“Americans who swept President Trump to victory — lower-income, older voters in conservative, rural parts of the country — stand to lose the most in federal healthcare aid under a Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act,” according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of county voting and tax credit data.
“Among those hit the hardest under the current House bill are 60-year-olds with annual incomes of $30,000. In nearly 1,500 counties nationwide, such a person stands to lose more than $6,000 a year in federal insurance subsidies. Ninety percent of those counties backed Trump, the analysis shows.”
Washington Post: They are poor, sick and voted for Trump. What will happen to them without Obamacare?
Axios: “Millennials are raging against what they view as a broken system built by their elders, but unlike Bernie Sanders supporters in the United States, increasing numbers of young people in Europe are latching onto a very different kind of politics — the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant, right-wing populist movement sweeping the continent.”
A few numbers:
- France: Marine Le Pen leads polling among 18-24-year-olds with 33% in the first round of presidential voting — her largest support from any age group.
- The Netherlands: Support for Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom among 18-25-year-olds has increased from 7% in 2006 to 27% in 2016.
- Germany: Alternative for Germany’s supporters are second-youngest among the country’s parties.
The Washington Post has a preview on Wednesday’s election in The Netherlands.
New York Times: “The call to Preet Bharara’s office from President Trump’s assistant came on Thursday. Would Mr. Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, please call back?”
“It was unclear whether the president’s call on Thursday was an effort to explain his change of heart about keeping Mr. Bharara or to discuss another matter. The White House would not comment on Saturday.
However, there are protocols governing a president’s direct contact with federal prosecutors. According to two people with knowledge of the events who were not authorized to discuss delicate conversations publicly, Mr. Bharara notified an adviser to the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, that the president had tried to contact him and that he would not respond because of those protocols.”
Mike Allen: How Preet’s firing went down.
Politico: “With the GOP in charge of Washington — and charging ahead with their own remake of the health care system — the Democratic Party is convinced that the politics of the ever-potent issue is shifting dramatically in their favor.”
“House Democrats are angling to make the GOP’s plans to reverse Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and slash insurance subsidies the defining issue of the 2018 midterms. Some party officials privately say Democrats could ride a backlash over Obamacare repeal all the way to control of the lower chamber — and, in the Senate, stem what are expected to be heavy losses thanks to a Republican-leaning map.”
A recent Congressional Management Foundation study finds that direct constituent interactions “have more influence on lawmakers’ decisions than other advocacy strategies.”
“The same study notes that 79% of the Congressional staff surveyed believe that personal stories from constituents related to a bill or issue are helpful in shaping their opinions on issues. Personal, local, and direct constituent grassroots advocacy contact towards members of Congress and staff have been proven to be effective time and time again.”
Richmond Times Dispatch says Democrats are seeing a surge of new candidates ahead of this year’s coming elections: “Republicans hold a dominant 66-34 majority in the House, but Democrats hope the swell of anti-Trump activism in Virginia, the only Southern state Trump did not win, could lead to a 2017 wave in down-ticket House races as Virginians elect a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.”
“As of late last week, Democrats said they had candidates running in 43 of the 66 House districts that Republicans currently represent, more than double the 21 GOP districts Democrats contested in 2015. So far, Republicans have five challengers among the 34 Democratic-held districts.”
David Remnick says there is no “Deep State:” “Trump and Bannon would undoubtedly have called Deep Throat glaring evidence of an American Deep State. Felt was a Hoover loyalist; he oversaw the F.B.I.’s pursuit of radical groups like the Weather Underground and instituted illegal searches, known as ‘black-bag jobs.’ Yet he was deeply offended that the President and his top aides ran what constituted a criminal operation out of the White House, and he risked everything to guide Woodward.”
“The problem in Washington is not a Deep State; the problem is a shallow man—an untruthful, vain, vindictive, alarmingly erratic President. In order to pass fair and proper judgment, the public deserves a full airing of everything from Trump’s tax returns and business entanglements to an accounting of whether he has been, in some way, compromised. Journalists can, and will, do a lot. But the courts, law enforcement, and Congress—without fear or favor—are responsible for such an investigation. Only if government officials take to heart their designation as ‘public servants’ will justice prevail.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “has hired two Florida fundraisers, a sign he’s building a national network,” the New York Post reports. “The two consultants — one is former Hillary Clinton money man Jon Adrabi — will help plan events and build relationships with Democratic donors in the key swing state.”
“The governor has been expanding his national profile since the Democrats’ dreadful showing in November.”
No. No to Cuomo in 2020. He has been betraying Democrats the entirety of his term as Governor by encouraging some traitorous Democrats to caucus with the Republicans so that the GOP always controls the State Senate. Everything Bernie Sanders voters thought Hillary was (a Wall Street Dem), Cuomo actually is. No to a Cuomo candidacy. And here is hoping that Preet Bharara primaries him in 2018.
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) “won’t be back,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“He said Sunday that he is not interested in running for the U.S. Senate, after rumors bubbled last week that he was considering a campaign for the seat currently held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.”
Said Schwarzenegger: “I’m deeply flattered by all of the people who have approached me about running for Senate, but my mission right now is to bring sanity to Washington through redistricting reform like we passed here in California.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Sunday that President Donald Trump should either provide proof for his claims that President Barack Obama “wire tapped” his phones at Trump Tower or retract those unsubstantiated allegations.
“I think the President has one of two choices: either retract or to provide the information that the American people deserve,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Cuomo, ugh. I admired his father, though. We should start a petition asking HRC to ask all of her staff and supporters to NOT support this guy. PLUS, Preet Bharara’s last tweet hints that he may have some goods on Cuomo via that disbanded Moreland Commission. He should do us all a favor and get that out there.
Some party officials privately say Democrats could ride a backlash over Obamacare repeal all the way to control of the lower chamber — and, in the Senate, stem what are expected to be heavy losses thanks to a Republican-leaning map.”
Can I be cynical about this? I mean, I think that this is a possibility of the way the board could run, but I am not seeing anything in how Democrats currently present themselves or their arguments that would tell me that they are balls out here. Taking away healthcare instead of fixing it just so you can give money to rich people or even holding this corrupt administration accountable should be a thing I am hearing everyday and I do not.