Donald Trump: Repeal, replace, repeal, repeal, replace.

Donald Trump demanded that the Senate repeal and replace Obamacare until it became apparent that it couldn’t. So then he demanded that the Senate just repeal it. Until it became clear it couldn’t do that either. Now Trump’s back to repeal and replace  – or no one is leaving town. (Although I doubt he’ll hang around)

Perhaps a new poll revealing that only 13% of Americans support the ‘repeal only’ option may have weighed on his thinking. (h/t The Hill)

Trump whines.

Trump admitted to the New York Times that he would never have hired Jeff Sessions if he had known that Sessions would bail on the Russian investigation. Saying, “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.” In his inimitable ‘woe is me’ style he characterized Sessions’ actions as “very unfair to the president.”

It doesn’t occur to the whiner-in-chief that his complaint is tantamount to a confession that there is some there, there. Something he was relying on Sessions to cover up. (h/t NYT)

Jeff Sessions, pirate.

In America, a man is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. The Constitution builds in protections against unreasonable bail, cruel and unusual punishment, self-incrimination and double jeopardy. The law requires that criminal defendants get a lawyer and that suspects be read their rights. But there is one exception to the protections afforded citizens before a trial – asset forfeiture.

Supposedly this is to prevent wealthy drug dealers and organized crime families from using the proceeds of criminal activity to pay for their defense. A noble goal. But give the government an unfettered opportunity to take money and it will – with giddy enthusiasm.

Eric Holder, Barack Obama’s AG, had restricted the federal government’s ability to take and share the loot with state authorities – circumventing sometimes tougher state laws on asset forfeiture. Jeff Sessions thought this that was absurd and announced that henceforth the Feds would be back in the business of taking the citizen’s possessions without benefit of due process. (h/t AP)

Donald Trump is an optimist.

Trump is known for dismissing polls he doesn’t like and embracing those he does. So when the most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll revealed he had a 36% approval rating it was unsurprising he tweeted that the pollster “was just about the most inaccurate poll around election time!”. But he embraced the result anyway saying, “even though almost 40% is not bad at this time”.

His enthusiasm with low numbers extended to his analysis of the Senate’s aborted run at healthcare reform. He again blamed the Democrats – even though he didn’t need their votes for passage – and celebrated that, if only Republicans voted – it would have passed 48-4. There was no estimate on the vote tally if only brunettes voted. And we’ll have to take his word only 4 GOPers would have voted against the GOP’s attempt to strip millions of healthcare.

The post Really? 7.19.17. Healthcare on Life Support; Trump whines; Asset Forfeiture; Trump’s Magic Math. appeared first on The Critical Mind.