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Trump blindsided by implosion of GOP health care bill — President Donald 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:
Raw Story, ABC News, Axios, Business Insider and Joe.My.God.
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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.
Discussion:
Vox, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway, The Atlantic, CNBC, Hullabaloo, Kennebec Journal & …, Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, Politicus USA, The Daily Caller, Infowars, Common Dreams, CBS New York, NPR, IJR, Townhall.com, Deadline, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Lawyers, Guns & Money, ACASignups.net, NBC News, Mother Jones, Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon, The Guardian, twitchy.com, The Moderate Voice, RedState, Washington Times, U.S. Senator for Kansas …, Hit & Run, Political Wire, TheBlaze and The Slot


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, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Federalist, IJR, Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon and The Hill

Trump blames Dems, ‘a few Republicans’ for collapse of healthcare bill

The Daily 202: After Senate bill falls apart, Republicans don't have the votes to repeal Obamacare
Discussion:
New York Times, Media Matters for America, Daily Kos, Wichita Eagle, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Axios, The Federalist and Mediaite

GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell Abandons Health-Care Bill
Discussion:
Forbes, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, CNN, Axios, Daily Wire, IJR and Mother Jones

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

After O'Care Plan Falters, McConnell Says He'll Push For Vote On Repeal Only
Discussion:
The Atlantic, RedState, Vox, CNBC, Hit & Run, Bangor Daily News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, IJR, Axios, The Last Refuge, NBC News, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, First Draft and Shakesville


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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First on CNN: Special Counsel investigators seeking info from ‘eighth man’ at Trump Tower meeting — Washington (CNN)Special counsel investigators are seeking information from the still-publicly unidentified eighth person who attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Talking Points Memo

Eighth person in Trump Tower meeting is identified — An American-based employee of a Russian real estate company took part in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., bringing to eight the number of known participants at the session that has emerged …
Discussion:
Raw Story

Trump Jr. attorney offers details about 8th person at meeting
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and The Daily Caller


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:
CNNMoney, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Raw Story and Washington Free Beacon


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:
Business Insider, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, AOL, Washington Free Beacon, Conservative News Today, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Axios and Mediaite
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Steve Bannon Reportedly Attacked Paul Ryan As ‘A Limp-D**k Motherf**ker’ — What? — Steve Bannon reportedly called House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) “a limp-dick motherf**ker who was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation,” referring to the think tank whose fiscal conservative policies the representative espouses.
Discussion:
Political Wire

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:
Mother Jones, ABC News, The Atlantic, Vox, CNBC, New York Magazine, CNN and 1A
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Conservative caucus withholding support from Republican budget
Discussion:
RedState


Trump Just Came Very Close to Killing the Iran Deal — At the last minute, the president nearly told Tillerson not to certify Iranian compliance. — Under President Barack Obama this kind of thing was routine. Since the Iran nuclear deal was reached in 2015, every few months …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Axios, IJR, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and Mediaite
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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 …


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.


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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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 …
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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:
Talking Points Memo and Political Wire


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:
USA Today, Althouse and Shakesville


Is the presidency good for Trump's business? Not necessarily at this golf course. — At President Trump's golf club in Southern California, there is a driving range on a cliff, with a stunning view of the blue Pacific. There's room for 24 golfers. — But, on a recent afternoon, there was only one.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Coast Guard wants to kick boats off Potomac River when president is golfing
Discussion:
Shareblue


Large majority in new poll worries of major war — A large majority of Americans fears the U.S. will become involved in a major war, according to a new survey. — About three-quarters of Americans, 76 percent, are worried the U.S. will become engaged in a major war over the course of the next four years …
Discussion:
RedState
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Steven Mnuchin, Trump's treasury secretary, is hurtling toward his first fiasco — Shortly before he was sworn in as treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin spoke with his predecessor to get some advice. — Pay attention to the debt problems in Puerto Rico, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned Mnuchin …

Walter Shaub: How to Restore Government Ethics in the Trump Era — Shortly after his inauguration, President George H. W. Bush counseled freshly minted White House appointees that, “It's not really very complicated. It's a question of knowing right from wrong, avoiding conflicts of interest …