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Tues., Sept.19, 2017
~All Gave Some~Some Gave All~ God Bless America~
Did the European Union Lie About Trump?
Source: Fox News
An EU official said the U.S. will not withdraw from the Paris climate deal, contrary to the public statements of President Trump in June, the Wall Street Journal said Saturday.
..."There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement. As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country," the White House statement said.
According to the EU's top energy official, the U.S. has said it will “not renegotiate the Paris Accord,” but will instead review its terms, the Wall Street Journal said.
IT HAS BEGUN: Vandals Behead Statue Of Saint Junipero Serra
"When he died, many native peoples came to the mission for his burial."
By PAUL BOIS
Leftist vandals did not satisfy their bloodlust with the removal of Confederate statues; they've now begun their assault on religious figures that trigger their social justice warrior sensitivities. Last month, they attacked a statue of recently-canonized St. Junipero Serra with red paint and a swastika; this month they have beheaded the beloved saint.
According to SFGate, "a bronze statue of the Roman Catholic priest Junipero Serra at the Old Santa Barbara Mission was decapitated and doused with red paint on Sunday night or early Monday morning."
Monica Orozco, executive director of the Santa Barbara Mission, has not decided if they will replace the statue.
“We will let people know once we know more information,” Orozco said. “We reported it to SBPD this morning. It likely happened during the night or early in the morning.”
Known for its beautiful Spanish architecture, the Santa Barbara Mission has been called the "Queen of the Missions," though social justice warriors would firmly disagree, viewing the missions themselves as reminders of "racist colonialism," with St. Junipero Serra as their primary target of hate.
Last year, another statue of Serra was also beheaded. Another in Santa Cruz was vandalized with the word "genocide" in late 2015. Just last month during the Confederate statue controversy, a statue of Serra at the Mission San Fernando was defaced with paint.
At the time, locals called for the statue's removal, falsely claiming that St. Junipero Serra sought the destruction of Native American culture.
“I think the statue should come down from this park, and then put some appreciation to the Native people that live here,” Cristian Ramirez said. “We don’t want this violent history to be praised in our community."
Ever since Pope Francis canonized Father Junipero Serra in 2015, the Left and SJW snowflakes claim the saint had a violent history toward Native Americans. The LA Times said that "glossing over Junipero Serra's inhumanity was insult to Native Americans."
Archaeology professor Reuben Mendoza of Cal State Monterey Bay debunked this garbage during the controversy.
"When he died, many native peoples came to the mission for his burial. They openly wept. Others of his colleagues and even colonists believed that he would be made a saint because of the way he had lived his life, a self-effacing life of a martyr,” said Mendoza.
“Because of what he had achieved in his life, even then they had talked about his impending canonization."
The political correctness regarding these religious icons have seeped into the Catholic Church, with some schools now removing statues of Mary and Christ to avoid offending non-Catholic students.
Gorka: Trump Will Be ‘Getting Rid of People Soon’ Because He Is ‘Not Well-Served’ by His Advisers
by JOHN HAYWARD
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Dr. Sebastian Gorka, former deputy assistant to President Trump and Breitbart News National Security editor, appeared on Breitbart News Saturday to discuss the state of immigration reform and offer a bold prediction that President Trump will soon fire a number of top advisers who have not served him well on national security issues.
“Look, Matt, you know better than anyone that the President of the United States founded his presidential campaign on the question of illegal migration and the wall,” Dr. Gorka told SiriusXM host Matt Boyle. “It’s not an accident that Sen. Sessions was the first politician to endorse him, as Sen. Sessions was The Man when it came to stopping illegal migration.”
“The idea that suddenly that he’s now president he’s going to undermine the platform – the key platform, upon which his whole campaign was built and which propelled him into the White House – is, of course, bogus,” Gorka said confidently.
“We know people like Chuckie, we know that Nanny Pelosi, as soon as they think that they’re getting something out of the president, they’re going to blurt it out. They’re going to tweet it out. It’s just fake news,” he declared.
“The bottom line is, the president said it; he said it last week. He cut the Gordian knot. It was a Solomonic decision. He said DACA is unconstitutional. A president cannot legislate from the Oval Office. And that’s when he told his now-Attorney General Sessions to make a statement: DACA is over,” he said.
