THIS WEEK IN POLITICAL NEWS -- 7/19/17

Eve of Vacation Edition

I leave for vacation first thing tomorrow morning, so there will be no TWIPN next week. But here’s a midweek review for you all, because I am simply that devoted to you, my dear readers. Am I spending the evening preparing for my trip, getting to bed early in advance of my 4:30am departure? No! I’m devoting myself to you all. (Also, because I am a crazy person, I packed my suitcase 48 hours in advance.) So enjoy! And also, someone should take notes for me about what happens over the next 10 days; I’ll be mostly without internet!

DING DONG THE WITCH IS ALMOST DEAD: Last week we were one vote away from the Senate healthcare bill collapsing. Then on Monday evening, without warning (and in a move that blindsided the White House), it happened: Mike Lee and Jerry Moran declared that they would not support the bill. Moran’s statement was particularly noteworthy, insisting that the Senate “start fresh with an open legislative process”-- exactly the opposite approach led by McConnell. McConnell acknowledged defeat but said that the Senate would take up a straight repeal bill instead, repealing all of Obamacare with a promise to replace it with something two years later. But Murkowski, Collins, and Capito swiftly killed that idea; Capito announced that she “did not come to Washington to hurt people.” Trump displayed his utter lack of knowledge or principle or understanding of the healthcare question through his wildly vacillating tweets, first declaring on Monday night that the Senate should do a straight Obamacare repeal before advancing the opposite approach just hours later: “As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan.” Then he lamented that the Senate has a 60-vote threshold (which it did not for this bill) and said that it should move to a 51-vote majority (again, the GOP could not get 51 votes on their plan). And then he declared that he wants to wipe his hands of the whole thing: “We're not going to own it. I'm not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it.” (Psst: That’s not how this works.) On Wednesday, Trump had the Republican caucus to lunch at the White House, and publicly exhorted them to stay in DC through August to work on passing health care, “ignoring clear indications from Capitol Hill that not enough Republicans are willing to support the proposal.” But where can they go from here? This evening, the CBO released its score of a straight repeal, estimating that 32 million would lose coverage over a decade, with 17 million losing coverage next year; premiums would double by 2026; and a quarter of Americans would live in areas without a single health plan sold on the individual market. Regardless, don’t forget that Trump is already actively trying to make Obamacare fail.

Breaking News Update: Right as I finished this section, the Hill is reporting that McConnell plans to offer $200 billion in assistance to states that expanded Medicaid, in an effort to woo “moderates.” “The huge sum would be funded by leaving in place ObamaCare’s net investment income tax and its Medicare surtax on wealthy earners, according to the source briefed on the proposal.” This means that the next few days are CRUCIAL. We must kill this thing once and for call. CALL YOUR SENATORS EVERY DAY.

TRUMP RUNS HIS MOUTH: Honestly, I just don’t even know what to do or where to start with this interview Trump gave the Times, which was just published this past hour. You really should just read the entire article. The bottom line is that Trump is both a complete nutcase and also seemingly determined to sound as guilty as humanly possible at every turn. Here are the key points:

• The big news is that Trump declared he never would have hired Sessions if he knew Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation: “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.” Doesn’t this . . . seem like a pretty clear admission of guilt -- or at least of something he wants to hide?  “How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”
• He also slammed Sessions for his crap answers during his Senate confirmation. “Jeff Sessions gave some bad answers,” the president said. “He gave some answers that were simple questions and should have been simple answers, but they weren’t.” Ryan LIzza tweeted: “My takeaway from the NYT interview, in which he mows down Sessions--Sessions!--is that Putin remains the only ally Trump has never betrayed.”
• Trump once again attached James Comey. He said he did not even remember the conversation that Comey described in which Trump asked him to set aside the investigation into Flynn. “He said I asked people to go. Look, you look at his testimony. His testimony is loaded up with lies, O.K.?” This is a pretty sharp reversal from his previous comments on Comey’s testimony: Recall he said that his fib about having recordings of their White House convos had kept Comey honest and that the testimony provided him (Trump) with “total and complete vindication.”
• He insisted that his second, previously-undisclosed meeting with Putin was very short and about nothing: “Really, pleasantries more than anything else. It was not a long conversation, but it was, you know, could be 15 minutes. Just talked about things. Actually, it was very interesting, we talked about adoption.” But “adoption”, of course, means US sanctions, which is sort of the opposite of nothing and is, in fact, quite something. Too bad he seems to have no idea what the fuck he’s talking about.
• Trump went after Mueller, complaining that he was “conflicted” because he had interviewed for the FBI director job to replace Comey. And he included this classic Trump statement: “There were many other conflicts that I haven’t said, but I will at some point.” Trump seems to be laying the groundwork for firing Mueller: “Asked if Mr. Mueller’s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family’s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, ‘I would say yes.’ He would not say what he would do about it. ‘I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.’”
• Trump went after acting AG Rod Rosenstein, because he comes from a city with a lot of Democrats (or something?): “There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any.” He also claimed Rosenstein was conflicted because he recommended that Comey be fired (though he didn’t actually make that recommendation), and then hired Mueller who is investigating, in part, that firing. “Well, that’s a conflict of interest. Do you know how many conflicts of interests there are?”
• Trump went after acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, because his wife (a politician) had received campaign contributions from a PAC associated with VA’s Democratic governor.

