The Spin Cycle

The Spin Cycle:  Republican spin masters were out on Sunday explaining how Trumpcare would be a vast improvement over “failing” Obamacare.  With a straight face Secretary Price claimed that the $880 million reduction in Medicaid funding would result in an improvement in health care for Medicaid recipients because with less money and less Federal Government intervention the states would be able to make better decisions.  Don’t feel bad if that doesn’t make sense to you, it didn’t make any sense to CNN’s Jake Tapper either.  Reince Priebus just said that “this president is not going to let you down.”  Closing the circle, Trump tweeted “Republican Senators will not let the American people down” adding that Obamacare was a “lie and is dead.”  As to those Republican Senators who are going to make Trumpcare better, Senator McConnell has already set up a working group of thirteen white, male Senators, including Tea Party Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.  Since none of the four Republican women senators have anything to contribute and women’s health needs are irrelevant anyway, no women are included in McConnell’s group. The Congressional Budget Office’s revised scoring report is due out this week and, according to the NY Times, twenty percent of the jobs fueling the economy are in the health care sector.  Just a few more things for McConnell and his guy squad to worry about as they embark on the Obamacare repeal/Trumpcare overhaul.

Off Script:  A few Congressman veered off script when challenged by constituents.  Iowa Representative Raul Labrador callously said that “nobody dies from lack of health care.”  A stunning statement but one that accurately reflects how Republicans justify cutting twenty-four million from the insurance rolls.  Alabama Representative Mo Brooks took things one step further saying that “people who lead good lives don’t have preexisting conditions” and healthy people shouldn’t pay for those bad, sick people.  Somehow or other Ohio Governor Kasich didn’t get a copy of any of the Republican talking points.  He warned that under Trumpcare 900,000 Ohio residents will lose their insurance as Medicaid funding dries up, the $4,000 credit would be insufficient for them to buy insurance on the open market, and he laughed at the inadequately funded high risk pools.  He also lamented that the legislation did nothing to bring down the cost of drugs, something he’s brought up with Trump. He ended by adding that people will be living in the ERs again.     

Must See TV:  Former Attorney General Sally Yates will be testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today.  If, as expected, she reveals that Trump and team knew that former national security adviser Flynn was canoodling with Russians but appointed him and kept him on despite her strongly worded warnings, expect the Trumpkins to launch an all-out attack on her character in an attempt to distract from Trump’s Putin-love.  She is reportedly a straight-shooter who has served both Democratic and Republican administrations, but that probably won’t stop them from suggesting that her testimony is tainted by her anger at being fired ostensibly for refusing to defend the Muslim Travel Ban. Assuming he is back from weekend Reserve Duty, Spicer will undoubtedly launch into another in his long chain of contradictory Flynn excuses.  Trump will go into a Tweet rage.

Not Very Extreme Vetting:  Some more vetting mishaps came to light on Friday when Trump’s second nominee to serve as Secretary of the Navy, Mark Green, withdrew his name from consideration after his anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT statements came to light.  Green, a Christian and a creationist, alleged that he was being unfairly attacked for his religious beliefs which, in his mind, justify his bias.  Another Trump appointee, Steven Munoz, has already started his job at the State Department despite being accused of five sexual assaults while at The Citadel, assaults that The Citadel concluded took place.  Lucky for Munoz his position doesn’t require Congressional confirmation and no one in Trumpland seems to think that sexual assault is a disqualifier for State Department employment.

More Budget Cuts: In February, Trump met with leaders of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (“HBCUs”) in the Oval Office, pledging his support and taking a picture with College leaders.  At the time some skeptics accused him of having the meeting just to stage a photo-op, it looks like they were right.  Trump added a signing statement to last week’s spending bill questioning the constitutionality of minority spending programs including HBCU funding.  Signing statements are used to “flag” provisions that an administration might choose to disregard. So much for the commitment to the HBCUs. Similarly, Trump pledged to “spend the money” to fight the opioid crisis and made a big deal when he appointed Renaissance Man Jared Kushner and Chris Christie to lead the battle.  Yet on Friday when Politico reported White House plans to cut the Office of National Drug Control’s budget by 95%, Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee, a smoother but equally deceptive version of Sean Spicer, said that fighting the opioid epidemic is a huge priority and questioned ever using Politico as a source.  By Sunday, Reince Priebus defended the budget cut saying that the Office of National Drug Control is duplicative.  Looks like Politico is a good source after all.      

Chalk One Up For The Globalists:   Globalist Emmanuel Macron trounced right-wing Marine Le Pen 66% to 34% in France’s Presidential elections despite the hacking of his emails and Putin’s support for Le Pen.  The rest of Europe breathed a sigh of relief and congratulated Macron on his victory. Trump was less happy but someone at the White House grabbed his tweeter and sent out a congratulations anyway.