Open Thread for Tuesday, October 31, 2017

How bad are things for Donald Trump? So bad that this morning he tried to use the GOP tax plan as a distraction from his bigger problems. As is common for Republicans, they don’t yet know what’s in it, but they’re sure it will help them to pass it. As haggling continues within the GOP, with various factions making demands, here’s a good roundup of where things stand.

Betcha didn’t know that the Civil War could have been avoided if Americans had been more willing to compromise. That’s the opinion of every Southern apologist who’s ever lived, and it’s the opinion of Trump henchman and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly as well. The Boston-bred child of Irish descent told shrieky shitgibbon Laura Ingraham that “men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had to make their stand.” Sorry, Americans — it’s traitors all the way down.

Some of the best reporting on business in Delaware is done by Philadelphia Inquirer reporter and News Journal alum Joe DiStefano. Here he takes a look at how the Trump administration’s promises to the petroleum industry have run headlong into farm-state ethanol subsidies. Most politicians in the region have lined up on the pro-petroleum side of the argument, but DiStefano notes, “Between pro-corn DowDuPont and oil-refiner PBF, it’s no wonder Delaware’s ruling Democrats are keeping a low public profile on this issue.” How unlike them.

Have at it and add anything interesting.