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5 Points On The GOP’s Push To Change Medicaid As We Know It
The Gist: Republicans have hinted that they intend to use their Obamacare repeal push to transform Medicaid into a block grant system, a long-held GOP policy dream that faces deep resistance from state officials and could make the already treacherous territory around repeal of the Affordable Care Act more complicated.
Trump Defends Immigration Executive Order, Lashes Out At Media
The Gist: After his executive order suspending the United States’ refugee program and temporarily banning people from seven predominantly Muslims countries caused chaos at airports over the weekend, President Donald Trump defended his action on Sunday.
Trump Advisor’s Son Deletes Twitter After Calling Executive Order A ‘Muslim Ban’
The Gist: Michael G. Flynn, the son of President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, apparently deleted his Twitter account on Sunday after referring to the executive order Trump signed Friday night as a “Muslim ban.”
From The Reporter’s Notebook
President Donald Trump’s net approval rating dropped by eight points in his first week in the Oval Office, according to daily polls tracked by Gallup. On Sunday Jan. 22, two days after being sworn in, 45 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Trump’s job performance and 45 percent approved. By Friday Jan. 27, the percentage who disapproved rose to 50 and percentage who approved dipped to 42, TPM’s Allegra Kirkland reported.
Agree or Disagree?
John Judis: “By making this utterly false charge, Trump stirred up public wrath against a defenseless people who have been lured to America by the promise of jobs and who have been willfully employed by businesses who want to save money by paying them less than they would pay native workers. By making this charge, Trump also lent support to Republican efforts to suppress minority voting by requiring potential voters to present elaborate forms of identification.”
Say What?!
“When he first announced it, he said Muslim ban. He called me up, he said ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.'”
– Former New York Mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani said in an interview Saturday that President Donald Trump asked him to find a way to “legally” enact the ban on Muslim immigration he repeatedly touted on the campaign trail.
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “I really think all three of us are in agreement here. On the one hand, thinking that we can reach out to White Evangelicals to bring them into a coalition in meaningful numbers on a national basis is futile. And unnecessary for Presidential races, we don’t need them – any of them – to win Presidential elections (though minor gains among them can bolster an Electoral College victory in sufficiently diverse states). But at the state level marginal in-roads with this group is important for taking control of the House and Senate, as well as state legislatures. The Democrats really need to focus on the states, and win them back from the right as only that will exterminate the Giant Gerrymander. But I reject entirely arguments of the form ‘the Democrats are guilty of not addressing the needs or rural whites, we need to adopt policies that cater to them to win them over’. To this I have a two part response: the ACA and Kansas. These authoritarian types eagerly vote for policies that actively harm them, and despise policies that help them. Their views are not based on analysis or facts. We should however make a concerted effort to sell sound policies to them, eventually a formula may be found that will allow truth to penetrate the bubble. We need to keep trying.”
Related: Holder Kicks Off Group To Combat GOP ‘Gerrymandering On Steroids’
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