Rubio’s Re-Election Problem, Health Care Spending Slows Dramatically, And Trump’s Accidental Press Secretary

By db

June 21, 2016 8:26 a.m.

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June 21, 2016

The Gist: The political climate that sunk Marco Rubio’s presidential ambitions in March hasn’t gone away.

Health Care Costs Grow Dramatically Slower Than Expected After Obamacare

The Gist: A new study predicts that the U.S. will spend $2.6 trillion less on health care between 2014-2019 than was initially anticipated.

Trump: ‘I Don’t Believe’ Obama Sympathizes With Terrorists (VIDEO)

The Gist: After suggesting that Obama wants terrorism to flourish, Trump said that he doesn’t think Obama sympathizes with terrorists.

From The Reporter’s Notebook

TPM’s Allegra Kirkland recounted the messy history of Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s campaign manager who was ousted in a surprise announcement on Monday. Though he clashed with many on the campaign staff, including spokeswoman Hope Hicks and campaign chair Paul Manafort, Lewandowski’s dismissal reportedly came at the urging of Trump’s three adult children, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric.

Agree or Disagree?

Josh Marshall: “Even if Trump can’t not be Trump, the damage of being Trump could at least be off-set by pouring money into advertising in key swing states and field work. But at this moment, the Clinton campaign (and pro-Clinton superPACs) is rolling out a barrage of targeted swing state advertising focused on solidifying and embedding the highly negative image Trump has built for himself over the last year and especially the last eight weeks. That advertising is going entirely unanswered by the Trump campaign. Trump’s been reduced to making emergency appeals to raise $100,000.”

Say What?!

“I don’t believe in hyphenated Americans.”

– A GOP Senate candidate in Florida says that hyphenated identities cause national “divisions.”

BUZZING: Today in the Hive

From a TPM Prime member: “The GOP, as an institution, will not easily recover with or without Trump. The Donald has exposed the GOP platform for the con job it is and any replacement candidate will not be able to restore credibility of the party, certainly for this election or 2018. The 70/30 split has been evident to the GOP leadership for years, but they nurtured the Tea Party and encouraged the disaggregation phenomenon (‘government is not the solution, government is the problem’) and now the consequences are apparent — with an uninformed blowhard who ‘tells it like it is’ and who is proud to attack the ‘established leadership’ with ideas that just seem to randomly pop into his head.”

Related: The Trump campaign parted ways with increasingly controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

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What We’re Reading

The strange ascent of Hope Hicks. (GQ)

Inside the United States of Trump. (NBC News)

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