Moving on to Taxes

Rest in Peace:  Yesterday, General Kelly provided an emotional defense of Trump’s remarks to the wife of one of the Green Berets killed in Niger.  He walked through what happens when a soldier dies in combat, personalizing his own experience losing a son in Afghanistan.  He said that he’d advised Trump not to make calls to the fallen soldiers’ family members but when he insisted, helped him with his remarks.  What Kelly said was forceful but doesn’t change what the family of Sgt. Johnson heard Trump say.  Kelly’s suggested “script” passed through the Trump filter and delivered with Trump’s unique tone just didn’t come out with all the right words included or in the compassionate way that Kelly had intended.  Kelly’s defense was impressive but it would have gone over much better if he hadn’t tacked on an attack of that “empty barrel” Congresswoman Wilson who had revealed Trump’s remarks.  His attempt at demonizing her lessened the impact of his comments, though she may be a politician, she really is a family friend and had served as a mentor to the fallen soldier.   With all the attention focused on Trump’s criticism of prior presidents and the text and tone of his call, the real issue that spurred the controversy has been conveniently obfuscated.  To date the Trump administration has not provided an explanation of what the soldiers were doing in Niger  and why their “safe” mission turned into such a lethal ambush. It was left to Defense Secretary Mattis to say that an investigation is now ongoing at the Pentagon, he promised an update as soon as its available.  Last night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow suggested that the fatal mission took on added danger because of the withdrawal of critical Chad troops from Niger, an event that preceded the Green Beret mission by a day or so and that may have been the Chad government’s response to being inexplicably included in the most recent version of Trump’s travel ban.  Chad’s appearance on the list of banned countries was a surprise to most diplomats experienced in the region and to the US military because the Chad government has been a loyal and effective supporter of US efforts in the fight against ISIS.  The MSNBC report suggests that Chad’s inclusion in the ban may have had more to do with the country’s dispute with Exxon over unpaid taxes than anything else.  Exxon is Secretary of State Tillerson’s prior haunting ground.  It’s not clear if the Maddow story is correct, but if it is, it adds another wrinkle to the Niger story. Last night, Trump continued to tweet attack the “wacky” “lying” Congresswoman Wilson but provided no additional color about the events in Niger.    

The “Real” Russian Story:  When things aren’t going his way, Trump resorts to attacking Hillary Clinton so yesterday he tweeted accusations that the 2010 sale of a Canadian company that owned US uranium mines to Russia’s atomic energy commission while Clinton was Secretary of State is the real Russia collusion story that the mainstream “fake Media doesn’t want to follow” because it “effects people they want to protect.”  Trump brought the uranium mine sale up frequently during the 2016 campaign. Now, citing his friends at Fox News and a recent article in The Hill that suggested that the FBI may have uncovered and hidden some inappropriate Russian activity related to the sale, he’s latched onto the story again.  It’s not clear that any of the FBI information, to the extent it exists and was available in 2010, ever made it to anyone in the Obama administration before the sale was approved, still it’s an intriguing story that Trump likes because it distracts attention from the other Russia investigation, the one that looks into election meddling and Trump team collusion, the one that he continues to call a hoax. Despite Trump’s refusal to acknowledge that the Russians meddled in the election it’s growing increasingly clear that Kremlin funded bots spread false anti-Hillary news stories and that they had some help.  The Daily Beast reports that Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump Jr, Michael Flynn, Michael Flynn Jr, Roger Stone and the Trump campaign digital director all followed and retweeted tweets from @Ten_GOP, which called itself the unofficial account of Tennessee Republicans but was really operated by a Kremlin funded troll farm.  What’s not yet known is whether or not they knew they were acting as Putin’s pawns.

More Critics:  In addition to his frustration with the Russian investigation and his concerns over the growing list of his former and current staff members seen going in and out of Special Counsel Mueller’s office, Trump is now facing more criticism from the Senate and former presidents.  Just a day after Senator McCain lashed out at him while receiving a freedom award, former President George W Bush defended free trade and the contributions of immigration, decrying nationalism and bigotry while delivering a rare and unusually coherent speech in New York.  He didn’t name Trump but it was clear to listeners who he was “bemoaning.”  Meantime, former President Obama, speaking at political rallies for Democratic candidates running for governor in NJ and Virginia, attacked the return of the old politics of division, a not so subtle attack of Trump’s race baiting and divisiveness.  Yesterday, white supremacist Richard Spencer spoke at the University of Florida, though his audience was small and few like-minded students attended his event, the fact that he’s on the college speaking tour is beyond troubling.  No comment or concerns were expressed by Trump, however the University of Florida is now out $500,000, the amount they spent to ensure that the campus would remain safe during the Spencer speech.    

Alive and Kicking:  The Alexander-Murray Obamacare ‘Fix” bill is gaining some traction in the Senate.  A number of key Republicans, including Senators Grassley, Corker, McCain, Murkowski, Collins, Graham and Cassidy are now on board.  To move forward the bill will need the support of Majority Leader McConnell to make it through the Senate and then Trump will have to put pressure on the reluctant Paul Ryan to get him to push it through the House.  Trump has been all over the place on this so its future is still up in the air.  Early yesterday he was still claiming he had the votes to pass the Graham Cassidy block grant health legislation that went down in flames a few weeks ago.  For their part Graham and Cassidy are supporting the Alexander-Murray Fix because they view it as a bridge to eventually getting their plan passed.  To the extent that Trump buys in to their way of thinking he might step up and put his weight behind the “Fix.”   A large group of conservative Republicans will squawk but with all the Democrats on board the bill has enough votes to pass if Republican leadership gets behind it.

Puerto Rico:  With Puerto Rico’s Governor Rosello by his side, Trump gave himself an A plus rating and a 10 out of 10 for his stellar Puerto Rico rescue efforts. Left to his own devices,  Rosello was probably thinking something in the order of a D minus or a 2 was more appropriate, but he needs money and aid, so he sat by Trump’s side playing nice but looking like a shell shocked hostage and said that Puerto Rico was thankful for Trump’s support.  Puerto Rico’s economy is crippled, 80% of the island’s residents still don’t have power and only 39% have drinking water but Trump, ever the consummate deal maker, wants Rosello to provide assurances that any loans made by the Federal Government get paid back before any payments are made on Puerto Rico’s $72 billion of debt. The sit down with Rosello made for a nice photo op, but Trump still doesn’t understand that Puerto Rico is part of the US and that the discussion of lien superiority while Americans are suffering is crass and callous.

The Road To Tax Cuts:  Late last night the Senate passed a budget blueprint that would protect a $1.5 trillion tax cut from a Democratic filibuster, setting the stage for what Trump calls tax reform but what will really be tax cuts for him and his buddies.  The budget passed by a vote of 51 to 49 with all Republicans on board except for Rand Paul who always votes no on anything that negatively effects the deficit.  The Senate blueprint calls for a $1 trillion cut in Medicaid and a $470 billion cut to Medicare spread out over ten years but excludes the additional $200 billion dollars in cuts that was included in the House’s version.  The House is expected to take up the Senate plan as early as next week.  If Speaker Ryan can convince his budget hawks to pass it without making any changes, the Republicans will then be able to move quickly to their favorite subject “tax reform.” They are highly motivated since they desperately need to pass tax cuts as soon as possible to avoid losing the support of the billionaires that fund their campaigns.