(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Hey GOP, You Got Owned By The Falling-Down Guy. Again. Saturday's GNR [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-03 You know the media will go crazy anytime Biden trips or stumbles because it fits the narrative that they love — just like anytime it snows in Buffalo or a pretty white girl goes missing, everyone goes nuts. There are certain stories that they just tell and tell. Of course, everyone trips and falls sometimes (in particular when there are sandbags right in your way) but that doesn’t matter. The far right spent four + years drooling over a man so deluded that he thought no one would notice when he sharpied over a weather map, stared right at a solar eclipse, talked to boy scouts about people having sex on boats, and thought COVID could be cured by injecting people with light or disinfectants. So yah, they are highly motivated to make out guy look like he isn’t sharp. It is a little something we call projection. The tough part for them is that this (supposedly) addled current president is regularly drinking their milkshakes. You are setting yourself up to look like a total moron when you keep painting the guy who is owning you as barely conscious. It is not a great look. And Biden completely owned them this week: by protecting America and Americans in the debt ceiling crisis. Let’s look at what he did: The Calm Man in the Capital: Biden Lets Others Spike the Ball but Notches a Win President Biden brokered a debt limit deal by following instincts developed through long, hard and sometimes painful experience in Washington. In the days since he struck a deal to avoid a national default, President Biden has steadfastly refused to boast about what he got as part of the agreement. “Why would Biden say what a good deal it is before the vote?” he asked reporters at one point, referring to himself in the third person. “You think that’s going to help me get it passed? No. That’s why you guys don’t bargain very well.” While Mr. Biden knew that would aggravate progressives in his own party, he gambled that he could keep enough of them in line without public chest-beating and figured that it was more important to let Mr. McCarthy claim the win to minimize a revolt on the hard right that could put his speakership in danger. Indeed, in private briefing calls following the agreement, White House officials told Democratic allies that they believed they got a good deal, but urged their surrogates not to say that publicly lest it upset the delicate balance. and what did they get? While Mr. Biden knew that would aggravate progressives in his own party, he gambled that he could keep enough of them in line without public chest-beating and figured that it was more important to let Mr. McCarthy claim the win to minimize a revolt on the hard right that could put his speakership in danger. Indeed, in private briefing calls following the agreement, White House officials told Democratic allies that they believed they got a good deal, but urged their surrogates not to say that publicly lest it upset the delicate balance. Republicans’ efforts to cancel clean-energy investments and block student loan forgiveness were stripped out of the final agreement, and they had to settle for trimming $20 billion from Mr. Biden’s $80 billion plan to bolster Internal Revenue Service efforts to target wealthy tax cheats rather than cancel it altogether. But what about those work requirements? The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office scoring of the bill ... said that the additional work requirement imposed on able-bodied people aged 18–54 without dependents to receive food benefits is outweighed by the expansion of those benefits to veterans, unhoused people, and children aging out of foster care. The CBO estimates that the measure will add 78,000 people a month to food assistance programs. Biden won on the debt ceiling. Why doesn’t he want it to look that way? No, Biden did not get the “clean” debt bill he insisted on at the outset, when he said he wouldn’t negotiate with hostage-takers. But that was all posturing. Just because you walk in and tell the car dealer that you intend to pay thousands below his asking price doesn’t mean you seriously expect to end up there. In any tense negotiation over government spending, the real goal isn’t to deflect every demand from the other side. It’s to make compromises mainly where the policies were likely going to change anyway, but where it’s advantageous if you can pin those changes on your opponents. By that standard, Biden couldn’t have done much better. Biden managed to a score significant victory ahead of 2024: a high-stakes compromise across ideological lines, and images of the president arm in arm with a Republican speaker who seemed to loathe him just a week before. So what if the compromise could reasonably be compared to Appomattox? Who cares whether the working relationship between the two men ends up being shallow and short-lived? For Biden, in the run-up to another campaign, the most useful message here is that he is making Washington work like he promised — not that he’s rolling over his adversaries. Winner: Joe Biden Biden’s handling of the debt ceiling issue has been repeatedly second-guessed in recent weeks. Initially, he claimed he wouldn’t negotiate on the topic at all, but he also essentially ruled out using his own executive authority to avert a default — hoping Republicans would simply cave. But as the crisis date drew nearer with no sign of a GOP cave, Biden had the good sense to realize his initial plan wasn’t working. Furthermore, he knew there was no scenario in which he would have avoided negotiating with Republicans on this year’s spending levels — eventually, the House needed to pass bills funding the government. Biden would have preferred to have those talks without the debt ceiling hanging over his head. But he eventually climbed down and agreed to talk to the GOP, hoping a reasonable deal could be struck. And at the end of the day, that’s what he ended up with. Biden did not defeat Republicans, nor was he strong-armed by them into making horrendous concessions. Rather, the two sides compromised. Biden averted an economic crisis without making extraordinary policy changes, and took the debt ceiling issue off the table until after the 2024 election — overall, a pretty good outcome for the sitting president. The debt ceiling deal cements the bipartisan consensus that Medicare and Social Security should not be touched to reduce the deficit. This is a major shift in the GOP, which tried to privatize Social Security under George W. Bush in 2005 and