Mediaboss Marketing

(WASHINGTON) President Donald Trump pressured Republicans Monday to approve the Senate's wheezing health care bill, saying a showdown vote planned for this week is their "last chance to do the right thing" and erase the Obama health law.

Trump's prodding came a day before leaders have said the Senate will vote on legislation shredding much of President Barack Obama's health care law. Lacking the votes to push it through his chamber, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., postponed one roll call last month and hasn't yet announced exactly what version of the measure lawmakers would consider Tuesday.

"Republicans have a last chance to do the right thing on Repeal & Replace after years of talking & campaigning on it," Trump tweeted Monday.

Trump's contentious tone toward members of his own party underscored the high stakes as he tries winning Republican votes for a goal the GOP has trumpeted since the statute's 2010 enactment. He planned to make formal remarks on the health care legislation later Monday.

Characteristic of his scattershot effort on his party's health care drive, Trump also spent the morning tweeting insults at Democrats, the news media and his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, about their handling of investigations into his 2016 campaign's possible collusion with Russia.

On Sunday, the Senate GOP No. 3 leader said McConnell will decide soon on which health care bill to bring up for a vote, depending on ongoing discussions with GOP senators.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., sought to cast this week's initial vote as important but mostly procedural, allowing senators to begin debate and propose amendments. But he acknowledged that senators should be able to know beforehand what bill they will be considering.

"That's a judgment that Senator McConnell will make at some point this week before the vote," Thune said, expressing his own hope it will be a repeal-and-replace measure.

Senate Republicans are considering legislation that would repeal and replace Obama's law, and a separate bill that would simply repeal "Obamacare" with a two-year delay for implementation to give Congress more time to agree on a replacement.

Both versions encountered opposition from enough GOP senators to doom the effort, but McConnell is making a last-gasp attempt this week after Trump insisted that senators not leave town for the August recess without sending him some kind of health overhaul bill to sign.

In the Senate, Republicans hold a 52-48 majority. They can only afford to have one of their senators defect and still prevail on a health bill, assuming that Republican Sen. John McCain remains in Arizona, where he's being treated for brain cancer. Democrats are standing united in opposition.

Thune said no matter the outcome of the upcoming vote, senators would continue working to pass health legislation no matter how long it took.

At least two Republican senators Sunday appeared to reaffirm their intention to vote against the procedural motion if it involved the latest version of the GOP's repeal-and-replace bill.

Moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she continued to have concerns about reductions to Medicaid and criticized the Republican process, saying lawmakers were being unfairly kept in the dark. Under McConnell's plan, 22 million more people would become uninsured by 2026, many of them Medicaid recipients. She wants to hold public hearings and work with Democrats.

"We don't know whether we're going to be voting on the House bill, the first version of the Senate bill, the second version of the Senate bill, a new version of the Senate bill, or a 2015 bill that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act," Collins said. "I don't think that's a good approach to replacing legislation that affects millions of people."

Conservative Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would only support a repeal-only bill. That version would reduce government costs but lead to 32 million additional uninsured people over a decade. At least three senators including Collins have previously expressed opposition to that plan.

"What are we opening debate to? Last week, Senate leadership said it would be a clean repeal ... and I think that's a good idea," Paul said. "The other alternative is the Senate leadership bill that doesn't repeal Obamacare, is Obamacare light and is loaded with pork. ... I'm not for that."

Thune appeared on "Fox News Sunday," Collins was on CBS' "Face the Nation," and Paul spoke on CNN's "State of the Union."

Visit link:
President Trump to Republicans: It's Your 'Last Chance' to Approve Health Care Bill - TIME

In light of news reports that President Donald Trump's team is scouring the record for conflicts of interest on special counsel Robert Mueller's team (the essence of chutzpah) and contemplating pardons (of aides and/or himself), it is worth considering how this may all play out.

We offer several scenarios:

1. Trump orders Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Mueller. Sessions quits, as does Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand. Eventually someone agrees to fire Mueller. Republicans either will not pursue impeachment or are obliged to begin impeachment hearings but refuse to vote out articles of impeachment. In 2018, Democrats sweep to victory in the House and gain a seat or two in the Senate. Trump cannot be removed (two-thirds of the Senate is required for removal), but his presidency is in tatters. Some aides or ex-aides face criminal prosecution. LESSON: Republicans' failure to stand up to Trump early dooms his presidency and crashes the GOP.

2. Trump orders Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Mueller. Sessions quits, as does Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Associate Attorney General Brand. Eventually someone agrees to fire Mueller. Republicans, together with Democrats, pass by a veto-proof majority an independent prosecutor statute. Before impeachment proceedings can finish, Democrats sweep to victory in 2018 in the House and gain a seat or two in the Senate. Trump cannot be removed, but his presidency is in tatters. Some aides or ex-aides face criminal prosecution. LESSON: Fire Mueller, and Congress will hire him back.

