A Tetchy Cornyn Shoves a Hand in the Camera When Pressed on His Filibuster Flip-Flop -

SAVE Act Switcheroo

In his latest act of self-debasement to win President Trump’s endorsement, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Wednesday penned a cringing op-ed in the New York Post in which he agreed to drop his longtime support for the Senate filibuster.

He professed that the change of heart was prompted by radical Democrats pledging to nuke the filibuster whenever they hold power again.

So it’s just coincidence, by Cornyn’s lights, that he steadfastly opposed filibuster abolition right up until last week when his runoff opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), promised to drop out of the race if Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) lowered the 60-vote threshold to allow for passage of the GOP’s voter restriction bill, the SAVE America Act.

Paxton’s move was a fairly transparent effort to redirect Trump’s anger away from him after he’d refused to preemptively drop out of the race.

Despite his alleged heel turn, Cornyn is a student at the Mitch McConnell school of Senate procedure: He knows that the filibuster doesn’t block Republican priorities — tax cuts and confirmations — and does block Democratic ones. He sees the value in both ensuring that Democrats never make good on their policy promises (a successful effort that has left the Democratic Party in deplorable standing) and in protecting elected Republicans from having to act on the unpopular whims of their hard-right base.

A possible Trump endorsement, though, called louder.

Still, playing the lickspittle isn’t always fun for a big, important U.S. senator. He got a mite peevish Wednesday when NBC reporter Brennan Leach pushed him on his flexible principles.

“What would you say to those who say you just changed your mind to win the President’s endorsement?” she asked.

“I would say that’s not true,” he replied with a wry smile.

“You also said—” she began, before he interrupted, shoving a hand in her camera and saying: “I think we’re through. Go away.”

Spinelessness — it’s harder than it looks.

— Kate Riga

We’re the Bad Guys

As expected after remnants of the missile were discovered, a preliminary (and ongoing) military investigation has found that the United States is responsible for the strike on the Iranian elementary school that left, per Iranian officials, over 175 people — mostly children — dead.

The strike seems to have been the result of old data, which showed the school as part of a nearby base.

Trump, never one to shrink from responsibility, was asked for his reaction to the findings Wednesday as he departed the White House: “I don’t know about it,” he said. He previously blamed the Iranians.

— Kate Riga

Senate Republicans Block Dem Effort to Fund DHS Without ICE, CBP

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) sought unanimous consent on the Senate floor Wednesday to pass legislation to fund every agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — except Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Office of the Secretary.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) blocked Murray’s request, making it clear the Senate GOP would rather continue the ongoing shutdown instead of funding some of the programs under DHS.

The Washington Democrats’ bill would have made sure TSA and the rest of the programs under the DHS umbrella, including FEMA, Coast Guard and the Secret Service, were funded through the fiscal year while negotiations for meaningful ICE reform — which Dems have been calling for in exchange for their votes to fund ICE — continue.

“Republicans are not only dragging their feet on the basic reforms — they are refusing to fund TSA, FEMA, and other important DHS functions while these negotiations continue,” Murray said during a Wednesday floor speech.

Murray’s effort comes as the DHS-specific shutdown, which started on Feb. 14, approaches a month with no end in sight. With spring break kicking off and TSA agents set to miss their first paycheck since the shutdown started, airports across the country have been warning of hours-long security lines.

Congressional Democrats and the White House have been exchanging largely private proposals for a few weeks now, but the two sides have not made much progress as Republicans and the Trump White House refuse to enact several key reforms Democrats are demandingDemocrats are demanding to rein in ICE agents’ recent lawless actions.

— Emine Yücel

Hope, Change, ‘This Job Sucks’

The former Justice Department prosecutor who told a judge that her job “sucks” while in court defending the administration’s deportations is now running as a Democrat to challenge Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), per the Washington Post.

Julie Le said that she’d never supported Trump, and thought that if she stayed with ICE, she’d be in a better position to defend her family’s legality if any of them got arrested.

She added that she’s challenging Omar not because she doesn’t think the congresswoman is “doing the job,” but for what she, personally, “could bring to the table.”

— Kate Riga

Clown Show, Clown Shoes

Trump is reportedly buying all the men in his circle ill-fitting dress shoes — and they’re “afraid” not to wear them.

The fear is such that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has apparently been donning a pair much too big for him.

“You know you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size,’” Vice President J.D. Vance recalled Trump saying during a podcast appearance, before triggering the gag reflexes of all in earshot by adding: “We won’t ask the second lady for comment on that particular topic.”

— Kate Riga