| | | | Will Trump fire Sessions? Stay tuned! | | After running down Attorney General Jeff Sessions as "beleaguered" and "very weak" in tweets over the last two days, President Donald Trump was asked, twice, whether he was planning to fire the embattled top cop.
"We will see what happens," Trump said at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Lebanon. "Time will tell. Time will tell."
In other words: Stay tuned for next week's season finale!
It's important to remember, always, where Donald Trump comes from. He spent much of his life managing the Trump brand, which is, well, him. In the years directly preceding his run for president, Trump became a reality TV star and producer with his shows "The Apprentice" and "The Celebrity Apprentice."
That world of PR, marketing and always searching for more eyeballs to watch you is what Trump knows. It's what he's best at. It's how he approaches his entire life. And it's how he approaches the presidency.
Why tell reporters whether he's going to fire Sessions when he could build up the drama and announce the final decision himself at some point?
You can already imagine the scene(s):
1) Trump fires Sessions in a closed-door meeting and then emerges to take questions from the media -- in which his answers demonstrate he had no choice but to fire him, because the attorney general hadn't shown sufficient loyalty or toughness.
2) Trump meets with Sessions and decides to keep him on. The two emerge to greet the cameras with Sessions all bashful appreciativeness and Trump all beaming magnanimity.
In Trump's mind, both those scenarios are wins because they are both great TV -- and ensure lots and lots of attention for him.
That's how he thinks; he's much more Mark Burnett than Martin Van Buren.
Never forget that.
-- Chris | | The Senate voted in favor of a motion to proceed with debate on the GOP health care bill Tuesday afternoon.
Even Arizona Sen. John McCain -- who is fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer -- flew in to vote (he voted yes, like most of his fellow Republicans). As Chris put it: Republicans just dodged political disaster on health care.
So what's next? Vox has an easy to understand chart showing the path toward Senate Republicans' effort to repeal Obamacare.
And if you're curious: Here's CNN's full tally of how lawmakers voted. | | THAT AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN ... | | Almost everyone has been caught talking smack about colleagues behind their backs. But nothing is more awkward than when that gossip is recorded -- and then shared.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins learned that the hard way Tuesday after a hot mic apparently picked up her talking to a male senator about everything from Trump to Rep. Blake Farenthold (The Texan Republican suggested in a radio interview that if the Republicans against the GOP health care bill were men, he would "settle this Aaron Burr-style").
The Washington Post has a full transcript here -- but here's the exchange that had people buzzing on social media:
"Do you know why he challenged you to a duel?" says a male voice that appears to be the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Jack Reed. "'Cause you could beat the s— out of him." "Well, he's huge," Collins replies. "And he — I don't mean to be unkind, but he's so unattractive it's unbelievable." CNN's Pete Grieve reported:
Collins said in a statement provided to CNN Tuesday: "Neither weapons nor inappropriate words are the right way to resolve legislative disputes. I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning. I accept his apology, and I offer him mine."
Farenthold spokesperson Stacey Daniels told CNN the congressman does not have any comment on Collins' remarks but confirmed the apology. The Texas lawmaker said in a statement Monday night that his comment was "clearly tongue-in-cheek."
CNN reached out to Reed's office for comment and has not yet received a response. | | Democratic lawmakers on Monday announced the launch of the party's new "A Better Deal" economic agenda -- and it got some interesting reactions.
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said of the slogan: "It's so bland. It's so vanilla. It's so terrible."
Washington Post opinion columnist Eugene Robinson wrote: "'A Better Deal' is not the worst slogan I've ever heard, but it's far from the best."
And VICE's Eve Peyser on Monday wrote up a better branding strategy for the Dems in an article titled: "We Fixed the Democrats' New Slogan for Them 50 Times." (Saba's favorite on that list: "To the Left, To the Left" because who doesn't find Beyonce lyrics motivational?). | | | The Shins performed a handful of songs during their Tiny Desk Concert, which NPR uploaded on Monday. NPR's Bob Boilen pointed out that while the band "have been a constant part of NPR's musical DNA for much of the 21st century ... it's remarkable that there's never been a Tiny Desk Concert from The Shins until now." The wait was worth it. | | | "The Daily Show" juxtaposed newly installed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci alongside President Donald Trump, to showcase the Mooch using POTUS' exact hand gestures while addressing reporters at the White House last week. The video, captioned "The Mooch did his homework," has racked up over 1.7 million views on Facebook. | | Gallup on Monday released President Donald Trump's approval numbers by state -- and they are certainly interesting.
CNN's Ryan Struyk has more:
Trump's approval rating is underwater in a whopping 11 states where he won in the 2016 general election. The new numbers come from more than 81,000 interviews Gallup has done nationwide since Inauguration Day (data nerds rejoice!).
Most of the 11 states are battlegrounds where Trump barely won (such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida), or other typical swing states (including Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina).But the list also includes Indiana (where Trump won by 19 points) and almost-kinda-sorta-becoming-purple Texas.
To be fair, a vote in the 2016 race and approval rating now is NOT an apples-to-apples comparison for several reasons. And Trump won despite high unfavorables in November. But it's a sign that those who were giving Trump the benefit of the doubt in January may be running out of patience now. | | | Eater New York shocked foodies on Twitter after posting an article warning consumers: "Do not order burgers at restaurants." In one particular thread, writer Lisa McIntire wrote "alert: @ACLU." The American Civil Liberties Union replied: "We're kind of busy, friends." Fair. H/t Food and Wine staffer Elisabeth Sherman for pointing this amazing response out on Twitter. | | For some reason, "Good Morning America" on Tuesday brought together two people who had been talking on Tinder for three years so they could meet for the first time on TV. Tinder is sending the couple to Hawaii. Apparently love is real.
In other dating app-related news: There's a new version of the dating app Loveflutter called BLUE, which is exclusively for people who are verified on Twitter.
THX TECHNOLOGY! | | Because it's only Tuesday. And let's be honest, we all need a little swag sometimes.
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