OK, I Give Up
The Cult of Trump has metastasized into a terminal cancer on our democracy. The Congress won’t provide proper oversight, the press is running around chasing every little tweet, and Trump spends all of his time either tweeting or watching Fox Noise, and his cabinet of corrupt cronies is busily tearing down every tradition and progressive statute enacted over the last 80 years.
Since the Barr Report exonerated Trump (even though we haven’t seen the Mueller Report) Trump has been spiking the ball and becoming even more emboldened to do something really stupid. Two possibilities of said stupidity are 1) Reigniting the battle over healthcare; 2) Whipping up the racists over immigration. Case in point, he’s now threatening to close the southern border next week if Mexico doesn’t stop illegal immigration. Once again, he is spouting nonsense and demanding the impossible.
I’m weary with the 24/7 train wreck that is the Trump presidency; I have Trump fatigue. We have to do something different to wake up the Congress and the electorate. So, I give up. The Invertebrates in Congress won’t do their goddam jobs to stop this despot, so I say let’s do it. Let’s close the border. Shut down all the ports of entry and put the US military along the border. C’mon shithead, DO IT. Let’s burn down US-Mexico trade and just see what happens.
Here’s exactly what would happen: In January of 2019, the US imported over $27 BILLION of goods and exported $25 BILLION of goods. That’s PER MONTH. The US Trade Representative reports that 1.2 MILLION American jobs exist because of US export to Mexico. However, the Woodrow Wilson center has determined that 4.9 MILLION American jobs would be lost if trade with Mexico was halted. I’ll say that again – 4.9 MILLION American jobs would be lost if trade with Mexico was halted. Job losses at that scale would most certainly drive the US economy into another recession costing even more millions in jobs.
SO, I say let’s do it. Let’s burn down the US and Mexico economies at the same time. Let’s close the border. If this is what it takes to wake up the Congress to do something, let’s shut it down, stranding billions of dollars in goods and costing millions of jobs. I don’t know what else to do to stop this guy.
And maybe a nice stock market crash would add to the train wreck
1House Repubfleas are feeling their oats now based on nothing more than a flimsy 4 page “excused from wrong doing” by a straw judge’s fiat, e.g. This loudmouth bully’s callout of another member:
Rep.Mullin has adopted Rep. Jordan’s casual, rules-breaking, no jacket attire, but he’s adding to his disrespect for the House and its members by telling a Democratic colleague to “shut up,” as The Oklahoman and The Hill report.
In a diatribe during a House Committee hearing in which he attacked the Affordable Care Act this week, Rep. Mullin told Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) to “shut up.”
Or, more specifically, he said to Rep. Luján, “you can shut up now.” The room gasped.
https://www.alternet.org/2019/03/you-can-shut-up-now-gop-congressman-goes-on-disrespectful-rant-against-democrats-and-obamacare/
2I’m glad I’m not the only one having these same thoughts. I just wish they weren’t necessary.
3And yes, he refused to apologize.
4Ridding ourselves of Donnie and his crime organization would be merely the beginning of resolving the mess. Before Donnie, Old Scratch McConnell and his “R” chorus of saying no to all progress had 8 years to send us on this trajectory. Not to mention the immigration ‘problem’ was around before Reagan. Undocumented workers were never the problem. Employers who exploit them for cheap labor have been the problem that has never been addressed. Had they been fined and jailed at a rate that would end the practice of exploiting labor, problem solved for the most part. Instead there has been union busting and all means of abusing labor.
2020. Last chance to vote before the revolution. While that might sound hyperbolic, if the R’s are not shown the door, conditions are on a trajectory such that drastic measures become the only solution available.
5At least one republican’t appears to want to have a spine. The vacillating Jeff Flake (remember the Kavanaugh fiasco where he demonstated some evidence of a spine momentarily) is now saying better a Democrat win the election in 2020 than Trump. He has realized it could take years to unravel the damage the idiot-in-chief has done. He also stated in an interview he could not condone many of Trump’s policies. Bold statements from a member of the mealy-mouthed party of do-nothing constructives.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jeff-flake-better-a-democrat-win-in-2020-than-trump/ar-BBVpaza?li=BBnb7Kz
6Paul @ 1,
It may take people losing everything (SS, healthcare, decent education, women’s reproductive rights, etc.) and basic rights before they finally lose it. And I hope to G-d it doesn’t go this far.
Just a thought: The French Revolution was triggered by a riot over the lack of bread.
7That was my first thought too, when I heard a clip of this bombastic bastard threatening to literally shut down the border with a few twitches of his tiny fingers, all those entry places from Brownsville to San Diego.
Bring it on, you cretinous mofo, just watch what happens. Yeehaaa!