So this was all bananas. The folks on Twitter think there is a chance Sessions resigns (he has until August to get back on the Senate ballot in ALabama, apparently), and that Trump makes whoever takes his spot promise that he will fire Mueller. Which -- aye yai yai, kids. Aye yai yai.

QUICK HITS: A few smaller stories from this week.

• This seems like a big deal: “Banking regulators are reviewing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans made to Mr. Trump’s businesses through Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management unit, which caters to an ultrarich clientele, according to three people briefed on the review who were not authorized to speak publicly. The regulators want to know if the loans might expose the bank to heightened risks. Separately, Deutsche Bank has been in contact with federal investigators about the Trump accounts, according to two people briefed on the matter. And the bank is expecting to eventually have to provide information to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.”
• The cop who killed a black unarmed 15-year-old outside of Dallas was indicted for murder and assault. This was the case where the 15-year-old was in a car leaving a party and the cops shot into the car and killed him, and then lied and said the car was advancing at them in a threatening way (only to be refuted by dashcam video). A grand jury indictment is more than many of these killers have received, so that’s a positive step in the right direction.
• When the White House organized a business roundtable of leading tech companies, wouldn’t you know it but a teensy little company no one’s ever heard of that just happens to be partially-owned by Jared Kushner’s brother got a seat at the table -- next to Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, and Larry Page. Nice to have friends in high places, eh?
• Tillerson is essentially shutting down the State Department’s office in charge of prosecuting war crimes, reports Foreign Policy. Because, really, how does prosecuting war criminals help Exxon’s bottom line? “The decision to close the office comes at a time when America’s top diplomat has been seeking to reorganize the State Department to concentrate on what he sees as key priorities: pursuing economic opportunities for American businesses and strengthening U.S. military prowess. Those changes are coming at the expense of programs that promote human rights and fight world poverty, which have been targeted for steep budget cuts.”
• “Rep. Greg Gianforte, the Montana Republican who pleaded guilty to assaulting a reporter the day before his election, does not want to be treated like a common criminal ― for more than a month, he has been quietly fighting a court order requiring him to get fingerprinted and photographed at a local jail. . . . When asked whether he believed other Montanans cited for misdemeanor assault also shouldn’t be fingerprinted and photographed, he walked into his office without comment.” (Ignore the egregious misuse of the dash here.)

Endorsements:

• This song combines four of my all-time favorite things: Sara Bareilles (writer), Leslie Odom Jr. (performer), Barack Obama (subject), and This American Life (sponsor). It came out in October, just before the election, but continues to have powerful salience now. TAL asked my best friend Sara B to write a song about what Obama may be thinking as he sees Trump’s rise. It’s beautifully composed and vividly written (obvi, because my best friend is insanely talented), and incredibly powerfully sung by LOJ. So, yeah, listen to it.  (P.S. If you’re looking for a starter Sara B playlist, it’s your lucky day because I made one here!)
• Trump’s tweet on leadership (from 2013)
• This unbelievable clip of Trump frantically gesturing to get Putin’s attention at the spouses dinner at the G20 summit (at which, it was just revealed yesterday, Trump and Putin a second private meeting, with no other American present, that lasted either an hour or was very brief, depending on who you believe).
• Great visual chart in this NYT article comparing coverage rates between Obamacare, the first and second House bills, the Senate bill, and straight repeal.
• This Kevin Drum quote about the Cruz “Freedom” amendment: “The Cruz Amendment is sort of like chopping a baby in half: a solution that sounds appealing only to someone who doesn’t know what happens to babies who are chopped in half.”
• You should read this Josh Barro piece on the need for liberals to be less annoying. It’s interesting; I’m not sure I agree with a lot of it, but I think he raises some good points worth grappling with.