backed Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare in 2011. How House Dems went from angry at to rallying around the Biden White House when the final vote was finally held late Wednesday, Democrats delivered 165 votes — almost 80 percent of the caucus — in favor of the Biden-led compromise. That’s a bigger haul than Republicans, who provided 149 votes, or two-thirds of their caucus. The change in tone served as a remarkable turnaround for a House caucus that is younger, more diverse and more liberal than the octogenarian president who previously served 36 years in the Senate. Despite those differences, House Democrats appreciate the president more than outsiders realize. “This is yet another time that Biden was underestimated and delivered, and it’s in a long line of them,” Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) said after the final vote. Biden is delivering on his most far-fetched pledge: Compromise The president’s congenital centrism is easy to criticize, especially in this era of hard, polarizing views. He’s a conciliator, a dealmaker who likes to say yes and has trouble saying no. He’s also risk-averse, and he avoids escalation when facing potential catastrophe, whether it’s war with Russia or a budget default. But Biden’s critics miss the glaringly obvious fact that he is behaving precisely as he said he would. His inaugural address was a pledge to restore normal order. “I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy,” he said, but still, “we can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature.” Join forces with Republicans? Was Biden nuts? Yet gradually over the past two years, dodging brickbats from the left wing of his party, he has done it. First with a bipartisan infrastructure bill, then with a modest gun-control measure, then with the bipartisan Chips Act, and finally with the budget agreement. As Biden said on Wednesday, when the House passed the deal, “I have been clear that the only path forward is a bipartisan compromise that can earn the support of both parties.” “My whole soul is in this: Bringing America together,” Biden said at his inauguration. He meant it, and this week he delivered. and some on the right are realizing that they lost this (and the American people won): x Congressional Republicans: they’re openly mocking us over how badly Republican priorities would fare under the Biden-McCarthy deal—while being careful not to do it too much until the bill passes! What message should we take from that? https://t.co/pmOEJEr92Q — Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 31, 2023 Biden’s underrated deal-making prowess strikes again President Biden’s capacity to overperform after an onslaught of negative press and Democratic hand-wringing is second to none. He did it with the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, NATO solidification and expansion, and now with the debt ceiling deal. It’s hard to conceive of an outcome more favorable to Biden. Recall where this began: the Republican House Freedom Caucus making promises such as repealing much of the Inflation Reduction Act (including eliminating $80 billion in new funds for the Internal Revenue Service), capping nondefense spending at fiscal 2022 levels for a decade and blocking Biden’s $400 billion proposed student debt relief. None of that happened. To sum up: Biden brushed back the litany of outrageous demands, kept his spending agenda and tax increases intact and got his two-year debt limit increase. And in making a deal with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Biden helps stoke dissension on the GOP side as the extreme MAGA wing denounces the agreement. Yay! Joe Biden! What other good things happened this week? Other Good News x Our economy gained 339,000 jobs in May. That’s a total of 13 million jobs created under President Biden. And more jobs in 28 months than any President has created in a four-year term. pic.twitter.com/llNIdv1toQ — The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 2, 2023 Biden administration announced actions designed to address racial bias in the valuation of homes. Homeownership is the most important factor in creating generational wealth—that is, wealth that passes from one generation to the next—both because homeownership essentially forces savings as people pay mortgages, and because homes tend to appreciate in value. . But a 2021 study by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, more popularly known as Freddie Mac, showed that real estate appraisers are twice as likely to undervalue minority-owned property relative to contract price for which the home sells, than they are to undervalue homes owned by white Americans. . Two years ago, the Biden administration announced a sweeping effort to “root out racial and ethnic bias in home evaluations.” Today it bolstered those efforts to “ensure that every American who buys a home has the same opportunities to build generational wealth through homeownership.” They call for fixing algorithms to ensure that home values are accurately assessed, creating pathways for consumers to challenge low assessments, and increasing the numbers of trained appraisers Employers added 339,000 jobs in May, strong growth that defied head winds Employers posted a blockbuster 339,000 jobs in May, the latest sign that a booming labor market continues to prevent the country from slipping into a recession. Overall, the May jobs report was good news, reflecting the 29th straight month of strong job growth that has come to define the pandemic recovery economy. Economists had predicted a much smaller number of jobs created, around 180,000. x Because of our clean energy investments, we'll see a 25% increase in solar, wind, and battery deployment over the next four years. pic.twitter.com/HHL1FbPw1v — President Biden (@POTUS) June 1, 2023 Labor market still surprisingly hot, with more job openings in April The United States had 10.1 million job openings in April, a big jump after three months of declines, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday x —12.7 million new jobs —Unemployment is at a 50-year-low —Historic 800,000 new manufacturing jobs —Reduced the deficit by a record $1.7 trillion Our invest in America agenda is working. pic.twitter.com/MFTQRFieUW — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 1, 2023 The GOP Clown Show for 2024 Let’s let these clowns destroy one another FOR us, shall we? Trump, DeSantis in open warfare as they hit the trail in early states Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Thursday with a torrent of attacks on Ron DeSantis, mocking his rival’s repeated reminders that he can serve two