Liberty Nation brings you a preview of the week’s political stories from two perspectives: The most significant developments in U.S. national politics and which stories will be most talked about – unanticipated developments notwithstanding.
The appearance of former special counsel Robert Mueller before a House joint committee hearing would have been the dominant story this week, but that hearing – originally slated for July 17 – has now been rescheduled for July 24. Instead, illegal immigration, Democrat infighting, and the battle over the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) resolution will continue to loom large. President Donald Trump’s epic weekend Twitter trolling of the Democratic Party’s extremist upstarts will also give the chattering classes plenty of material for jaw- and finger-wagging.
Nadler’s Dilemma
Robert Mueller
Though it may sound like a philosophical construct, a logical paradox, or perhaps even a debilitating mental condition, Nadler’s dilemma is none of those things. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), is itching to put Mueller on the stand – effectively, as a witness for the prosecution of the president. The New York Democrat’s quandary is how to parade the former FBI director before the public like a dancing bear without allowing Republicans on the judiciary and intelligence committees to ask questions which will further discredit the now-deceased Russia collusion theory.
Perhaps it is because of the collapse of the great Russian hoax that Democrats find themselves at a bit of a loose end. It is said that idle hands are the devil’s workshop and the opposition party is nothing if not idle, having achieved nothing of value legislatively in recent days. All this free time has led them to turn on each other, it seems. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her little band of acolytes have mistaken House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a punching bag, and that is not likely to turn out well for them.
A Tale of Two Democratic Parties
Pelosi, in this matter, is merely a figurehead, suffering the slings and arrows on behalf of her party’s relatively more moderate members. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) – along with Ocasio-Cortez – are becoming a serious thorn in the side of congressional Democrats. While Pelosi publicly feuds with these four horsepersons of the apoppycock, Trump turned the opposition party inside-out with a tweet-storm suggesting the freshmen socialists return to their respective countries of origin to solve the many problems with which each wrestles.
Most obviously, the president was referring to Omar, whose family fled the failed African country of Somalia. One would have thought that she of all people would be enormously grateful to the country that gave her a new home and a new life. Being admitted into the US has enabled Omar to achieve things she never would have dreamt of in her home country, which is torn apart by corruption, organized crime, and terrorism. Instead, the former refugee and alleged tax- and immigration-cheat has literally made a career out of slandering everything for which America stands.
Dispute Over NDAA
The renewal of the NDAA has always been little more than a formality, but this year, for the first time in decades, the massive defense spending bill is being held hostage by Democrats who want cuts to military spending and refuse to allow any inclusion of funds for the securing of the southern border.
The president has threatened to veto the version of the 2020 NDAA passed by House Democrats, and this fight is probably about to get extremely unpleasant.
The overriding theme for the coming week, then, is dysfunction in DC. This may not exactly be a startling new trend, but it appears to be worse than ever. Mostly, this can be attributed to President Trump – not that his actions are to blame for all the dysfunction as much as his mere presence in the White House. Democrats lost what little grasp on rationality they had the moment Trump won the 2016 election, and things have gone rapidly downhill from then on. The working week of July 15-July 19 is going to be the most politically acrimonious week of the Trump presidency – so far.
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To read more from Graham J Noble, visit his author page. At Liberty Nation, we love to hear from our readers. Comment and join the conversation!