“Nevertheless, he’s a kind-hearted man. You spent many, many hours with him. You know how kind-hearted Donald Trump is,” Gorka reminded Boyle.
“He knows that criminals go to prison when you’ve caught the bad guys. We’re not going to give amnesty to gang-bangers from MS-13. But there are kids, or there were kids, who came here through no fault of their own, who will not be punished by deportation. I expect some kind of work permit system or something like that to be put in place,” he predicted.
“He’s told Congress, ‘Work with me.’ And the biggest part of this story – you know it, Matt, the biggest part – the president, after seven months of nothing from the GOP, has said, ‘Hey, guys, I’ve got an agenda. You don’t want to help me. There are other people I’m going to work with.’ And look at what’s happening: whether it’s Congressman Dent or it’s potential primaries, he’s sending a message to the GOP establishment,” Gorka said.
Boyle proposed that while the mainstream media narrative has Trump swinging left under the influence of the GOP establishment, primary races around the country tell a different story, as populist conservatives who support Trump’s Make America Great Again platform are on the rise.
“It seems like establishment Republicans are being put on notice that they either need to deliver or that there are other ways to do business,” Boyle hypothesized.
“Look, I’ve said this publicly, and I’ll say it again on your show: the president was only accidentally the GOP candidate,” Gorka responded. “He has nothing to do with the swamp. Let’s remember, it’s the first time in American history that someone who hasn’t served as a general or an admiral, or who was not a prior politician, became the president. That’s what happened.”
“This is the anti-establishment candidate. He’s not a member of the swamp. And if the GOP thinks that they won last November the 8th, they will be very unpleasantly surprised – not just in next year’s elections, but in the numerous primaries that will occur,” Gorka warned.
“Because Donald Trump, like Brexit, is a very simple signal: Enough with politics as business as usual. Enough with the professional political class. You are not there to serve yourselves. You are there to serve the American people. We’ve seen an attitude for twenty years-plus where somebody is elected to represent the American people, they get to D.C., and they think they are smarter than the people who elected them, and that they don’t have to keep their promises. That ended on January the 20th at 12:01,” he declared.
Gorka said the border wall project would not be derailed by quibbling over how much of it consists of traditional barriers and fences.
“If you look at the geography of the United States, we will not be building a wall across the whole southern expanse because in some places, you physically can’t build a wall,” he noted. “However, the government is already prototyping the designs of walls that will be used where a wall is relevant. Sometimes, it’s going to be a fence. Sometimes, it’s going to be another kind of barrier,” he said.
“ Look, you can take this to the bank: the president will be building an impenetrable barrier across the southern border because he built his presidential campaign on that,” Gorka promised. “How it’s going to look, what color it’s going to be, how tall it’s going to be – that is a matter for the professionals to decide, but we have to seal the southern border, and the president knows it.”
Boyle pointed out that another major Trump campaign promise involved ending foreign military interventions such as Afghanistan, but he recently felt compelled to order a troop surge instead. He quoted Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) advising Trump to follow his instincts and return to his campaign position, rather than listening to interventionist advice from some elements of his national security staff.
“I am not a fan of isolationist libertarianism,” Gorka replied. “It didn’t work in 1941, and it didn’t work in 2001, September the 11th. But in this case the senator is right: the president is a supernaturally instinctual actor.”
“I saw him do this. We had at least half-a-dozen meetings at the National Security Council on Afghanistan, and in every single meeting until the recent one, after Steve and myself left the building, the president had the right instincts,” Gorka recalled, referring to both his departure from the White House and that of Breitbart News Executive Editor Steve Bannon.
“He said, ‘Why should we care? What are you talking about when it comes to descriptions of a federal government function in Afghanistan?’ He would point out from history – you remember how they called Ronald Reagan a dunce when the guy had been giving lectures on conservatism for the past 20 years? The president is lecturing the National Security Council, President Trump, on ‘Well, you know, Alexander the Great couldn’t do it, the British couldn’t do it, and the Soviets couldn’t do it, so now we’re going to construct a federal Afghanistan?’” Gorka recalled.
“He knows his history. I think, unfortunately, he is being pressured to follow 16 years of conventional thinking – but I have predicted already, since I left the White House, changes will be made at the highest level soon, probably before Christmas – because the president will realize, sooner or later, that he is not being well-served by the people that are left inside the building,” he said.
