Covfefe?

Midnight Tweet:  Around midnight the Tweeter-in-chief tweeted “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”  Covfefe, may be short for “I’m  president, you’re not, sure I’m crazy, learn to live with it” or it could be a cry for help.  In any case it caused a twitter tsunami last night as twitter uses everywhere tried to figure out just what Trump was saying.  At this point there is still no answer.   

Spicey is Back, For Now:  The tense White House environment has also gotten to Spicer. Sounding angry and frustrated he stormed into the daily news conference and spent ten minutes summarizing the remarkable successes of Trump’s Three Religion Tour.  Trump’s trip was “historic,” “unprecedented”  and “extraordinary” and accomplished more for the US than any trip by any other president, ever.  During the Q and A that followed, Spicer went from denying that Kushner had tried to set up back channel communication with the Russians to saying that he might have  but that’s only because back channels are good.  He then launched into a tirade about fake news calling out the BBC and a new NY Times reporter for saying Trump had been rude to the Italian Prime Minister when all he was doing was adjusting his earpiece, the most damning false news that Spicer could cite.  He also attacked the press for using anonymous sources but couldn’t answer why it was okay for Trump to tweet out a favorable Fox article that relied on one unnamed source.  Spicer then cut the press conference off and marched out leaving  behind a stunned group of reporters.

Russia investigations:  The Russia investigations continue to heat up. Add Trump’s long-time friend and personal lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump’s one-time spokesperson and media coordinator Boris Epshteyn to the list of people embroiled in the Russian web.  Cohen who may or may not have carried a secret Ukrainian peace plan that called for the lifting of  Russian sanctions from the Ukraine to Trump last year has been asked to provide information about any connections he’s had to Russian officials to the Intelligence Committees.  A similar request has been made to Epshteyn, Eric Trump’s Georgetown buddy. So far, Cohen is refusing to cooperate with the “overly broad” request.  Michael Flynn, however, is now being more cooperative.  He has agreed to provide the Senate Intelligence Committee with subpoenaed business documents and certain personal documents that he had previously refused to provide.  Kushner is still solving Middle East peace, reorganizing the government, resolving the opioid crisis, heading the White House Russia crisis team, and serving as Trump’s right hand man, but like a duck, under the surface he must or should be paddling frantically.

German Tweets:  Apparently Angela Merkel missed the message that Trump’s trip to Europe was a wild success.  Responding to her weekend statement that Germany could no longer rely on others, Trump stayed on the offensive tweeting that German trade policies are “very bad” for the US and vowed to change the situation.  At least with regard to US-German relations that was the highpoint of the day.  In the afternoon, German intelligence informed the US that it doesn’t want, need, or trust the US for help in securing its upcoming elections from Russian interference.  

Senate Tweet:  On Tuesday Trump tweeted “the US Senate should switch to 51 votes immediately and get Healthcare and TAX CUTS approved, fast and easy,” adding Senate procedures to the list of things he doesn’t know anything about.  Essentially, Trump is trying to pressure Senate Majority Leader McConnell to ditch the filibuster rules that have already been eliminated for judicial appointments even though McConnell is on record saying said that he is not interested in changing the rules for legislative issues. In any case, Trump’s tweet is irrelevant because Trumpcare and tax reform legislation qualify for reconciliation, a budgetary process that allows for passage with only 51 votes as long as legislation is directly related to spending and expenditures and doesn’t increase the deficit.  Since Trumpcare is more or less a large tax cut rather than a healthcare plan and results in a deficit reduction over a ten year time horizon it qualifies for reconciliation.  Likewise, using overly optimistic economic growth rates, Trump’s tax reform plan is deficit neutral over a ten year time horizon as well.  Bottom line, both pieces of legislation could be passed with 51 votes to the extent they stick to the reconciliation rules.  The trick is getting 51 votes for unpopular legislation.  Senate rules are complicated.  Trumpcare is also complicated. Showing again that he is unfamiliar with the nuances of his health care plan Trump also tweeted a call for more spending on health care.       

North Korean Missiles:  The war of words and missiles continues to escalate.  North Korea launched a short-range SCUD missile over the weekend.  Trump responded by tweeting that “North Korea has shown great disrespect…for China, but China is trying hard.” Caring little about China, Kim Jong-Un then said that it plans to send a bigger “gift package” to the US soon and yesterday, the US successfully tested a ballistic defense missile.   

Georgia Six Update:  Though election day is June 20, early voting has started for the Georgia’s sixth congressional election for the seat vacated by Health Secretary Price.  Polls, to the extent they mean anything, show Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate up by 7% among likely voters over Karen Handel, his Republican rival.  All eyes and millions of dollars are on this election.