Republicans Try to Get McCain Back for Vote

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“Senate Republicans are still hoping John McCain makes it to Tuesday’s crucial Obamacare repeal vote,” Politico reports.

“The absence of the Arizona senator, who was diagnosed with brain cancer last week, has made getting 50 votes to start debate on the bill exceedingly difficult. GOP leaders are hoping he can surprise everyone and return Tuesday.”

Said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): “They were trying to get approval [from his doctors] for his travel arrangements. I’ve personally volunteered to rent an RV. But we haven’t heard anything.”

The Death of Expertise

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James Hohmann: “Trump has repeatedly dismissed the knowledge and wisdom of experts while elevating nonexperts who lack relevant experience into important jobs across the federal government. This gets less attention than other story lines, but it has been a hallmark of the president’s first six months in power.”

A relevant book: The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters by Tom Nichols.

Tillerson Mulls Quitting After Trump Bashes Sessions

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is growing increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration and could quit before the year is through, Newsweek reports.

“Two sources familiar with Tillerson’s conversations with friends told CNN over the weekend that he has grown so frustrated with President Trump and his administration that there may soon be a ‘Rexit.'”

“Trump publicly assailed one of Tillerson’s fellow Cabinet members, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying he regretted hiring him. Tillerson, the sources said, viewed Trump’s comments as unprofessional.”

Problem for GOP Is Clinton Won’t Be Ballot Next Year

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Harry Enten: “Clinton’s unpopularity turned out to be a key factor in 2016 congressional races. Unsurprisingly, people who had a favorable view of Clinton primarily voted for Democrats in House races, while people with a favorable view of Trump primarily voted for Republican candidates. But among the 19 percent of voters who had an unfavorable view of both presidential candidates, House Republican candidates won by a margin of 30 percentage points.”

“Next year, though, Clinton won’t be on the ballot (although Trump continues to tweet about her). That could be a big problem for House Republican candidates, especially if Trump remains unpopular. That’s because realistically, the only way for Democrats to take back the House is to run up huge margins among voters who don’t like Trump.”

Lawmaker Blames ‘Repugnant’ GOP Women for Stalled Bill

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When discussing the stalled GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) told a Texas radio station that he finds it “absolutely repugnant” that “the Senate does not have the courage to do some of the things that every Republican in the Senate promised to do.”

Said Farenhold: “Some of the people that are opposed to this — there are some female senators from the northeast. If it was a guy from south Texas I might ask them to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.”

Research Shows Gender Attacks on Women Work

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From a new research paper:

The results suggest that female candidates are particularly vulnerable to trait based attacks that challenge stereotypically feminine strengths. Both male and female candidates proved vulnerable to attacks on policy issues stereotypically associated with their party and gender, but the negative effects of all forms of stereotype-based attacks were especially large for democratic women.

White House Will Allow On-Camera Briefings Again

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New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci announced that the daily press briefings would be back on camera.

Axios: “Friday’s White House press briefing, following Sean Spicer’s resignation, was the first on-camera briefing since late June, and the tweet indicates that Scaramucci will revert to the tradition of televising daily briefings. It’s not surprising given his longstanding love of TV.”

Scaramucci Has Some Advice for Huckabee Sanders

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New White House communications director Anthony Scarmucci had some advice for new press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Jezebel reports.

Said Scaramucci: “For Sarah Huckabee, I want to do everything I can to make her better at that podium. I think she’s phenomenal there now. But like every athlete that is training for the Olympics, every day we have to make ourselves incrementally better. The only thing I ask Sarah—Sarah, if you’re watching, I loved the hair and makeup person we had on Friday, so I’d like to continue to use the hair and makeup person.”

Trump Mulls Replacing Sessions with Giuliani

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President Trump is so unhappy with Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he has raised the possibility of bringing back Rudolph Giuliani to replace him, Mike Allen reports.

“Giuliani would have a tough time getting 50 Republicans senators to vote to confirm him. He was such an early and ardent Trump backer that he wouldn’t be seen as an independent guardian of the department in these tumultuous times.”

“In fact, the nomination could be seen as Trump throwing gasoline on a fire. And Giuliani’s stop-and-frisk police policy as New York mayor, and clients since then, also would be controversial with many senators.”