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Midday Briefing: Donald Trump Finds New Venues with Which to Embarrass America
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Midday Briefing: Donald Trump Finds New Venues with Which to Embarrass America

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | September 19, 2017

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Hey! President Trump gave his first speech in front of the UN’s General Assembly this morning. In the speech, he spoke about protecting America’s interest first and foremost (“I will always put America first, as you should always put your countries first”), although he failed to see the irony that he is the biggest threat to American interests right now, that he is the bringer of shame.

To wit: He is in a name-calling fight with the most dangerous man in the world:

There are 25 million people in North Korea, and our President is threatening to kill them all. Also, there are millions more who would die in South Korea and Japan should the President attempt to “totally destroy North Korea.” However, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis thinks he knows a way to eliminate North Korea without sacrificing Japan and South Korea, but he’s not saying how. Unless he has a bomb that can destroy 46,541 square miles without being detected, I don’t see how that is possible.

Trump, expectedly, was not particularly well received by the UN.

Nor was it well received by at least some in the Senate:

Although Israel’s Netanyahu appears to be the outlier:

— Moving on: The Graham-Cassidy bill is still a thing. It looks like it may head to the Senate floor next week. There will be no CBO score. John McCain, who doesn’t like the “process,” is still willing to vote for it. It goes further than former ACA repeal bills in taking away health insurance; it could cost cancer patients a $140K surcharge; it would allow states to waive coverage for pre-existing conditions; and the House has promised to pass it, as is, if it gets through the Senate. Senators Collins and Murkowski remain our only firewall (and potentially Caputo and Portman). Someone is running $6 million in ads in Maine and Alaska to combat the bill, but it may be a good time to go ahead and call your Congresspeople, particularly if these are your reps:

Collins, at least, appears to be standing strong:

— Matt Lauer put the screws to Bill O’Reilly this morning. Bill O’Reilly blah blah blah deny blah blah “I’ve never mistreated anyone in 42 years” blah blah hit job blah blah I did nothing wrong blah.

Meanwhile, in a separate lawsuit, former Fox News guest Scottie Nell Hughes is suing the network for blacklisting her after she came forward alleging that Fox Business Network anchor Charles Payne raped her.

— President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen was supposed to meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee today behind closed doors. He released a statement ahead of his testimony denying any involvement with Russia. Blah blah blah.

Oddly, the meeting was abruptly cancelled while Cohen was at the Senate. Cohen says that the Senate Intelligence Committee suddenly informed him that they did not wish for the meeting to go ahead.

Huh.

Cohen, by the way, was the point person for Trump in his attempt to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. There’s enough shady shit out there between Cohen and the mobbed up Felix Sater to bury Cohen, but so far, he’s not been willing to flip.