Pelosi and Schumer are WORKING Trump!

[MineralMan]

They can get things passed by supplying enough Democratic votes to override the right-wing creeps. Because of that, they can force Trump to separate, say DACA from the wall, and get something good passed without also passing something bad.

It's called politics and that's how it works. Those two Democratic leaders are making the best of a bad situation and getting things done without having to vote for crap in the process.

This is why they are important Congressional leaders and why their abilities are direly needed in a Republican-controlled environment. It's also why we need to stop demonizing them when they don't do the impossible.

Thanks for your attention!

[uponit7771]

1. I'd agree if Red Don was more trustworthy and smart, he's dishonest and stupid. Cuts off his nose to

... spite his whole head and lies when the truth serves him better.

He's not going to change because dems are working with him, this is leverage against the KGOP leadership ... that's it.

He just wants something and will use dem proposal's to get them from the KGOP

[MineralMan]

5. One bill at a time. As the minority party, that's

about the best we can do. We can't pass anything on our own, but we can negotiate and use our considerable weight from time to time. Minority parties have that problem, but both Pelosi and Schumer are experienced and able to make the best use of their caucuses that is possible.

We are limited in our power, so it must be used very intelligently. We're lucky to have those two helping right now.

[Mr.Bill]

20. It sure beats having the minority party's

leadership stand there and say job #1 is to make this a one-term presidency while you accomplish nothing for the entire four years.

[MineralMan]

22. Indeed. Solidarity and good politicking helped keep

ACA from being repealed, too. We need to praise our Democratic leadership for their accomplishments while in the minority, not attack them for not accomplishing what they might if we had elected a Democratic majority.

They are limited by their numbers. We need to remove those limitations by electing more Democrats, not by fighting with the ones we have, I think.

[Mr.Bill]

27. Well put. n/t

[peggysue2]

42. You're on a roll, MM

Couldn't agree more. Pelosi and Schumer are playing a very bad hand yet protecting people in the process. There's no working with Trump; he's totally unreliable. But working around him or working his base instinct for approval while protecting people's lives is no small thing.

We need to continue in this fashion, cheer our leaders on for exacting any wins with their hands tied. And work for wins in 2018 & 2020.

[MineralMan]

45. Thank you.

[Johnyawl]

28. Exactly, Mr.Bill...

...I want trump to fail, but I don't want my country to fail.

[TeamPooka]

47. Any victories in public policy that we can achieve during these dark times should be supported.

[MineralMan]

49. Exactly!

[Gothmog]

2. This is going to be fun to watch

[renegade000]

3. If anything I can appreciate the mind games against the right

Trump's appeal has been based significantly on his ability to piss off and troll our side. The crowd that supports him for that reason is probably a bit confused right now...

[Calista241]

4. Only if they can make McConnell bring it to the floor in the Senate

And Ryan bring it up for a vote in the House. If they can't do that, then they can't do shit.

Personally, I think Pelosi and Schumer are going to cave and fund the wall in exchange for DACA amnesty.

[MineralMan]

8. Uh, it worked the last time.

We are in the minority, you realize, right? We can't pass anything on our own. We can only bargain with votes from the Democratic caucus when it is possible to do so.

Right now, the bargaining chip is the far-right's unwillingness to vote for anything that benefits anyone. That gives us some leverage, and Pelosi and Schumer are experts at political maneuvers. They understand stuff.

[Calista241]

11. Ryan and McConnell did that to avoid a fight within their own caucus on disaster recovery funding.

They won't be able to walk away from a fight on DACA and immigration. Both Ryan and McConnell would be deposed from leadership in 2 seconds if they tried to do it over a subject like immigration.

[MineralMan]

12. We shall see. I think you're wrong on that.

I think DACA will pass. Too much is at stake for many states.

[Calista241]

14. I respect your opinion, and I think DACA will pass also

I just think we're going to have to fund a wall to get it.

[MineralMan]

15. No, I think it will go through as a separate thing, with

the wall coming back to haunt us later. Trump is desperate for wins in Congress. He's not having much luck, so far, really.

[Calista241]

16. Trump's going to get a win on tax reform.

I would be surprised if Ryan and McConnell recessed without having got a deal. Trump would be on TV and tweeting every day about how they need to do their jobs or they should quit. Cohn and Mnuchin have been focused on this since day 1. They'd likely quit if doing tax reform becomes impossible.

Trump's already said he's open to leaving taxes on the rich at current levels. He's stated he's open to increasing the earned interest tax levels. That's plenty of fodder to bring in some DINO's onto his plan.

