Various Thoughts on a Saturday Morning

Hmm, okay, so let's get this straight. Trump is happy to call a black NFL quarterback a "son of a bitch" and say that someone like that should be fired for exercising his 1st Amendment rights -- while also telling us that there are some very fine people who march with the Nazis and KKK.  The more he speaks, the more I think that the whole "He's a white supremacist" narrative has a chance of building up steam...

It speaks volumes about how little Ann Coulter is thought of these days when she can call for "Death Squads" against immigrants, and pretty much no one cares.  And yes, she did actually say that.  You can read it here.  Though you might want to wear protective eye gear so that your eye balls don't sear off.  And maybe have a barf bag handy.

It would be fascinating if a monumental mass of NFL players all protest Trump calling one of their members a "son of a bitch:and on Sunday kneel in support of their fellow-member. In fact, here's hoping that happens. The protest, to be clear, would not be against the Anthem or Flag, but of Trump.

It's been pretty clear to me for a while that the GOP push for this insane TrumpCare bill -- that is opposed by pretty much every major health care organization and the insurance industry -- has nothing to do with health care. It's that by repealing the Affordable Care Act, hundreds of millions of dollars will be freed up, allowing Republicans to cut corporate taxes.  And now come reports that big GOP donors are telling senators that is precisely what they want.

Still waiting on Trump to finally at least mention the wildfires that devastated the Pacific Northwest. And it would be really nice if he made clear that he actually had serious concern and was taking action for Puerto Rico almost being wiped off the map.  Never mind that it's a U.S. territory and 3.5 million American citizens live there.

I've long-thought that the Republican push for repealing the Affordable Care Act is just bizarrely counterproductive for the GOP.  It only has something like 12% support in the country.  If Republicans do get this latest attempt passed (which has had far-more angry criticism from both the healthcare and insurance industries), there will be overwhelming outrage from the public, including from their base which may be hurt more than anyone.  

Joe Scarborough said something similar on his MSNBC show on Thursday.  “Have that process, have those hearings, let the senators, let the congressmen hear who is going to be hurt by the bill, instead of just seeing this in stories six months after a bill passes.  I promise you, Republicans, you’re the ones that are going to pay in the end. You think I’m being a son of a bitch right now? No, you should listen to me. What you’re doing is radical, and you will end up paying horribly in the end. I don’t know what pressure you think you are under right now (but) wait until you go back to your voters supporting this bill. It’s inhumane.”

How quaint that Mr. Scarborough used the very same "son of a bitch," as Trump, though in his case without being stupid or a bully.  I guess it's the phrase of the week.

The best tweet of last night came from Teresa Kaepernick, mother of Colin, that quarterback who Trump slammed yesterday.  She wrote, "Guess that makes me a proud bitch."

By the way, this whole TrumpCare bill is a rock-and-a-hard place for Republicans. If the pass it with only 12% approval and throw 30 million people off healthcare, the public (including their base) will take it out on them.  But if they don't pass it, their base will be furious that they did nothing.  What they should have done is continue the bipartisan work that Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray were doing to fix issues in the Affordable Care Act.  It would have pleased the public -- though upset their big donors.

Between Trump calling for the firing of an ESPN host and also an NFL quarterback, it seems like he's going in the wrong direction with the whole job market thing.  Maybe he just misses hosting The Apprentice.  As for suggesting that the NFL quarterback should be fired, someone should tell Trump that thus far no team in the league has hired him.  So, it's almost like he got his wish.

And that's the news.  Or as much of it as I can bear typing about at the moment...