“Remember one thing: almost every single senior personnel decision or action since January the 20th, when it wasn’t a resignation like myself or Steve Bannon, every other single person who was fired was fired not by the president, but by somebody who works for the president. I predict that the president will be getting rid of people soon. I look forward to that moment,” he said with relish.
Gorka said Fox News host Tucker Carlson, not known as a tremendous fan of Steve Bannon or Breitbart News, was correct when he said, “Whatever you think about Steve Bannon, he would not have been at home in a Clinton White House.”
“Which is absolutely true,” Gorka laughed. “He wouldn’t have stepped into, or been allowed into, a Clinton White House. But right now we have numerous members at the highest levels of the new administration who not only would have been at home in a Clinton White House, but would have been Cabinet members in a Clinton White House.”
“That is wrong. That’s not MAGA, and that’s going to change. That’s my prediction, Matt,” Gorka firmly declared.
Sanders Invites Canadian Doctor on Show…Then She Admits 1 Embarrassing Detail
BY CILLIAN ZEAL
When Sen. Bernie Sanders invited a Canadian doctor onto his podcast to help him pitch his new “Medicare for All” scheme, he wanted her to give Americans a preview of what they might expect under single-payer health care.
And, as it turns out, she did — just perhaps not the way that Sanders was expecting her to.
Dr. Danielle Martin, an associate professor at the University of Toronto and vice president medical affairs and health system solutions at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, admitted to long wait times and other fun problems with the Canadian system during her appearance on “The Bernie Sanders Show” on Thursday.
“If I have a patient who’s got migraines and I need advice about how to manage it, they might wait several months to see a neurologist for a non-urgent problem like that,” Martin said. “Or non-urgent surgeries, the classic example being a hip or a knee replacement.”
“So how long will it take me in the average?” Sanders asked.
“It depends on where you are in the country. Sometimes it’s a few months, sometimes it’s a year. In some places, it’s sometimes it’s been even longer than that, that people wait for a hip or a knee replacement. And I think that is totally unacceptable. I don’t think that we should stand for it in our system. I think that there’s no reason why people should have to wait.”
And that’s not all! As Townhall notes, over one million Canadians can’t find a general practitioner, let alone specialists. This is what Bernie wants to bring to America — all at the low, low cost of $32 trillion! Where can we sign up?
This what liberals are so loath to admit about single-payer health care: Namely, the long wait times and the poor quality of care. Also, it’s not “free” — far from it, in fact.
Yet, for decades now, we’ve always been told that single-payer is the future of healthcare, with Canada held up as the prime example. However, even a Vermont socialist like Bernie Sanders couldn’t find someone who could acquit their system entirely.
And yet, he wants to do it here. Only on the left, folks.
Tillerson: Closing US Embassy in Cuba 'Under Review'
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the Trump administration is considering closing down the U.S. Embassy in Havana following unexplained incidents harming the health of American diplomats.
Tillerson says "we have it under evaluation" and that shuttering the embassy is "under review." He says the issue is "very serious" regarding the harm some individuals have suffered.
Tillerson notes that the State Department has brought home some of the people affected.
At least 21 Americans have been medically confirmed to have suffered harm in Havana. Tillerson previously called it "health attacks" but the State Department now prefers to call them "incidents." The cause and culprit haven't been determined.
Tillerson spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation" ahead of President Donald Trump's trip to the U.N. General Assembly this coming week.
Huckabee: Many Republicans Are Afraid Trump Will Succeed and Drain the Swamp
Mike Huckabee warned that many Republicans in Congress, far from trying to further President Trump's agenda are actually afraid he will succeed and "drain the swamp."
"I'm really more and more convinced that there are a lot of the Republicans in Washington who aren't afraid that Donald Trump will fail. They're afraid he will succeed and that he really will drain the swamp," the former 2016 presidential candidate told "Fox & Friends" on Saturday.
"The Republicans are the ones who are stonewalling everything he's trying to get done in Congress right now," the former Arkansas governor pointed out.
Huckabee pointed to the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program, which the president has promised to roll back. Trump gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative solution to allow those in the program, who were brought the country illegally as children to stay.
