'The Weasel in the White House'

[TNF]

January 20, 2017



"I, Scott Kevin Walker, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God."

[TNF]

The 115th United States Congress

House of Representatives
Republican Party 256
Democratic Party: 179

Senate
Republican Party 56
Democratic Party: 42
Independent(s) 2

State Governors

Republican Party: 35
Democratic Party: 14
Independent(s) 1

State Legislatures

Republican Party: 34
Democratic Party: 10
Split legislatures: 6

[Türkisblau]

Not liking this so far.

[TNF]

Scott Walker was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States in the dreary close of January 2017, cementing his place in the history books and capping off his own personal career. Eight years prior, the country gathered together to celebrate the inauguration of a President that promised them 'hope' and 'change', but found it hard to deliver on either in the face of a chronically weak economic situation and strong public opposition to his policy proposals from an energized opposition.

The climate this time around was very different. Few expected that Walker would even be taking the oath, as up until the summer of 2016, he was trailing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the polls. But then, everything changed. Economic contractions, which became evident as far back as the latter part of 2014 with the sudden collapse in oil prices, mushroomed into a full blown double-dip recession in the Autumn, leading to a reversal in the fortunes of the Republican candidate and his coming out on top, in spite of poor debate performances and his being viewed as something of a lightweight when compared to the former Secretary of State.

Republicans rejoiced. It was as if 1980 had happened all over again - they gained seats in the House, putting their total seat number at its highest since the roaring twenties, and in the Senate, where they were only a few votes shy of a filibuster proof majority. (Not that that really mattered, as incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell raised a point of order in the opening of the 115th Congress to nix the filibuster once and for all - to the consternation of Democrats that didn't have the guts to do the same at any point during the past eight years. In one fell swoop, the filibuster was gone and the 'nuclear option' at last utilized.) The Republicans also gained control of state legislatures and Governorships, the latter of which they gained in those states that still did not have 'right-to-work' laws, something that they'd seek to rectify in all four (although the split legislature of Kentucky would make the attempt there unsuccessful...for the time being.)

Walker made clear that he would seek to 'unleash American competitiveness' by 'taking on the unions' as he had in the state that his administration transformed from the stomping ground of Bob La Follette and Victor Berger into a right-to-work state without collective bargaining rights for public employees. This would of course be backed up with the traditional Republican formula of slashing taxation on the incomes of the wealthy, reducing corporate taxation and social spending, and increasing spending on the military. Walker would waste absolutely no time in enacting his agenda and pressing forward with it.

The first hundred days define a presidency. Walker's would define the decade.

[Senator Cris]

There will be the Electoral Map?

Also.. who won the IL Senate Race?

[Free Bird]

Not liking the title. But me want senate map

[TNF]

The First Hundred Days: The Cabinet


John Bolton, Secretary of State


Jim Talent, Secretary of Defense


Ken Wainstain, Attorney General


Joe Lieberman, Secretary of Homeland Security


Robert Zoellick, Secretary of the Treasury


Carly Fiorina, Secretary of Commerce


Jack Gerard, Secretary of Energy


Bobby Jindal, Secretary of Health and Human Services


Rick Lazio, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development


James Inhofe, Secretary of the Interior


Nikki Haley, Secretary of Labor


Adam Putnam, Secretary of Agriculture


Marion Blakey, Secretary of Transportation


Michelle Rhee, Secretary of Education

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Deeply terrifying

[Maxwell]

hahaha this is a great timeline so far.

Michelle Rhee as Secretary of Education YES!!!

[TNF]

There will be the Electoral Map?

Also.. who won the IL Senate Race?

Demopacalypse 2016

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York (Democratic Party): 44% of the popular vote / 190 electoral votes
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin (Republican Party): 54% of the popular vote / 348 electoral votes
Jill Stein of Massachusetts (Green Party): 2% of the popular vote / 0 electoral votes


Mark Kirk won re-election in 2016.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

1. Who's the Vice President?
2. What were the Republican Senate pickups?

[The Other Castro]

I'm scared

[TNF]

The First Hundred Days: The Shot Heard Round the World

As previously noted, the opening of the 115th United States Congress saw the fabled nuclear option finally used, eliminating the Senate filibuster and with it two centuries of tradition in that most conservative of U.S. governing institutions. While some within the Republican caucus balked at the move behind closed doors, they closed ranks when it became clear that dissent would not be tolerated on the move and that those who stepped out of line might face retribution from the RNC for doing so. The up or down vote was acrimonious but when the smoke cleared a majority of Republicans voted in favor, and Democrats against. The stage was set for the Walker agenda to be enacted in full.

