstein feeding her what to say while she's on the floor of Congress is absolutely hilarious.
The clip I saw was Plaskett and Epstein texting during Michael Cohen's testimony. Plaskett represents the Virgins Islands. Epstien's islands are in the Virgins (there's an irony). He greased a lot of palms in the Virgins, possibly so no-one would look to hard at what he was doing.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 7
