Unhappy Families — West Wing, Best Wing

As others have observed, keeping up with political commentary in the Age of Trump is a challenge. I work on blog posts, only to have their relevance wiped out before I finish my edits. Some weeks, nuanced political happenings are overshadowed by tweets that carry no actual policy directives. Sometimes, the President brings us to the brink of a possible nuclear war. It's hard to figure out what line to walk.

Who knew this advice would still be useful?

But I started this blog primarily to explain Congress, and that's what I will continue to do, even if this may be our last week on earth. Since the healthcare bill failed spectacularly only several weeks ago, President Trump has expressed frustration with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the Majority Leader's inability to bring key legislation to his desk.

I have a policy of not quoting or linking to the President's tweets, but understand that this week, he tweeted at McConnell to return work, and try to pass a healthcare repeal, tax reform and an infrastructure bill. In a discussion with reporters, the President also insinuated that if Senator McConnell cannot control his party and pass legislation, then he should consider stepping aside.

Some argue that the fractured Republican party may be partly the President's fault, since his continued harassment of Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) may have pushed her away from the party in her healthcare vote. And it's possible Senator McCain (R-AZ) has not forgotten how the President "likes people who weren't captured."

On the one hand, it doesn't help the President to attack the people responsible for passing his agenda, and making him look successful. On the other hand, Congress has even worse favorability numbers than the President does, so attacking them may help him look better.

If you've read this far, and you're realizing that there is very little point to this blog post, well, you're probably right! It's nice to write about fissures in the Republican Party for a change, given that the Democrats seem to be absolutely determined to expose as many issues as possible.

Between the hinting that Democrats would support anti-abortion candidates and the complete inability for the party to agree on standard bearers (sorry Kamala), it's nice to know we're not the only party that can't play nice for the cameras.

I have a blog post in me about party divisions, and compromising to achieve something that is better than the alternative, but this is not that post. I also have a post about why every Democrat should be pro-abortion, but this is not that post either. Plus, Lindy West already wrote it, and did a better job than I probably ever could.

This is just a blog post to day, no one in Washington likes each other, and I hope that fact distracts you from the coming nuclear war, and gives you a good start to your weekend.