Trump just moved the GOP’s health care consensus permanently to the left

EZRA KLEIN, VOX

BUT JUST WHAT DID HE MEAN?

VOX

3) “Thirdly, we should give our great state governors the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out.”

This particular point is a bit difficult to decode. The idea of “resources and flexibility” seems to hint at the idea of a block grant, where the federal government would give states a lump sum of money and let them run the entitlement program as they see fit, with less federal oversight. Block grants (including the one proposed in the recently leaked GOP plan) are typically used as a way to cut federal Medicaid spending.

The second part of the sentence is interesting here, too, as Trump promises to “make sure no one is left out.” This sure feels like a nod toward the Republican governors (and some senators) who have pushed to maintain the Medicaid expansion. This would include Ohio Gov. John Kasich, whom Trump met with on Saturday and who has been a vociferous advocate for continuing the Medicaid expansion. The governors are still figuring out their exact position on what they want from Trump on Medicaid, and this seems like a space still subject to significant change in coming weeks and months.

Republicans’ alarming proposal would end Medicaid as we know it

HENRY WAXMAN, WASHINGTON POST


CATHERINE RAMPELL, WASHINGTON POST

Trump’s GOP enablers take a page from the fascist-era Vatican

RICHARD COHEN, WASHINGTON POST


MICHAEL GARSON, WASHINGTON POST

Justice Department changes course in high-profile Texas voter-ID case The federal government filed a motion seeking to drop its claim that the Texas law, one of the strictest in the country, is intentionally racially discriminatory. Lawyers said in Monday’s filing that rather than litigate the question, the administration wants to give state lawmakers an opportunity to adjust the rule. By Sari Horwitz  •  Read more »

A split has emerged among Trump’s top advisers. It could have major repercussions.

Stephen Bannon is reportedly balking at going too hard at the ACA.

By Greg Sargent  •  The Plum Line  •  Read more »

WASHINGTON POST, GREG SARGENT

the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” 



E.J. DIONNE, JR., WASHINGTON POST



This is a war on a century’s worth of work to keep our air and water clean; our food, drugs and workplaces safe; the rights of employees protected; and the marketplace fair and unrigged. … Trump and Bannon are happy to expand the reach of the state when it comes to policing, immigration enforcement … and the browbeating of individual companies that offend the president in one way or another. The parts of government they want to dismantle are those that stand on the side of citizens against powerful interests.

Michael Kimmel, one of the world’s foremost experts on masculinity, examines its role in men’s adherence to – and departure from – far-right movements





GUARDIAN

Courts can be undermined in these 3 ways. This is how to protect them.



WASHINGTON POST

The Reichstag Warning

TIMOTHY SNYDER, NY REVIEW OF BOOKS

Cabinet members keep scrambling to clean up after Trump speaks

President Trump’s secretaries have found themselves softening, explaining and sometimes outright contradicting him. It adds to the sense of chaos and turmoil emanating from the White House, sending agency heads scrambling to interpret their boss’s exact positions and leaving other nations confused as to who, exactly, speaks on behalf of the administration.

By Ashley Parker  •  Read more »

The Unprecedented People’s Revolt to Protect Obamacare From Their Representatives

MICHAEL TOMASKY, DAILY BEAST

EXCLUSIVE

White House sought to enlist key intelligence officials, lawmakers to counter Russia stories

The calls were orchestrated after unsuccessful attempts by the White House to get senior FBI officials to speak with news organizations and dispute the accuracy of reports of alleged contacts between members of Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives.

By Greg Miller and Adam Entous  •  Read more »

White House blocks CNN, N.Y. Times from news briefing hours after Trump slams media On Day 36 of the Trump presidency, CNN did not break into regular programming to show the daily media briefing by Sean Spicer. That’s because the cable network and other news outlets — including Politico and the Los Angeles Times — were not invited into the session, where cameras were barred. Trump-friendly outlets such as Breitbart were allowed in. By Callum Borchers  •  Read more »

The GOP’s zombie orthodoxy on tax cuts fails again but continues nevertheless.

WASHINGTON POST



WASHINGTON POST

How Citizens United gave Republicans a bonanza of seats in U.S. state legislatures

WASHINGTON POST

Trump appears to be losing his war with the media A poll from Quinnipiac University suggests that while people may be unhappy with the mainstream media, they still think it's more credible than the president. By Aaron Blake  •  Read more »

Joan Didion in the Deep South

NY REVIEW OF BOOKS

New Trump Deportation Rules Allow Far More Expulsions

New guidelines include people in US illegally charged with or even suspected of a crime, and would send border crossers back to Mexico regardless of origin.

NY TIMES

Documents released on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security revealed the broad scope of the president’s ambitions: to publicize crimes by undocumented immigrants; strip such immigrants of privacy protections; enlist local police officers as enforcers; erect new detention facilities; discourage asylum seekers; and, ultimately, speed up deportations.

For now, so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as young children, will not be targeted unless they commit crimes, officials said on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump has not yet said where he will get the billions of dollars needed to pay for thousands of new border control agents, a network of detention facilities to detain unauthorized immigrants and a wall along the entire southern border with Mexico.

But politically, Mr. Kelly’s actions on Tuesday serve to reinforce the president’s standing among a core constituency — those who blame unauthorized immigrants for taking jobs away from citizens, committing heinous crimes and being a financial burden on federal, state and local governments.

Despite those assertions in the new documents, research shows lower levels of crime among immigrants than among native-born Americans.

THE SILENT DEPRESSION

DAVID BROOKS, NY TIMES

Homeland Security memos outline broad plans to bolster deportation efforts

Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly signed sweeping new guidelines for measures to more aggressively detain and deport illegal immigrants. The documents detail plans to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, speed up deportation hearings and expand the pool of immigrants prioritized for removal.

By David Nakamura  •  Read more »