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Trump’s Self-Inflicted Chaos on Full Display

March 18, 2017 at 5:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The health care measure appears on track for a House vote this week, and the president, who planned a weekend of relaxation at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Fla., club, is likely to receive a large measure of the credit. But it has also become clear that Mr. Trump, an agitator incapable of responding proportionately to any slight, appears hellbent on squandering his honeymoon,” the New York Times reports.

“Instead, he has sowed chaos in his own West Wing, and talked or tweeted his way into trouble, over and over again.”

“That was never more apparent than over the last week, when fresh questions about his refusal to release his tax returns and the blocking of his executive order sapped the spotlight from his efforts to build support for the health measure and even the unveiling of his first budget. Even more self-lacerating: his insistence that President Barack Obama had authorized surveillance on his 2016 campaign, a claim that continued unabated despite rebukes from Republicans, denials by the congressional intelligence committees and complaints from the British government, which demanded an apology after Mr. Trump’s spokesman suggested that one of its intelligence agencies had aided in the spying.”

For members: A Terrible Week for Donald Trump

At Least 16 House Republicans Oppose Health Care Bill

March 18, 2017 at 4:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Hill: “Republican leaders are aiming to move quickly on legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare, with a vote by the full House slated for Thursday. But the plan faces a difficult path, with at least 16 House Republicans in opposition.”

“Assuming all Democrats vote against the legislation, GOP leaders cannot afford more than 21 defections in the House and two in the Senate.”

Being Kellyanne Conway

March 18, 2017 at 2:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York magazine has a good profile of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway:

Horrified critics of the president are often surprised to find that, in person, it’s very difficult to dislike Conway. With her airy voice and cheeky sense of humor, she’s charming and magnetic almost in the manner of a particularly gifted retail politician, and without the alien creepiness that actually being a politician sometimes requires. She’s a chronic oversharer (one with top-secret security clearance) who will let you in on the most intimate details of her existence in casual conversation.

She’s also pathologically social, her life a hamster wheel of meetings, briefings, appearances, interviews, events, and cocktail parties — something that separates her from someone like, say, [Steve] Bannon. ‘I have enough friends,’ Bannon told me. ‘I’m not doing this to have friends. I don’t socialize a lot, I don’t bring people into my life. This is like being in the Navy, this is like a duty. I don’t enjoy this every day. This is not living; this is a kind of existence.’


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Tillerson Denies ‘Fatigue’ Reports

March 18, 2017 at 11:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “denied reports in South Korean media outlets that he did not dine with the country’s officials due to ‘fatigue’ on a leg of his Asia trip,” Politico reports.

Said Tillerson: “They never invited us for dinner, then at the last minute they realized that optically it wasn’t playing very well in public for them, so they put out a statement that we didn’t have dinner because I was tired.”

GOP Won’t Wait for New CBO Score

March 17, 2017 at 10:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republicans are pushing forward on a vote next week on their bill to repeal Obamacare and won’t wait for a new estimate on the impact of major changes the legislation makes to Medicaid,” the Washington Examiner reports.

“House Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) told reporters Friday that the House will not wait for a new score from the Congressional Budget Office before voting on the American Health Care Act. The decision comes after a meeting between President Trump and 13 members of the Republican Study Committee that bore major changes to the bill.”

Politico: “After promising to make a number of tweaks to the current draft — changes aimed at winning over conservatives and centrist Republicans — GOP leaders felt confident enough to schedule a floor vote on the bill Thursday, seven years to the day that Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act.”

Axios: “This could indicate confidence that they’ve nailed down the 216 votes needed to pass it through, even though GOP divisions abound.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

March 17, 2017 at 10:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I am ready to come out of the woods and to shine a light on what’s already happening around kitchen tables at dinners like this to help draw strength to enable everyone to keep going.”

— Hillary Clinton, quoted by The Hill.

Russian Elite Have $100 Million In Trump Properties

March 17, 2017 at 8:15 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A Reuters review has found that at least 63 individuals with Russian passports or addresses have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida.

“The buyers include politically connected businessmen, such as a former executive in a Moscow-based state-run construction firm that works on military and intelligence facilities, the founder of a St. Petersburg investment bank and the co-founder of a conglomerate with interests in banking, property and electronics.”

Britain Said to Be ‘Livid’ Over Trump’s Bogus Claim

March 17, 2017 at 8:10 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump “refused to back down on Friday after his White House aired an unverified claim that Britain’s spy agency secretly monitored him during last year’s campaign at the behest of President Barack Obama,” the New York Times reports.