Bigger fish were being fried by the President himself, however. President Walker immediately issued a series of executive orders declaring all the usual right-wing shibboleths, i.e. no funding for abortion in overseas aid, faith-based initiatives, etc. But one of those executive orders was different - the new President issued an executive order rescinding all previous executive orders guaranteeing federal employees the right to collectively bargain, overturning half a century of public practice in one fell swoop. Federal workers' unions, not having any other recourse (as of this writing no legislation exists at the federal level guaranteeing such bargaining rights, only executive orders), quickly mobilized.

Six years after the protests that enveloped Madison in response to similar legislation, federal employees gathered in Washington to protest the new executive order. Fiery speeches were made, demonstrations were held, but in the end, labor chieftains decided that it was better to face down the issue in the courts. In American Federation of Government Employees v. Walker, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling ultimately came down on the side of the President, asserting that previous executive orders issued by Presidents Kennedy and Nixon were beyond the scope of their power as president.

Federal workers would no longer have the legally recognized right to collectively bargain.

[Brewer]

Looks exciting so far.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Looks exciting so far.

Indeed, keep up the awesome work.

[TNF]

Domestic Policy: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Immediately following the executive order that stripped federal workers of their collective bargaining rights, Walker moved into position on the legislative front. A flurry of Republican policy proposals, first tried out at the state and local levels during the long eight years in opposition, would thus soon find their way to the Oval Office for the President's signature.

First and foremost came the matter of stimulating the economy, which had been shedding jobs since late 2016 and had produced the highest rate of unemployment since the protracted recession of the early 1980s, which saw nearly one out of every ten Americans out of work. The first piece of legislation that the President would sign would be an economic stimulus package, loaded with tax relief for high earners (the top income tax rate was reduced from 39.6% to 25% in one fell swoop, and the seven tax brackets established by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 were reduced to five; the capital gains tax was done away with outright and the corporate tax rate slashed from 35% to 20%), incentives for capital investment in new manufacturing equipment and fossil fuel extraction, and, of course, increases in military spending.

The subsequent federal budget would zero out funding for food stamps and make deep cuts to social welfare spending, with much of the funding that would normally have been spent on these programs being transferred to the military. But the 'Tea Party Express' didn't stop with a massive tax cut for the wealthy or the end of food stamps. It kept on rolling. When Democrats made it known that they would be introducing a resolution calling for a $12.25 minimum wage by 2020, the President responded by asking Congress to cut funding for wage and hour enforcement regulations in the next federal budget. On wages and hours, Congress would do that and more, enacting a bill that allowed states to apply for waivers from the Department of Labor that would allow them to pay workers below the federal minimum wage on the basis of 'proven need' (these would be quickly snapped up by Republican-controlled state legislatures and executives in the year to come) and denying federal funding for wage and hour enforcement for any state that dared raise the minimum wage above the federal wage of $7.25 an hour.

Satisfied for the time being on the labor front, Walker's administration moved to gut that biggest of all conservative boogeymen, Obamacare. Although ultimately stopping short of repealing the legislation entirely, the 115th Congress would craft a bill that gutted the healthcare exchanges, reversed medicaid expansion, and revoked the individual mandate for health insurance.

The transformation of American public education was left to Walker's firebrand Secretary of Education, Democrat Michelle Rhee. Rhee had a long history of provoking fights with teachers unions and pushing things like charter schools and school vouchers, so it was no surprise that Walker would embrace her approach to education reform as President. Although some within the administration thought that the Department of Education should be abolished outright, Walker preferred to have the hand of the federal government at the ready to shape legislative policy across the country, rather than risk the states implementing policies that could turn the tide against 'education reform.' This was one area where Walker had bipartisan support, and he aimed to make the best of it.

