March 9, 2017: Feuding Republicans | Jobs Jobs Jobs | Those Angry Women
1. Trump and Ryancare: Now or Never
The White House projected the message that President Trump was all-in behind Ryancare, the GOP proposal to replace Obamacare. Standing fully behind Ryancare is a hard place to be, however. Not only is the bill being hammered by the left, it is being hammered by the Far Right base, which has typically been Trump’s staunchest supporters.
The Twitterati were chattering about how Breitbart, previously, of course, the home of the top Trump strategist, Steve Bannon, has turned on him. The publication has ferociously attacked the new plan, labeling it Obamacare 2.0 or Ryan’s Obamacare 2.0. The plan, Breitbart said on Monday, "gives illegal aliens healthcare through identity fraud."
Business Insider ran a piece about the Bannon/Breitbart feud yesterday, saying that Bannon had previously scolded Breitbart’s Washington bureau chief, Matthew Boyle, when he wrote a take-down of Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. The Insider said:
According to the two sources, Bannon was so furious that he phoned Boyle after the story was published and unloaded on him. Boyle hadn't sought to notify Bannon he was publishing the story in advance, the sources said.
Bannon further aggravated Boyle that week when he instructed him not to publish additional articles critical of Priebus, prompting the Washington editor to tell others that Bannon had betrayed Breitbart and was guilty of "treason," according to a source.
Townhall, a politically conservative website once published by the Heritage Foundation, reported that the president is nevertheless standing firm on health care. “Trump Warns Hesitant Republicans: “Pass Our Healthcare Bill, or the Midterms Will Be a 'Bloodbath',” read its headline.
Addressing this tension between the governing Republicans and the Alt-Right base, National Review argued that now is when Trump must finally choose between being an ideologue of the Far Right and a leader who governs. Ryancare, which it supports, can’t pass without him, it said.
While the administration, which is backing the House leadership on the issue, says it is open to discussion about improving the plan, as Vice President Mike Pence put it, “this is the bill.” To prevent Senate Democrats from filibustering their efforts, the Obamacare replacement will have to be passed as part of a budget-reconciliation bill, which limits their ability to revise the ACA’s insurance rules and regulations. This effectively means that in order to fulfill the pledges that congressional Republicans and Trump made about Obamacare, the president will have to use the bully pulpit of the White House to get this bill passed.
But while the future of American health care is on the line in this battle, there’s actually more at stake than whether the GOP can alter or fix Obamacare before it collapses of its own weight. The outcome will also determine whether Trump can really be said to be the leader of his party. If not, then the chances for a successful presidency will be essentially nil — regardless of whether Trump continues to run off the rails with tweets and conspiracy theories.
2. Crushing the Job Numbers
The Red Media gave a lot of ink to a report by Automatic Data Processing saying that the private sector had added 298,000 new private sector jobs in February, almost 100,000 more than had been predicted by Reuters. February is the first full month of Trump’s presidency. His supporters saw a miracle worker.
“Trump Era: Private Sector Job Growth Explodes in February President's first full month brings 298,000 new jobs, 15 times average monthly growth of Bush years,” LifeZette trumpeted.
3. “A Day Without Whining Women”
We reported yesterday that almost no one in the Red Media thought “A Day Without a Woman” was a good idea. The Red Twitter base invented their own hashtags #notmyprotest and #weshowup. Hundreds of women posted pictures of themselves at work to the latter.
The arrest in New York of four organizers of the Women’s March at the end of the day didn’t do much to dispel the loathing.
Tennessee @TEN_GOP with 93k followers got 2.3k likes for this:
Head of #daywithoutawoman and Sharia loving Islamist Linda Sarsour was just arrested outside of Trump Tower!
— Tennessee (@TEN_GOP) March 8, 2017
This made my day👌#NotMyProtest pic.twitter.com/NfbBo7zV8f
What We’re Watching:
There were some splits among the Left yesterday, with critical voices pointing out that the “A Day Without a Woman” is a strike for privileged protesters. Conservative sites like The Federalist were quick to comment on this as well.
Meanwhile, since her widely mocked speech at the Republican convention, which partially plagiarized the speech Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 Democratic convention, Melania Trump has laid low. Except for a few photos to illustrate her beauty, the Red Media let her go under the radar. But yesterday we noticed that conservative sites used the day to celebrate Ivanka and Melania Trump as accomplished women.
Clash Daily, a very conservative website founded by Doug Giles, an extreme Christian right pastor, frequently has accuracy issues. Its post on the first ladies of the Trump administration headlined “QUESTION: Are Women ‘Protesting’ The Liberals’ ABUSE Of Melania & Ivanka Today?” was trending on Facebook. F.Y.I. it was illustrated with a very glamourous shot of Melania in a red silk halter-top dress:
It wasn’t bad enough to protest/riot/attack Trump. Or to bust up the place while expressing disgust. It was open season on his wife and daughter as well. Remember how the Left closed ranks on Michelle Obama, how any criticism of her — even her obnoxious America-hating public statements? Or her Nanny-State overreach into the lunchrooms? God FORBID anyone responds to any of that. The Left and their Media mouthpieces cry out: Leave our mannish princess alone! We LOVE her!
Not so with Ivanka or Melania. Melania — who speaks 5 languages, and came here as a legal immigrant?They slandered her as an ‘escort‘. Is she defended by ‘leaders’ the nasty woman march?