“Although his aides in private conversations since Thursday night had tried to calm British officials who were livid over the claim, Mr. Trump made clear that he felt the White House had nothing to retract or apologize for. He said his spokesman was simply repeating an assertion made by a Fox News commentator.”

Trump’s Secret Plan to Defeat ISIS Looks Like Obama’s

March 17, 2017 at 8:05 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump promised during the campaign to implement a ‘secret plan’ to defeat ISIS, including a pledge to ‘bomb the hell out of’ the terror group in Iraq and Syria.”

“Now, the Pentagon has given him a secret plan, but it turns out to be a little more than an ‘intensification’ of the same slow and steady approach that Trump derided under the Obama administration,” two senior officials who have reviewed the document told NBC News.

Brazile Regrets Sending Questions to Clinton

March 17, 2017 at 4:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former DNC chair Donna Brazile acknowledged sending town hall topics to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, writing in Time magazine that it a “mistake I will forever regret.”

Said Brazile: “My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen. But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret.”

Cole Says Trump Owes Obama an Apology

March 17, 2017 at 4:09 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said that President Trump should apologize to former President Barack Obama for accusing him of ordering an illegal wiretap of his phone lines, given that there is no public evidence to support it, Politico reports.

Said Cole: “I see no indication that that’s true. And so it’s not a charge I would have ever made. And frankly, unless you can produce some pretty compelling proof, then I think the president, you know, President Obama is owed an apology in that regard.”

Trump Ignores Merkel’s Handshake Request

March 17, 2017 at 4:07 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump, “who made headlines for shaking hands with Japan’s prime minister in front of reporters for a full 19 seconds, seemed to ignore German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she suggested that they exchange the same courtesy during her White House visit Friday,” Politico reports.

“In an exchange caught on video, photographers gathered around Trump and Merkel in the Oval Office early Friday afternoon and suggested that the two leaders shake hands for the camera.”

Axios has a series of “headline grabbing moments” from the Trump-Merkel press conference.

Bonus Quote of the Day

March 17, 2017 at 4:04 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“We’ve been dreaming of this since I’ve been around… since you and I were drinking out of kegs.”

— Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), in an interview with National Review, about this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cut Medicaid spending.”

Bharara Was Investigating Price Stock Trades

March 17, 2017 at 3:57 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was removed from his post by the Trump administration last week, was overseeing an investigation into stock trades made by the president’s health secretary, ProPublica reports.

“Tom Price, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, came under scrutiny during his confirmation hearings for investments he made while serving in Congress. The Georgia lawmaker traded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shares in health-related companies, even as he voted on and sponsored legislation affecting the industry.”

White House Appeals Ruling on Travel Ban

March 17, 2017 at 3:27 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration filed court papers Friday hoping to salvage its second version of a travel ban, after two judges in separate cases this week found it likely violated the Constitution,” the Washington Post reports.

“The Justice Department filed legal papers in federal court in Maryland, setting up a new showdown in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, located in Richmond, Virginia.”

Ernst Says Trump Should Release Tax Returns

March 17, 2017 at 3:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Facing a jeering crowd of demonstrators and left-leaning voters, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said that President Donald Trump should release his tax returns,” Politico reports.

“As she absorbed boos and heckles for her answers on health care, climate change and Planned Parenthood, the Iowa Republican gave the mostly Democratic crowd something to cheer for: Becoming one of the latest high-profile lawmakers to call on Trump to release more of his financial information.”

Trump Is Big Beneficiary of GOP Tax Bill

March 17, 2017 at 12:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The first big tax cut moving through Congress under President Donald Trump would likely benefit the president himself, potentially saving him millions of dollars in taxes on his rental income next year and even more money on other income if he wins a second term,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Trump’s decision to continue owning his businesses as president without running them expands the tax’s effect on him and thus makes him benefit more from the proposed repeal, which would take effect in 2018, according to accountants and tax lawyers.”

Gardner Finds Perils of Distancing from Trump

March 17, 2017 at 11:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new OnSight poll in Colorado finds Sen. Cory Gardner’s (R-CO) efforts to keep President Trump at arm’s length may be hurting his support among Republicans. His approval among GOP voters was 63% — a far cry from the 83% of Colorado Republicans who approved of Trump.

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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.

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