Trump punishes Alaska
Trump is taking revenge on the people of Alaska for Murkowski’s refusal to vote the way he wants. Yes really. He’s telling her that’s what he’s doing, too.
The Alaska Dispatch News reported Wednesday night that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Murkowski and fellow Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) after Tuesday’s health care vote to let them know her position had put some of their state-specific projects in jeopardy ― particularly those pertaining to energy.
Sullivan told the outlet that Zinke’s phone call carried a “troubling message,” and the interior secretary made it clear to him that the call was in response to Murkowski voting no on the motion to proceed on Tuesday.
Nice little state ya got here; too bad we’re gonna have to fuck it up.
They’re gang bosses; that’s all they are.
One bright side out of this – there has to be one – may be that that kind of screwing around with a Senator is going to get the supermajority of Senators needed on board for throwing his sorry butt out. They ought to realize that it could perfectly well be them getting one of those calls – and so do their constituents and donors.
I know impeachment is only going to get us Pence as President (assuming _he’s_ not impeached too, but that’s sadly safe enough), but as awful as Pence would be, there are those norms of political behavior apart from policy that he’d likely respect.
Saw the headline and figured Trump was going to visit Alaska.
Gang bosses are usually smart enough not to threaten someone who has them outgunned:
Wasn’t pulling us out of any sensible climate policy punishment enough? After all, Alaska is getting slammed with warming faster than the rest of us.
It’s always been an open secret that politicians who are in the good graces of the leadership can get goodies for their constituency easier than pols on the opposition side. But it’s not often you see the leadership so openly using that as a tool of blackmail.