What, me worry?
by Tom Sullivan
Republicans on the #NeverTrump team are meeting either to plan for removing him, for moving beyond him, or else for lamenting that their party has moved beyond them. The Meeting of the Concerned sent a letter to Congress yesterday urging Republicans not to allow anyone to interfere with the Mueller investigation on "trumped-up grounds," their only oblique reference to whom they mean by anyone. In their name, one cannot but hear echoes of "The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia."
We hereby call on House Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell to make clear, both publicly and privately, that they support the Mueller investigation and regard any interference with that investigation, including dismissal of the special counsel or preemptive pardons of investigation targets, as completely unacceptable. We further urge all Republican members of Congress to issue public statements on these issues as well.Dave Weigel reports on the Meeting of the Concerned:
Evan McMullin, the “Never Trump” presidential candidate, was in the room. So was Bill Kristol, co-founder of the Weekly Standard, who had drafted McMullin to run. The meeting grew to include conservative columnists like Mona Charen, Max Boot and John Ziegler, and former U.S. House members such as South Carolina’s Bob Inglis and Florida’s David Jolly.The Last Meeting of the Knights of the Concerned has plenty to be concerned about, it's true. For instance, Dana Milbank reports, take the "best people" the president hired for his administration. Please:
A group called American Oversight had the foresight to make records requests for résumés of those hired by the Trump administration, and the group searched for those who worked on the Trump campaign. Among the “best” Trump hires American Oversight found:A confidential assistant at the Agriculture Department was a cabana boy at the Westchester Country Club from 2009 to 2015. There must have been tremendous, tremendous fawning involved. There are more of the best at the link, if you care to ruin your morning.
●Sid Bowdidge, assistant to the secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Before working for the Trump campaign, Bowdidge, from 2013 to 2015, was manager of the Meineke Car Care branch in Seabrook, N.H. He previously was service and branch manager for tire shops. I don’t know what qualified Bowdidge for his position, but I do know this: He is not going to pay a lot for that muffler. (He had to hit the road, losing his job after it was discovered he had called Muslims “maggots.”)
●Victoria Barton, congressional relations for Regions II, V and VI, Department of Housing and Urban Development. Prior to working for the Trump campaign, Barton was an office manager and, between 2013 and 2015, a “bartender/bar manager.” The expertise in housing policy possessed by Barton is no doubt invaluable to HUD Secretary Ben Carson, a retired brain surgeon.
More than half of Americans (59 percent) said they consider this the lowest point in U.S. history that they can remember — a figure spanning every generation, including those who lived through World War II and Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.With the health care provider-in-chief having cut off subsidies to the Obamacare system and working to collapse the it, insurers are jacking up rates to compensate. In my case, BCBSNC dropped my grandfathered private policy and offered instead a shiny, new one with a 377% premium increase and a 1/3 rise in the deductible. And yours?
When asked to think about the nation this year, nearly six in 10 adults (59 percent) report that the current social divisiveness causes them stress. A majority of adults from both political parties say the future of the nation is a source of stress, though the number is significantly higher for Democrats (73 percent) than for Republicans (56 percent) and independents (59 percent).
[...]
The most common issues causing stress when thinking about the nation are health care (43 percent), the economy (35 percent), trust in government (32 percent), hate crimes (31 percent) and crime (31 percent), wars/conflicts with other countries (30 percent), and terrorist attacks in the United States (30 percent). About one in five Americans cited unemployment and low wages (22 percent), and climate change and environmental issues (21 percent) as issues causing them stress.