* You can see for yourself what Trump had to say about what is/isn’t in the Republican health care bill by watching this video. Sarah Kliff explains:
His responses to basic questions — like what provisions the bill includes or how it would change the health insurance system — suggest he either doesn’t understand how the American Health Care Act works, or doesn’t want to tell the truth about it.
Dickerson is the first journalist I have seen grill Trump on what, exactly, is in the Republican plan. He isn’t asking about the politics of the bill and whether it will pass. Rather, he focuses on what are arguably basic questions: What elements are in this bill, and what do you think of them?
Trump stumbles. He says that people with preexisting conditions will be protected. Under the latest amendment to the American Health Care Act — the one that got the Freedom Caucus on board — they won’t be. He says that deductibles will go down under the Republican plan. Nonpartisan analysis expects deductibles would go up.
The health care plan that Trump described on Face the Nation is not the one that the Republican party has offered. His answers suggest an unfamiliarity with basic policy details of a plan that has been public for nearly six weeks at this point — a plan that his administration has pushed Congress to pass.
Kliff is right, he either knows what’s in the bill and is lying about it, or he doesn’t know but is trying to bullshit his way through pretending like he cares. Either way, it is a frightening performance from a POTUS.
* There have been several times I’ve thought of tallying up things that the Trump administration is reportedly “looking into.” Just so you know, I tend to ignore those stories because almost none of them pan out. Here is the list of items like that from the headlines today:
White House Doubles Down: Targeting Press With Libel Laws ‘Being Looked Into’
Trump Weighs Breaking Up Wall Street Banks, Raising U.S. Gas Tax
Trump Says Infrastructure Plan Is ‘Largely Completed,’ Just Weeks Away
This is largely performance art meant to impress upon some audience that this president is serious and capable. He’s not. When you see these kinds of headlines, think about all the times that Trump said he’d release his tax returns after an audit was completed. Or all the times he’s said that his administration was going to investigate voter fraud. Remember, he lies…a lot.
* Here is one that the Trump administration isn’t simply looking in to. It’s a done deal.
The Trump administration is discontinuing a signature girls education initiative championed by former first lady Michelle Obama, according to officials.
The “Let Girls Learn” program, which she and President Barack Obama started in 2015 to facilitate educational opportunities for adolescent girls in developing countries, will cease operation immediately, according to an internal document obtained by CNN.
Need I point out that elections matter and this kind of program would have been a priority for President Hillary Clinton?
* Evan Osnos takes a deep dive into, “How Trump Could Get Fired: The Constitution offers two main paths for removing a President from office. How feasible are they?”
* Democrats probably aren’t talking enough about the fact that, for many Trump supporters, the hot issue over the last couple of weeks has been all about how people like Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos are being deprived of their free speech rights. If you have family, friends and/or co-workers who are complaining about that, here is an interesting challenge for them:
If you’re upset about Milo, Coulter, Cernovich et al. and didnt say a word in support of Kaepernick, it’s not free speech you’re defending.
— Robert K Trobich (@RKTlaw) April 30, 2017
* Finally, I’ll admit that I’m in a bad mood today. It’s not only about Trump’s lies, ignorance and delusions, although that is the major contributor. It’s also because today it actually snowed where I live – on May the freaking first! But here’s a promising idea for all those troubles:
