Week 70
By
A bad week indeed for Donald Trump!
He has finally pissed off some of the Republicans in Congress. I have been surprised that they held out as long as they did, with elections less than six months away. Apparently a big part of this is his supporting Ken Paxton over John Cornyn in the runoff election for the Republican candidate for senator, coming up on Tuesday. From what I read, Cornyn is well-liked in the Senate, in addition to the dawning realization that leopards may eat the faces even of those who bow.
Thomas Massie, who gave up bowing some time ago, also lost in Tuesday’s primary, as did Bill Cassidy. Trump is pleased with his revenge, but now there are three more senators who are not pleased with his agenda and have nothing to lose. Cassidy is already beginning to show some opposition. Additionally, the MAGA winners are more extreme and more likely to lose in a general election. But Trump doesn’t think that far ahead.
Republicans in Congress also have enough sense to recognize that Trump’s golden ballroom and arch will not play well with an electorate facing $5 a gallon gasoline. It’s $5.25 for regular here. And almost $2 billion of tax dollars for Trump’s January 6 friends isn’t playing well either. So the Senate packed up and left before anyone could think about voting on any of that, and Mike Johnson pretended he just couldn’t figure out this voting stuff.
Congress is back in their home districts for the holiday, and the mood of the people is not in their favor. But Trump has a few more days to remind them of who their Daddy is. The Texas runoff election may have an effect too.
Trump is mired in self-soothing over his disastrous adventure in Iran. He is mulling more action there and maybe in Cuba. I’d like to know the status of the military’s stocks right now. It’s possible that Dan Caine is trying to calm him down.
I saw two wildly different reports on the content of what is being negotiated with Iran and another report that Jared and Steve are still having a hard time with that enrichment stuff, so there’s no reason to believe that will be resolved soon, but with Trump in charge, there’s also no reason to believe he won’t TACO.
Heather Cox Richardson provided a memory of a better time, when we were proud of a president who did the right thing.
Immediately, the administration turned to addressing issues of civil rights and poverty. Under Johnson’s pressure, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting voting, employment, or educational discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin. Johnson also won passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which created an Office of Economic Opportunity that would oversee a whole series of antipoverty programs, and of the Food Stamp Act, which helped people who didn’t make a lot of money buy food.
When Republicans ran Arizona senator Barry Goldwater for president in 1964, calling for rolling back business regulation and civil rights to the years before the New Deal, voters who quite liked the new system gave Democrats such a strong majority in Congress that Johnson and the Democrats were able to pass 84 new laws to put the Great Society into place.
They cemented civil rights with the 1965 Voting Rights Act protecting minority voting, created jobs in Appalachia, and established job-training and community development programs. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 gave federal aid to public schools and established the Head Start program to provide comprehensive early education for low-income children. The Higher Education Act of 1965 increased federal investment in universities and provided scholarships and low-interest loans to students.
The Social Security Act of 1965 created Medicare, which provided health insurance for Americans over 65, and Medicaid, which helped cover healthcare costs for folks with limited incomes. Congress advanced the war on poverty by increasing welfare payments and subsidizing rent for low-income families.
Follow the court-watchers for the details of the lawsuits. Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker.
Let’s stay away from hypotheticals, as usual. Post your pets.
138 more weeks to go. What are you doing?
Previous weeks: Week 10, Week 20, Week 30, Week 40, Week 50, Week 60, Week 61, Week 62, Week 63, Week 64, Week 65, Week 66, Week 67, Week 68, Week 69
Image: Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964. Cecil Stoughton, White House Press Office (WHPO).