3. Republicans join Democrats in warning Trump not to fire Mueller. Mueller remains and keeps digging. Mueller subpoenas damaging documents; Trump refuses to comply. A court orders him to comply. He doesn't. We have a full-blown constitutional crisis. LESSON: Congress cannot delegate all responsibility to Mueller. It must conduct a parallel investigation and, if need be, commence impeachment proceedings.

4. Republicans join Democrats in warning Trump not to fire Mueller. Mueller remains and keeps digging. Mueller subpoenas damaging documents; Trump refuses to comply. A court orders him to comply. He declares this a witch hunt, an attack on his family (or whatever). Then he resigns, claiming he has already made America great. He tells the country that Vice President Mike Pence will carry on in his place. LESSON: Congress must protect Mueller and preserve the possibility that Trump may be forced to resign.

5. Republicans join Democrats in warning Trump not to fire Mueller. Mueller subpoenas damaging documents. Trump complies. The evidence of collusion and/or obstruction is overwhelming. Mueller recommends prosecution or impeachment. The GOP turns on Trump, who is impeached and removed (with the GOP by that time possibly in the minority in one or both houses). LESSON: Congress must protect Mueller and pay the price for failure to oppose Trump's nomination and election.

Is there a sixth scenario in which Mueller exonerates Trump? That's the least likely outcome after Trump has fired former FBI director James Comey and threatened the special counsel. Why would he do those things unless there was something really, really bad to find? And if there is something bad, Mueller will find it. You can understand then why Trump sounds frantic. In no scenario does Trump's presidency recover.

Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin is a Washington Post columnist.

What to read next:

What Mike Pence poses such a threat to Donald Trump

Sorry, Donald Trump. Presidents who don't win the popular vote seldom recover.

How much did Anthony Scaramucci sell his soul for?

How Donald Trump could pardon his family, or even himself

Continued here:
Donald Trump's presidency cannot be saved - Chicago Tribune

President Trump holding what is presumably the Trumpcare replacement for a proper vasectomy (Photo by Michael Reynolds - Pool/Getty Images)

Before the invention of smartphones, Americans were forced to play boardgames and interact with each other face-to-face like cave people. One such game was Trivial Pursuit, which may very well have predicted the future. How so? One of the questions in the 1980s edition of the game (released in the late 2000s, long before Trump announced his candidacy) feels like its warning us about today.

Journalist Jon Keegan tweeted out these photos, showing a question that stings quite a bit in retrospect. The question? What New Yorker said: If the world goes to hell in a handbasket, I wont lose a dollar? The answer? Donald Trump.

The quote is actually a bit imprecise. Trump actually said in 1989, If the world goes to hell in a handbasket, I wont lose a penny. But were running full steam ahead into that whole hell in a handbasket scenario it would seem.

Trumps policies are systematically breaking up families through ICE arrests of non-criminal undocumented immigrants (up 40 percent from the same time last year), Trump is promoting the destruction of health care in the US (22 million people would lose their insurance under the Republican proposal) and Trump praises other like-minded authoritarians (he said it was an honor to meet Vladimir Putin).

All the while, he and his family are personally profiting from the presidency in ways that havent been seen before in modern American history. Hes fired the FBI Director who was investigating his possible collusion with Russian interference in the 2016 election, the top ethics watchdog quit while saying that the US had become a laughingstock, and people like his son-in-law Jared Kushner are constantly revising their security and financial disclosure forms after several omissions. And thats all to say nothing of Trumps attacks on the free press and steady torrent of baldfaced lies.

Donald Trump is obviously the worst president the United States has had in the past half century, but his quote from 1989 definitely rings true today. The world, or at least Americas corner of it, is going to hell in a handbasket, and Trumps not going to lose a penny. In fact, he stands to become much richer with each passing day. Now Trump just needs to try and stay out of prison.

See more here:
Trivial Pursuit Predicted Donald Trump Profiting From the Destruction of America - Gizmodo

Donald Trump has always been quick to boast that he usually gets what he wants.

But when the real estate developer and TV celebrity once asked the producer of "The Simpsons" for the honor of a guest appearance on the long-running show - a coveted recognition for so many celebrities and cultural icons - he was apparently turned down, according to the Wrap.

"The Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean recalled the episode Saturday during the show's panel at Comic-Con in San Diego after an audience member asked if the series had ever turned down a celebrity who had asked to voice a character, the Wrap reported.

Jean paused for a moment before answering: "Let's just say he's the president of the United States."

Of course, that didn't stop Trump's likeness from appearing on the show. He was famously depicted as the future president in a 2000 episode, "Bart to the Future," wherein an adult Lisa Simpson inherits the presidency from Trump and struggles to fix the wreckage he left behind.

