Sigh and More Sighs

Sigh:  Trump’s Monday night speech to the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia was widely seen as inappropriate and crass so much so that the Boys Scouts of America felt compelled to issue a statement that the group is “wholly nonpartisan and does not promote any one political position, candidate or philosophy.”  In other ways the trip was a wild success because time spent with Trump and an extra $100 billion for people kicked off Medicaid convinced his traveling partner Senator Moore Capito to abandon her principles and vote yes on the measure to move the health care debate to the Senate floor. Also persuaded by the same $100 billion were Senators Portman and Heller. As expected, Senator McCain returned from Arizona in time for the Senate health care vote.  He gave a grand and emotional speech condemning the damage that extreme partisanship has done to government and calling for a return to regular order, committee hearings and a bipartisan legislative process.  He then voted yes for the highly partisan, opaque Republican effort to dismantle Obamacare providing the critical last vote needed to proceed with the healthcare debate. He tempered his hypocrisy by saying that he wouldn’t vote yes for any of the options currently under consideration unless they were substantially amended.  Rand Paul, who had been a hold out, voted yes after he was promised that a full Obamacare Repeal would be one of the options put to a vote.  Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins stayed strong, withstood Trump’s pressure and joined the Democrats by voting no.  As expected Vice President Pence broke the tie.  A chorus of protestors started yelling, “kill the bill don’t kill us.”  Trump celebrated, bragged about his deep understanding of the nuance of health insurance, promised a great health plan for all except the twenty million plus he would cut from the insurance rolls, and went to a rally in Ohio with many of the people his plan would hurt most, leading the clueless crowd in a chant of “we will not fail, we will not fail.”  The battle for health care is still on.        

More Sighs:   The Senate is now debating and voting on all options including a full Obamacare repeal, the House plan, the Senate plan, and a more modest “skinny repeal” that would leave much of Obamacare intact but would eliminate the individual and employee mandates and the medical device tax, and if all else fails would give the Senate a starting point for further negotiations with the House.  Due to the parliamentarian’s ruling some of the votes will require sixty ayes, some will require only fifty, plus Pence. Already last night, the Trumpcare plan that the Senate had spent week’s negotiating fell after receiving only forty-three votes but the votes continue on a number of other plans and iterations.  McConnell is back to his starting point, trying to negotiate a deal between the competing factions of the Republican party, with the Democrats all on the sidelines.  In theory, with Obamacare gaining in popularity and all versions of Trumpcare polling in the teens, success should be impossible, but McConnell has made it this far and could still eke out some version of a victory, for anyone who considers sending their constituents home with an aspirin and a prayer a victory. 

Sessions v Trump:  Trump spent a good portion of his day bad mouthing his Attorney General, using all the tools in his arsenal, short of an outright dismissal, to humiliate Sessions in the hope that he will resign.  He tweet smacked and then in a press conference with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri, he spoke of his displeasure with Sessions’ recusal from the Russia investigation and his failure to go after Hillary for her missing emails, illegal server and chronic cough.  In the same press conference, he demonstrated his diplomatic acumen when he called Hezbollah out as a terrorist organization, forgetting that they are a member of Al-Hariri’s shaky coalition.  Bolstered by support from the conservative press including Breitbart and Rush Limbaugh who applaud his efforts to dismantle civil rights regulations and limit immigration, Sessions is  standing firm for now.  Sessions is also receiving support from most of his Senate colleagues, Republicans adore him and many Democrats, who ordinarily wouldn’t be in his camp, prefer him to the alternative, a new Trump appointed toady. When asked if he intends to fire Sessions, Trump said “We will see what happens.  Time will tell.”  Expectations remain high that Trump will ditch Sessions sooner rather than later.  A number of Democratic Senators are trying to figure out if they can keep the Senate in session through August to deny Trump the opportunity to bypass the regular confirmation process with a recusal appointment for that toady whoever he or she may be, they may have Republican support for their strategy.      

More Testimony:  Yesterday Kushner spent a lot of time in a closed door meeting with the House Intelligence Committee.  Reports from the confidential meeting are that he was cooperative, answered what he could and said he would come back for more when requested.  So far his decision to retain the best lawyers money can buy is paying off.  He stands by his assertion that he didn’t read the email requesting his presence at the meeting with the Russian lawyer and her traveling squad because he was too busy.  However, he did mention another email that he received requesting money in exchange for Trump’s tax returns.  That email he managed to read in its entirety before forwarding it to the FBI.  Former campaign official Paul  Manafort met with the Senate Intelligence Committee and  provided contemporaneous notes he took at the meeting with the Russian lawyer and her cronies. No word yet if his notes match Kushner’s testimony.  Manafort had been subpoenaed to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, but after a tense negotiation and a promise to provide more information, the subpoena was pulled,  his  testimony has been postponed. Donny Jr should be the next on the hot seat.         

More Turnover:  Smoochy Scaramucci has started cleaning shop in the White House Communications department in an effort to root out leakers.  Yesterday press aide Michael Short resigned a minute before he would have been fired and a number of other people, mostly associates of Chief of Staff Priebus, are expected to be booted next.   Priebus is on thin ice, if Trump could find someone to replace him, he would be gone too.  Though a State Department spokesperson denied that Secretary of State Tillerson is considering an early requirement, he isn’t happy.  He’s currently on a mini vacation, he may or may not return.  Security Advisor McMaster is also an unhappy camper. He fought hard to get Trump to recertify that Iran is meeting the terms of its nuclear agreement and can’t be pleased that Trump told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that he does not plan to recertify Iran at the end of the next ninety day recertification period whether or not they are in compliance with the terms of the agreement.