President Trump’s oldest son suggested that “people at the highest levels of government” are conspiring against the Trump administration, evidence, he said, of the president’s campaign claims about a “rigged” system, Politico reports.
Said Donald Trump Jr.: “My father talked about a rigged system throughout the campaign, and people were like, ‘Oh, what are you talking about?’ But it is. And you’re seeing it.”
Politico: “Obamacare survived the first year of President Trump, but it’s badly damaged. The sweeping Republican tax bill on the verge of final passage would repeal the individual mandate in 2019, potentially taking millions of people out of the health insurance market. On top of that, the Trump administration has killed some subsidies, halved the insurance enrollment period, gutted the Obamacare marketing campaign, and rolled out a regulatory red carpet for skimpy new health plans that will change the insurance landscape in ways that are harmful to former President Obama’s signature health care law.”
“None of these individually represent a death blow. But in aggregate, the past year adds up to a slow, stealthy erosion of the law.”
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds just 36% of Americans say that they will definitely or probably vote for Donald Trump if he runs for reelection in 2020, while half indicate that they’ll definitely or probably support his Democratic general election challenger.
“Hillary Clinton’s image has declined since June and is now the worst Gallup has measured for her to date. Her favorable rating has fallen five percentage points since June to a new low of 36%, while her unfavorable rating has hit a new high of 61%.”
“Believe me: We’re in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market — but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that’s going to come crashing down. We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble. And we better be awfully careful.”
— President Trump, quoted by the Washington Post, during the first presidential debate in September 2016.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that the GOP’s tax bill will hamper Obamacare and force Democrats into negotiations to replace the law, Bloomberg reports.
Said Cornyn: “Arguably, doing away with the individual mandate makes the Affordable Care Act unworkable — not that it was particularly great beforehand. Hopefully this will precipitate the bipartisan negotiation on what we need to do as an alternative.”
“Republicans are on the verge of passing the most significant overhaul of the tax code since 1986, after the Senate passed the GOP plan early Wednesday morning and House leaders scheduled a vote to quickly send it to President Trump,” the Washington Post reports.
“The sprawling plan would cut the corporate tax rate dramatically and provide new breaks for other businesses. It also would lower income tax bills in 2018 for the vast majority of households, though the wealthy would see far more relief than the middle class and working poor.”
“The bill passed the Senate 51 to 48 just before 1 a.m., with no Democrats backing the bill while all Republicans present voted for it. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) did not attend the vote as he undergoes treatment for brain cancer. He said earlier this month that he supported the bill.”
Gov. Chris Christie (R), who helped put Jared Kushner’s father in prison, “showed no mercy toward the senior White House adviser, encouraging Russia probe investigators to closely examine any hand he may have had in potential wrongdoings by the Trump campaign,” Newsweek reports.
Christie said Kushner “deserves the scrutiny, you know why? Because he was involved in the transition and involved in meetings that call into question his role. Well then if he’s innocent of that, then that will come out as Mueller examines all the facts. And if he’s not, that will come out too.”
Speaker Paul Ryan “plans to pass a continuing resolution later this week to fund the government until Jan. 19, but there are major disagreements within the House GOP over the move. There are also disputes between House and Senate Republicans, as well as the ever-present struggle with Democrats,” Politico reports.
“Right now, no one on either side of the Capitol has any clear idea how this three-way funding fight will play out, but all the major factions are digging in. Lawmakers and aides said the House and Senate could end up ‘ping-ponging‘ a spending bill back and forth until the issues are resolved, although some worry that Congress could blunder into a shutdown. Ryan on Tuesday instructed lawmakers not to leave town, signaling how concerned leadership is about the Friday funding deadline.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) blasted media coverage of her support for the GOP tax bill as “extremely discouraging” and “unbelievably sexist,” Politico reports.
Said Collins: “They’ve ignored everything that I’ve gotten and written story after story about how I’m duped. How am I duped when all your amendments get accepted?”
“Democrats are backing away from a pledge to force a vote this month over the fate of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children, angering activists but likely averting the threat of a government shutdown at a critical moment in spending negotiations with Republicans and President Trump,” the Washington Post reports.
“With a deadline of midnight Friday to pass spending legislation, dozens of Democrats had vowed to withhold support if Republicans refused allow a vote on a measure known as the Dream Act that would allow roughly 1.2 million immigrants to stay legally in the United States. But a group of vulnerable Democratic senators facing reelection in conservative states next year aren’t willing to go that far — meaning the party is unlikely to muster the votes to block the spending bill.”
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds the Republican tax plan has grown more unpopular in the last two months, with nearly two-thirds of Americans believing it’s designed mostly to help corporations and the wealthy.
In addition, the survey finds that Democrats have overtaken Republicans on which party better handles the economy.
“House Republicans will need to pass their tax plan for a second time after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that provisions in the bill violated the rules governing the legislation,” The Hill reports.
A final vote is now expected on Wednesday.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told the Burlington Free Press that he was too quick in calling for Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) resignation in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.
Said Leahy: “I have stood for due process throughout my years as a prosecutor and in chairing the Judiciary Committee. I regret not doing that this time.”
Washington Post: “A Republican seat flipped Democratic in a wild recount Tuesday – with the Democrat winning by a single vote – creating a rare 50-50 tie between the parties in the House of Delegates and refashioning the political landscape in Richmond.”
“The House of Representatives put the U.S. on the brink of a $1.5 trillion tax cut and the largest structural overhaul of the tax system since 1986,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act sailed through the House Tuesday afternoon on a 227-203 vote without a hint of last-minute drama. All present Democrats and just 12 Republicans, largely from high-tax states, voted no.”
NPR: “Senate Republicans are now set to debate the bill and could vote Tuesday evening. That means that by the time many Americans go to bed on Tuesday, Congress may have passed Republicans’ tax overhaul bill.”
Fox News contributor Kevin Jackson suggested that “social media” sources indicates an FBI plot to assassinate President Trump, according to Media Matters.
Said Jackson: “Well, I’m just saying, we don’t know what it was. When you say, ‘we’ve got to make sure that this guy doesn’t get in at all cost,’ what does that mean? So I’m saying there’s a spectrum of what does it mean, but one thing that we know for sure, is that he was plotting in an election against a candidate, and there’s FBI fingerprints all over this.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.