Congress responded with a bill reorganizing American public education, perhaps the most far-reaching of its kind. Age-old requirements for equal funding for sports programs for girls were gutted and the last vestiges of sixties-era busing and other requirements were put to rest, once and for all. The federal Department of Education would be transformed into a means by which states would receive funding and aid in transforming their public education systems into voucher-oriented charter systems, with incentives for school districts to convert themselves into for-profit charter schools and crack down on teachers' unions. Democrats like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised the administration for such actions and were among the first to apply for the new federal funding, making them national leaders in the fight to transform American schooling.

On social welfare, Walker is content with containing and reducing overall spending. Fearful of repeating the Bush debacle on Social Security, he puts off immediate action on that thorny issue in favor of bills devolving Medicaid fully to the states, raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67 and reducing benefits, and privatizing unemployment insurance. New tax incentives are drawn out to end defined-benefit pensions in favor of 401Ks and the Departments of Labor and Commerce are deployed to help corporate America make the transition away from employer-provided benefits to benefits that are more closely connected to Wall Street trading.

On the environment, Walker undoes essentially every new rule promulgated by the Obama-era EPA and gives a thumbs up for the renewed expansion of fracking sites. The Keystone XL pipeline, vetoed under the previous administration, is approved without much debate this time around. Federal lands are opened up for drilling, mining, and fracking.

Free trade agreements stalled under Obama were likewise given the greenlight by the Republican Congress and the White House, including the Transpacific Partnership and Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, with the administration even proposing a revival of the decades old idea of a 'Free Trade Area of the Americas', much to the consternation of nationalist Republicans and old-school union Democrats. This would have to wait, however, as Walker wanted to push through the capstone of his legislative agenda before the midterms and likely losses on his part.

Thus came the battle over the National Right-to-Work Act.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Hoo, boy.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Scott Walker has singlehandedly ruined America. The Left must be up in arms and MSNBC must have their highest ratings in years!

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

TNF, I still hate you, but I'll fight right alongside you if this ever happens.

[Maxwell]

TNF, I still hate you, but I'll fight right alongside you if this ever happens.

You hate someone on an internet forum? Life is too short for that!

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Rick Lazio, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Why him?

His congressional experience was largely focused around housing.

[TNF]

Which Side Are You On? The National Right-to-Work Act and the Great Upheaval of 2017

The announcement of a national right-to-work bill by Senator Rand Paul was mostly expected. Paul's own home state had elected a Republican Governor in 2015 but was unable to pass a state-level equivalent owing to the split control of the state legislature. Republican Governors and legislatures in West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Missouri had no such trouble.

States in red were right-to-work states prior to the passage of the National Right-to-Work Act

The proposal didn't get much attention at first; Paul had proposed such legislation in previous sessions only to have it die in committee. But with the economic crisis and the opportunity to expend what political capital he had prior to the inevitable midterm losses, Walker took up the legislation as the cornerstone of his program, and helped shepherd it through the committee process and onto the Senate floor. As the Senate gathered to vote on the largest change in labor law since the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, organized labor mobilized.

At first, the national AFL-CIO only called for local demonstrations that would converge in a 'New March on Washington' the day the bill was set to be voted on. This was more or less an attempt to hold back the movement and make sure that it didn't go outside the normal channels of public protest, litigation, and funneling all the energy from it into a spirited campaign for the Democrats next year. But things didn't go exactly as planned.

The first signs of unrest came from the cradle of the American labor movement, Chicago. The Chicago Federation of Labor, under pressure from the militant Chicago Teachers Union and other rank-and-file led unions like UNITE HERE Local 1, as well as a mobilized and (increasingly) angry building trades council, declared that in opposition to the bill, it would back a general strike of all Chicago union members on May 1st. Other central labor councils followed suit, and the AFL-CIO tacitly endorsed the call for a nationwide general strike of union members, hoping to contain the movement and control it from the top.

May 1st came and the AFL-CIO began to quickly realize that it wasn't going to be the master of ceremonies this time around. In major cities, union workers walked off the job and through the avenues of their cities, hand in hand and with the intent of marching all the way to Washington to make their voices heard. Unexpectedly, the walkout became bigger than its organizers could scarcely imagine, with non-union workers in the service sector and federal and state employees also walking off the job. A Senate report on the events that followed estimated that nearly 1 out of every 5 workers walked out on May 1st, 2017, and the number of workers participating grew as events around the country intensified.

