Yeah, these "foundations" and everything should be a point of concern. They're kind of weird.
But.
These fucking hacks.
Look, Biden's still Biden, but these fucksticks covered Trump's vast conflicts of interests for 0.5 seconds before just giving up when it became clear Trump simply didn't care about ethics.
Expect them to keep ringing this bell on Biden each week, however.
Yeah, these "foundations" and everything should be a point of concern. They're kind of weird.
But.
Remember his taxes? That was maybe a week of coverage then forgotten.
They're going to spend the next four years watching for any cough or hiccup and calling it a plague.
We just lived through the worst Presidency in US history *and* a pandemic and they think they can get back on their bullshit without batting an eye.
... and they're probably right. https://t.co/eeXFzVYAtl
Lotta people just expecting to snap back to the before times.
— Adam Dayton (@ShardShinjuku) January 18, 2021
But I wouldn't trust the NY Times or Politico or many other outlets to report on it with our best interests at heart.
Rock and a hard place.
Not every headline was good for him, but he steered the conversation anyway.
Biden is making them fight to keep people's attention.
https://t.co/X0zeljbW1D
Remember when Trump hired actual white supremacists and people who had been awarded honorary titles and medals from actual nazi-identifying groups and the media gave it all of a day's worth of attention.
— Disaster, Gay of Crisis (@DisastrousEnby) January 18, 2021
More from Biden
Biden clearly should not do #1. The problem with #2 is that reconciliation delays the inevitable and creates a tiered system where issues that happen to be ineligible - like civil rights and democracy reform - are relegated to second-class status and left to die by filibuster.
This👇is the danger. By using reconciliation you’re conceding the point that major legislation deserves to pass by majority vote, but only certain kinds for arbitrary reasons. Plus the process itself is opaque and ugly. You risk laying a logistical & political trap for yourself.
All the “here’s what you can do through reconciliation” takes are correct but also look through the wrong end of the telescope. Any of the items mentioned, or a small number of them, would be relatively easy. But putting them all together in one leadership-driven mega package...
... with no committee involvement and no real oversight, enduring tough press for jamming a massive package through a close process and stories about lobbyist giveaways while dodging the adverse parliamentary rulings that are virtually inevitable and still maintaining 50 votes...
It’s possible! Maybe the mega-ness of the package ends up helping hold 50 votes. But the ugliness of the process is being underpriced. And to what end? You’re just delaying the inevitable since you can’t use it for civil rights nor can you allow civil rights to die by filibuster.
Biden will have two options:
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 23, 2021
1. Cut the price tag sharply to court GOP support.
2. Use reconciliation to do what he can with 50 votes\u2014some stuff has to go, like $15 wage.
(A 3rd option is nuke the filibuster but @PressSec says he doesn\u2019t favor that.)https://t.co/AV49BcmDaI
This👇is the danger. By using reconciliation you’re conceding the point that major legislation deserves to pass by majority vote, but only certain kinds for arbitrary reasons. Plus the process itself is opaque and ugly. You risk laying a logistical & political trap for yourself.
Obvious answer is 2b where you tie yourself in knots trying to go nuclear lite and totally lose the plot in the process
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) January 23, 2021
All the “here’s what you can do through reconciliation” takes are correct but also look through the wrong end of the telescope. Any of the items mentioned, or a small number of them, would be relatively easy. But putting them all together in one leadership-driven mega package...
... with no committee involvement and no real oversight, enduring tough press for jamming a massive package through a close process and stories about lobbyist giveaways while dodging the adverse parliamentary rulings that are virtually inevitable and still maintaining 50 votes...
It’s possible! Maybe the mega-ness of the package ends up helping hold 50 votes. But the ugliness of the process is being underpriced. And to what end? You’re just delaying the inevitable since you can’t use it for civil rights nor can you allow civil rights to die by filibuster.