At the time, writer Dan Greaney told The Washington Post, the joke was meant to be absurdist, purely tongue-in-cheek. "He seemed kind of lovable in the old days, in a blowhard way," Greaney said of Trump. But after Trump announced his run for the presidency, "I see that in a much darker way," Greaney said.

Since Trump took office, "The Simpsons" has taken a starkly critical view of the 45th president. Recent episodes have seen Trump visited by the ghost of Richard Nixon, and the show's portrayal of Trump's first 100 days in office was particularly bleak.

During the panel on Saturday, "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening made his thoughts on Trump explicitly clear when he led the Comic-Con crowd in a chant of "Lock him up! Lock him up!" It was a pointed riff on the anti-Hillary Clinton "Lock her up!" refrain that dominated so many of Trump's campaign rallies.

RELATED STORIES:

'The Simpsons' has a grim take on Trump's first 100 days

'The Simpsons' predicted a Trump presidency 16 years ago

Read the original post:
'Simpsons' producer says the show rejected Donald Trump's request to voice a character - Chicago Tribune

During his final term as Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan noted an impediment stifling economies in the former Soviet Union: "legal chaos, rampant criminality, and widespread corruption" reminiscent of the American Wild West.

"Market economies," Greenspan concluded, "require a rule of law."

Suddenly, the words and actions of President Donald Trump are raising questions about that principle here. After attacking the judiciary over his travel ban earlier this year and firing the FBI director investigating his campaign, the president has warned Special Counsel Robert Mueller about his inquiry, ripped his own attorney general and mused about issuing pre-emptive pardons.

There's no sign of direct economic consequences yet, but as he strains the justice system at home and upends American commitments abroad, Trump poses two kinds of risks.

One is to investor confidence in the United States. So far, booming markets have shrugged off momentary sensations, such as the disclosure that his son and campaign chairman sought information to damage Hillary Clinton from a Russian lawyer and Russian spy.

"The right trade has been to ignore political developments," said Mohamed El-Erian, chief economist for Allianz. But El-Erian warns that "a major shock" could rattle that trade.

Whether Trump himself could administer that shock say, by firing Mueller and ending the Russia investigation altogether would depend on how the Republican-controlled Congress reacts. Lawmakers could accept those actions, or challenge a president of their party.

The other risk is to benefits America derives from its status as the world's economic leader. Trump has already unsettled leaders of other advanced economies by casting doubt on the nation's international commitments.

The steadiness of the American political system is what has kept the dollar the world's reserve currency throughout the post World War II era and kept the U.S. the most consistent safe haven for global investment. That, in turn, has assured American businesses ready access to capital, and the federal government an entree to inexpensive financing of budget deficits.

"Most international observers I've encountered are deeply concerned by Trump's lack of interest in or even disdain for the 70-year-old international system that the U.S. led in creating and then adapting," said Robert Zoellick, who served both Presidents Bush in roles including deputy White House chief of staff, deputy secretary of State, and U.S. trade representative before spending five years as president of the World Bank.

Nor are such concerns limited to observers abroad. Zoellick noted that the American president "has now assaulted courts, the intelligence agencies, and the Department of Justice," among others.

"Maybe the military is safe, at least with [Defense Secretary James] Mattis," he concluded. "The core question for America-watchers abroad, and I think for Americans, is how the American system and society cope with Trump."

An erosion of that asset would open opportunities for other economic powers to take advantage. One of them is China, which aims to fill the void created by Trump's abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

It's not clear that any other nation has the ability or willingness to embrace America's traditional role as international problem-solver of last resort on challenges including security, public health or humanitarian relief. That, in turn, could impose costs on Americans by damaging the global economy.

One near-term test will be the president's willingness and ability to work with Congress to deliver an increase in the federal debt limit later this year. Failing to do so could imperil the unique credit-worthiness the U.S. enjoys.

Congressional Republicans have displayed a reluctance to take that step, and the White House lacks a clear strategy. Trump's own budget director has asserted that the administration can prioritize debt payments in a crisis.

"The impression abroad is that the U.S. is less dependable," El-Erian said. "What you're seeing is an erosion of the trust that underpins the multilateral system."

The threats Trump has signaled to traditional notions of the rule of law represent the other side of the same coin. As new evidence emerged over the weekend about the Trump campaign's interactions with representatives of Russia, the president asserted via Twitter to his "complete power to pardon."

"He sees 'loyalty' as a personal matter not to American institutions, rule of law, the Constitution, and traditions," Zoellick said. "The U.S. presidents I've known, or read about, viewed the presidency as larger than themselves. I don't believe Trump does."

Follow this link:
Investor confidence and America's status as the world's economic leader are at risk under Trump - CNBC