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We probably live closer to the Texass border than most all of y’all, used to live right on it (the river was just a few miles away).
If these dumbasses could just see the traffic on those border crossings, rail, vehicle, pedestrian. All representing billions of dollars of economic benefit to both sides.
Hell YES! Choke the livin’ shit outta it! See what happens, you dumbfock.
The ‘Murikan-based auto makers alone would crater in a couple of weeks, virtually every US auto plant would freeze up, with most all their workers laid off indefinitely (both the US Big Three and all the furrin ones with domestic plants). And then all the rest of the stuff would vaporize.
Bring it ON, RAT45, Putin luvs ya!
Hell, this time of year there are still a few snowbirds left down in the Valley, what would those geezers do without their Frontera shopping trips for cheap drugs, booze, food, and errrr….well, other things?
8.
Y’all don’t lose sight of the fact that a minimum of 50 effen million ‘Murikkkan Repukian Patridiots are lapping this shit up and howling for more. People you see and speak with every damned day. They may as well have CJD/madcow prions eating their (residual/vestigial) brains away…
El Jefe says: “I don’t know what else to do to stop this guy.”
9Ahem, a certain wise ass who hangs out here has previously been cautioned by the salon management for making certain ‘suggestions’ to that effect…he wouldn’t dare mention it again..
“If this is what it takes to wake up the Congress to do something”
Even that is a two step, time delayed process, that requires congressional representatives play checkers, not tiddlywinks.
First Trump destroys the jobs of Republican district voters, then Republican reps and senators require the capability of understanding they might lose THEIR job.
Now, finally, they wake up.
10Why isn’t Mullin being scolded by the House leadership?
Maybe this is giving them enough rope to hang themselves, but something dramatic needs be done…
11@Old Fart 10 Apparently, the Sergeant at Arms used to regularly escort ill-tempered members out of chambers along with a 3 day expulsion as sports teams do now. I can only imagine that the incident was so shocking that everyone was stunned into inaction.
12Yeah, well, Flake has grown a pair only AFTER he left the Senate. When he could do something about it, he rolled over. EVERY TIME, including voting for Kavanaugh. Good riddance.
13@ El Jefe – Forgive the golf analogy but they call a putt that stalls shy of the hole a “shrivel dick”.
14My mom’s Ghanian home aide keeps asking why we aren’t in the streets. “You Americans just sit and watch your TV and complain. Why aren’t you out there marching?”
15I don’t know if even a collapse of our economy as a result of the Golgothan’s direct actions would be enough to open the eyes of any of his worshippers. They’re all shovel-fed their news, facts, reality, and worldview from so many directions (starting on the right, and turning further and further right), that they really believe the propaganda they’re lapping up is fair and balanced. No matter what happens, in their eyes, it’ll be liberals’ fault. The worse it gets, the more we’ll be blamed.
16Freedom of speech has been our greatest strength as a nation. But it’s liable to kill us.
Megasoid said: And yes, he refused to apologize.
And that is a Republican feature from the Reagan days. Never apologize, always attack. Unfortunately it works and decency suffers. The yahoos love to attack for the sheer joy of attacking and really love it when their leaders do it.
It’s hard to not do the same and sink to their level and the thankfully AOC is showing how to fight it. If there is anything they can’t handle it’s not having their attacks instill fear and apologies. AOC’s counters leave them speechless yet they can’t help coming back for more.
17Maybe we need to fight?
18Fighting sometimes is called for.
I’m working on some second amendment solutions.
Well, OK. Here’s another part of shutting down the border that will work for us. Every Senator and Congresscritter will be getting very strongly worded messages from their constituents who are going under.. Maybe, just maybe it will be the cavalcade of infuriated business tycoons marching on Washington that will finally galvanize Mcturtle into walking down PA Avenue to the WH and telling the Golden Gibbon this is it jerkwad. You’re on your own. You haven’t the defenses to cope with the pissed off tycoons and their coteries. And no Marine One can’t get here in time to haul your craven ass off to safety because for one things there isn’t any more SAFETY. You blew it. Game over. You Lose!
19Trump & company will rev up his rabid cult followers into a frenzy and they will eat this “close the border up” garbage like it’s hot buttered popcorn. No doubt about it. And then when the economic effects hit, these fools will find a way to blame the Dems. And Trump will find a way to claim he’s fighting for true ‘Mericans. . . you know, those who support him no matter what. The rest of us don’t matter.
I’m clinging to the slim hope that if the Orange Buffoon does close the border, there will be so much hurt that the spineless Reps in Congress will actually stand up to him. But it’s a very slim hope. My gut says they’ll just go along with whatever he says and bring the country down with the ship. Oh yeah, and claiming it’s the liberals fault all the way.
