For those keeping score at home, two prominent Republican politicians bucked Donald Trump on major issues Sunday. One of them even works for him. Republican Richard Shelby, Alabama’s senior senator, told CNN’s “State of the Union,” that he believes the stories of the women who have accused Roy Moore and that Alabama “deserves better” than Moore. Meanwhile, Nikki Haley, the United Nations ambassador, said on CBS’s “Face The Nation” that the women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment or worse “should be heard … and I think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up.” Via The Washington Post.
Amy Davidson Sorkin: The question now for Trump and Roy Moore is whether they have so degraded the Republican Party that it can never recover. Via The New Yorker.
As the Alabama Senate campaign heads to the finish line, underdog Democrat Roy Jones is seen everywhere while Roy Moore has disappeared from view. Seriously, disappeared. He has not been seen in public since last Tuesday. He doesn’t talk to the press. Is this any way to run a campaign? (Hint: We’ll find out on Tuesday.) Via The Atlantic.
From The National Review, Kevin Williamson writes that whatever Republicans think they are getting in exchange for embracing Roy Moore, it’s not enough.
We’ve been told by the experts that the tax bill will cost somewhere between $1 trillion and $1.4 trillion, depending on how you d0 the scoring. What we don’t know is what it’s going to cost individual Americans when he look for a way to pay for the tax cuts. Via Vox.
David Leonhardt: Was Susan Collins duped by Mitch McConnell on the tax-cut bill or was she just looking for a way out? Via The New York Times.
If you didn’t notice this one, you might want to know. The plan to eliminate medical-costs deductions in the House tax bill would mean major tax hikes for 8.8 million Americans, many of them struggling to pay soaring medical bills. Via The Washington Post.
As the largest of the Southern California fires becomes the fifth largest in modern California history, Congress is working on cutting tax deductions for wildfires. Photos from the Thomas Fire. Via The Los Angeles Times.
The New York Times takes us on an hour-by-hour tour of Donald Trump’s typical day in the White House. Yes, it involves a lot of TV.
Photo by Senior Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz for the Department of Defense, via Flickr: Creative Commons
