Trump Crisis: GOP ‘Scrooges over’ America again, top envoy resigns
Happy holidays from the Trump Regime! The Donald’s Capitol Hill toady Mitch McConnell has sent the Senate home for five days, leaving many already hard-up federal employees unpaid and/or furloughed.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Saturday afternoon that the Senate would shutter for legislative business until Thursday, leaving many federal agencies closed until later next week at the earliest.
“Listen, anything can happen,” McConnell said. “We’re pulling for an agreement that can get 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House.”
The decision came after President Trump had a lunch with conservative Republicans and dispatched Vice President Pence to the Capitol to make the latest offer to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). That meeting ended after 30 minutes with no resolution.
“Still talking,” Pence told reporters as he and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney left Schumer’s office; the senator had said he would “remind” the vice president that Democrats would not sign off on funding for a border wall.
For his part, Trump seems almost eager to perpetuate the chaos.
The White House on Saturday reiterated that Trump was still pressing for $5 billion for a wall or barrier along the border with Mexico and other security enhancements.
Following a meeting at the White House with several lawmakers – all Republicans, Trump again tweeted about the need for border security to ward off “the crisis of illegal activity,” though this time he called for “a great Steel Barrier or Wall.”
In turn, the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said any proposal that would included money for a wall would be rejected by his caucus.
Meanwhile, a top diplomatic envoy joined soon-to-be-ex SecDef James Mattis on the way out the door:
A top U.S. envoy leading a global coalition fighting Islamic State has quit over President Donald Trump’s decision this week to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, a source familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
Brett McGurk, U.S. special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat the militant group, submitted his resignation effective Dec. 31 to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, a State Department official said.
In an abrupt policy shift, Trump announced on Wednesday that Washington would withdraw the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, upending a pillar of American policy in the Middle East and alarming U.S. allies.
The decision was followed on Thursday by the surprise departure of U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, who in a resignation letter to Trump laid bare the growing divide between the two over foreign policy.
McGurk, who was slated to leave his post in February 2019, objected to Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, a person familiar with the matter said, and added that Mattis’ departure had a “significant impact” on McGurk’s resignation.
Trump’s stupidity and impulsiveness are an obvious and active donger to national security. It is long past time that Donald Trump be removed from office.