Fox News host Tucker Carlson has a two-book deal with Threshold Editions, the AP reports.
“Numerous publishers had expressed interest in him and his literary agency, Javelin, says the deal is worth eight figures.”
Will Trump Supporters Come Out for GOP In 2018?
Amy Walter: “Think of the GOP as a body and Trump like a donated organ. Trump is not organic to the GOP, but the body has accepted it as its own.”
“However, solid and continued support for Trump isn’t the whole story. The question is whether this support for Trump is going to translate into turn-out and support for the GOP in 2018. You don’t have to go too far back in history to find an example of a president who came to office with backing from a new, enthusiastic group of voters, only to find that those voters failed to consistently show up for the party. The so-called Obama coalition never soured on Obama, but they also didn’t show up to vote for his party in 2010, 2014 or 2016 – i.e., the years he wasn’t on the ballot.”
Trump Personally Lobbying for GOP Health Bill
Politico: “House Republicans worked late into the night Tuesday on last-minute changes to their Obamacare repeal bill, as President Donald Trump began rallying support to muscle the stalled legislation across the finish line… A new amendment being drafted Tuesday night would address concerns from key moderates about how the legislation treats individuals with pre-existing conditions.”
“Trump is now getting personally involved in trying to pass the bill. The president made at least a dozen phone calls seeking support for the bill Tuesday. And Capitol Hill and administration officials said he will host lawmakers — including Upton and Long — at the White House on Wednesday.”
Playbook: “For those still calling Trump a ‘dealmaker,’ despite the fact that he hasn’t cut one significant legislative deal as president, this will be a telling moment… This is a pretty clean test of Trump’s persuasion skills.”
Most Oppose Pre-existing Condition Opt-Out
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds 52% of Americans — and 48% of Republicans — oppose weakening federal protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions.
“Only 38% of voters surveyed support allowing states to opt-out of these protections — a figure that underscores the struggle House Republicans and President Trump are having in corralling votes from GOP members who represent districts that lean toward Democrats or are evenly divided.”
Why Democrats Want a Vote to Repeal Obamacare
“House Democrats think they’ve finally found their path back to power: Republicans voting to repeal Obamacare,” Politico reports.
“Democrats don’t actually want the law repealed. Under their dream scenario, House GOP leaders would muscle through their controversial health care bill only to watch it die a long, painful death in the Senate, where it has already received a lukewarm reception from Republicans. Obamacare would stay intact while the House Republicans who voted to gut the law have a big shiny target on their back heading into the 2018 midterms.”
How Trump Thinks Like a Journalist
Jonathan Swan: “President Trump broke a ton of news in his whirlwind of 100-day interviews. But a close read of the interviews reveal a skill that helped him win the presidency: Trump instinctively understands the reporter’s psychology. You see this side of Trump in his off-hand asides to the journalists interviewing him that you get when the publication publishes the full transcript.”
“Trump’s presidential victory was fueled by an understanding of media and showmanship, from the news generated by his Twitter account to his rallies being fodder for live cable television. He’s been sparring with and feeding Manhattan journalists for decades and brought that skill/obsession to the White House. The 100-day interviews are the freshest examples of the flip side to his media hatred — he eats up the coverage because he’s his own audience.”
For members: What We Learned from Trump’s 100-Day Interviews
Elizabeth Warren Polishes Her National Profile
Politico: “Warren — a fundraising juggernaut, big bank antagonist, and frequent GOP sparring partner — is primarily focused on crafting anti-Trump tactics on Capitol Hill, supporting her more electorally endangered colleagues, and keeping an eye on her own backyard just in case a serious challenger emerges. But she’s also doing everything she needs to do to prepare for a presidential run just in case, cutting a noticeably high public profile and harnessing her political celebrity to shape the party’s future. It’s a future in which many expect she may be running for president, or at least to better position herself to shape the party’s priorities in the event she doesn’t run.”
Democrats Get Head Start in South Carolina Special
Politico: “The Republican primary for Mick Mulvaney’s old House seat will go another two weeks after the candidates forced a special-election runoff Tuesday night, giving Democrat Archie Parnell a head start in his long-shot bid to make a conservative stretch of South Carolina competitive.”
Did the GOP Health Care Bill Die Again?
David Nather says it looks like the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act may be dead again, and by “dead,” I mean “until it comes back again.”
Who’s responsible? He points to Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), original supports of the bill who said they won’t vote to weaken provisions to protect those with pre-existing medical conditions.
