"Trumps colossal failure"

From the conservative WP OP writer Jennifer Rubin. She really drives home the fact that the Emperor Has No Clothes, officially, now. And that both the country and his own Party know it. They called his bluff and he blinked. His threats mean nothing. He can't back up his boasts even with his own party. It's nice to watch this fuck get a body blow.

Ryan will remain speaker because no one else wants the job, but in a sense he does not “lead” the House Republicans, let alone the House. He is continuously caught in the crossfire between the moderates and the far right, just as his predecessor was. He will have his hands full keeping the House together in the future on controversial, “hard” votes. The lesson members learned was to look after their own interests. Calling Ryan and Trump’s bluff worked well for them.

While Ryan loses stature, Trump does not necessarily gain any. Previously he claimed victory merely by decimating the opposition (GOP challengers, Hillary Clinton, a reporter, etc.). Now Ryan’s loss is not Trump’s gain. (It might be Stephen K. Bannon’s gain, but not Trump, who needs to show results.) Trump shares responsibility for a bill he endorsed and lobbied hard to get. (Press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump “left everything on the field.”) His rallies and threats and his vapid cheerleading count for nothing when it comes to governance. What worked in a campaign no longer serves any useful purpose.

Trump now will rightly be seen as a weakened, if not inept, president. His attention span lasts only a couple of weeks before, starved for adulation, he moves onto the next thing in search of affirmation. Democrats know this, as do Republican opponents. You can wait this guy out.

NYT correspondent tweet: Trump is going to blame the Democrats, says Obama will "explode"!

**Schumer: Democrats will filibuster Gorsuch nomination**

I never thought I would see the day.

Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s pick to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, faced a critical blow on Thursday as Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would join with other Democrats in filibustering the nomination — a move that could complicate his confirmation and lead to a total revamp of how the U.S. Senate conducts its business.


“If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes — a bar met by each of President Obama’s nominees, and George Bush’s last two nominees — the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee,” he said.

In a Senate floor speech, Schumer said that Gorsuch “was unable to sufficiently convince me that he’d be an independent check” on Trump. He said later that the judge is “not a neutral legal mind but someone with a deep-seated conservative ideology. He was groomed by the Federalist Society and has shown not one inch of difference between his views and theirs.”

White House Plans to Have Trump Ally Review Intelligence Agencies

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to assign a New York billionaire to lead a
broad review of American intelligence agencies, according to administration
officials, an effort that members of the intelligence community fear could curtail
their independence and reduce the flow of information that contradicts the
president’s worldview.

The possible role for Stephen A. Feinberg, a co­founder of Cerberus Capital
Management, has met fierce resistance among intelligence officials already on edge
because of the criticism the intelligence community has received from Mr. Trump
during the campaign and since he became president. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump
blamed leaks from the intelligence community for the departure of Michael T. Flynn,
his national security adviser, whose resignation he requested.

There has been no announcement of Mr. Feinberg’s job, which would be based
in the White House, but he recently told his company’s shareholders that he is in
discussions to join the Trump administration. He is a member of Mr. Trump’s
economic advisory council.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/us/politics/trump-intelligence-agencies-stephen-feinberg.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Trump Administration May Evict the Press from the White House

We knew it would happen.

According to three senior officials on the transition team, a plan to evict the press corps from the White House is under serious consideration by the incoming Trump Administration. If the plan goes through, one of the officials said, the media will be removed from the cozy confines of the White House press room, where it has worked for several decades. Members of the press will be relocated to the White House Conference Center—near Lafayette Square—or to a space in the Old Executive Office Building, next door to the White House.

"They are the opposition party," a senior official says. "I want 'em out of the building. We are taking back the press room."