Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

I wonder how those republicans? are gonna like taking it in the? gut? from their dear leader?

How Trump Had It Both Ways on Congressional Ethics

The president-elect mildly scolded Republicans for gutting a watchdog, without fully
condemning the move—and then gets credited for their reversal of course.

David A. Graham 12:02 PM ET

President-elect Donald Trump has shown a rare talent for leaving his own allies and friends in a difficult and awkward spot, and he demonstrated that talent again on Monday, weakly condemning a move by House Republicans to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics as a misplaced priority, while also calling the office “unfair”—a very public demonstration of why even the president-elect’s strongest allies sometimes find it difficult to follow his lead.

Within hours of his tweets, and amid broad public outcry, the House Republican caucus called an emergency meeting, and pulled the amendment—a black eye for the congressional GOP and its leadership, perhaps made even more humiliating by the public rebuke from their own president-elect.

Trump weighed in around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, about 14 hours into a hubbub over the House move.

Donald J. Trump
?
@realDonaldTrump

With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it
7:03 AM - 3 Jan 2017

Donald J. Trump
?
@realDonaldTrump

........may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS
7:07 AM - 3 Jan 2017

At first glance, it looked as if Trump was picking a fight with Congress, which to a certain extent he is. But that overstates what he actually said. Trump went out of his way to acknowledge the complaint, voiced by some members of Congress, that the ethics committee stepped on their due-process rights and was time-consuming. (Norm Ornstein makes the case for the committee here.) [ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/the-gops-ethics-disaster/512021/ [ His only complaint was about the timing and priority of the move; needless to say, Trump would like the House to focus first on the things that he cares about most.

So what happened here? to put it simply, He grabbed the headline away from his 'top congressional leaders' .. just to say - yeah it's o.k. for us to get rid of the ethics committee, we are not going to listen to any of them anyway, but! ...COULDN'T YOU HAVE FOCUSED ON MY STUFF FIRTST? LIKE you know, OBAMACARE AND GETTING RID OF ALL THESE IMMIGRANTS AND MY TAX CUTS, again FIRST????? does congress know they were played ? ,,, I wonder, it seems as if dumb runs wild in everything republican now this is a long, information packed article .. so, IF interested go here
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trumps-weak-pushback-on-gutting-the-congressional-ethics-office/512039/