‘Majority of Republicans in Congress Know What We’re Dealing With Here,’ Says Senator
Truth to power. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump’s reckless threats could set the nation “on the path to World War III.” In an extraordinary rebuke of a president of his own party, Corker said, “I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him.”
“Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here,” Corker told The New York Times, adding that “of course they understand the volatility that we’re dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road.”
Corker’s comments capped a remarkable day of insults between Trump and the powerful senator. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that Corker decided not to run for re-election because he “didn’t have the guts.” Corker shot back in his own tweet: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”
Dreamers’ nightmare. The White House released a list of hard-line immigration principles late Sunday that threaten to derail a deal in Congress to allow hundreds of thousands of younger undocumented immigrants to remain in the country legally. The administration’s wish list includes the funding of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a crackdown on the influx of Central American minors and curbs on federal grants to “sanctuary cities,” according to a document distributed to Congress and obtained by The Washington Post. The demands were quickly denounced by Democratic leaders in Congress who had hoped to forge a deal with President Trump to protect younger immigrants, known as “dreamers,” who were brought to the United States illegally as children.
Puerto Rico. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz pleaded for help Sunday. “Power collapses in San Juan hospital with 4 patients now being transferred out,” she tweeted. “Have requested support from FEMA. NOTHING!” FEMA Director Brock Long apparently doesn’t believe the concern of the mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital city is worth the agency’s time. “We filtered out the mayor a long time ago,” Long said. “We don’t have time for the political noise.” Generator failures at hospitals endanger patients’ lives. Some hospital patients have been taken by helicopter to the Navy’s hospital ship. More than two weeks after the hurricane, 88% of the island doesn’t have electricity.
Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration has drafted an executive order to further sabotage the Affordable Care Act. The order would exempt groups of small businesses that pool together to buy health insurance from requirements such as covering some essential health benefits. Individuals might be able to join the plans too which would hurt individual insurance marketplaces by drawing younger and healthier people away from them. “It will destroy the small-group market,” said Tim Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University.
Walked out. Pence left a National Football League game in his home state of Indiana after some players kneeled during the national anthem. “I left today’s Colts game because President Trump and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem,” Pence said. Trump said he had asked Pence to leave if any player kneeled. Kneeling, a form of protest protected by the First Amendment, began as a protest by Colin Kaepernick, a black NFL player, as a show of opposition to police violence and injustice against racial minorities, and was later joined by other athletes. The Colts beat the San Francisco 49ers 26-23.
Fired. Film producer Harvey Weinstein has been fired from the independent film studio he co-founded, The Weinstein Company. The announcement comes after The New York Times reported last week that Weinstein had reached at least eight settlements with women he sexually harassed. The Times article led to more allegations including those by former news anchor Lauren Sivan who said Weinstein trapped her in a restaurant hallway, masturbated in front of her and ejaculated into a potted plant.
