Even before Trump bombed Syria things were not well in the GOP.



President Donald Trump trained his fire on members of his own party Thursday, declaring in the aftermath of the Republican's failed health care push that the conservative Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire GOP agenda. He vowed to "fight them" in 2018 if they don't get behind him.

The Trump tweet highlighted the growing schism in a Republican party that controls the White House and both branches of Congress yet appears to be teetering on the precipice of a civil war.

Trump has changed his economic policies the Export-Import Bank, the Fed and China to be more centrist.

It would be a mistake to lay all of the blame on Trump. This schism within the party has been building since before 2009 and cuts across most issues.



This breakdown in unity and consistency within the Republican Party can be seen across a range of issues. Over time it will render the party increasingly incapable of governing — and most likely prepare the way for a much more dramatic shift in the party's direction in 2020 or beyond.

...On just about every other issue, the Republican Party is in a state of disarray, its once-unifying ideology crumbling before our eyes.

All that remains to be seen is whether the Democrats can exploit this massive vulnerability.

Into this mess Trump has simply ignored the economic issues that got him elected, and instead embraced the neocon agenda.



In response to the administration's obvious disinterest in economic issues, the Trump fanboys will surely cry "give him some time!" But, if Trump actually cared about these issues, he'd be talking about the need for tax cuts and relief from Obamacare. He'd be making speeches. He'd be meeting with Congress about it. He'd be telling voters to call their members of Congress and demand reform. He'd be giving press conferences on how we need to get the government off the backs of the people. But no. None of that is happening. To make any lasting reform, Congress would need to take action on these matters, but Trump is either too lazy or too inept or too apathetic to do the hard work that comes with this type of lawmaking. In order to move beyond Rule by Decree, which is clearly Trump's favored type of governing, he'd have to work with Congress. But this so-called "master negotiator" apparently lacks the necessary skills. It is now increasingly clear that the Trump administration is going to be at least four years of endless war, budget-busting spending, massive deficits, and more big government in general. His demonstrated preference is not for addressing the issues that won him the Rust Belt states. He's a war president now, and has better things to do.

All it would take to blow up the Republican Party is one piece of bad luck. One major scandal. One downturn in the economy.

All of those triggers are scheduled to happen before the end of the month.



The U.S. government is poised to shut down on Day 100 of Donald Trump’s presidency, unless Congress can pass a new spending bill or a continuing resolution before the current one expires on April 28.

Since Congress is currently on a two-week recess, there will be a sense of urgency to get a new bill passed once they reconvene on April 25. Leaders in both chambers would have four days to craft a new proposal that each side can agree on and get it on the president’s desk for Trump to sign.

Senate Democrats have promised to block any bill that includes funds for a proposed wall along the Mexican border or defund Planned Parenthood.

And that's the problem.



President Trump is going to be under an immense amount of pressure to end the government shutdown once it begins, but to do so will mean that he has to give up his goal of getting a border wall.

Do you think that Trump will just throw in the towel and forget about his beloved border wall after giving countless speeches promising one?

It is a game of chicken between Trump and the Democrats, and I don’t think that either side will give in easily.

Of even greater importance is the debate over the funding of Planned Parenthood.

There are members of the Freedom Caucus that will absolutely not vote for any spending bill that includes funding for Planned Parenthood. But without the Freedom Caucus, there aren’t enough Republican votes to get a spending bill through the House of Representatives.

Into these incompatible political forces you only have a four day window for compromise.

Do you think they will reach an agreement without a shutdown? I don't.

Not after they failed so badly with the Obamacare repeal.

Ugly finger-pointing, blame-shifting, and maybe even a full-scale meltdown are on the docket for a party that has largely defined itself by opposing things for decades.

Can the Democrats exploit this split? No.



"I think the Democrats are kind of screwed at this point," said Henderson, underscoring what's clearly the current consensus. "They thought Hillary Clinton would win and their bench is really, really thin."

"It will be fun to cover the Democratic civil war for a change," she said. "It's hard to underestimate how screwed the Democrats are."

The Dems don't have anywhere near the insurgency that the Republicans do, but the days of apathy finally appear to be coming to an end for the base of the Democrats.

However, the Democratic establishment is as clueless as ever, and downright hostile to its progressive base.



On April 11, Democratic congressional candidate James Thompson came close to defeating Republican candidate State Treasurer John Estes in a special election in Kansas, with just over a 6 percent margin in a district that President Donald Trump won by 27 points. However, the bigger story is how Thompson ran a formidable campaign without support from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). This lack of support likely stemmed from the DCCC’s strategy to abandon rural America and their disdain for candidates who embrace Sen. Bernie Sanders’ progressive agenda....

Rather than this special election representing an anomaly or misstep from the Democratic leadership, there’s a prevailing trend within the party’s establishment to select and support weak, centrist candidates who provide the party with opportunities to fundraise from corporate donors. This trend is symptomatic of a revolving door within the Democratic Party leadership, where party officials often sell out to work for Republican lobbying firms. The Intercept’s Lee Fang pointed out Mark Squier, John Donovan, and CR Wooters as just a few examples.

The Democratic establishment jumped through mental hoops to justify why they didn't support Thompson. This is best summed up by our very own disgusting David Nir.



“I sort of view a race like this as a showdown between a large standing army and a nimble band of guerrillas operating deep in enemy turf,” said David Nir, political director at the liberal site Daily Kos, which helped raise nearly $200,000 for Thompson online. “If the guerrillas engage in a direct firefight, they’re going to get crushed. Instead, they have to catch their opponents unawares and carry out a sneak attack under cover of darkness.”

This is wrong and stupid on so many levels. But the most obvious way its wrong is to view any part of this country as "enemy turf". If that's your view then you have already lost.