Week 14: April 22-27

 

A new narrative about Trump started in Week 14, just shy of his 100th day in office (April 29): Trump the bluffer.

He threatened a government shutdown by his own party unless his boarder wall was funded, then backed down. He threatened to pull out of NAFTA, then after phone calls from Mexico and Canada he backed down. Here is the Upshot explaining how bluffing has been a key feature of Trump’s strategy as a businessman, and how it has limits in the realm of politics.

Apparently concerned that he will be mocked for too few accomplishments in his first 100 days, Trump announced that he would roll out his tax reform plan on Wednesday. His economic advisors were taken by surprise by the announcement and had to put together this plan in a matter of days, which is why it only contained a hundred words on one piece of paper and no specific numbers. The plan gives away most tax benefits to the wealthiest. As with health care, there are divisions on taxes between factions of the GOP and the White House which may ground any potential bill.

Health Care

An amendment was added to the GOP health care bill that allowed states to let insurance companies discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, but said that if a state did make such a move it would not apply to members of Congress or their staffs. Within 24 hours of Vox reporting this on Tuesday:

• the congressman pushing the new amendment said it would be taken out at some point
• House Republicans said it was Senate staffers who inserted the Congress exemption language
• the Senate said that was not true. So everyone involved is claiming not to know where it came from.

By the end of the week it was clear that there were not enough votes to pass in time for Trump’s 100 Days on Saturday. There is still talk of working on getting the votes next week.

Russia Stuff

Michael Flynn had a bad week. Politico reported that his Turkish lobbying work (which always seemed random to me) was actually a front for Russian energy companies. Then Congress and the Defense Department said it was investigating Flynn for potentially breaking laws by taking payments from Russia.

The Senate investigation of Russia election interference was accused of dragging it’s feet, and the Democratic co-chair Senator Warner had to come out and say that things are progressing and asking people to be patient.

100 Days

Apparently concerned that he will be mocked for too few accomplishments in his first 100 days, Trump announced that he would roll out his tax reform plan on Wednesday. His economic advisors were taken by surprise by the announcement and had to put together this plan in a matter of days, which is why it only contained a hundred words on one piece of paper and no specific numbers. The plan gives away most tax benefits to the wealthiest. As with health care, there are divisions on taxes between factions of the GOP and the White House which may ground any potential bill.

Trump gave some interview this week where he gave some revealing self-reflections: He told the AP that he never realized how big the federal government was. He told Reuters that he thought being president would be easier than his old life.

As the 100-day mark approached, there were many great think pieces reflection on what many people thought would happen back on January 20 and what actually has happened. Here is Ross Douthat on how it could be worse. David Brooks writes that Trump has been downgraded from truly dangerous to merely inadequate, and that the left should downgrade its outrage accordingly. Nate Silver makes a similar case that we all need to stop obsessively focusing on the Trump spectacle and resume a more normal, wide ranging political-news diet.

I am going to take their advice. While I will still keep reading all the news papers I have been linking in this weekly diary of the Trump era, I will no longer keep writing these weekly posts. Maybe when some important and convoluted news cycle emerges from Washington, I will post about it. But I have not read the Arts and Leisure section since the election. It is time to see what else is happening in the world and to see it not through the lenses of the orange-tinted glasses we have been wearing for the last year.