Republicans have learned an important lesson during the healthcare battle, writes Ezra Klein in Vox. They don’t have to worry about anything Trump has said on any issue because Trump doesn’t worry about anything he has said on any issue. And so Trumpism dies, Klein says, because not even Trump believes in it.
E.J. Dionne: The reason that Republicans can’t agree on a healthcare bill is that they don’t agree with the basic principle that sometimes government really is needed. Via The Washington Post. And even if they do pass a bill that becomes law, writes John Cassidy in The New Yorker, the new law will fail because it won’t keep any of the promises that Trump has made.
Obamacare has made a huge difference in the quality of healthcare in Kentucky. So why do Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul hate the law so much? Via The New York Times.
Jeff Greenfield says he’s not betting against Mitch McConnell for several reasons, including these: McConnell is wily enough to make the vote close, and presidents, even those whose laser focus resembles Gov. Lepetomane out of “Blazing Saddles,” usually win the close votes. Via Politico.
If you’re puzzled by what’s behind Trump’s latest twitter explosion, it’s no mystery. Just look to the stories in The Washington Post and The New York Times relying on anonymous quotes to show that senators, even now, are stunned by how little attention Trump has paid to the details of the various iterations of the health care bill. Via Vox.
The Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s travel ban said that those with “close” relatives in the United States could not be turned away. But what does “close” mean? According to the State Department, “close” does not include grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law or fiances. Via The Los Angeles Times.
Trump has accepted France’s invitation to visit Paris on Bastille Day. What’s unclear is whether the president will spend any of his time there storming the barricades. Via The New York Times.
From The National Review: The Seattle minimum-wage study shows what happens when magical thinking is applied to economic policy. And also, we should mention, when conservatives embrace science.
Were the ransomware cyber-attackers in it for the money (they didn’t make much)? Or did they have something else in mind (think: spreading chaos)? Via The Atlantic.
Photo by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr: Creative Commons
