anyone for whom that is actually a question ought to be barred from congress by law.

JL

Although I can't speak to the possibilities of this or that move and counter-move in the Congress, I am surprised that you still, at this point, invoke idealism, honesty, and character in your call for Congressional Republicans to stand up to the president. As others have said, he may have lost, but Republican office-holders will still read a razor-thin election as forbidding a break with Trumpism.

In that case, the way to side-step Moscow Mitch is for the House to pass the Senate version verbatim. My guess is that Trump would veto, and the Senate would run out the clock on the override so that no Republican senators have to go on record against the Confederacy when The Base is watching.

No. Trump is not the problem. The Republican base is the problem. Over 14M of them voted for him in the 2016 primaries. His fandom among The Base has only grown since then. Many congressional Republicans would probably love a chance to make Trump feel bad, if they could get away without angering The Base. Many of these are people for whom the Confederate flag is too subtle, so they carry literal swastikas.

For merely-far-right Republicans who chafe under the yoke of the lunatic fringe and its Dear Leader, the proper thing to do would be to become "centrist" Democrats. But even if they can see that, and are willing to make the jump, now would be an inopportune time to do it. There's gerrymandering to be done. If they offend the legislators who get to define their districts, they'll be out of a job.

The bill's already made it through the Senate with the base-closure language in it, even though Trump didn't like it. The Pentagon's budget is a big deal, especially to Republicans. So I think there's a good chance it'll move even if Trump disapproves. I also kind of doubt he'd follow through and actually veto it, if he knew it would pass anyway. But that last one's just a guess.

-CW

Everyone seems to forget that Mitch is the supreme grand-master at the game and he plays four or five moves ahead of the Dems. I do not see how they can win this. If they refuse to play ball with Trump, Mitch will allow the country to shut down right before Christmas and Nancy and Co will be blamed for this. If they do cave in to Trump they will set a horrible precedent and on many levels. You know Trump will crow and brag all over the media claiming he won, he won.

I am afraid the Repugs have boxed the Dems into a no win with this move. Someone needs to get Beth Harmon to help the the Dems, because they never seem to see these moves coming.