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Ongoing US GOP Debacle Thread: Seditious Republicans march toward authoritarianism

Senate Republicans have a tentative deal on $1.5 trillion in tax cuts

Top Republicans have decided on a tentative budget plan that would grow the government's $20 trillion debt by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, according to AP congressional sources. Bob Corker, a senator who had been against increasing the deficit, said the talks have "potentially gotten to a very good place."

Why it matters: The $1.5 trillion would "allow deeper cuts to tax rates than ...if Republicans followed through on earlier promises" not to add to the deficit, per the AP. Agreeing on a budget plan is the first step in getting a tax bill through Congress. Republicans are expected to release more specifics on tax policy next week.

It's almost as if.... whatever.
 
Here's a good Facebook post by Chris Ladd, a good GOP blogger.

It's funny how we can always (from a certain political perspective) be in a "debt crisis," yet no one can ever seem to identify any actual damage resulting from this apparent crisis. The damage is always off in some imagined future. Everyone understands that debt cannot accumulate forever, but there don't seem to be a lot of people on the deficit hawk side of the equation who can articulate any credible right-level of debt. Mostly they just want government to stop doing stuff, and they use debt as a scare tactic in place of arguments.
 
So we're going to gut healthcare, not merely removing accessibility to care for many but also seriously damaging the economy of many communities where healthcare is a major driver/employer. So the richest can get a tax cut. And we can maybe pay for the coming devastating wars we're fumbling and jawing our way into.

Good job America.
 
Per twitter, Roy Moore just pulled real gun from his pocket at a rally to show the crowd.
 
Trapped by Their Own Lies: Krugman [he's exactly right]

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Yet Republicans never had any idea how to fulfill that promise and meet that test, or indeed how to repeal the A.C.A. without taking insurance away from tens of millions. That is, they were lying about health care all along.

And the base, both the grass roots and the big money, believed the lies. Hence the trap in which Republicans find themselves.

The thing is, health care isn’t the only issue on which lies are coming back to bite the liars. The same story is playing out on other issues — in fact, on almost every substantive policy issue the U.S. faces...
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Tweeter Laureate of TX nominated to the fifth circuit. At least he hasn't gone back and deleted his criticisms of trump.
 
 
The Strange Impotence of the Republican Party

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Suppose you’re a Republican. Since you’re reading The Times, suppose hard.

The White House and both houses of Congress are yours. So are 34 governorships, matching a 1922 party record. The Republican Party has complete control of state government in 26 states, and full legislative control in 32 states. Next year, Senate Democrats will have to defend 25 seats. Just eight Republican incumbents are up for re-election. The Supreme Court retains a conservative majority. The Dow keeps hitting record highs, and the economy is finally growing above the 3 percent mark. The prospect of Donald Trump being removed from office? See above. The prospect of Trump inflicting permanent brain damage on Democrats? Outstanding.

Liberal strategists used to write optimistic books with such titles as “The Emerging Democratic Majority.” The Republican rebuttal could be called “What, Me Worry?” with a foreword from Alfred E. Neuman.

So why is your party in such obvious disarray? Why can’t it pass its signature bills? Why can’t your congressional leaders control their caucuses? Why can’t an incumbent Republican senator publicly endorsed by an incumbent Republican president win his primary battle against his nutty opponent?

Maybe you’re tempted to answer that all would be well if only the party hadn’t been stabbed in the back by a handful of self-infatuated G.O.P. moderates — read John McCain and Susan Collins — supposedly more concerned about their reputation on the Sunday talk show circuit than with the welfare of their constituents back home. Welcome to the Dolchstoßlegende, 2017 edition.

Yet party “saboteurs” come in many colors, including the phony conservative purists Ted Cruz and Rand Paul as well as the genuine conservative crazies of the House Freedom Caucus. The basic test of any leader, Republican or Democratic, is to get a grip on the inevitably fissiparous elements of his political herd. Republican leaders — President Trump most of all — have thus far failed to get that grip.

There’s a simple explanation for this: They can’t...
 
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