{"id":30471,"date":"2017-11-29T13:04:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T21:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=30471"},"modified":"2017-11-29T13:04:42","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T21:04:42","slug":"the-empty-chairs-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/29\/the-empty-chairs-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"The Empty Chairs Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unless Congress passes some kind of spending measure by December 8, our government will run out of money and face another government shutdown.  With a majority in both the House and the Senate, Republicans would have no trouble doing it themselves, if they were not so incompetent that the Plutocons and the Insanity Wing refuse to compromise with each other.  Therefore they need Democratic help to pass something.  Instead of negotiating in good faith, Trump ran a scam and is putting the nation at risk.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"1129chairs\"<\/p>\n

Less than two weeks before much of the government runs out of money, President Trump on Tuesday escalated the threat of a shutdown, accusing Democratic congressional leaders<\/a> of plotting to use their leverage to raise taxes and flood the country with undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n

The Democratic leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, responded to the president\u2019s provocations by pulling out of a scheduled White House meeting meant to address the thorny issues that lawmakers are facing as the end of the year approaches.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump then doubled down, posing for television cameras at the White House next to empty chairs and calling his would-be negotiating partners weak on crime, weak on immigration and weak on the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been all talk, and they\u2019ve been no action, and now it\u2019s even worse,\u201d Mr. Trump said. \u201cNow it\u2019s not even talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spectacle was an unpromising start to the difficult negotiations ahead, with a deadline of Dec. 8, when government funding runs out. Democrats hold significant leverage because Republicans do not have enough votes to pass a spending measure next week without some Democratic support…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <NY Times<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

Trump did far more than just falsely accusing Pelosi and Schumer.  He said that because of it, he would not make a deal with them.  Pelosi and Schumer pulled out only after he said there would be no deal.  Blaming them for not coming adds insult to injury, as Lawrence O’Donnell explains.<\/font><\/p>\n