American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS

[direwolf]

Not surprisingly, it sounds like Trump has decided to end the DACA program, because Obama.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...igrants-242301

President Donald Trump has decided to end the Obama-era program that grants work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children, according to two sources familiar with his thinking. Senior White House aides huddled Sunday afternoon to discuss the rollout of a decision likely to ignite a political firestorm — and fulfill one of the president’s core campaign promises.

Trump has wrestled for months with whether to do away with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. He has faced strong warnings from members of his own party not to scrap the program and struggled with his own misgivings about targeting minors for deportation.

Conversations with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who argued that Congress — rather than the executive branch — is responsible for writing immigration law, helped persuade the president to terminate the program, the two sources said, though White House aides caution that — as with everything in the Trump White House — nothing is set in stone until an official announcement has been made.

[DuffMan]

Pandering to his base. Absolutely no sense of doing anything humane.

[snootchiebootchies]

Apparently most Republicans in Congress are against ending DACA. Maybe they will finally develop some backbone and write a law during this six-month interim to protect Dreamers. I have my doubts though.

[DuffMan]

Even Paul Ryan found his balls for a minute and publicly disagreed.

[wireframe]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Even Paul Ryan found his balls for a minute and publicly disagreed.

I'd bet he loses them again before the vote.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by snootchiebootchies

Apparently most Republicans in Congress are against ending DACA. Maybe they will finally develop some backbone and write a law during this six-month interim to protect Dreamers. I have my doubts though.

This doesn't get enough coverage. People who are mad at trump for repealing the executive orders should be really Mad and congress for failing to turn this order into law.

This order might not have even survived the court challange.

[direwolf]

Interesting piece from Politico on the multiple Russia probes. Three separate investigations by different teams occasionally merging into one another, which is making things extremely complicated. I have a feeling we're in for at least another full year of Trump before anything significant comes to light, as this massive investigation is obviously gonna take a while.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...ongress-242256

The return of the congressional Russia probes also means the return of a phenomenon that has reportedly enraged Trump and caused him to lash out at GOP leaders: constant headlines about the latest incremental developments in these sprawling and unwieldy investigations.

There will be the daily, sometimes hourly, leaks about new witnesses, new lines of inquiry. There will be ominous cable news footage of lawmakers and witnesses disappearing into classified briefing rooms. And there will be grandstanding and bickering among members of Congress in both parties, many of them trying to capitalize on the Russia investigations to further their own political ambitions.

There will also be competition between three committees investigating many of the same issues and seeking testimony from the same witnesses — and doing very little to coordinate their efforts.

"They're doing their thing and we're doing our thing," said an aide on one of the Senate committees, speaking of the other congressional panels.

Over the summer, the respective probes bumped up against each other even more often than usual.

House Intelligence Committee investigators traveled to London in July to attempt to find and interview former MI6 operative and Trump dossier author Christopher Steele, either not knowing or not caring that Steele’s lawyers were already engaging with the Senate Intelligence panel.

Officials on the Senate panel were irked when the Senate Judiciary Committee announced its own open hearing with several witnesses — including Trump Jr. and Manafort — that the intelligence committee was also working to arrange interviews with. Neither Trump Jr. nor Manafort ended up testifying at the open hearing, and the committees are now separately seeking to arrange closed-door interviews with them.

[driveway]

The most recent Lawfare Podcast focused on recent developments in the Muller case, specifically:

A Russian lobbyist's testimony before the Grand Jury.

Trump's lawyers going to the investigation and arguing that the President couldn't have comitted obstruction of justice.

The possible coordination or communication between Muller and the New York AG.

Alleged "leaks" coming out of the Muller investigation.

This podcast and blog is rapidly becoming my favourite source of information on the ongoing legal issues with Trump, his campaign, and his administration. They're a bunch of hyper-experienced lawyers who go and talk to even more hyper-experienced lawyers.

Their ultimate conclusion about the most recent developments is that it's really, really bad for Trump himself personally. They feel it signals that the investigation is, in fact, focusing on Trump himself and the very real possibility that he committed a crime this year in the firing of James Comey.

[photon]

South Korea’s defense minister on Monday said it was worth reviewing the redeployment of American tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula to guard against the North, a step that analysts warn would sharply increase the risk of an accidental conflict.

As concern over Korea deepened following North Korea’s huge nuclear test Sunday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “begging for war.”

Here in Seoul, the Defense Ministry warned that Pyongyang might be preparing to launch another missile into the Pacific Ocean, perhaps an intercontinental ballistic missile theoretically capable of reaching the mainland United States.

President Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, spoke on the phone for 40 minutes Monday night, Korean time — some 34 hours after the nuclear test and more than 24 hours after Trump took to Twitter to criticize Moon’s “talk of appeasement.”

The two agreed to remove the limit on allowed payloads for South Korean missiles — something Seoul had been pushing for — as a way to increase deterrence against North Korea, according to a statement from South Korea’s Blue House.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...b0d_story.html

[direwolf]

Well, it's official. No doubt this is gonna cause a political s**tstorm.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.a52786f4be32

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would begin to unwind an Obama-era program that allows younger undocumented immigrants to live in the country without fear of deportation, calling the program unconstitutional but offering a partial delay to give Congress a chance to address the issue.

The decision, after weeks of intense deliberation between President Trump and his top advisers, represents a blow to hundreds of thousands of immigrants known as "dreamers" who have lived in the country illegally since they were children. But it also allows the White House to shift some of the pressure and burden of determining their future, setting up a public fight over their legal status that is likely to drag on for months.

The fight now could shift to Congress to act on a bill to grant permanent legal status to the dreamers. A bill called the Dream Act that would have offered them a path to citizenship failed in the Senate in 2010. Several new proposals have been put forward, including the Bridge Act, a bipartisan bill with 25 co-sponsors that would allow extend DACA protections for three years to give Congress time to enact permanent legislation.

But the White House and conservative Republicans could hold out for additional provisions to boost border security, such as funding for Trump's proposed border wall or new measures to restrict legal immigration.

If DACA is shuttered next year, more than 1,000 immigrants stand to lose their work permits each day once the program is rescinded, according to a recent study by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. Business leaders from major companies, including Apple, Facebook and Google, had lobbied the White House not to terminate the program, citing the economic consequences.

[DuffMan]

very interested to hear what Obama is going to say.

Also, I'd like punch Jeff Sessions in the teeth, right after Trump

[direwolf]

From Dan Rather on Facebook:

There is room in the history books for more than one name. President Donald Trump is who he is. His record indicates he will not change. He has not shown that he will be tempered, normalized, reasoned with, humbled or enlightened. His decision today to end the DACA program is bound for yet another chapter in the reckoning that will come.

The question is for the Republicans in Congress who so far have proven quick to pepper us with tweets of condemnation but reluctant to step up for any meaningful action that will have a real effect on policy (the healthcare vote of a few Senators being the notable exception). Where and how will their names appear when the story is written of this era of extremism? Do they really believe, as a majority of Americans do, that these "dreamers" should be protected? And even if they believe that in their hearts, what will be the courage of their votes which are, after all, the only voice that actually counts?

Please spare me the sanctimony and hand wringing. It is of no solace to the millions whose lives will be upended, just like the millions who still fear a collapse of our health care system or the scourge of climate change, the gutting of our economic protections, our public schools, our public health, and so much else.

For eight years the GOP on Capitol Hill played a game of winking at the base with meaningless votes for show, knowing full well that they would be spared difficult policy decisions by President Obama's veto pen. So Obamacare was a disgrace that would be easily repealed and replaced. Immigrants could be scapegoated while still keeping our economy and ideals largely intact. The EPA could be denigrated without our air and water quality suffering. And on and on.

Now that luxury is gone. And the Republican agenda, or lack thereof, is on display for all to see. In some ways you can hardly blame Mr. Trump. He is just following up on what Republicans in Congress have been saying for years. Whether they really meant it or not, and have any courage to stand up, we shall soon see. History is not only watching Mr. Trump. It is watching his accomplices as well.

[GirlySports]

Dan Rather on the Erza Klien show was even better
https://www.vox.com/pages/podcasts

[direwolf]

Watching the Huckabee Sanders press briefing on the DACA decision. As usual, it's an absolute train wreck.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

https://m.facebook.com/barackobama/p...55227588436749

Obama's response.

[calf]

DT: We will deport all illegal immigrants
Media: What about the children of illegal immigrants?
DT: We will take care of them
M: Does that mean...
DT: I SAID WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THEM

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by calf

DT: We will deport all illegal immigrants
Media: What about the children of illegal immigrants?
DT: We will take care of them
M: Does that mean...
DT: I SAID WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THEM

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Watching the Huckabee Sanders press briefing on the DACA decision. As usual, it's an absolute train wreck.

Not watching, but I assume she'll get back to us on stuff?

[Muta]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

https://m.facebook.com/barackobama/p...55227588436749

Obama's response.

That man was all class. His ability to lead a country was light years ahead of the cockroach that is infesting the Oval Office right now.

[photon]

What. The. F...