Top Items:
Politico:
Trump publicly backs healthcare effort, privately harbors doubts — While the president appears all in some in the White House wonder about Graham-Cassidy's contents and its chances. — In public, President Donald Trump is all-in on the Senate's final chance to repeal Obamacare.
RELATED:
Megan Messerly / The Nevada Independent:
Sandoval doubles down on criticism of Heller-sponsored measure; state analysis highlights up to $2 billion loss — Gov. Brian Sandoval said Thursday that the flexibility fellow Republican Sen. Dean Heller promised will be good for Nevada in a health-care bill he's sponsoring is a “false choice” …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Political Wire
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Cruelty, Incompetence and Lies — Graham-Cassidy, the health bill the Senate may vote on next week, is stunningly cruel. It's also incompetently drafted: The bill's sponsors clearly had no idea what they were doing when they put it together. Furthermore, their efforts to sell the bill involve obvious, blatant lies.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Forbes, The Week, Whatever Source Derived, AOL, Business Insider, Bloomberg, The Nation, Vox and CNN
Caitlin Owens / Axios:
The key states that would lose funding under Graham-Cassidy — A new estimate obtained by Axios from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects that Alaska, home to key swing vote Sen. Lisa Murkowski, would lose 38% of federal funding for premium subsidies and Medicaid by 2026 under the Graham-Cassidy proposal.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and New York Magazine
CNN:
Axelrod: I cried when they passed Obamacare — David Axelrod: When ACA passed, I was reminded of my daughter's struggle with epilepsy and high cost of her medical care — The new GOP health-care bill would plunge many Americans into the same situation my family was in, he writes
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
This Republican health-care bill is the most monstrous yet
This Republican health-care bill is the most monstrous yet
Discussion:
CNN, KTLA, WTVR-TV, Daily Kos, Shareblue, Forbes, The Mahablog, New York Magazine and Politico
Louis Nelson / Politico:
Trump cautions GOP to pass Obamacare repeal or face the consequences
Trump cautions GOP to pass Obamacare repeal or face the consequences
Discussion:
Political Wire
Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:
Medicaid directors issue warning on new ObamaCare repeal bill
Medicaid directors issue warning on new ObamaCare repeal bill
Discussion:
The Week
Washington Post:
Federal estimate shows states' big win-loss gap by 2026 under Cassidy-Graham bill
Federal estimate shows states' big win-loss gap by 2026 under Cassidy-Graham bill
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Marginal REVOLUTION, Hullabaloo and The Week
Theodore Kupfer / National Review:
Jimmy Kimmel, Policy-Wonk Wannabe
Jimmy Kimmel, Policy-Wonk Wannabe
Discussion:
Vox, Business Insider, Washington Post, The Week, Mashable, twitchy.com, Slate and Save My Care
Nancy Cook / Politico:
Trump aides begin looking for the exits — A fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits, even though the one-year mark of President Donald Trump's first term is still months away. — Many who joined the administration in January did so with the explicit idea …
Discussion:
The Week, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com
RELATED:
Shane Harris / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Monitored Manafort After He Left Trump Campaign — The surveillance came as part of a counterintelligence probe into Russian interference with presidential election — U.S. authorities placed Paul Manafort under surveillance after he was ousted as Donald Trump's campaign manager …
Discussion:
The Hill and Washington Post
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Trump says this is all a hoax. Mueller, Congress and Facebook disagree. — Special counsel Robert Mueller and three congressional committees are investigating Russian interference in the election, but President Trump is still telling his fans it's a “hoax.”
Discussion:
Shareblue, New York Times and IJR, more at Mediagazer »
Mark Zuckerberg:
I just went live a minute ago. Here's what I said:
I just went live a minute ago. Here's what I said:
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, NPR, Facebook, RT, Mashable, The Daily Caller, New York Times, Deadline, Axios, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, GeekWire, Engadget, The Verge, Gizmodo and Sunlight Foundation, more at Mediagazer »
Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:
How Tom Price decided chartered, private jets were a good use of taxpayer money — After Tom Price was sworn in as health and human services secretary, the Georgia Republican faced an inconvenience known to millions of Americans: His flight was delayed, an aide said, and he was forced to spend hours at an airport.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Politico and FierceHealthcare
RELATED:
Dan Diamond / Politico:
Price traveled by private plane at least 24 times — Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers' expense since early May, according to people with knowledge of his travel plans and a review of HHS documents.
