In a way this is the perfect complement to that piece-of-sh*t omnibus bill the GOP is about to foist on taxpayers, replete with lots more foreign labor to compete with blue-collar American workers. A middle-class voter who’s confident that his government is looking out for his interests would read this and think, “Why is Trump gladhanding an anti-American fascist who’s undermining us everywhere?” A middle-class voter who’s not confident in his government reads it and thinks, “Why should I care about this when Trump at least says he’ll protect my job?”

Why should they care?

#Trump responds to #Putin's warm words by doubling down on love-in. #Russia pic.twitter.com/5nBM5ImLpF

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) December 17, 2015

There’s not another Republican in the field who’d greet warm words from Putin that way, but oh well. I think Erick Erickson has the mood right:

Republicans around the nation are decrying Donald Trump as the death of the Republican Party. Should Trump win, they tell us, they would all vote for Hillary Clinton and the GOP would be finished. Contrary to their claims, Republicans do not need Donald Trump to sink the party and, truth be told, with Trump the party would be defined by something. Trump has been an aggressive advocate for tough immigration and closed borders and has repeatedly attacked sweet heart deals between Washington and Wall Street — the very sort of deals congressional Republicans are trying to pass in this spending package.

What the Republican Party is offering up with this omnibus spending package is a sell out of all their ideas and principles in the name of avoiding a tough fight against Barack Obama headed into election season. It would be absolutely impossible for Donald Trump to do more damage to the Republican Party than what its congressional leaders are already doing and, at least, Donald Trump would bring in people willing to support him.

Between Trump and the congressional Republicans, give me Donald Trump.

Ace has the mood right too:

We’ll make our poor people poorer, and our Middle Class poorer, all to give Disney a 25 cent boost on the stock market, and import more non-Americans to replace American workers. (And eventually, when those non-Americans get comfortable and begin demanding American-style wages – we’ll have to import fresh non-Americans to replace them.)

This is the Republican Way of Doing Business, and if you have a problem with any of this, you’re a goddamned extremist and racist who should be shat upon…

There have been previous high points of Republican incompetency and corruption — but this age is truly one of miracles and wonders.

The amazing thing about the omnibus is that every other story in political media lately is how nervous Washington Republicans are about Trump, which one would think would force a comparatively good spending bill out of them now. Show Republican voters that the GOP Congress is making progress and they’re more likely to stick with known quantities like Rubio or Cruz as nominee than the loose cannon Trump. Instead they pinch off a giant loaf with another immigration sellout, of all things, at its core. It’s a belt-high fastball over the plate for Trump. Rubio in particular must be seeing his political life flashing before his eyes. I still wouldn’t bet on Trump as nominee, but increasingly that feels like wishful thinking. And I’d bet fairly heavily at this point on Trump and Cruz as the final two.

Here’s Jeff Sessions laying out the case against the omnibus. Just out of morbid curiosity, what’s the split today among Trump fans on why Putin is praising Trump? I figure half are spinning it as a “strength respects strength” thing and half are treating it as reverse psychology. I.e. “Putin fears Trump, but he also knows that most Americans see him and Russia as enemies. What better way to sink Trump with voters than by giving him the Vladimir Putin seal of approval?”