Also important: “Jimmy Kimmel, for delivering the viral monologue about his newborn son’s heart defect and turning it into an emotional plea to keep covering pre-existing conditions. Former President Obama tweeted his thanks for Kimmel’s story.”
HuffPo whip list: 20 nos, 13 undecided, 14 lean yes, 7 lean no. It takes 23 nos to kill the bill.
Republicans Still Scrambling for Votes on Health Care
“With two days left before an 11-day recess and no vote scheduled, House Republican leaders worked on Tuesday to win votes one at a time for their latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act after an influential Republican voice on health care came out against the measure,” the New York Times reports.
“A failure to get the repeal bill to a vote this week would be the third time that Speaker Paul Ryan could not rally his considerable House majority around a legislative priority that Republicans have promised for seven years.”
Washington Post: “Republican efforts to overhaul the nation’s health-care system collided Tuesday with fierce resistance about how it would affect people with preexisting medical conditions, casting the proposal’s future into deeper uncertainty as GOP leaders scrambled to try to salvage it.”
For members: Why Obamacare Is So Hard to Kill
What We Learned from Trump’s 100-Day Interviews
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Yates Warned White House About Flynn
Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates “is prepared to testify before a Senate panel next week that she gave a forceful warning to the White House regarding then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn nearly three weeks before he was fired, contradicting the administration’s version of events,” CNN reports.
“In a private meeting January 26, Yates told White House Counsel Don McGahn that Flynn was lying when he denied in public and private that he had discussed US sanctions on Russia in conversations with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak. Flynn’s misleading comments, Yates said, made him potentially vulnerable to being compromised by Russia.”
Trump Will Sign Order on ‘Religious Liberty’
President Trump “has invited conservative leaders to the White House on Thursday for what they expect will be the ceremonial signing of a long-awaited—and highly controversial—executive order on religious liberty,” Politico reports.
“The signing would represent a major triumph for Vice President Mike Pence—whose push for religious-freedom legislation backfired mightily when he served as governor of Indiana—and his allies in the conservative movement.”
How Marine Le Pen Can Win
Although Emmanuel Macron leads in every poll, Democratic pollster Ben Tulchin says differentiated turnout could tip the French election to Marine Le Pen:
We ran simulations with the latest polling data and, with an overall turnout of 72% and voting intentions of 59% to 41% in favor of Macron, if Le Pen’s prospective voters turn out at a rate of 88% vs 61% for Macron, then she would win.
Differentiated turnout to Le Pen’s advantage is a realistic scenario as polls show Macron’s support is more tepid than hers and that French voters currently view her second round campaign stronger than Macron’s (a Harris Interactive poll found 61% of the French population think Le Pen kicked off her second round campaign well compared to 52% who believe Macron did not), that only 40% of people actually want to see Macron elected, and that first-round voters of moderate and left-leaning candidates eliminated from the runoff could abstain en masse.
The Real Reason Jim DeMint Got the Boot
“Jim DeMint’s ouster from The Heritage Foundation came as a shock to the hundreds of scholars and staffers who’ve seen the organization’s political influence grow thanks to DeMint’s controversial decision to align the leading conservative think tank closely with Donald Trump,” Politico reports.
“But interviews with over a dozen sources at the center of the drama suggest Heritage’s stewards… became convinced that DeMint was incapable of renewing the foundation’s place as an intellectual wellspring of the conservative movement.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“I have a right to try to define Republicanism and conservatism as much as anybody else and, you know, I think there’s a little struggle right now and I think the party doesn’t quite know where it’s going.”
— Gov. John Kasich (R), in an interview with Politico.
Clinton Says Comey Cost Her the Election
Hillary Clinton said she takes personal responsibility for her 2016 loss, but also pointed to the timing of a letter from FBI Director James Comey and Russian interference as factors, CNN reports.
Said Clinton: “If the election had been on October 27, I would be your president.”
She added: “It wasn’t a perfect campaign, there is no such thing, but I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey’s letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me and got scared off. The evidence for that intervening event is, I think, compelling, persuasive, and so we overcame a lot in the campaign.”
Garcetti for President?
“Just weeks after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) was reelected to a second term, rumors continue to circulate about whether he may already be eying his next political milestone,” CBS Los Angeles reports.
“A spokesman for Garcetti said Monday the mayor had no comment on a New York Times article identifying him as one of several high-profile Democrats who could be poised for a run for the White House in 2020.”
CNN: There are at least 22 Democrats considering a run for president in 2020.
