Trump Demands GOP Replace Nonpartisan Senate Parliamentarian With A Puppet

In yet another temper tantrum about a White House ballroom, Donald Trump is demanding that Republicans replace the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian with a puppet who will greenlight the funding for it through budget reconciliation.

Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has served in the position since 2012, frustrating Republicans and Democrats alike by deciding whether or not certain funding projects meet the Byrd Rule in order to be included in a budget bill to be passed through the budget reconciliation process.

It turns out that the $1 billion funding proposal for Trump’s ballroom violated the Byrd Rule, which MacDonough rightfully determined. Republicans are trying to attach the funding to an immigration funding package, making the item an “extraneous” provision.

In response, Trump took to social media to attack MacDonough and demand her replacement, presumably with a highly partisan individual who will greenlight any funding provisions Trump wants to pass through budget reconciliation that would likely never receive 60 votes otherwise.

“Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced?” Trump wrote. “There are many fair people who would be qualified for that vital job. The Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats. It is their single biggest disadvantage in politics.”

 Again, it’s MacDonough’s job to determine if a provision meets Senate rules. She doesn’t work for Democrats. She doesn’t work for Republicans. She’s nonpartisan and has rejected Democratic and Republican provisions for violating the Byrd Rule. Trump’s ballroom funding violated the rule.

Just like Trump did when he replaced the entire nonpartisan boards of commissions with his own cronies to get blanket approval for the destruction of the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom literally no one in the United States asked for, Trump is trying to force Republicans to replace MacDonough with a partisan crony who will do whatever he demands.

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