Somewhat to my surprise, the attempt to stymie President Trump’s rearrangement of the government’s finances in order to finance his wall has passed the Senate. I had figured that the self-preservation instincts of the Republican Senators would override their good sense when it comes to being Senators. I think this is probably indicative of Senators who feel they are safe, even if they are modeling a “bad behavior” for their supporters, which is to dissent from the leader, although some may be simply contemplating retirement.
Even more surprising was the number of Republican Senators who broke ranks despite the brazen threats of the President.
The Senate delivered a high-profile rebuke to President Donald Trump over his signature agenda issue Thursday when 12 Republicans joined Democrats to overturn the President’s national emergency border declaration. [CNN]
High confidence or lots of retirements – or maybe a few have decided they’ve had enough of delusional shit, eh? But the most interesting was Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), who Steve Benen has some fun roasting:
After the Democratic-led House passed a resolution to block Donald Trump’s emergency declaration, it was not at all clear whether it would pass the Republican-led Senate, and at least at first, many GOP senators were reluctant to stick their necks out. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), to his credit, said he’d put principle over party. …
A week later, Tillis was unwavering. Defending his position, the Republican added, “It’s never a tough vote for me when I’m standing on principle.”
That’s not a quote that stands up well.
It was easy to admire the North Carolinian at the time for ignoring the pressure and doing the right thing – right up until today, when Thom Tillis flip-flopped. Twelve Republicans broke party ranks and supported the resolution, but Tillis, less than three weeks after taking a bold and principled stand, was not among them.
I had expected at least one of the four GOP Senators (Rand, Collins, Murkowski, and Tillis) who had announced their plan to vote for the resolution to collapse under pressure from the President, and Tillis proved to be the weak link. Not that I was inclined to do so, but I won’t be looking to Tillis for principled stands in the future. I wonder if Tillis is fatally compromised at this point.
Most observers think the matter is dead, now, as Trump has promised to veto this attempt to neuter him. (It’d be quite the mystifying maneuver if he signed it.) As neither chamber reached the required supermajority to override the veto, it’d seem to be a dead horse.
But I wonder. Speaker Pelosi’s no one’s idiot, despite the idle wishes of the extreme right-wing. I think this horse may be ridden a little further by bringing up the legislation again in the House, along with heavy messaging concerning the potential for abuse and the importance of being on the right side of history in view of the legislators’ legacy, and perhaps a few more semi-terrifying musings upon the things a Democratic President might use such power (a subject I may have to mutter a bit more about tomorrow) to advance, and we might see quite a few Republican House members flip from their previous No vote to a more statesman-like Yes vote.
The No voters would then see both of those No votes, the one they’ve already presumably cast against the resolution, as well as the future No vote, used against them in the elections. While the cast-iron-stomach Republican base would be unbothered by the aspersions, it would affect moderates Republicans as well as Independents who might be undecided and looking for a reason to vote against the incumbent.
Perhaps Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want to abuse her opponents across the aisle, but I don’t think so. I think she’s a long term planner. We’ll see how much more mileage she can get out of this issue.
