* Senators won’t be back to work until next week, so nothing will happen on health care until then. But if you’d like an update on the maneuverings, you’ll want to read what Jonathan Chait wrote summarizing Trumpcare’s very bad day.
Last week, just as the Senate appeared to be racing toward the stealth repeal of Obamacare, it came to a screeching halt. Mitch McConnell has tried to use the July Fourth recess to regroup and find a way to assemble the 50 votes he needs to roll back the Affordable Care Act. But today appears to be another turning point: His plan suddenly looks like it’s on the verge of death. It is not one single development that indicates the sharply worsening outlook for Trumpcare, but several.
* Trump gave a speech in Poland today and Sarah Wildman says it sounded like an alt-right manifesto.
This morning in Warsaw, Poland, President Donald Trump issued a battle cry — for “family, for freedom, for country, and for God” — in a speech that often resorted to rhetorical conceits typically used by the European and American alt-right. It sounded, at times, not just like the populists of the present but the populists of the past.
Drafted by Steve Miller, the architect of the travel ban, Trump’s speech used the type of dire, last-chance wording often utilized by the far right on both sides of the Atlantic: “The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive.”
“Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost?” Trump asked. “Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?”
* In writing about the feud between Trump and CNN, the New York Times buried the lede.
White House advisers have discussed a potential point of leverage over their adversary, a senior administration official said: a pending merger between CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, and AT&T. Mr. Trump’s Justice Department will decide whether to approve the merger, and while analysts say there is little to stop the deal from moving forward, the president’s animus toward CNN remains a wild card.
Here’s Matthew Miller’s reaction:
The WH discussing using DOJ to commit a criminal act is the kind of thing you’d hope the AG would care about. Is Sessions involved in this? https://t.co/hHfAMs0IQp
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) July 6, 2017
* This could certainly be bad news for Trump:
Donald Trump faces renewed scrutiny of the riches that flowed into his real estate empire from the former Soviet Union after a fixer for a Kazakh family accused of pumping dirty money into US property agreed to assist an international investigation into his former business partners.
Felix Sater, a Russian-born dealmaker with organised-crime connections who worked on property ventures including Trump Soho in Manhattan, has attracted attention in recent months as efforts continue to chart the links between the US president’s circle and moneymen from Russia and its neighbors…
Mr Sater has now agreed to co-operate with an international investigation into the alleged money-laundering network, five people with knowledge of the matter said. The co-operation has included working with a team of lawyers and private investigators pursuing civil cases across three continents, the people said.
* Earlier today, Martin wrote about the bad advice Mark Penn is giving to Democrats. While Penn himself doesn’t have a great reputation on the left, the man he co-wrote the op-ed with, Andrew Stein, actually endorsed Trump. Not a good move if you want your advice to be taken seriously.
* Finally, there is a reason why people sometimes refer to conservatives as the American Taliban.
A young, female reporter recently tried to enter a guarded room known as the Speaker’s lobby outside the House chamber, but her outfit was considered inappropriate because her shoulders weren’t covered. She was wearing a sleeveless dress.
