Mediaboss Marketing

Jul. 12, 2017 at 9:15 AM

When President Trump sent out a crude tweet about the appearance of MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski late last month, several GOP lawmakers, such as Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, criticized the comments on Twitter. But when much more significant news broke in recent days that Donald Trump Jr. once sought negative information about Hillary Clinton from sources tied to the Russian government Republicans in Congress responded very differently: with muted criticism and, wherever possible, outright silence.

Reporters have had to chase down congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill to ask questions about the controversy. Few Republican lawmakers have commented on social media. And when Republicans have chosen to answer questions about Trump Jr., they have avoided bashing the president himself by, in many cases, offering careful, measured statements that highlight the role of the special counsel and congressional committees investigating issues related to the Trump campaign and Russia.

That caution is significant because it is the Republican reaction and especially the congressional Republican reaction to Russia stories that really matters most. Numerous recent news stories have explored the legal implications of Trump Jr.s meeting with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer and whether it could violate campaign finance rules or other laws. (The recent developments also ensnared Jared Kushner, the presidents senior adviser and son-in-law, who attended the meeting with Trump Jr.) But when it comes to President Trump, the Russia story is a political debate as much as a legal one. Its not clear whether a president can even be indicted for a crime, much less convicted. In many ways, Congress is the sole judge and jury of a president: It can impeach him, remove him from office or call for his resignation. And right now, Congress is led by Trumps party.

So it doesnt matter much that Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia thinks Trump Jr. may have committed perjury or even treason, or that former federal prosecutors are telling Politico that the Trump Jr. news is extremely damaging and shows an intent to collude with Russian government. What matters is what Republicans think. Heres what theyre saying so far:

A few Republicans were more critical, but they were the usual suspects, members of what is essentially a Trump-skeptic wing in the Senate. Arizona Sen. John McCain predicted, Therell be many more shoes that drop. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested that Trump campaign officials should not have taken the meeting. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said that Trump Jr. should be interviewed by the committee. All three senators are longtime Trump critics who declined to back him during the 2016 campaign, but even their statements were hardly blistering.

Fox News, which dwarfs those publications in terms of audience and influence on the right, reacted differently, casting Trump Jr. as a victim. Sean Hannity, perhaps the most pro-Trump member of the national media, interviewed Trump Jr. on Tuesday evening and allowed him to repeatedly attack the press.

The vice president is working every day to advance the presidents agenda, Pences press secretary, Marc Lotter, said in a statement on Tuesday. He was not aware of the meeting. He is also not focused on stories about the campaign especially those pertaining to the time before he joined the campaign.

That might look like a defense of the president. But read the statement closely. It claims that the vice president did not know about the meeting and points out that the meeting occurred before Pence joined the ticket, which sounds like Pence suggesting that the Russia controversy does not involve him and drawing a line between himself and the presidents son, son-in-law and ultimately Trump himself. He does not defend Trump Jr. or Kushner at all.

But overall, the Republicans muted reaction should not be surprising. Even after the Watergate break-in, the resignations of some of Richard Nixons top aides and his dismissal of the attorney general and deputy attorney general, many in his party stood by him until his resignation. Presidential scandals have revealed a consistent pattern: Members of Congress largely back the president if hes a member of their party.

This doesnt mean Republicans will back Trump forever, particularly if the special counsel or the congressional committees unearth more unflattering evidence. And if Democrats win control of the House or the Senate in 2018, that will change the tenor of Congresss Russia debate.

But for now, Republicans are in charge, and they dont seem to be abandoning Trump yet.

Continued here:
Republicans Matter Most, And They Don't Seem To Care Much About Trump Jr. - FiveThirtyEight

Trump to Pat Robertson: Putin Would've Preferred 'President Hillary Clinton'

Cant-spell?: Dem Sen Uses Misspelled Poster to Bash GOP on Health Care

Greg Gutfeld reacted to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough's announcement that he is leaving the Republican Party.

Scarborough made the announcement on "The Late Show" on CBS.

In the 1990s, Scarborough represented the Florida panhandle for several terms in Congress before resigning.

Gutfeld called Scarborough a "weird Matt Perry" who "chases the spotlight until it dims, then he moves on."

He said Scarborough was "sanctimonious" by announcing his departure from a party that appeared to care little that he was a member.

Gutfeld said that "Morning Joke" Scarborough played both sides during the rise of President Trump.

"Joe indulged him, flattered him ... used him to get ratings," Gutfeld said. "When he saw Donald outgrew him, he imploded."

Since Trump's election, Scarborough has referred to Trump as a "goon" and the "greatest liar that has ever sat in the White House."

Jesse Watters pointed out that, with Scarborough's change of party ID, MSNBC no longer has the "talking point" that they employ a Republican host.

Watch the monologue above.

'You Specialize in Moral Outrage': Sparks Fly as Tucker Battles Romney Adviser on Russia Threat

Steyn: Putin Would Never Collude via a 'Ludicrous Azerbaijani Pop Star's Publicist'

Read more from the original source:
Gutfeld on 'Morning Joke' Leaving The Republican Party - Fox News Insider

Charlotte Observer

I'm Republican, but NC legislature went too far Charlotte Observer The N.C. General Assembly has adjourned at least for a short while bringing a collective sigh of relief to most North Carolinians. The old saying, probably incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain, that no man's life, liberty or property is safe while ...

View original post here:
I'm Republican, but NC legislature went too far - Charlotte Observer

Updated on July 11 at 2:54 p.m. ET

Senate Republican leaders have a new plan to pass the health-care bill their members scuttled late last month: Theyll unveil a revised bill this Thursday, receive an updated analysis from the Congressional Budget Office on Monday, and then rush the proposal across the floor before its critics have a chance to defeat it.

Were going to do health care next week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared on Tuesday after briefing senators on proposed changes to his original proposal.

This new timeline is the same as the old one. Its a rinse-and-repeat version of McConnells original hurry-up scheme, which collapsed rather easily amid an onslaught of jabs and hooks from more than one-fifth of the Republican senators whose support was necessary to pass the bill. That failure set back the entire Senate agenda, and in a rare interruption of a sancrosanct congressional tradition, McConnell announced that he was delaying the chambers August recess by two weeks to finish up health carewin or loseand address other issues like a national defense bill, the debt ceiling, and stalled presidential nominations.

On health care, having a plan is not the same as having the votes, and McConnell remains far short of his magic number, which is 50 plus a tie-breaking nod from Vice President Mike Pence. A conservative bloc on the right is demanding that the Senate bill allow insurers the flexibility to sell plans that dont comply with the Affordable Care Act, while more moderate Republicans are insisting on more funding for insurance subsidies, the opioid epidemic, rural hospitals, and the restoration of some of the proposals deep cuts to Medicaid. Senators were also dismayed by the CBOs projection that 22 million more people could be uninsured as a result of the plan. McConnell can afford to lose just two votes, and so far hes down at least 10.

What the Republican Health-Care Holdouts Want

All of this puts the core GOP promise to repeal and replace former President Barack Obamas signature law at its most precarious point since March, when House Republican leaders briefly abandoned the effort amid dissension in their ranks. Opposition to McConnells not-quite-repeal bill from the two poles of the Senate Republican conferenceSusan Collins of Maine in the center, Rand Paul of Kentucky on the rightappears to be hardening. President Trump is venting his frustration on Twitter, and McConnell is raising the possibility of having to work with Democrats to fix Obamacare if Republicans fail to rip it apart on their own. Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has seen his share of legislative drama, predicted the bill was probably going to be dead.

Yet just as declarations of the House bills demise proved premature in March, so too might the morbid prognoses about the Senate version seem silly in retrospect. You will hear that it is dead. Then you will hear it is back on track. Then you will hear it is on life support, House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a speech last month. He was talking about the GOPs push for tax reform, but he could have been referring to any major legislative lift. It was true of the ACA seven years ago, and it might be true of health care now.

For all of the GOP critics of McConnells initial proposal, none have ruled out supporting a revised versionnot even Collins or Paul. Complaining about a plan is another way of asserting leverage to win concessions, and senators like Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, for example, have already secured the promise of additional money to combat opioid addiction in their states. More side deals are likely on their way.

The keys to watch over the next few days are how the hold-out senators react both to the revised proposal and a new CBO score that will follow. Will Senator Ted Cruz win support for his freedom option amendment to allow insurers to offer bare-bones plans as long as they also sell more robust policies that comply with Obamacare regulations, most crucially the requirement that people with preexisting conditions cant be forced to pay more? Or will it drive more senators away?

The sign that the bill is dead or alive will come when critics like Collins, Murkowski, Capito, or Dean Heller of Nevada either continue pushing for more changes to its current structure or pull off McConnells Republican-only approach altogether. As the proposal has languished, several GOP senators have pushed for bipartisan talks and criticized party leaders for excluding Democrats from the beginning. Collins has gone the furthest on that front and said a complete overhaul of McConnells proposal is needed to win her support.

