WHAT TO KNOW WHEN THE PRESIDENT THROWS A TANTRUM
By now, you’ve likely seen video of President Donald Trump’s rant against the “do-nothing” Congress or seen his profane Thursday tweet denigrating them.
“The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLS**T, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306. Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it!”
Full disclosure: We added the **. The president of the United States spelled it out. In all capital letters.
Then we quickly cued up GovTrack.us to do a little research. GovTrack is not a government website. It’s a free and independent legislative tracking tool and data source for many congressional transparency websites.
Since Jan. 3, 2019, the Democratic-majority House of Representatives has registered the introduction of 7,224 bills, and passed 252 bills. Most of those bills are still waiting to be taken up in the Republican-majority Senate — where Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has strangled them. The Senate, by the way, has passed 76 bills. GovTrack responded to the President’s tweet:
“The President affixed his signature to BILLS**T [Yes, we added the **.] 40 times this year, yet to a Republican bill only 21 times. Tells you something about what he’d put his name on.”
You may recall that in May, the House opened a number of investigations of Trump on the heels of the Mueller Report going public. You may also recall that Trump got mad, called the probes “phony” inquiries and stomped out of a planned meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Trump said the House could not follow “two tracks” — investigation and legislation. The next day was the first time he threw out the do-nothing moniker: “The Democrats have become known as THE DO NOTHING PARTY!” he tweeted on May 23.
The Washington Post, that day, made a similar deep dive into Congressional votes, comparing the 115th and 116th Congresses. And remember, the 115th Congress was super-majority Republican House and Senate.
“There were more votes to this point two years ago — and far more failing votes.” But The Post noted a steady uptick in the 116th Congress in the number of votes being taken.
“In broad strokes, Trump’s … claiming that the Democrats can either choose to work with him or they can choose to investigate him, but not both. That was the point of his decision to bail on a planned meeting at the White House on Wednesday: He wasn’t going to sit down with Democrats who were trying to dig up dirt on him,” wrote The Post in a story labeled analysis. “That’s his choice, certainly. But it does raise an interesting question. In that scenario, who’s the one doing nothing?”
Things haven’t changed much since then, except that McConnell is carrying more of the president’s muddy water.
Americans understand, as this tweet back to the president’s profane post on Wednesday showed:
“#DoNothingDonald had a Republican House and Senate. Healthcare? Nothing. Wall paid for by Mexico? Nothing. Infrastructure bill? Nothing. Immigration overhaul? Nothing. Gun safety? Nothing, as Donald is still waiting for permission from the NRA.”
Poor Donald. There are only two people to blame if important legislation like gun safety, better health care access, infrastructure improvement isn’t passed: Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. But by golly the rich pay less in taxes.
The trouble is, that also means poor us.