The General in the Room

 Kindergarten Cop:  Yesterday, in an effort to counter reports that the White House is a nursery school and that he and Trump are feuding, Chief of Staff Kelly attended the White House daily press conference.  In what was clearly a command performance, Kelly said that reports that the White House was about to implode or that he was taking the next flight out of Dodge were greatly exaggerated.  He did admit that working in the White House was not the best job he’d ever had and acknowledged that deployment in a war zone was much more enjoyable, but said that he wasn’t planning to quit and as far as he knew he wasn’t getting fired any time soon.  He denied reports that Trump wants to expand the nuclear arsenal, said that Trump acts out sometimes because he is so frustrated with Congressional inaction, suggested that the press needs better sources to get “more accurate” stories but did not call for the suspension of the First Amendment and said that controlling Trump’s tweeting will never be part of his job because he’s too smart to accept responsibility for the impossible.  Before going back into his bunker, he said that North Korea’s ICBMs were a concern so “let’s hope diplomacy works.” 

Puerto Rico No Mas:  Maybe it’s all the bad reviews and the critical statements from San Juan’s mayor, whatever the reason, Trump has had it with Puerto Rico.  Ready to move on, he started yesterday by tweeting “we cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”  He went on to blame Puerto Rico for its failing infrastructure and financial woes.  Pushback was fast and furious from Puerto Rican officials and members of both mainland parties.  Puerto Rico’s Governor Rossello, who has previously been obsequiously polite to Trump, said  “the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico are requesting the support that any of our fellow citizens would receive across our Nation,” in one sentence pointing out the two things that Trump refuses to understand, Puerto Rico is part of the US and Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Calling him the “hater in chief,” the Mayor of San Juan, who has earned a spot on Trump’s nasty women list,  said he “is simply incapable of understanding the contributions, sacrifices and the commitment to democratic values that Puerto Ricans have shown over decades.”  As to how long FEMA can stay, Trump hasn’t done his homework, post Hurricane Katrina, FEMA remained in New Orleans for over ten years, and still maintains a small presence there.  During his press conference performance, Chief of Staff Kelly delicately walked back Trump’s comments, saying they were technically true in that FEMA wouldn’t be there forever, but that they would stay as long as needed.  They will be needed for a long time.       

Killing Obamacare:  Having failed to repeal Obamacare, Trump is now subjecting it to death by pronouncements and attrition.  To great fanfare, early in the day he authorized the sale of cheaper, shorter duration policies covering fewer benefits and also announced that the sale of cross state association policies will be permitted. Most of these “skinny” policies will likely appeal to healthier, younger, mostly male consumers, skewing Obamacare pools towards more needy populations, resulting in premium increases for women and older, sicker Americans.  Regulations still have to be written to allow the sale of the new policies so the full impact of their availability won’t be felt for another year.  However, late last night the White House announced a decision that will have an immediate and dire impact.  Trump is ending the Obamacare subsidy payments to health insurance companies that helped low-income people afford their insurance premiums.  Insurers who have already announced their premiums for next year will now try to find some way to go back and tack on additional increases or pull out of some markets.  Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray have been working on a plan to mandate that the federal government make these subsidy payments but to date they’ve been unsuccessful at reaching an agreement and even if they do, their plan would have to pass through Congress, hardly an easy task, before it could be implemented. A number of states and insurance companies are planning to sue in an effort to force the government to make the payments but unfortunately, for now, it looks like Trump, who had to be called back into the room after his morning pronouncement because he was so excited to be sticking it to Obamacare that he left without signing the order, has accomplished by pen what he couldn’t accomplish through legislative process.

Having it Both Ways:  Today, Trump is expected to announce that he’ll refuse to certify Iran’s compliance with the multinational nuclear pact, but he will not withdraw the US from the deal.  He will leave Congress with three options: they can do nothing  leaving the deal in place as written; they can put the previously lifted sanctions back in place, effectively tearing up the deal; or they can strengthen the deal, threatening future sanctions by including certain trigger points if Iran doesn’t meet additional demands. Trump would prefer to walk from the deal entirely, but under pressure from his advisors including Secretary of State Tillerson and Defense Secretary Mattis who don’t want to face another impending nuclear power right now, and a number of outsiders including Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister and defense minister, Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, and his European counterparts he’s agreed to this approach, for now.  Iran is unlikely to agree to any changes, and it’s not clear what Congress will actually do, but Trump gets to signal his disapproval and at least for now the agreement will remain intact which is more than can be said for the US role in the world and our ability to negotiate future agreements.      

Other Tidbits:  Trump’s internal Russia lawyer put to rest reports that Trump was planning to sit down with Special Counsl Mueller to speed up the Russia investigation by referring to the suggestion as “somebody’s fantasy.”  Under pressure from the National Rifle Association Paul Ryan put to rest the idea that legislation would be introduced to ban bumpstocks, instead bumping their regulation back to the ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) despite the fact that the ATF has already ruled that absent applicable legislation there is nothing that they can do to regulate bumpstocks.  Trump reportedly told Oklahoma Senator Lankford that he will extend the deadline for DACA kids beyond March 5 in recognition that Congress can’t do anything in a timely manner.  Trump is right about Congress, hopefully Lankford is right about Trump.