The Repubs jobs are on the line in 2018, and every single one of them knows it. Without Health Care reform, their hopes lie on tax reform. Without either, they may as well just cede their districts to the Dems. I think they'll go to great lengths to prove their competence.

Trump, to Repubs, is the definition of "no greater friend, no worse enemy." I'm sure that he will make very clear to everyone that could possibly listen, that the problem lies not with him, but with congress. He'll probably even be tweeting about how he looks forward to working with Pelosi and Schumer to get tax reform done once the Repubs are gone.

[MineralMan]

17. Republicans have the majorities in Congress.

There is a Republican President. Did you expect a tax bill that was liberal or progressive in nature? No Democrats are needed to pass a conservative tax reform bill, frankly, so of course that is what will be passed.

Let's work on regaining control of Congress in 2018 and 2020, shall we?

[Mr.Bill]

23. Or maybe just let them think we are funding a wall.

Just set it up in such a way that we can kill it later.

[TeamPooka]

48. Then let them kill it and make Trump look weak and ineffective to all. Either way we win something.

[TBA]

6. Shhhhhhh!

I think they secretly met with mental heath professionals who taught then how to play that fiddle.

[Hoyt]

7. As tough as it will be, we need to let Trump take all the credit (publicly at least). :)

[MineralMan]

9. Yup. Just keep WORKING Trump.

[Dem_4_Life]

56. Exactly!

It is tough to give him all the credit but will be fun to watch in the end.

[Golden Raisin]

10. He is completely untrustworthy.

Pelosi and Schumer are continuing to play the "normalization" game, playing by traditional rules while this entire Regime is completely and totally abnormal, rogue and revolutionary. They are laying down with dogs and will wake up with fleas.

[MineralMan]

13. One battle at a time. Since we're in the minority, we have to

work around that unfortunate fact. Perhaps we'll fix that in 2018 and 2020. I sure hope so. In the meantime, I'll take what I can get. Any success is better than complete failure.

[90-percent]

18. Good Point

This is a battlefield new in concept; Undermining faith in our Democracy with well crafted propaganda.

Instead of a mind controlled Manchurian Candidate, social media has brought us the latest weapon of mass destruction, THE MANCHURIAN DEPLORABLES.

Touche' Vladimir, Touche'

-90% jimmy

For the record - I enthusiastically supported Bernie and voted for Hillary. And I guess I'm one of those people that helps make bernie the most popular politician in America today.

[SHRED]

19. Donald Trump Denies DACA Deal, Says Were Doing Nothing Without Wall Funding

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-border-wall-daca_us_59ba570ee4b0edff971983ee?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

[Eyeball_Kid]

29. Trumpy is disoriented. No grounding...

save for self-preservation. He'd be fine with devil worship if it meant a win of the news cycle.

[JDC]

21. Somebody is getting worked alright

I have little to no faith in this deal. Not because of our side, but because Trump just likes to please the room. That's it. He says what ever is convenient at the time to get the folks around him to like him.

[Mr.Bill]

25. And Schumer and Pelosi know this.

It's McConnell and Ryan who have yet to figure this out. Advantage: Us.

[meow2u3]

24. Illustration of what Pelosi and Schumer are doing

Bowling ball = Pelosi and/or Schumer; Pin = tRump.

[Progressive dog]

26. With no real power, the Democratic leaders

have already gotten the debt limit raised and disaster funding done the way they wanted and the Republican leaders opposed.
Just a few days later and they have the beginning of another deal with Trump that the Republican leadership will oppose.
Hooray for Pelosi and Schumer and a big thank you to them for continuing to work to make our nation better.

[MineralMan]

35. Don't forget blocking the repeal of the ACA.

[IronLionZion]

30. There's a reason our party elected these two leaders

they are very good at their jobs. But let's not count chickens before they're hatched. One step at a time.

[blue-wave]

31. This Is Why

Pelosi must stay as our leader in the house. I thank both Schumer and Pelosi for being a glowing example of what patriotism looks like.

[MineralMan]

33. +100

[Benny19851]

32. What if they can start getting things done?

I know its a small bright spot in a bad situation but... If Don hates what the Republicans are doing so much, maybe this work with Pelosi and Schumer can be for the better for everyone?

[beaglelover]

34. I agree. It's nice to see the two sides working together to get things done for a change.

[MineralMan]

36. That's not really what's going on.

What's going on is that two very experienced politicians are playing on Trump's needs to get something done that needs to be done. Trump is not fighting with Democrats. He also gets a lot of blowback from the far-right Republicans when he does anything that doesn't fall into line with their demands.