"DACA is not unacceptable," Huckabee said, adding that he hopes Dreamers be allowed to stay. However, "it needs to be done legally, not unconstitutionally."
If Republicans in Congress cannot get the job done on DACA then "there are going to be a lot of Republicans going home next year, and ... they should."
"If he only does DACA and doesn't secure the border I think that's going to be problematic for the president and his supporters, but I don't think that's what he's going to do," Huckabee said.
Tax Returns
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During a recent press conference, a reporter with MSNBC hollered from the press corps, "Where is President Trump hiding his tax returns?"
Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, astutely responded, "We've found a very secure place and I'm certain they won't be found." "And just where is that?", said the reporter, sarcastically.
Mrs. Sanders grinned and said, "They are underneath Obama's college records, his passport application, his immigration status as a student, his funding sources to pay for college, his college records, and his Selective Service registration.
"Next question?"
Trump mulling new travel ban after recent London attackWritten by Marisa Schultz
 WASHINGTON – The Trump Administration is considering a new travel ban in the wake of another London terror attack, according to National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
“If you can’t screen people effectively to know who’s coming into your country, then you shouldn’t allow people from that country to travel,” McMaster Sunday told ABC’s “This Week” Sunday. “This is something that we are looking at.” Trump Friday called for “larger, tougher” travel restrictions in the wake of “another attack in London by a loser terrorist.” On Sunday, he retweeted himself in calling for another travel ban. “The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” Trump blasted out again on Sunday. President Trump’s first travel restrictions on refugees and visitors from Muslim-majority countries were blocked by courts and panned by critics as a “Muslim ban.” Trump responded in March with a revised travel ban that was rolled out with better coordination across agencies and legal vetting. But federal judges in Maryland and Hawaii blocked the order and it took the Supreme Court in June to allow parts of the travel ban to go into effect. Lawyers for Trump and opponents will argue the merits of the overall case before the Supreme Court Oct. 10. McMaster called the travel ban a good “first step” for better screening individuals and for encouraging foreign governments to share more information for tougher vetting. He’s concerned about the strength of terrorist organizations’ ability to communicate and their ability to move people, money, drugs and weapons internationally. “Why this is a greater danger than ever,” McMaster said. In a separate appearance on Fox News Sunday, McMaster implied the president and the National Security Council are better off now that Steve Bannon has left. White House. Bannon and his allies were at odds against McMaster for what they believed were his globalist views and tussled over national security decisions. Trump is best served without people who try “to manipulate” a particular decision and “advance your agenda,” McMaster said when asked about Bannon. “There were some who tried to operate outside of that process for their own narrow agendas and that didn’t serve the president well,” McMaster said. Bannon has returned to running Breitbart News, a right-wing website that has pushed for a nationalist agenda and often mocked the establishment GOP agenda. Trump Shut Down Schumer And Pelosi With Two Tweets Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi triggered a political earthquake when they claimed they struck a deal to grant amnesty to illegal aliens.But it was a lie. And Donald Trump shut them down with two tweets. Schumer and Pelosi emerged from a meeting at the White House and claimed they had agreed on a deal with Trump to give amnesty to the so-called “DREAMers” in exchange for vague promises of border security and Trump dropping his demand for a border wall. Trump’s base was understandably upset. But it was fake news. Trump never agreed to such a deal. And he never backed off the border wall. So Trump set the record straight with two early morning tweets. Follow  Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.
The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.
Trump went even further on a trip to Florida to survey the damage from Hurricane Irma.
He took amnesty off the board and laid down a marker that no deal would be reached unless Congress funds money for the construction of a border wall.
Axios reports:
“PRESIDENT TRUMP TOLD REPORTERS THURSDAY THAT HE WON’T “DO ANYTHING” REGARDING DACA UNLESS THE BORDER WALL BECOMES A REALITY, NOT NECESSARILY IN THE LEGISLATION HE’S DISCUSSING WITH NANCY PELOSI AND CHUCK SCHUMER TO REPLACE DACA, BUT AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE:
Trump knows immigration is what won him the Presidency.
And he has a gut-level connection with his base.
Schumer and Pelosi may have been running a divide-and-conquer strategy by releasing a false statement about their deal with Trump in order to separate the President from his base.
Do you think Trump will hold the line on amnesty? You bet he will.
Benghazi Victim’s Mother Destroys Hillary With One Statement Hillary Clinton’s inaction resulted in the death of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya.
And Hillary is now trying to shame those critical of her failure on that fateful day.
But the mother of one of those who died isn’t having any of it, and destroyed Hillary with just one statement.
During her first TV interview since the election, Hillary Clinton stated that the Benghazi scandal was nothing more than “political football”, stating:
“BUT BOY, IT [BENGHAZI] WAS TURNED INTO A POLITICAL FOOTBALL. AND IT WAS AIMED AT UNDERMINING MY CREDIBILITY, MY RECORD, MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.”
The mother of U.S. Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, who was killed in Benghazi, took offense to her statement.
Speaking with Fox News, Pat Smith railed at Hillary Clinton, stating:
“I DON’T SEE HOW IT WAS POLITICAL IN ANY WAY—IT WAS HILLARY’S BABY FROM DAY ONE. SHE ORDERED ALL THAT STUFF, AND THEN SHE WENT TO BED WHEN [THE ATTACK] WAS GOING ON,”
As reported by Fox News:
“THE MOTHER OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 2012 BENGHAZI TERROR ATTACK SLAMMED HILLARY CLINTON ON WEDNESDAY FOR CALLING THE CRITICISM SHE FACED IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRAGEDY “POLITICAL.”
“I DON’T SEE HOW IT WAS POLITICAL IN ANY WAY—IT WAS HILLARY’S BABY FROM DAY ONE. SHE ORDERED ALL THAT STUFF, AND THEN SHE WENT TO BED WHEN [THE ATTACK] WAS GOING ON,” SAID PAT SMITH, THE MOTHER OF U.S. FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER SEAN SMITH, WHO WAS KILLED ALONG WITH AMBASSADOR CHRISTOPHER STEVENS AND NAVY SEALS GLEN DOHERTY AND TYRONE WOODS.
SHE SPOKE TO FOX NEWS AFTER CLINTON DISCUSSED BENGHAZI DURING HER FIRST LIVE INTERVIEW SINCE THE ELECTION, PART OF THE PROMOTION OF HER NEWLY RELEASED CAMPAIGN MEMOIR “WHAT HAPPENED.” CLINTON BROUGHT UP THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE BENGHAZI TERROR ATTACK IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTION ABOUT HER LIKABILITY.
“TAKE THE BENGHAZI TRAGEDY—YOU KNOW, I HAVE ONE OF THE TOP REPUBLICANS KEVIN MCCARTHY, ADMITTING WE’RE GOING TO TAKE THAT TRAGEDY—BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WE’VE LOST PEOPLE, UNFORTUNATELY GOING BACK TO THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION, IF YOU TALK ABOUT RECENT TIMES, IN DIPLOMATIC ATTACKS,” CLINTON TOLD MATT LAUER AND SAVANNAH GUTHRIE ON NBC’S “TODAY.” “BUT BOY, IT WAS TURNED INTO A POLITICAL FOOTBALL. AND IT WAS AIMED AT UNDERMINING MY CREDIBILITY, MY RECORD, MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.””
Smith, who has become known as a critic of Clinton, didn’t just stop there.
She stated that Hillary Clinton still has not called her, even after promising to do so after her son’s death.
The State Department and Hillary Clinton also ignored her requests for information on what happened on the day of her son’s death.
But she isn’t the only family member of Sean Smith who has criticized Clinton.
Sean Smith’s uncle, Michael Ingmire, told Fox News:
“SHE HAS BEEN IN PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY ABOUT BENGHAZI EVER SINCE IT HAPPENED,”
“SHE WAS STANDING, BASICALLY BEFORE THE COFFINS OF AMERICANS, BLAMING A HORRIBLE ANTI-ISLAMIC VIDEO, BUT SHE’S JUST BEING CONSISTENT WITH HER PSYCHOSIS. THE LIAR, THE CRIMINAL, THE CROOKED POLITICIAN—THOSE ARE THE THREE FACES OF HILLARY.”
But it seems that Hillary doesn’t care much about what the family has to say.