terms to Trump’s one; belittling DeSantis’s alternating pronunciations of his own last name; and criticizing use of the word “woke,” a cornerstone of DeSantis’s stump speeches. DeSantis renewed his sharpened criticism of Trump, accusing the former president of being “petty” and dismissing Trump’s vow to turn the country around within six months of taking office. “Anyone who says they can slay the deep state in six months should be asked, ‘Why didn’t you do that when you had four years?’” he said in New Hampshire, a reflection of his more hostile stance toward Trump since kicking off his campaign earlier this week. The dueling offensives underscored the state of open warfare between Trump, the clear polling leader in the Republican presidential primary, and DeSantis, who is running a distant second but well ahead of every other contender. Leaked Audio From a Ron DeSantis Donor Event Is Really Bad News for His Campaign When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gathered top allies with deep pockets last week in Miami for a three-day “Ron-o-Rama” retreat, his team made the case for a path to victory. But there’s a major problem with the Team DeSantis logic: Its case for DeSantis’ path to victory actually worked better for his chief rival, former President Donald Trump. The rationale hinges on myriad assumptions, and even those are shaky. Leaked audio and slides obtained by Florida Politics show contradicting claims, spun in a way meant to make it sound like DeSantis has not just a shot, but a good one. TFG is in Trouble This section of the GNR could be a whole book…. Mar-a-Lago prosecutors eye July episode with Trump surveillance cameras A Mar-a-Lago employee who helped move boxes of documents last June has been questioned about his conduct weeks later related to a government demand for surveillance footage from Donald Trump’s property, according to a person familiar with the federal probe of the former president’s handling of classified material. The employee’s actions in June and July have caught the attention of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators as they try to determine whether Trump or people close to him sought to obstruct justice in the face of a grand jury subpoena to return all documents marked classified, or lied about what happened, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive investigation. Georgia probe of Trump broadens to activities in other states An Atlanta-area investigation of alleged election interference by former president Donald Trump and his allies has broadened to include activities in Washington, D.C., and several other states, according to two people with knowledge of the probe — a fresh sign that prosecutors may be building a sprawling case under Georgia’s racketeering laws. Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) launched an investigation more than two years ago to examine efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his narrow 2020 defeat in Georgia. Along the way, she has signaled publicly that she may use Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute to allege that these efforts amounted to a far-reaching criminal scheme. In recent days, Willis has sought information related to the Trump campaign hiring two firms to find voter fraud across the United States and then burying their findings when they did not find it, allegations that reach beyond Georgia’s borders, said the two individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the investigation. At least one of the firms has been subpoenaed by Fulton County investigators. Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything. The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. On the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he’s aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said. Trump’s Lawyers Start to Wonder if One Could Be a Snitch With three anticipated indictments, two ongoing court cases, and an ever-expanding cadre of lawyers, former President Donald Trump is at a critical juncture—and yet his legal advisers are starting to turn on each other. According to five sources with direct knowledge of the situation, clashing personalities and the increasing outside threat of law enforcement has sown deep divisions that have only worsened in recent months. The internal bickering has already sparked one departure in recent weeks—and that could be just the beginning. As Trump’s legal troubles keep growing—with criminal and civil investigations in New York City, Washington, and Atlanta—so too does the unwieldy band of attorneys who simply can’t get along. Part of the concern over lawyers turning on each other is due to the fact that the Department of Justice already has one Trump attorney’s professional notes, which could position him as a future witness against his own client, and the DOJ has another lawyer who said too much in an unrelated case and has positioned herself as yet another potential witness against her client. Trump White House Aides Subpoenaed in Firing of Election Security Expert The special counsel investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election has subpoenaed staff members from the Trump White House who may have been involved in firing the government cybersecurity official whose agency judged the election “the most secure in American history,” according to two people briefed on the matter. The team led by the special counsel, Jack Smith, has been asking witnesses about the events surrounding the firing of Christopher Krebs, who was the Trump administration’s top cybersecurity official during the 2020 election. Mr. Krebs’s assessment that the election was secure was at odds with Mr. Trump’s baseless assertions that it was a “fraud on the American public.” Mr. Smith’s team is also seeking information about how White House officials, including in the Presidential Personnel Office, approached the Justice Department, which Mr. Trump turned to after his election loss as a way to try to stay in power, people familiar with the questions said. Bad News for Bad Guys x Twitter is now worth just 33% of Elon Musk's purchase price, according to Fidelity. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 31, 2023 Team Putin Spars Over Baffling Russian ‘Victory Plan’ in War On The Lighter Side This is the time for hard work. What can you do? I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you 💓💚💛🧡✊🏻✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿✊❤️🧡💛💚 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/3/2172849/-Hey-GOP-You-Got-Owned-By-The-Falling-Down-Guy-Again-Saturday-s-GNR Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/