Trump desperately needs some wins in Congress. By using their ability to send some Democratic votes his way, under specific circumstances, Pelosi and Schumer are actually manipulating Trump into doing things Democrats want. They're very good at that sort of thing. They know how to work the system. Trump does not. That lets them win a few battles.

[beaglelover]

37. Trump's a democrat at heart. So, he's fine with working with them.

[MineralMan]

38. No, Trump is not a Democrat at heart.

He is a lying, thieving, mendacious asshole who has a shriveled bit of gristle for a heart. He is a Trumplicanocrat. He is sui generis. That is why he can be successfully manipulated by anyone smart enough to make him think he is winning something.

[beaglelover]

40. In your opinion. I don't love the guy but I'm glad to see him working with Dems to get things done.

He was right when he said this morning that the only way big things get done in DC is when the parties work together. I hope we start to see more of that. Each side may actually need to compromise. The horrors. But let's get important stuff done and move forward to a brighter future!

[MineralMan]

41. No. Screw Bipartisanism. And Screw Donald Trump while

Last edited Thu Sep 14, 2017, 02:52 PM - Edit history (1)

you're at it. It sounds to me like you're praising Trump. That's not probably a good thing to try to do here.

[beaglelover]

44. I'm not praising him at all. Why do you want America to fail?

[MineralMan]

46. What a strange thing to say...

Puzzling, even...sort of...

[Hekate]

53. What a strange series of comments indicating a fundamental misunderstanding of Trump's nature....

It's almost as if you had not really experienced the last two years of Trump's public life in any way. It's almost as if you had been somewhere other than DU, where we figured him out long ago.

Trump is not a normal human being. Research the diagnostics on what passes for his psyche --I'm not going to repeat it in this thread, but MinMan is right.

Suffice it to say, our Democratic leaders know exactly who they are dealing with, and as one of his characteristics is a craving to be seen as a "winner" in every news cycle, it leaves him open to skillful manipulation. Pelosi and Schumer are working the levers.

[uponit7771]

55. wow

[MineralMan]

59. Oh, I get it now. You want to Make America Great Again...

Uff da!

[beaglelover]

63. No, you don't get it. I'm not a Trump supporter. I'm a democrat. Have been my whole voting life.

Hillary supporter from her first lady days on.

[MineralMan]

65. I see. Well, please proceed, then...

[annabanana]

51. Bingo.

I think Chuck is especially well situated to play this game. He can talk to the don in his own dialect.

[Hekate]

39. What. You. Said.

The more of us who keep pointing this out, the more people we can hopefully educate.

Lawrence O'Donnell does NOT help the cause with his incessant gloating. When hunting wabbits one must be vewy vewy quiet, said Elmer Fudd.

[MineralMan]

43. Hope springs eternal, of course.

Not everyone, though, appears to be getting what I'm saying.

[SunSeeker]

50. K & R

[Orsino]

52. I recall a senator saying he was looking forward to working with Trump, and the howls that followed.

It is called politics, and we should be grateful for Dems who are willing to be in the same room with Trump, as long as they aren't giving the store away.

[Historic NY]

54. Make him think it was his idea!....

politics is a game, it playing the game that is called a strategy. Schumer & Pelosi are plummeting McConnell & Ryan.

[wryter2000]

57. Shhhhhh

Don't let him know. He might stop.

[MineralMan]

58. Trump doesn't read DU, I'm almost certain.

[wryter2000]

60. Does he read anything?

Can he read?

[MineralMan]

61. I believe he can take in short blocks of text,

as long as they include the words "Donald Trump," and don't use anything but a basic vocabulary.

I'm pretty sure most DU threads would appear as if written in a foreign language to him.

[stopbush]

62. Everybody marvels at how tRump seems to control the media narrative

by doing one outrageous/diversionary thing after another. But here are Chuck and Nancy, playing tRump like a fiddle, driving a wedge between tRump, Congressional Rs and maybe, maybe even his fervant base of committed assholes.

[MineralMan]

64. They are very skilled political people.

We benefit from their long experience and capabilities.

[DBoon]

66. assume nothing comes of this "deal"

Sowing division among republicans is worth it

[kerry-is-my-prez]

67. Was scanning on my radio and got to Faux. Laura I was saying

Trump was losing his base because of his working with the Dems on DACA and that he was snubbing the Republicans. She was pissed. Later on I was checking to see what else they were saying and Sean H and he was still being a lap dog saying "oh "the fake media is trying to claim that trump is losing his base!"