SOTU Standoff at Capitol Hill

Well, well. A few hours ago, Trump sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi informing her that he would be giving the State of the Union address in the House. Nancy Pelosi wrote back:

“I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened,” Pelosi wrote to Trump. “Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.” …

… The House and Senate must pass a concurrent resolution for a joint session of Congress to hear the president.

It’s not clear whether Trump understands he can’t just show up in the House and give a speech whenever he wants. Paul Waldman writes,

One imagines a dramatic scene as Trump arrives at the House and is told that the speaker is not granting him permission to deliver his address. What happens then? Will he push past everyone (though presumably only Republicans will have shown up), climb up on the dais and start talking? Among other things, Pelosi controls the microphones and the TV cameras, so there wouldn’t be much point.

I don’t see that he holds any cards in this game. He can always give the speech somewhere else and send a transcript to Congress to fulfill his constitutional obligation — indeed, he doesn’t have to give a speech at all — but he would be doing so with the whole nation understanding that a woman wouldn’t let him have the venue he wanted. What will he do?

Polls are saying, loudly and clearly, that the shutdown is unpopular and that the public blames Trump for it.  Things are getting interesting.

18 thoughts on “SOTU Standoff at Capitol Hill

  1. I have an image of tRUMP's face on Yosemite Sam's body, as he goes from a slow burn to a steam-coming-out-of-his-ears, pistol-firin' rage!

    Fun fact:  Yosemite Sam also had very small hands.  And that's why his pistol's were always almost as big as he was!

  2. There's more happening than the SOTU or the wall (or the shutdown). IMO, Trump is trying to assert male dominance over Pelosi. He's been briefed about the consequences of divided government. Trump's plan for dealing with a House majority aligned against his agenda (and his crimes) is to prove he's the boss and everyone including Pelosi works for him. 

     It's not working too well.

  3. ". . . to prove he's the boss and everyone including Pelosi works for him"–But that isn't true.  The President works for the people of the United States of America.  I, for one, intend to fire Trump.  His job performance is poor at best.

  4. The fact that undercuts Chump the most is for two years the GOP had complete control of government, and it was republicans who didn't give him the wall, and he didn't push for it.  Add to that the public's clear opposition to the wall and its obvious all this pain is in service to a Trump ego trip and tantrum, and ultimately his fear of having to face the he-man troglodytes in his base after getting owned by a woman.

    Once again, as with the Kavanaugh debacle, this brings to the fore the GOP's innate sexism, and its not hard for the public to grasp.  With 800K federal workers effectively locked out by Trump, damn near everyone either knows or is dependent on one of them or is affected in some significant way by them not getting paid.  

    Trump's opponent has checkmated him, and he refuses to concede.  He can sit across from his opponent as long as he wants, complain about the rules, lie, etc, but it doesn't change the fact, its game over, he lost.  The sooner he realizes that and acts, the better, but the longer this goes on, the worse its going to get for him and the GOP.

  5. Trump should try the hold his breath trick.  I hear some tots use that to get their way with occasional success.  Nancy may be on to that one too, as she seems pretty aware of primitive emotional manipulation techniques.  I wonder if he would turn blue or just a darker shade of orange.   

     

  6. Trump should try the hold his breath trick. 

    Bernie..That trick doesn't work, I've tried that one many times as a kid and found out you really won't die. Once you pass out you'll start breathing again, so you can't make anybody sorry for doubting your mental anguish. 

  7. As I said in previous post, this is about dominance behavior as that is how Trump personally relates to everyone around him. In the macro , it is about establishing his dictatorship and killing representative government.

    It is dangerous and a huge mistake to ever "negotiate" with him. He is guilty of witness tampering. He should be impeached immediately.

  8. It’s not clear whether Trump understands he can’t just show up in the House and give a speech whenever he wants.

    It's  pretty clear Donal Trump doesn't actually understand anything.

  9. I guess Trump finally got the message.. If he's not a good boy he might not ever get a SOTU address before Congress as long as Nancy Pelosi is speaker.

     Pelosi just ate his lunch, and all he could do is retreat using the same tactic he employed when he folded with a Trump University stance of it being no big deal. It's especially enjoyable to watch him have to eat a shit sandwich when you know that because of his immense ego and insecurities it really is bitter going down.

    " Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain"

    McConnell better get on the stick and provide Trump with some sort of a face saving exit from the shutdown. It gonna get really ugly for Trump when the federal workers just stop working because they just can't take any more. That time is fast approaching when their best chance of financial survival is to just lay down and remove themselves from a hostage situation. Trump thinks by inflicting pain into the system he can leverage his demands..He'd better realize the situation he created can blow up in his face at any time. If you play with fire you could get burned.

  10. So the adult toddler is getting what he had needed all his life, some proper parenting.  It is sad it had to come this late in life.  His age puts him on the wrong side of the learning curve,  and many others declining curves as well, but as they say: Better late than never.  Thank Nancy for the good work. To bad she does not have younger more capable talent to work with.

  11. <i>"I don’t see that he holds any cards in this game. "</i>
    One tweet and Trump could send a mob of MAGA Brownshirts over to the House, Reichstag style. I'm seriously worried his escalating belligerence has reached that point or will soon.

  12. Been some talk from House members that Trumps threats against Cohen s family amount to witness tampering. That's a crime the president cant be charged with. But Giuliani parroted those threats. He doesn't have protection for that crime.

  13. re the Roger Stone indictment:

    "When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers." – Proverbs 21:15

    Karma is a bitch. And the weekend is starting off well.

  14. moonbat…By that standard… I must be among the righteous.

    I think it's time for Maha to bump up the walls are closing in thread. I  heard John Brennan this morning saying that he expects that in the next 60 days Mueller will be issuing several more indictments, many of which will be names that the public are very familiar with.

     

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