The bad joke Vladimir Putin played on the American electorate in 2016 seems like it will never end, but it does have its genuinely amusing moments. For example, this tweet:
I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2018
On Tuesday, the Senate approved the conference report with the House by a bipartisan 93-7 majority for funding the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments next year. The leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Republican Richard Shelby of Alabama and Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont each issued press releases praising the bill and the work of the committee staff in putting it all together.
This kind of bipartisan cooperation still goes on in Congress because, on the Senate side, there is still a legislative filibuster in place requiring that the majority party get sign-off from the minority party on their spending bills. That’s why, even with Trump as president and Republicans in charge of Congress, Senator Leahy can legitimately crow about some of the funding he was able to provide.
The best part of the bill, though, at least from an amusement standpoint, is that it included a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government agencies funded through the election. In other words, the bill was designed to cut off the kind of standoff about Donald Trump’s stupid border wall that he was promising earlier this year. If Trump paid even a modest amount of attention to doing his primary job, this would not have come as a surprise to him and he would not be responding, “Where is the money for the WALL?”
There is no money for the wall. The Republicans in Congress made sure of that, and it seems the bill was passed through the Senate before the president even noticed. Of course, based on Bob Woodward’s reporting, you could probably make off with the First Lady and Trump wouldn’t notice something was missing for several weeks. Attention to detail is not his forté.
The House still needs to pass the conference report, and they plan to do so next week. That means Trump can still try to revive his veto threat if he wants, but the Senate passed the bill be a very strong veto-proof majority so I think it’s a little late for the president to try to influence the final product.
He does have a good point when he asks where the money will come from after the midterms. Even if the Republicans hold on to their majorities, it will be greatly diminished in the House and it doesn’t seem likely that Senate Republicans will suddenly have more of an appetite for funding a stupid wall.
Maybe you don’t think this is so funny, but surely you’ll see the humor in this:
On Tuesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell claimed that Trump suggested building a wall across the 3,000-mile-long Sahara Desert to prevent African migrants from making their way into Europe. “You need to build a wall around the Sahara,” Trump said recently, according to Borrell. When Borrell asked Trump if he understood just how big the Sahara is, Trump argued that “it can’t be bigger than our border with Mexico.” Borrell then informed Trump that the Sahara is far bigger than the U.S. border with Mexico. “In any case, it wouldn’t be very useful to do that,” Borrell told the president.
Trump is the joke that just keeps on giving.
Sigh Found myself pining for an era where painful imbecility was not considered a wonderful attribute in a President of the United States.
None of the previous 44 Presidents would have been proud of being remotely this ignorant. None of them deliberately set out to embarrass the nation on a daily basis, and have their voters love them for being stupid.
You can’t blame Trump. There was abundant evidence during the campaign that he was dumber than a big bag of rocks and “not at all Presidential.”
That was considered a big plus by his base, and they still love him for not knowing anything about anything.
Aides quietly stunned by Trump’s respectful handling of Kavanaugh accuser.
His aides were actually astonished that he didn’t go on Twitter and rant obscenely about a woman accusing his S.Ct. nominee of attempted rape. And based on his normal behavior they were right to expect it.
Of course, that was yesterday. Today, he apparently realized that he’s not getting funding for his stupid wall, and he lost it again.
Really, if someone would have told me in 2016 we’d be here today, I would never have believed it.
That MFer is not just ignorant but dumb as a post to boot. And yet he’s a “stable genius” and “like a smart person” to his idiot followers, many of whom are even dumber than he is.
God help us.
That wall. They have been testing the wall with teams tasked with with trying breach the wall. Well, it failed and was breached 13 times. One time it almost collapsed. Thus, the donald just picked something that looked good and that appears to have been his only requirement. So how much have we spent on a wall that any engineer could have told the donald it would fail by just looking blue prints?
And he might from sheer cantankerousness. I don’t picture 2/3 of the House voting to override him on the wall, so he gets his budget showdown, shutting down the government right before an election in a war with his own party, who are the ones he needs to be re-elected.
It is hard to believe Trump would be that stupid, but how many times has Trump been stupid beyond belief?
In fact, as soon as Kavanaugh stops sucking up all the oxygen, I think Democrats should start praising Congressional Republicans copiously for defying Trump on that stupid wall. And for bringing him a bill he can’t veto. Drive that wedge. And, if Trump does veto, instant shipwreck for the Republicans.
Honest question: does funding the government through the elections (love me some continuing resolutions)mean they aren’t going to use a budget reconciliation this year?
“Trump suggested building a wall across the 3,000-mile-long Sahara Desert to prevent African migrants from making their way into Europe.”
My response upon reading this was “Not The Onion.”
Indeed. That bigot really would love to wall off what he perceives as the white world from the rest of us.
A border wall around the Sahara is a brilliant idea. We can send Trump and his friends there. It would be like our own version of Devil’s Island.
Idjit. He’s never wandered far from the limo or hotel lobby. He’s not interested in the world.
Can you imagine “Trump’s Summer Reading List?” The idea is so preposterous they don’t even try to fake it.