Bob Grip / WALA-TV:
Roy Moore leads Luther Strange in FOX10 News poll — If the Alabama GOP Senate runoff election were held today, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore would defeat incumbent Senator Luther Strange, according to an exclusive, FOX10 News/Strategy Research statewide poll, conducted Wednesday.
RELATED:
John Verhovek / ABC News:
5 moments that mattered in the Alabama US Senate debate
5 moments that mattered in the Alabama US Senate debate
Discussion:
Politico
John Bresnahan / Politico:
McConnell lays it on the line
McConnell lays it on the line
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Daily Caller
Jonathan Cheng / Wall Street Journal:
North Korea Warns of Hydrogen-Bomb Test Over Pacific Ocean — Threat made in response to U.S. president's speech before U.N.; Kim Jong Un calls Donald Trump ‘mentally deranged’ — SEOUL—North Korea's foreign minister said the country could detonate a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean …
Discussion:
RedState, Defense One and New York Times
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Kim Jong Un: ‘Deranged’ Trump will ‘pay dearly’ for threat
Kim Jong Un: ‘Deranged’ Trump will ‘pay dearly’ for threat
Discussion:
Axios, Talking Points Memo, IJR, USA Today and The Hill
David Nakamura / Washington Post:
Amid new sanctions, Trump calls North Korea's leader ‘madman’ whose regime will face new tests
Amid new sanctions, Trump calls North Korea's leader ‘madman’ whose regime will face new tests
Discussion:
RedState, The Hill, Reuters, The Daily Caller, NBC News, Just Security, The American Conservative, Business Insider, The Guardian, CNN, The Week, Mashable, Mediaite and New York Magazine
Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
Kim's Rejoinder to Trump's Rocket Man: ‘Mentally Deranged U.S. Dotard’
Kim's Rejoinder to Trump's Rocket Man: ‘Mentally Deranged U.S. Dotard’
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon
Josh Delk / The Hill:
Coulter: If we're not getting the wall, we may as well have an attractive dignified president — Ann Coulter on Wednesday slammed President Trump as less “attractive” and “dignified” than Vice President Pence and doubled down on her recent harsh criticism of the president by advocating replacing him with his second in command.
Discussion:
RedState
Philip Wegmann / Washington Examiner:
The Left catapulted Valerie Plame to stardom without figuring out what she thinks — CIA Agent. Fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. Apparent anti-Semite. Valerie Plame is many things. — The left-wing darling just tweeted an article accusing Jews of starting American wars.
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, twitchy.com, IJR and Washington Free Beacon
RELATED:
Financial Times:
Steve Bannon held secret meeting in Beijing — Steve Bannon flew to Beijing last week for a secret meeting with the second most powerful Chinese Communist party official, less than a month after the former chief White House strategist declared that America was at “economic war with China”.
Brownsville Herald:
De Leon apologizes; Leaked audio clips of foul language, slurs go viral — City Commissioner Cesar De Leon was apologetic Wednesday after multiple social media users this week shared audio clips of him using derogatory slurs to describe two assistant district attorneys.
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, IJR, Daily Wire and The Daily Caller
Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
Sorry I can't go to your thing. I must call my senator to plead for my life. — An email template from the near future. — I am sorry I cannot make it to your event, but I have to call Congress every eight minutes to plead for my life. — Would I like to go to your wedding/bar mitzvah …
Jason Le Miere / Newsweek:
STEVE BANNON HELPED WRITE TRUMP'S U.N. SPEECH, CLAIMS SEBASTIAN GORKA, WHO CALLED IT ‘CLASSIC MAGA AGENDA’ — Steve Bannon helped write President Donald Trump's address to the United Nations General Assembly before he was ousted from the White House last month, Sebastian Gorka told Newsweek Thursday.
Discussion:
Conservative News Today and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
New York Times:
Fighting Breaks Out at Turkish President's Speech in New York — Violence broke out at a New York hotel Thursday afternoon when protesters disrupted a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. — In the middle of Mr. Erdogan's speech, delivered in Turkish, a man …
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Free Beacon and Business Insider