But a reality game show, this is not - a perception that now White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly was brought in to fix, at the expense of the Scaramucci-castigated Reince Priebus. General Kelly gets sworn in tomorrow and the good news for him is that among the few people the president listens to it seems are generals; a short time will tell.
While all the infighting raged through the administration this week, major moments were taking shape in the Senate over Mitch McConnell's health care bill. To distract from a potential disaster of not fulfilling a campaign promise - repealing Obamacare - the Trump Administration, nay President Trump tweeted a new military policy banning all transgender individuals from serving in the armed forces. The Pentagon directed questions about the policy back to the White House and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred questions back to the Pentagon. The administration's calculation was once again an example of poor political judgement. Not only did it not soften the blow of the health care vote going down in defeat in the eyes of Mr. Trump's base, but it was widely criticized by many Republican politicians, namely Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who said that transgender individuals didn't choose their sexuality but were born that way so why should we hold that against them.
But as stated at the top, the defeat of Mr. McConnell's health care bill was not entirely surprising. Before getting to that, it must be said that Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price only gives answers in pure ideological terms never with any specifics, as he once again did on today's program. It's almost as though you have to have the secretary on your program as a courtesy, but the fact is that no one is listening to his platitudes anymore. As the secretary in charge of healthcare, he needs to be specific, and he never is. So when he says that the president is "so passionate" and "serious" about health care, how are we to believe that.
President Trump said that he was "waiting with pen in hand" to sign a bill repealing Obamacare, and that was part of the problem right there - the president doesn't even realize. He was waiting. If you're so passionate and serious about health care reform, you're out there talking about it in a constructive way, not threatening the Secretary of Health and Human Services' job during a speech at the National Boy Scouts of America Jamboree.
And to make sure that the president and the Senate majority leader understand regular order and how it's done, in walks the maverick - Senator John McCain (R-AZ).
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was always a no vote on McConnell's bill. The Trump Administration threatened to withhold approval on infrastructure projects in Alaska and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) punched right back at Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke by holding up hiring hearing in the Senate for his agency - pushing her to a no vote. But Senator McCain... Republican leadership and the Vice President thought they had a shot at him.
Senator McCain after having surgery and being diagnosed with brain cancer, flew back to Washington and gave a widely-praised speech on the Senate returning to regular order and working in a bipartisan way again then he cast a 'yes' vote on the motion for the Senate to proceed with debate on the ACA repeal bill. It was heartening to Mr. McConnell and Republican leadership.
But here's the rub, Mr. McConnell reversed all of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform, eliminating big dark money in campaigns. It was the kind of signature piece of bipartisan legislation that Mr. McCain prided himself on. Also, for his part, Mr. Trump never apologized to the senator for his comments on not being a war hero because the then-airman was captured. Point being is that the senator felt no obligation to either man so he voted no because the bill didn't go through the standard process of the Senate; there was no adequate replacement bill; and too many people would lose coverage. When you consider all that, not so surprising.
And just on another quick note, Mr. Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski explained that new Chief of Staff Kelly will restore order to the staff so that the president's agenda can be carried out. He also warned that if the fmr. general tries to change Mr. Trump - not let Trump be Trump - then he will fail. But he went on to say that the three main agenda items for the president were the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, the building of a wall on our southern border and tax reform. The president is demanding the Senate take another vote but that's unlikely, one down. As for the border wall, among Mr. Trump's base there is enthusiasm for it, but not among anyone else, which simply just goes unsaid among conservatives. This leaves tax reform, which prompts a question of trust toward any ideas the administration would have on the law, simply for the fact that there is no real understanding on how a said idea would unfairly benefit the president due to him never releasing his tax returns. A huge sticking point.
Panel: Helene Cooper, The New York Times; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network; Cornell Belcher, Democratic pollstar and author.
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