Top Items:


Health Care Overhaul Collapses as Two Republican Senators Defect — WASHINGTON — Two more Republican senators declared on Monday night that they would oppose the Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, killing, for now, a seven-year-old promise to overturn President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement.
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GOP health care bill collapses — President Donald Trump's top legislative priority was dealt a potentially fatal blow Monday night as two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the party's health care overhaul. — Trump quickly called on Republicans to simply repeal Obamacare …
Discussion:
Vox, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon


Republicans Aren't Turning on Trump—They're Turning on Each Other — The House is mad at the Senate. The Senate is mad at the House. Various factions in the House and Senate are mad at each other or mad at their leaders. — Republican lawmakers have yet to turn on President Trump in any meaningful way.


Trump blindsided by implosion of GOP health care bill — President Trump convened a strategy session over steak and succotash at the White House with senators Monday night, trying to plot an uphill path to repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a GOP alternative.
Discussion:
Business Insider and Raw Story


The fallout: Admit defeat, move on to bigger defeat?
Discussion:
Politico, CNBC and Business Insider

Trump blames Dems, ‘a few Republicans’ for collapse of healthcare bill
Discussion:
Mediaite, Politicus USA, Sputnik International, Raw Story, New York Times, Joe.My.God. and The Gateway Pundit

The BCRA is dead, but Obamacare repeal is still alive
Discussion:
The Texas Observer

Sen. Mike Lee to Vote No on Senate Health Bill
Discussion:
Fox News, ABC News, New York Magazine, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, Vox, Mediaite, Refinery29, TheBlaze and IJR

After O'Care Plan Falters, McConnell Says He'll Push For Vote On Repeal Only
Discussion:
Vox, Wall Street Journal, Common Dreams, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Last Refuge, IJR, ACASignups.net, Mediaite, First Draft and New York Magazine

Old Truth Trips Up G.O.P. on Health Law: A Benefit Is Hard to Retract
Discussion:
ABC News

Two more GOP senators defect on healthcare bill
Discussion:
Politicus USA, Suburban Guerrilla …, Axios, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, The Gateway Pundit, FOX31 Denver and RedState


The Trumps and the Truth — The best defense against future revelations is radical transparency. — Even Donald Trump might agree that a major reason he won the 2016 election is because voters couldn't abide Hillary Clinton's legacy of scandal, deception and stonewalling.
Discussion:
Raw Story and Washington Free Beacon


The Master of ‘Kompromat’ Believed to Be Behind Trump Jr.'s Meeting — MOSCOW — The salacious video, of a naked man in bed with two women, was one of the most prominent examples of “kompromat,” the Russian art of spreading damaging information to discredit a rival or an enemy, in recent Russian history.
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Trump Jr. attorney offers details about 8th person at meeting
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Little Green Footballs

Who was the 8th person in Trump Jr.'s meeting with Russians?
Discussion:
The Daily Caller

Christie on Trump Jr. meeting: 'None of it's positive'
Discussion:
AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Axios, Mediaite and ABC News

What Did Trump Know About His Son's Meeting, and When Did He Know It?
Discussion:
Raw Story, Vox, NPR and Talking Points Memo


EXCLUSIVE: Trump the foul-mouthed germophobe fired Chris Christie because New Jersey governor arranged for Obama to call his phone NOT The Donald's on election night — A new book reveals how Trump fell out with his then transition boss Chris Christie over whose cellphone to use on election night
Discussion:
Raw Story, Conservative News Today, Washington Free Beacon, AOL, Axios, Hullabaloo, New York Magazine, Mediaite and Business Insider
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Trump's Campaign Conceded in a Memo That Comey Was Having Major Impact … Donald Trump's presidential campaign acknowledged in an internal memo that former FBI Director James Comey's 11th hour decision to reopen an inquiry into Hillary Clinton's use of private email helped shift the results.
Discussion:
Mother Jones
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House GOP unveils budget plan that attaches major spending cuts to coming tax overhaul bill — House Republicans unveiled a 2018 budget plan Tuesday that would pave the way for ambitious tax reform legislation — but only alongside a package of politically sensitive spending cuts that threaten …
Discussion:
Vox, The Atlantic, CNN, CNBC and 1A
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Coast Guard wants to kick boats off Potomac River when president is golfing — The Trump family has offended many sectors of establishment Washington since their arrival in the nation's capital, from Langley's spymasters to mansion-dwellers in the District's Kalorama neighborhood.
Discussion:
Shareblue
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Finally, a Poll Trump Will Like: Clinton Is Even More Unpopular — Views on Democratic nominee harden since exit from spotlight — Obama now as popular as he was in first year in White House — For a president with historically low poll numbers, Donald Trump can at least find solace in this: Hillary Clinton is doing worse.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Politicus USA and Business Insider


New York Seeks Bank Records of Former Trump Associate Paul Manafort — Loans issued by a bank run by former campaign adviser Steve Calk are focus of subpoena — New York prosecutors have demanded records relating to up to $16 million in loans that a bank run by a former campaign adviser …
Discussion:
Political Wire


Trump Says He Has Signed More Bills Than Any President, Ever. He Hasn't. — WASHINGTON — To hear President Trump tell it, his first six months in the White House should be judged in part by the legislation he has signed into law. — At rallies, in speeches and on Twitter …
Discussion:
Politicus USA


Liberals can win again if they stop being so annoying and fix their ‘hamburger problem’ — I've been haunted by a claim my KCRW colleague Rich Lowry made on our radio show a few weeks ago: Democrats keep coming up short in elections because they won't give any ground on “cultural issues” …


Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, but Only Reluctantly — WASHINGTON — President Trump agreed on Monday to certify again that Iran is complying with an international nuclear agreement that he has strongly criticized, but only after hours of arguing with his top national security advisers …


GOP Seeks to Close Federal Election Agency — House Republicans are pressing to defund the sole federal agency that exclusively works to ensure the voting process is secure — WASHINGTON—House Republicans are seeking to defund the U.S. Election Assistance Commission …
Discussion:
electionlawblog.org


Is the President Fit? — Few props have been more indispensable to Donald Trump's presidency than the golf cart. He drives them on his frequent weekend trips to the links (invariably at Trump-owned clubs, where he rolls onto the greens, too—normally a no-no).
Discussion:
Althouse


As Party Drifts Left, Pragmatic Democratic Governors Have Eye on White House — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Many elected Democrats have drifted left since the party's shattering defeat last November, turning to a brand of progressive politics that is closer to Senator Bernie Sanders's democratic socialism …
Discussion:
Political Wire