Let's talk about Trump and Johnson facing rebellion in the House.... - Belle of the Ranch

[TexasTowelie]

Well, howdy there Internet people. It's Belle again. So, today we're going to talk about Trump and Johnson facing rebellion in the House.

The House Freedom Caucus is telling Republican leadership that their two-track plan to get the government back open is a non-starter. Trump and Johnson threw their weight behind a plan that would fund all of DHS except for ICE and Border Patrol immediately. The two immigration related agencies would be funded later via a budget reconciliation package.

We talked about how those packages are typically slow to move and present a lot of problems, but the House Freedom Caucus doesn't seem to care about those issues or Trump's wishes. They posted to social media, "We cannot leave ICE and CBP hanging with nothing but hopes and prayers that reconciliation 2.0 comes together. That's why we must use reconciliation to fully fund all of the Department of Homeland Security. We can tightly control this process with strict instructions to the various committees involved so no one can sneak in unrelated garbage and distract us from our mission.”

Now, to be fair to the Freedom Caucus, they're partially correct here. If they used strict instructions, they could overcome some of the big issues with budget reconciliation. There will be an explainer on the process below. The problem is that historically, Congress people don't want strict instructions because, well, they want to sneak in unrelated garbage, to use the caucus's term. So those strict instructions they want would have to be approved by the same Congress people who want to add the things the instructions would stop. And let's be real for a second--Congressional Republicans have never been more in need of pork or ear marks or whatever they're calling it now for their home districts.

They're facing an uphill reelection fight. And it's not like they've delivered for the American people this term. Their big win was the one big beautiful for billionaires reconciliation package that hurt the average American. The few things that actually could have helped the normal person fell victim to a standard Trump issue. He overpromised and underdelivered.

But beyond yet another hangup in the funding for DHS, which as a reminder is occurring because Republicans refuse to reform ICE. There's another interesting thing here. The Freedom Caucus doesn't have the juice it once did, but it's by no means a weak caucus. This is a caucus with pull and influence, especially on social media among Republican primary voters. They just told Trump, Johnson, and Thune that their plan was horrible.

Quack- quack, says the lame duck before the midterms. Remember, the idea of a lame duck president is that they lack the influence to really get anything done. Getting stuff done normally requires a little influence across the aisle. Trump can't even maintain control of his own party now. With Republicans backing away from his funding package, his elective war, and most of his policies, it'll be interesting to see how all of his promised primary challenges turn out.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.