But even she has resisted the blanket statement that could kill the Senate GOP bill once and for allnot merely the suggestion of bipartisanship, but a demand for it. If Collins and at least two other Republicans declared they would not support a one-party approach to health-care and made at least some Democratic backing the requirement for their vote, it would be the death knell for McConnells bill and the path Republicans have pursued for seven years. Unless and until that happens, the GOP-only health-care bill will have at least a breath left.

See original here:
How to Know If the Republican Health-Care Bill Is Dead - The Atlantic

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said, Minor changes and tweaks will not be sufficient to win my support for the bill.

Changes are coming, but none that are likely to radically alter the estimate by the Congressional Budget Office that 22 million fewer people would have health insurance in 2026 under the Senate health care bill than under the Affordable Care Act. A new estimate is expected from the budget office early next week.

The revised bill is expected to include a $45 billion fund to help combat the opioid epidemic, as well as a provision allowing consumers to use health savings accounts to pay for premiums.

Senate Republicans are also likely to keep a pair of taxes imposed by the Affordable Care Act on people with high incomes. The law increased the payroll tax rate for many high-income taxpayers and imposed a tax on their investment income. Both taxes would be eliminated by the repeal bill passed by the House in May and by the original version of Mr. McConnells bill.

Keeping those taxes would undercut a major argument against the bill by Democrats, who have branded it as a tax cut for the rich disguised as a health bill.

But the largest changes to the health care system are likely to remain in the bill. About two-thirds of the increase in the projected number of uninsured Americans would result from deep cuts in expected Medicaid spending, the budget office said. The bill would impose caps on Medicaid spending and would roll back the expansion of the program under the Affordable Care Act.

The Senate measure will be considered under special procedures that limit debate to 20 hours, preclude a Democratic filibuster and allow passage with a simple majority vote. It is unclear whether Mr. McConnell would start the debate next week if he lacks firm commitments from enough senators to ensure passage.

Delaying the vote again might not help.

Anybody who thinks that its going to get easier by waiting, said Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, thats a testament to the power of human denial as far as Im concerned.

At least 10 Republican senators, led by David Perdue of Georgia, had urged the majority leader to work into the month of August, so lawmakers could show some results to their constituents.

Mr. McConnell said delaying the recess would provide time to work on other matters after the Senate deals with health care next week. But the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, suggested a different motivation for Mr. McConnells announcement.

Theyre struggling with health care, Mr. Schumer said. They dont want to go home and face their constituents.

The problem is not the timing, he added. Its the substance.

Senate Republicans are still skirmishing over a proposal by Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, that would allow insurers to sell stripped-down insurance policies if they also offered at least one plan that complied with federal insurance standards under the Affordable Care Act. Under this proposal, insurers could, for example, omit coverage of certain services like maternity care or mental health care.

Mr. Cruz says his proposal would give consumers new, lower-priced insurance options. On Tuesday, he called it the necessary ingredient to getting the votes to repeal the health law.

I believe we can get there, he said. It remains challenging. More work remains to be done. But there is a path forward, and that path revolves around lowering premiums.

But Mr. Cruzs proposal underscored the problem that Mr. McConnell faces: Making a change to please some Republican senators could alienate others. With Democrats united in opposition, he can afford only two Republican no votes.

Ms. Collins, a former state insurance regulator in Maine who is already dissatisfied with the Senate bill, warned about the potential negative consequences of the Cruz amendment. Critics of his proposal say it would create two insurance markets: an inexpensive one for the young and healthy, and another, far more expensive one for sick and older Americans that could price those with pre-existing medical conditions out of the market.

If it is as described, Ms. Collins said, I believe it would further destabilize the individual markets, undermine the protections for people with pre-existing conditions and cause premiums to increase for people with pre-existing conditions.

I certainly dont think that that is the answer, she added.

Also on Tuesday, the Trump administration approved a waiver sought by the state of Alaska for an innovative program to help stabilize the individual insurance market.

The state, which has exceptionally high health care costs and insurance premiums, has established a reinsurance program to help pay claims for consumers with certain very high-cost medical conditions like metastatic cancer, H.I.V. and AIDS.

The House and Senate bills would provide tens of billions of dollars for such programs, intended to help keep premiums down and encourage more insurers to participate in the market.

Emily Cochrane and Emmarie Huetteman contributed reporting.

Follow this link:
GOP Senators Vow to Unveil Health Bill Thursday, Despite Deep Divisions - New York Times