Our biggest chance for saving the country we love is to vote out every stinkin’ Republican we can, right along with Trump in 2020. As tempting as it is to zone out on Netflix videos and massive amounts of chocolate while fantasizing about moving to another country, we all need to keep fighting for our democracy. Stand up. Speak out. VOTE like your life depends on it — because it could.
20Whatever havoc the Rethugs cause will ALWAYS be dumped at the feet of the Democrats. And yes, @Bonnie, our lives depend on it. Every day we dump carbon into the atmosphere is a day less for life on earth as we knew it. The world burns while the denialists fiddle and the fossil fuel industry pumps money into their pockets.
21All that needs to be done is to have Obama make a joke about demented donnie to stressed over getting make up right to actually decide on closing that border becaus even he knows how stupid that would be.
22Preferably make joke on Twitter. Border closed immediately
“Call me stupid I will show the world just how stupid I can be” so sayeth the demented one.
I’m with you. Let’s them win and see how they like it.
When Obama saved their asses in 2008, when a Republican president didn’t have to clean up the mess that a Republican government had made, what good did that do him? so fuck it, let’s let them win this time, and see how it goes.
23I have to push back when “Congress” in general is excoriated. Nancy and her House crew are doing a pretty good job, though there are so many land mines to investigate due to donnie chaos, it’s tough to get to them all. Mitch, OTOH, is fully to blame for much of things gone wrong since 2009. I’m pleased with my two Oregon senators for regularly shining a light on financial (Wyden) and migrant/child abuse (Merkley) issues.
As for Mexico, I keep hearing about Americans that go there for medical & dental – like regularly. Y’all who live near the border please comment. I have a friend who was morbidly obese and couldn’t lose by diet & exercise no matter how hard she tried. She decided to have weight-loss surgery, and had it in Mexico because even with her insurance it was still too expensive in the US. She wrote on her FB page about how wonderful the care and people were and how thankful she was for it all. She’s now 100+ pounds lighter, just ran a 15K, is training for a marathon, and also goes to the rock wall gym. So I think of people like her when donnie chaos threatens to close the border. There are also kids who cross the border daily for school, right? On top of loss of $ and jobs which would be disastrous.
Did you hear what AOC said on All In in her town hall with Chris Hayes? He asked if she was surprised at how she was being attacked by the Rs. She said no, but she was surprised they were making such fools of themselves. LOLOL.
24This is hitting home for a lot of us now. Just last week I blocked a fifty year friend from calling me after he went off on me in the idle of what up to them was a nice visit. Among other things, he thinks reporters ought to be killed in order to ‘send a message to the Liberal Media’. He also told me he knows I do not believe in any of ‘this stuff’ and that the only reason I pretend to is to be ‘stylish’.
He’s mid seventies, widowed, lives alone in a big house and listens to Fox News and Hannity all day. I’ve phoned him in the past and he refuses to even turn it down. After his wife passed we made an effort to invite him out a few ties. My wife later told me never again; he rants constantly about Muslims and Mexicans.
What’s happening to us in unprecedented. It’s simply awful. It is destroying lives. And it seems it will never end.
25AMEN.
26Remember Bone Spurs’ mantra during the campaign?
27What have you got to lose? Dear God, we are losing democracy itself.
Hannah @24: Yes, IRT border crossing medical care from Mexican providers: We border dwellers did avail ourselves of a range of medical services.
28The pharmacias had most prescription drugs, without a prescription, and far cheaper. MD’s, you had to be cautious, but many were topnotch.
Same with DDS’s, my kids got their ortho/braces from MX DDS, at a fraction of the US cost, and my dental insurance plan luvved it too, they paid for most of it.
Depending on the state of the peso-dollar exchange rate, you could find many other bargains too at certain times. Fuel prices for one, when gas/diesel was up to $1+/gallon here, you could cross over to a Pemex station in Matamoros or Reynosa and fill up for 10-15 cents/gal (it was lower quality fuel though, you could smell the difference going in and coming out).
Lots of other stuff too, shopping trips to Monterrey and Saltillo every few months (Mata/Rey trips were at least weekly, often more).
Beer and bottled spirits were a bargain too, 25-50% of the cost in the US (the real stuff too, like Scotch whisky, etc; I regularly refilled a case of Negra Modelo at the MX brewery for ~$2.50 (a good dark beer)).
Don’t go any more though, not even the ex does, her LEO kinfolk advise against crossing now.
Sandridge@8, I rest my case:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/4/2/1847131/-Closing-the-border-would-shut-down-the-U-S-auto-industry-within-a-week-expert-says
It’s Tuesday already, what are you waiting for SOBOTUS? Close it down already…
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