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Politico: “The debt and spending bill approved by Capitol Hill on Friday averted imminent fiscal disaster, but it’s added more misery for a Republican Party whose agenda has floundered even with unified control of Washington for the first time in a decade. It’s also given Democrats significant leverage to imperil tax reform, the GOP’s best hope at a major legislative victory.”
“Rather than dictating the agenda of Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers oftentimes find themselves at the whims of a capricious White House, Democrats in the minority and a calendar that’s getting increasingly packed ahead of campaign season next spring. Speaker Paul Ryan predicted in January that tax reform, Obamacare repeal and a border wall would all be done by now. Instead, Obamacare repeal may be completely dead at month’s end, there are just broad strokes on tax reform and many Republicans oppose the border wall being pushed by their own president.”
New York Times: “Republicans fear that Mr. Trump has relinquished his role as leader of the party, instead assuming the mantle of his own political movement. And they are bracing for an election season in which their deeply unpopular president does more to undermine than aid candidates of the party he ostensibly oversees.”
“Such open divisions between a president and elected officials of the same party mark an extraordinary departure from modern political tradition. Even if they feuded at times with their president, lawmakers knew they could ultimately count on the White House to endorse and raise money for incumbents, because controlling as many seats as possible would serve both their interests.”
Key takeaway: “Republicans fear a wave of retirements going into next year. Rep. Dave Trott of Michigan is considering retiring, and another Michigan Republican, Fred Upton, may retire or run for the Senate, according to multiple party officials.”
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A Trump adviser tells Mike Allen that after a tumultuous seven months in office, it had finally dawned on the president: “People really fucking hate me.”
“For someone who has spent his life lapping up adulation, however fake, it was a harsh realization. This is a man with an especially acute need for affirmation. This week’s bear hug of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer opened Trump’s eyes to one solution: Stop doing things that people hate, and start striking deals.”
An important point: “But we can’t overstate the level of despair among Republicans.”
Playbook: “OMB Director Mick Mulvaney was thrashed by his former House Republican colleagues yesterday in a closed door meeting, GOP lawmakers called Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin a Democrat and scoffed at his requests and Gary Cohn is still on the outs with President Donald Trump. Those are the three people most intricately involved in tax reform, which the White House wants done by the end of the year.”
Politico: “Rumors of Gary Cohn’s demise in Donald Trump’s White House have swirled for weeks. But Cohn is intent on remaining with the administration to finish tax reform — though it’s unclear how long he would stay beyond its passage.”
The New York Times reports:
Mr. Kelly made a point, one staff member said, of throwing his arm around Mr. Cohn in solidarity, in full view of the news media, as they exited Marine One last week on the South Lawn.
But he has not always been successful. Several aides said Mr. Trump is freezing out Mr. Cohn by employing a familiar tactic: refusing to make eye contact with Mr. Cohn when his adviser greets him.
“Joe Biden said the Democratic Party in 2016 ‘did not talk about what it always stood for — and that was how to maintain a burgeoning middle class.’ I find this fairly remarkable, considering that Joe himself campaigned for me all over the Midwest and talked plenty about the middle class.”
— Hillary Clinton, quoted by CNN, from her new book What Happened.
“White House communications director Hope Hicks has retained a personal attorney, as the special counsel’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia is expected to heat up this fall,” Politico reports.
“Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is likely to be indicted on fraud-related charges in a case that peers into spending on catered meals and lifestyle in the official residence,” the Washington Post reports.
“The probe — called the ‘meals ordering affair’ — alleges that the prime minister’s wife and the head of the operational resources unit in the official residence falsified documents so that food from outside companies and private chefs could be used, even though there was a full-time chef.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is planning to interview “up to a dozen” White House aides in the coming weeks, Politico reports.
The Washington Post says Mueller wants to interview six aides “including trusted adviser Hope Hicks, former press secretary Sean Spicer and former chief of staff Reince Priebus.”
“In addition to Priebus, Spicer and Hicks, Mueller has notified the White House he will probably seek to question White House counsel Don McGahn and one of his deputies, James Burnham. Mueller’s office has also told the White House that investigators may want to interview Josh Raffel, a White House spokesman who works closely with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.”
“In a reflection of how serious the administration is taking the matter, sources tell the Daily Beast there are currently efforts underway to organize a legal defense fund for White House staffers. Such a fund would help cover the legal bills associated with Mueller’s probe, which are expected to be large.
“A Washington white collar attorney told The Daily Beast that everyone questioned by Mueller will likely need to retain counsel. Those lawyers will likely bill between $500 and $1000 per hour.”
Russian news agencies are reporting that President Trump met with Russia’s newly installed ambassador to Washington, Reuters reports.
Tass news agency quoted ambassador Anatoly Antonov: “I was received by President Trump, I presented my credentials. For my part I said that we are looking forward to an improvement in the relations between our two countries.”
Russia’s RIA news agency also quoted Antonov: “President Trump received me in a warm and friendly way … The atmosphere was very genial, constructive and welcoming. At least, that was my personal feeling.”
The U.S. news media apparently didn’t know about the meeting.
Former Montana Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), a principle drafter of the Affordable Care Act who helped steer the bill toward the center in 2009, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that he now supports a single-payer system.
Said Baucus: “My personal view is we’ve got to start looking at single-payer. I think we should have hearings. We’re getting there. It’s going to happen.”
Sam Baker: “Just eight years ago, he refused to even hold a hearing on single-payer. To say now that he not only supports it, but that he thinks it’s inevitable, is a sign of just how dramatically Democrats are pulling to the left on health care.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley, told Women’s Wear Daily that her father is considering a run for president in 2020.
Said Ashley Biden: “He’ll make a decision when that time comes. A lot can happen in four years and we know this as a family. If he is in good health, knock on wood, and seeing what the landscape is at the time, yeah, I think he is considering it.”
“Gov. Chris Christie’s possible career as a sports broadcaster may not have panned out, but he might still have a shot at a television gig,” CNN reports.
“Christie has had conversations with both MSNBC and CNN about possible contributor deals after his term ends… Christie is not in talks with Fox News.”
House Republicans bristled at Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s pitch for them to vote for a three-month debt and spending extension “for me,” exacerbating divisions between Capitol Hill and the White House, The Hill reports.
Said Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC): “His performance was incredibly poor, and his last words, and I quote, were ‘vote for the debt ceiling for me.’ It was a very arrogant lecture that turned off more of the conference. I’m less sold than when I walked into the meeting.”
Rep. David Brat (R-VA) called the comments “unhelpful” and “intellectually insulting.”
Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA) said the pitch was “about as well received as his wife’s Instagram post.“
Stephen Bannon told CBS News that Gov. Chris Christie (R) wasn’t considered for a Cabinet position in President Trump’s administration because he failed to offer support after the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.
Bannon said he “took names” of those who abandoned Trump: “You know, I’m Irish. I gotta get my black book and I got ’em. Christie, because of Billy Bush weekend, was not looked at for a Cabinet position.”
He added: “I told him the plane leaves at 11 o’ clock in the morning. If you make the plane, you make the team. He didn’t make the plane.”
“To have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm; versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm, is misplaced. To discuss the cause and effect of these storms, there’s the… place and time to do that, it’s not now.”
— EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, telling CNN that talking about climate change would be “very, very insensitive” to the people of Florida.
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.
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