Even after hearing directly from angry family members of the deceased in Benghazi, Hillary continues to find ways to insult them.
Hillary is full of oomgalagala. Sooner or later the bull will nail her.
Schumer Met With Trump And Everyone Thought The Worst Until This Happened Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi met Donald Trump at the White House.
The Democrats emerged and released a statement that left Trump supporters panicking.
But then something truly incredible happened.
Schumer and Pelosi left their dinner at the White House and fired off a statement claiming Trump agreed to amnesty for the so-called ‘Dreamers’ and had dropped his demand to build the wall.
Associated Press reported:
“THE TOP HOUSE AND SENATE DEMOCRATS SAID WEDNESDAY THEY HAD REACHED AGREEMENT WITH PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP TO PROTECT THOUSANDS OF YOUNGER IMMIGRANTS FROM DEPORTATION AND FUND SOME BORDER SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS — NOT INCLUDING TRUMP’S LONG-SOUGHT BORDER WALL.
THE AGREEMENT, THE LATEST INSTANCE OF TRUMP DITCHING HIS OWN PARTY TO MAKE COMMON CAUSE WITH THE OPPOSITION, WAS ANNOUNCED BY SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER AND HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER NANCY PELOSI FOLLOWING A WHITE HOUSE DINNER THAT REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS WEREN’T INVITED TO ATTEND. IT WOULD ENSHRINE PROTECTIONS FOR THE NEARLY 800,000 IMMIGRANTS BROUGHT ILLEGALLY TO THIS COUNTRY AS KIDS WHO HAD BENEFITED FROM FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS, OR DACA, PROGRAM, WHICH PROVIDED TEMPORARY WORK PERMITS AND SHIELDED RECIPIENTS FROM DEPORTATION.
TRUMP ENDED THE PROGRAM EARLIER THIS MONTH AND GAVE CONGRESS SIX MONTHS TO COME UP WITH A LEGISLATIVE FIX BEFORE THE STATUSES OF THE SO-CALLED “DREAMERS” BEGIN TO EXPIRE.
“WE AGREED TO ENSHRINE THE PROTECTIONS OF DACA INTO LAW QUICKLY, AND TO WORK OUT A PACKAGE OF BORDER SECURITY, EXCLUDING THE WALL, THAT’S ACCEPTABLE TO BOTH SIDES,” PELOSI AND SCHUMER SAID IN A JOINT STATEMENT.”
Trump supporters were horrified.
"BUILD THE WALL! BUILD THE WALL!"…OR…MAYBE…NOT REALLY.
— LAURA INGRAHAM (@INGRAHAMANGLE) SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
THE ART OF THE STEAL: LET'S HOPE THAT PELOSI & SCHUMER MISREPRESENTED THE #DACA DEAL. @REALDONALDTRUMP
— LAURA INGRAHAM (@INGRAHAMANGLE) SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
The White House disputed the Democrats account through spokespeople, but it wasn’t until the following morning that Trump put the talk of agreement to rest.
He also reassured his supporters the wall would continue to be built.
NO DEAL WAS MADE LAST NIGHT ON DACA. MASSIVE BORDER SECURITY WOULD HAVE TO BE AGREED TO IN EXCHANGE FOR CONSENT. WOULD BE SUBJECT TO VOTE.
— DONALD J. TRUMP (@REALDONALDTRUMP) SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
THE WALL, WHICH IS ALREADY UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN THE FORM OF NEW RENOVATION OF OLD AND EXISTING FENCES AND WALLS, WILL CONTINUE TO BE BUILT.
— DONALD J. TRUMP (@REALDONALDTRUMP) SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
What do you think?
Did Trump agree to amnesty? Doubt it.
Will the wall be built? You bet it will.
The party's over: Republicans and Democrats are both finished
 Stick a fork in the Democrats and Republicans.
Wednesday night's latest round of deal making between President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders is the latest evidence that the major political parties have lost all semblance of real power. Never before have we seen the leadership of both major political parties so humbled. That power vacuum is currently enabling the president to act without any loyalty to his own party, while working with whomever he pleases on whatever issues he wants.
It's why we have a Republican congressional leadership, headlined by a Senate Majority Leader with an 18 percent approval rating in his own home state, that could not deliver on its party's seven-year-long promises to repeal and replace Obamacare.
