Hannity Blows Up On Cruz, Sanders Aide: Campaign Headed To Convention, And Putin Not As Powerful As You Think

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Check out Wednesday’s newsletter!

April 20, 2016

Top Stories


Don’t Believe The GOP’s Chicken Little Act Over Insurers Dropping Obamacare

The Gist: This week gave Obamacare foes some health care industry lemons to turn into anti-Affordable Care Act lemonade.

Fox News Host Sean Hannity Blows Up At Ted Cruz On-Air: ‘You Gotta Stop!’ (AUDIO)

The Gist: Conservative radio host and non-journalist Sean Hannity got testy with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during a Tuesday interview after the senator tried to dodge any talk about delegate wrangling in the Republican presidential race.

Despite NY Loss, Top Sanders Aide Says Campaign Headed To Convention  

The Gist: Following Hillary Clinton’s win in the New York Democratic primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, insisted that their campaign is still headed to the July convention. 

From The Reporter’s Notebook


During her victory speech following a win at the New York primary Tuesday, Hillary Clinton focused on the general election, slamming the policies of Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), TPM’s Kristin Salaky wrote. “Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are pushing a vision for America that’s divisive and frankly dangerous,” Clinton said. “We have a very different vision.”

Agree or Disagree?


Josh Marshall: The margins in New York City and especially the outer boroughs and suburbs is simply shattering. But that’s not a surprise, I think, if you know the area. This is obviously a very blue region. But if you’re not a Democrat, you’re almost certainly going to be a Trump-style Republican. As I said, not a lot of truck with sexual traditionalist politics – more anti-political correctness, ass-kicking, law and order, busting heads and getting stuff done kind of politics. Again, Giuliani, Christie, etc. 

Say What?!


“I’m not endorsing Ted Cruz, in case anyone is confused. I think I’ll take cyanide if he got the nomination.”

– Rep. Pete King (R-NY) is emphatically NOT a Ted Cruz fan.

BUZZING: Today in the Hive


From a TPM Prime member: “So I saw the news today that United Healthcare is withdrawing from the ACA almost completely, citing losses on the exchanges of almost $500M last year. Coincidentally, UHC still booked a staggering $6.8 billion profit last year, down from over $7 billion in 2014.* Shockingly the CNNMoney article doesn’t mention UHC’s $6.8B profit… To me this is obscene, and likely a big problem. As mentioned in the CNN piece, the four other largest insurers are set to become 2 (Aetna & Humana merging and Cigna & Anthem merging). Further, at least in NY, we had a co-op, I believe the largest co-op in the country, and 2nd largest issuer on the NY exchange, went insolvent. I’ve read that other co-ops are experiencing similar problems. It would seem that competition on the exchanges is dwindling. “

Related: Premiums for exchange plans could rise modestly if United Healthcare withdraws from the ACA.

Have something to add? Become a Prime member and join the discussion here.

What We’re Reading


Putin is not as powerful as you think. (Vox)

How GOP intellectuals’ feud with the base is remaking American politics. (Politico)


Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: