Progressive Breakfast: Why We Need to Know What Trump Says Behind Closed Doors

MORNING MESSAGE

Richard Eskow

Why We Need to Know What Trump Says Behind Closed Doors

Trump's secretive remarks to wealthy donors are just the tip of the iceberg. We need to shine more daylight, not less – on his relationship with the GOP, and his financial ties around the world. We need more journalism, and more activism, too.

Independence Day Protests

At parades and protests, GOP lawmakers get earful about health care. WaPo:“Republicans, who skipped the usual committee process in the hopes of passing a bill quickly, are spending the Fourth of July recess fending off protesters, low poll numbers and newspaper front pages that warn of shuttered hospitals and 22 million people being shunted off their insurance. It was a bill, Collins said, that she just couldn’t vote for.”

Senate Republicans lay low on the fourth, or face single-minded pressure. NYT:“It is a tough summer for Senate Republicans, who are trying to combine a long-promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act with a replacement that has, in legislation drafted so far, been as popular as sunburn. Protesters have held sit-ins at Senate offices, phone lines have been jammed and editorial writers have blasted their states’ congressional delegations. Planes have even flown admonitory, if occasionally poorly conceived, banners over state capitals.”

States Shut Down

New Jersey, Maine end state government shutdowns. Reuters:New Jersey and Maine ended partial government shutdowns just in time for the Fourth of July holiday on Tuesday, helping New Jersey Governor Chris Christie move past the embarrassment of being photographed on a beach that had been closed to the public. Both states had suspended non-essential services for three days after failing to reach budget agreements. Their Republican governors signed the budget bills after late-night negotiations with their respective state legislatures. New Jersey and Maine were two of nine states that had missed their deadlines for enacting budgets in time for the July 1 start of the fiscal year.”

Illinois overrides GOP governor’s veto of state budget. Chicago Tribune:“Illinois lawmakers are one crucial step away from ending the record state budget impasse following a flurry of activity on Independence Day that saw the Senate override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s vetoes of a tax hike and spending plan. The measures now await action in the House, where 15 Republicans broke ranks with the governor over the weekend to approve the budget package and stave off further destruction to universities, social services and possibly the state’s credit rating.”

States Resist Call for Voting Records

At least 44 states refuse to hand over all data to Trump’s “fraud” commission. Salon:“The vast majority of states are pushing back against the Trump administration’s request for personal voter information as part of a supposed probe into election fraud. CNN surveyed all 50 states and found that most say they cannot provide all the data requested by the controversial commission.”

EPA Can’t Roll Back, Yet

Trump’s rollback of Obama-era rules hits setback in court. PBS:“An appeals court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot delay implementation of a rule limiting methane emissions from new oil and gas wells. The court said the EPA can rewrite the rule, but it can’t take the shortcut of suspending enforcement.”

Trump Visits Poland, G20 Summit

Trump wants a do-over in Europe. Politico:“President Donald Trump is hoping Europe will give him a second chance. This week, he heads to Poland at the invitation of its president and to participate in a regional infrastructure summit and to Hamburg, Germany, for the G-20 summit. The trip offers the chance for redemption after a catastrophic visit to Brussels in May that left the NATO alliance hanging by a thread because of his refusal to endorse Article 5, NATO’s mutual defense clause.”

More from OurFuture.org:

Trump Tells Tribal Leaders Medicaid Cuts ‘Will Be Great for Everybody.” Mark Trahant:“The Senate’s health care bill is “mostly dead.” But that’s not the same as all-dead, which could actually deliver a miracle. Why? Because a few Republicans working with Democrats could get a lot done. The Congress could pass a budget. Raise the debt limit (averting another crisis) and do the jobs that we the people hired them to do. That would take a miracle right? But we can always hope, and the first step is an all-dead Republican health care bill.”

Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's Action.more »