And it's why the Democratic Party is getting more and more embarrassed as its highly-experienced-but-failed 2016 presidential nominee continues to weaken the brand by going on a national tour blaming everyone else for her election loss.
None of the above would have been possible before then-candidate Trump eviscerated a crowded field of 16 more experienced GOP regulars in the 2016 primaries. It wouldn't be possible before Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who only registered as a Democrat months before the primaries, came extremely close to upsetting long-held party plans to nominate Hillary Clinton. (Now that same Senator Sanders is leading a march away from Democratic Party orthodoxy and fully advocating single payer health care, with a third of the Democrats in the Senate happily marching away with him.)
"Somewhere, George Washington's ghost must be smiling wide with those wooden teeth of his. It was Washington who warned against the formation of political parties and urged the nation to choose leaders for reasons that transcended partisan politics."
Even at the state level, we're starting to see party power dwindling, with outsiders like Kid Rock and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson being seriously considered as candidates. So much for moving up the ranks in politics and waiting your turn.
It's important to remember this didn't start with President Trump or Senator Sanders. Barack Obama proved the party hierarchy and seniority system was on the wane when he stepped over Hillary Clinton in 2008 to win the Democratic presidential nomination and the presidency after just two years in the U.S. Senate.
But even prior to that, the parties were becoming less discernible from each other, aside from a few wedge issues like abortion and gun control.
They pull donations from the same entities with just a few exceptions, and have similar track records when it comes to enduring challenges like controlling the debt, reining in health care costs, or improving the infrastructure, despite their rhetoric to the contrary. That corruption, or perceived corruption, played a big role in Donald Trump's successful "drain the swamp" campaign.
Now, Trump is continuing to exploit the breakdown of major party influence, pushing for conservative priorities like tax reform and a ban on immigrants from several Muslim countries tied to terrorism, even as he also makes deals with Democrats on the debt ceiling, DACA, and maybe even Obamacare.
We all know just how loudly and angrily the left has been reacting to President Trump in general. But in case there's any doubt about how the partisan right is responding to the Trump team's moves lately, there shouldn't be. They're infuriated. But there's also seems to be an understanding that there's little they can do about it.
Somewhere, George Washington's ghost must be smiling wide with those wooden teeth of his. It was Washington who warned against the formation of political parties and urged the nation to choose leaders for reasons that transcended partisan politics. His cabinet members, especially Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, didn't listen. But it's happening now.
Of course, this will not result in the total disappearance of party titles in elections — at least not yet. Too much of the election infrastructure in too many states relies on major party nominees dominating the ballot choices. But several states, like California, already have statewide primary elections where the top vote-getters regardless of their party are the ones who go before the voters in general elections. That's why Senator Kamala Harris faced off against another Democrat last year in the general election. We could see more states going this way, thus making it less important to hook up with one party or another just to get on the ballot.
So what does this mean going forward?
For now, lost party influence will continue to enable Trump's generally hard-to-define policy leanings. He'll easily shift between the right and the left as it suits him with more freedom than perhaps any other president in 100 years. Republicans and Democrats will likely begin to decide on a case-by-case basis when to support the president, when to oppose him, and when to simply keep quiet. And that means the long-coveted positions like Speaker of the House and majority leader will become less important.
Looking to 2018 and the next presidential election, expect more outsider candidates to throw their hats into the ring without established party members being able to do much about it. Supporters of President Trump are likely to challenge incumbent Republicans in several primaries. And there are many who believe the Democrats might even get more serious about recruiting outsiders and celebrities for the 2020 race against President Trump.
The important thing to remember is that all the craziness we're seeing in Washington these days is not just the result of this president's personality or some new level of political anger across the country. An old order that's been in place for generations that kept a lid on the kind of chaos we've seen in recent months has crumbled.
These are uncharted waters for sure, but they may not lead to such bad results. After all, the partisan political structure in place for so long has brought us numerous wars, $20 trillion in debt and a government that's grown well beyond its usefulness.
Love or hate it, it's time to face this new reality: The Democratic and the Republican parties as we know them are finished and the politicians, the people who give them money, and the people who cover them need to adjust accordingly.
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G’ day…Ciao…
Helen and Moe Lauzier
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