But workers weren't the only ones on the march. Veterans of Occupy Wall Street and various other radicals got in on the act too, joining picket lines and marches in solidarity. Faith groups, too came out in full force, as did many environmentalist and other groups committed to doing something about 'The Weasel in the White House.' This would be Walker's greatest test yet.

For the most part, the day's events remained peaceful and orderly, extending into the next few days, which would radicalize the protestors. The change in attitudes may be clearly seen in contrasting Day One (May 1st) to Day Two (May 2nd) to Day Three (May 3rd) in the response of the marchers to Democratic politicians that addressed their various rallies. On the first day, Democrats were cheered on and calls were made for the election of a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president in 2020. On the second day, the cheers stopped for the 'corporate Democrats' and the slogans came to reflect the idea that a 'progressive Democratic Congress and progressive Democratic president should be elected', and on the third day, the Democratic speakers began to receive boos and jeers. Slogans changed from supporting the Democrats to supporting 'independent progressive candidates.' What brought about this change?

State repression.

While the first day of the protest seemed to mostly be about defeating the bill, the content of the protests were never monolithic. Some workers walked off the job, but others sat down. Factories, restaurants, and retail outlets were occupied by their workforce, which demanded a union and a living wage. At first attempts to dislodge the workers were frustrated by the fact that everyone was completely and totally puzzled as to what to do. No one had seen labor action on this scale since the 1930s and in spite of the howling from the upper crust, most local governments either stayed silent the first few days or endorsed the actions, depending upon the political makeup of the local government in question.

But then, the tide changed. Starting in Chicago, the epicenter of the movement, the police moved to restore order after scabs being escorted into an occupied factory engaged in a scuffle with the striking workers. This was the pretext for President Walker and Homeland Security Secretary Joe Lieberman to make their move and order a coordinated crackdown on the protests.

The President probably imagined that such a crackdown would be met with little resistance outside of the usual suspects for such activity (Oakland, Seattle, Madison), much like the mopping up of the Occupy protests had been six years prior.

He was wrong.

[TNF]

'If We Burn, You Burn With Us'

May 5th, 2017.

That date which would be known in American history as the day of the '5/5 riots' or the '5/5 uprising', depending on who it is you sided with in the subsequent chaos. With the sending of militarized police units into struck Chicago worksites, with scabs often in tow, the subterranean fire of working class anger, working class anguish, and working class revolt flared up in a spectacular display of defiance against the establishment that had literally bled it dry for nearly half a century.

In Chicago, the crackdown ordered by Mayor Emanuel was met with stiff resistance. As the militarized Chicago PD moved into struck factories and workplaces, workers within the occupied workplaces resisted their removal, at first by throwing bottles and rocks at the cops. As these workers were dragged out or led out at gunpoint, onlookers, which quickly grew to outnumber the cops, charged police, wielding baseball bats and lead pipes. After the police were successfully dispersed at one worksite after another and significant numbers of the police began to refuse orders to disperse the protestors, Emanuel called in back up.

Governor Rauner quickly issued the order for the mobilization of the National Guard to Chicago, with the backing of the President. As events in Chicago were livestreamed on the news, on Twitter, and on other social media sites, similar events began to manifest themselves elsewhere. First in major cities, then in the suburbs, then in rural working class communities. It seemed as if the whole country was in revolt.

In cities like Oakland, the local government itself became more or less irrelevant. Strike committees took charge in major cities and ordered the police demobilized, rallying those with military training to the defense of the protestors and the picket lines. National Guard units moved toward major cities, but many units outright refused to interfere with the protestors. In those areas, the private military companies, like Blackwater and other organizations fresh from tours of duty in Iraq and against ISIS, found their way to the front lines against the protestors.

In Washington, President Walker felt it necessary to address the nation. Referring to the protests as 'being led by communist agitators' and backed by 'union thugs intent on crushing American democracy', Walker called for calm and publicly announced that he would be declaring the whole of the nation to be in a state of emergency. 'We will not be intimidated by terrorists' Walker said before announcing that he would be authorizing the deployment of U.S. troops to put down the 'insurrection' across the country. It would be the first time since World War II that federal troops had intervene to quash a labor dispute. 

It would not be the last.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

What and no restoring the bans on ssm in the states that had bans prior to Obama's activist judges unjustly striking them down? Or the full and complete overturning of Roe vs Wade (returning abortion policy to the exclusive jurisdiction of the states)

[Maxwell]

Best TL ever