Absolutely nothing to show for surrendering everything

My Sunday movie was The Persian Version. It describes itself as a sort of true story. The main character is Leila, the one daughter in a family with eight older brothers. Her parents immigrated from Iran before she was born. She describes herself as too Persian for America and too American for Iran. Leila doesn’t get along with her mother. That conflict is only worsened when Leila is in a long-term lesbian relationship and again when Leila becomes pregnant from a one-night stand with a gay actor. These things don’t sit well with traditional Persian parents, though the brothers aren’t so traditional. We also see the scandal that prompted her parents to leave Iran and then how her mother became successful after her father had to stop working because of heart issues. It’s a fun and finely crafted movie. I quite enjoyed it. On Monday Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos wrote about the immigration bill being crafted because Republicans tied aid to Ukraine to the situation on the southern border. The text of the bill was released on Sunday. Speaker Mike Johnson was quick to call it “dead on arrival” in the House. Will senators defy the nasty guy and vote for a bill America needs? A bill Democratic critics call a “right-wing xenophobe’s dream”? Also on Monday an Associated Press article posted on Kos reports some of the provisions of the bill. A third report on Monday, this one by Mark Sumner of Kos, discussed that much of the Republican talking points on the bill are based on lies, things the bill doesn’t actually include. It also has a good summary of what is in the bill. Some of it is stuff the border situation actually needs, plus aid for Ukraine and for Israel. On Tuesday morning Sumner reported Republicans got what they wanted in the bill and are now killing it. Moscow Mitch praised the bill and chief negotiator Sen. James Lankford. And three hours later he told his conference to vote against it because “political mood in the country has changed.” Now replace “political mood” with the nasty guy. Also, Lankford, after loudly defending the bill the bill he negotiated for weeks, refused to say he would vote for it.

Why would anyone ever seek to negotiate with Senate Republicans, on any topic, ever again? ... Right now, around the world, America’s allies are seeing that we are fundamentally unreliable in a crisis. Right now, America’s enemies are breathing out a sigh of infinite relief. And in Ukraine, and Taiwan, and in both Israel and Gaza, they’re realizing that the United States—the United States that has been there for a century—has exited, stage right. These guys aren’t just pleasing Trump. They’re setting the world ablaze. And they don’t even know why.

Sumner quoted a tweet by David Corn:

This is one of the snakiest snake moves to pull. McConnell deputized Lankford to negotiate a deal. Now he throws him, the deal & enhanced border security under the bus to serve Dear Leader and not risk a break with the House GOP extremists. He's just a cabana boy at Trump Beach.

In a Cheers and Jeers column for Kos Bill in Portland, Maine described the situation and included an image of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown.

1. Republicans demand hard-line immigration reform "yesterday" to stop the "invasion" of "caravans" "endorsed by Joe Biden" that are "poisoning the blood" of American society. 2. Democrats sit down with Republicans and hash out a bill that solves a lot of the border problems while allowing both sides to declare victory. 3. After being notified of this legislation, President Biden greets the news favorably. 4. Because President Biden greets the news favorably, Republicans run back to their original position on immigration because Biden must fail. They blame Biden for forcing them to make him fail. 5. Republicans go back to demanding hard-line immigration reform "yesterday" to stop the yadda yadda yadda and etc.

Also on Tuesday Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported that Biden saw what was happening with the border bill. Eleveld wrote:

"But if the bill fails, I want to be absolutely clear about something: The American people are going to know why it fails," Biden warned. "I'll be taking this issue to the country and the voters are going to know, just at the moment we're going to secure the border and fund these other programs, Trump and MAGA Republicans said no because they're afraid of Donald Trump." "Huh," Biden muttered, before repeating, "Afraid of Donald Trump." "Every day between now and November," Biden continued, "the American people are going to know the reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump."

Another part of the story of the border is the attempt to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the guy in charge of the Border Patrol and immigration. On Tuesday Joan McCarter of Kos reported of the House getting ready for the impeachment vote and that a couple Republicans had declared they would vote no and a few more declared undecided. McCarter included a tweet by Sawyer Hackett describing the situation:

The Republican Party, in a nutshell: On Monday, they're going to kill the harshest immigration deal in decades because their nominee wants to run on the issue. On Tuesday, they're going to launch an impeachment inquiry on the DHS Secretary for not being harsher on immigration.

A couple hours later McCarter reported:

In a stunning collapse, House Republicans failed Tuesday to approve the impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with four Republicans voting against it. Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Blake Moore of Utah—who switched his vote at the last minute to be able to bring it to a vote again—joined Democrats to defeat the resolution.

progressive2016 of the Kos community reported on another aspect of the impeachment vote. It was scheduled carefully – at a time when 76-year-old black Democrat Al Green would be absent because he was at the hospital for emergency surgery. Yeah, Republican leadership knew how close the vote would be. But Green showed up – in a wheelchair and wearing hospital scrubs. He cast the tie vote. That guy who switched his vote to no, changing the tally from a tie to a loss, was because if a member votes no on a bill he is allowed to call for a second vote at a later time. The reason for doing it in this case is because Steve Scalise, second in House Republican hierarchy, is out for cancer treatment. When he returns they can try the impeachment vote again. On Wednesday morning Sumner reported how bad Tuesday was for Republicans. Let’s count the ways. 1. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia finally handed down its decision saying the nasty guy does not have presidential immunity because he is not president. The ruling is so thorough some pundits are suggesting the Supreme Court might not consider the nasty guy’s appeal. 2. They shot down the border bill (I haven’t seen an actual vote tally). 3. The impeachment of Mayorkas didn’t pass. 4. With the big border bill, containing aid for Ukraine and Israel, shot down, Johnson tried to pass a separate bill for Israel assistance. He used an accelerated procedure that required two-thirds approval. He fell 30 votes short. I think that means it can come back later. 5. Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel was in her position, in spite of being bad at it, because of her fealty to the nasty guy. Well, the nasty guy turned on her and she announced her resignation. I may have more to say about that another day.

