Also: Trump’s Budget Doesn’t Add Up, He Insults France’s First Lady and Rowdy Foodies Take On the ‘Orange Fool’
Senate Trumpcare 2.0. Senate Republican leaders on Thursday unveiled a fresh proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, revising their bill to help hold down insurance costs for consumers while allowing insurers to sell new low-cost, stripped down policies. But members of Trump’s own party are still queasy about what Trumpcare would do to people who need health insurance. The latest version of the healthcare bill would keep a pair of taxes on high-income people and cut Medicaid, the federal insurance program for our nation’s needy. Nearly 15 million Americans would lose their Medicaid coverage by 2026 under the Senate bill.
Cooked books. Trump’s budget would not add to economic growth or eliminate the deficit in coming years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Thursday, casting doubt on a plan the White House has touted as central to achieving the president’s domestic agenda. The CBO projected that the economy would grow at only 1.9 percent under the White House’s plan—far below the 3% goal the administration continued to outline as recently as Thursday. It also warned that contrary to White House claims that deep cuts to the safety net in the budget would lead to a financial surplus in a decade, the deficit would actually be $720 billion.
No grabbing. Shortly after Trump arrived in France on Friday for an official visit, he took a moment to tell the country’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, what he thought of her physical appearance. “You’re in such good shape,” Mr. Trump told Mrs. Macron. He then turned to the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and said, “She’s in such good physical shape.” The encounter happened during a tour of the Hôtel National des Invalides, a museum complex in central Paris that houses the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Not above the law. Trump’s Justice Department has complied with a federal court order and released part of a security clearance form dealing with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ contact with foreign governments. Sessions said he had not had any contact in the last seven years with a foreign government. A new watchdog ethics group called American Oversight went to court to get parts of the document, called a Standard Form 86.
Tased. Thomas Blank, a former lobbyist who once lobbied for the company that used to be called Taser International, is now the chief of staff for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Blank has also represented AssureTec Inc., which specializes in facial recognition.
A foolish misunderstanding. A normally placid corner of the Internet went bonkers when Trump supporters decided an 18th-century dessert was an insult. Townsends, a YouTube cooking channel that specializes in colonial-era cooking and living, posted a video on July 3 about custard called the orange fool. Trump supporters, who didn’t appreciate NPR tweeting the Declaration of Independence, also apparently aren’t aware that a fool is a classic English dessert, often made by folding a stewed fruit into a sweet custard. The Townsends version included orange juice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Trump supporters flooded the site’s comments section. “We’ve entered this era where everything has to do with politics,” said host Jon Townsend.