Republicans are rolling into the new day with absolutely nothing to show for surrendering everything to Trump. The best bill they could have hoped to negotiate is gone, they didn’t get their sham impeachment, they didn’t get their Israel-without-Ukraine funding package, and the chair of the party is packing up to leave. Meanwhile, Trump is entering the day with a much greater chance that he will face criminal proceedings before the election.

On Wednesday afternoon Sumner reported Republicans need someone to blame and are now blaming each other. There are two exceptions. They are not blaming the nasty guy. And Johnson, whose inexperience and incompetence at being Speaker was a big reason for the failed votes, is definitely not blaming himself. Johnson’s incompetence was so bad several people who ousted Kevin McCarthy now wish he was back. McCarter explained in more detail how Johnson’s inexperience and incompetence made a mess of things. On Monday Sumner wrote a Ukraine update, saying Avdiivka may be the first town Ukraine loses since Bakhmut fell last May. Avdiivka has been on the front line since Russia invaded a couple provinces in 2014.

Ukrainian forces in the area issued increasing complaints about a shortage of artillery making it difficult for Ukraine to intercept Russian advances. The U.S. has increased the production of artillery shells, but those shells are not getting to Ukraine. For the frustrated Ukrainians, who have fought so hard at this location for so long, only one word expresses how they feel about giving up their positions over a simple lack of ammunition.

For that one word Sumner quoted a tweet by Jay in Kyiv:

US's betrayal of Ukraine now costing real lives as the heroic, months long defense of Avdiivka now in question with Russians pushing closer into Ukrainian positions low on ammunition.

Sumner concluded:

The bill now being debated in the Senate is only the latest attempt to fill this simple need. However, as things stand at the moment, it seems likely that Republicans will succeed at doing what they’ve done so well since taking control of the House: deliver Ukraine into Putin’s hands.

That bill failed on Tuesday. Back at the end of January Greg Dworkin, in a pundit roundup for Kos, quoted Benjamin Wittes of Dog Shirt Daily on Substack writing about Republicans and Ukraine:

So let me make sure I’ve got this straight: Even Republicans who support Ukraine funding don’t support it enough to pass this funding without winning, in exchange, punishing changes to immigration rules; And even those Republicans who favor trading Ukraine funding for such punishing changes to immigration rules now don’t want these punishing changes to border policy, because that would involve giving President Biden a win concerning the border in the run-up to the election; And by “a win” here, what I actually mean is a loss, insofar as Biden would have to accept policy changes beyond those he actually wants, since if he agreed with Republican proposals, there would not have to be a protracted negotiation over them in the first place; Which is to say that Republicans don’t want a win against Biden if it would mean passing a bill they purport to want along with Ukraine aid they purport to support, as such a win would deprive them of the ability to criticize Biden for not capitulating in precisely the fashion that he now wants to capitulate; So in other words, not even the tantalizing prospect of f---ing over migrants can induce even those Republicans who purport to support Ukraine not to f--- over the Ukrainians...

Got that? Dworkin also quoted Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark:

One of the fondest bits of resistance fantasy has been the notion that the nation’s economic elites — the titans of Wall Street, the beautiful people of Davos, the economic masters of the universe— would, in our moment of peril, mount the barricades to defend democracy. To which a reasonable person might have responded: Have you met these guys?

Sumner reviewed the Appeals Court ruling that says the nasty guy does not have immunity. One important bit is that if a president has absolute immunity it would (as Sumner wrote) “immediately elevate the president to an all-powerful dictator, unbounded by anything Congress or the courts might do.” I’ll let you read the rest. In another pundit roundup Dworkin quoted a tweet by Asha Rangappa:

Passing a border bill would convey to MAGA voters that 1) the government can work, and be bipartisan; and 2) the “existential threat” is being dealt with. Both of these are Kryptonite for a would-be authoritarian: Trump needs his supporters to be disillusioned and afraid.

On into the comments for some cartoons. Matt Wuerker posted on showing the nasty guy and Johnson playing tennis. But the net says, “Immigration Games” and instead of balls the two are whacking at asylum seekers. A cartoon by Dennis Goris showing the nasty guy talking to a boy:

Nasty guy: How is a president supposed to do his job without immunity from committing crimes? Boy: By not committing any crimes?

And a lovely thought to end the day. Bill Bramhall of the New York Daily News posted a cartoon showing a couple watching TV that is filled with the nasty guy’s face. The woman says:

He used to make me sick but then I developed turd immunity.