| | | | Is Tom Price about to be voted off Trump Island? | | Over the past week, we've learned Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price likes to fly on private planes. Like, a lot.
And now President Donald Trump is paying attention -- and he's not happy.
"I was looking into it and I will look into it, and I will tell you personally I'm not happy about it," Trump told reporters before leaving the White House for a speech in Indianapolis on tax reform, "I am not happy about it. I'm going to look at it. I am not happy about it and I let him know it."
To sum up:
1. Trump knows about it.
2. He's not happy about it.
3. He's going to let Price know he's not happy about it.
Trump's words seem to promise an ominous end for Price's tenure leading HHS. And, it would be hard to argue if Trump did decide to tell Price "You're fired." (I'll show myself out.)
It's not just that Price took at least 26 private flights -- at a cost of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars -- since last May. It's also that as the head of the HEALTH and Human Services department, Trump can credibly dump the blame for the failure of health care reform at Price's feet.
Is this fair? Not really, since Price was far from a leading voice in the repeated attempts to repeal Obamacare. But Trump isn't big on blaming himself when something fails and, as he's learned in his first eight months in office, he can't fire Mitch McConnell.
(Sidebar: Even if Price is framed for the failure of Obamacare, his exorbitant spending on private planes seems like more than enough grounds to let him go.)
So, Price makes sense as the first Cabinet member to go. Which is stunning given what the President has said about Attorney General Jeff Sessions over these first eight months. (John Kelly was moved from DHS to White House chief of staff, but that's a very different thing.)
Of course, good reality TV -- of which Trump knows loads -- always requires a good twist or two. Firing Price might do that trick.
-- Chris | | CNN's Ryan Struyk writes:
After more than eight months of unified government -- control of the White House plus both chambers of Congress -- the Republican Party still hasn't kept many of its major promises to its base. So perhaps it comes as no surprise that Republicans nationwide are not exactly thrilled with their party.
These five poll numbers show how things have changed direction for Republicans over the last eight months. The CNN Poll was conducted by SSRS by telephone from September 17 to 20 among a random national sample of 1,053 adults. The margin of sampling error for results among the full sample is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
1. A broad 63% of Republicans say they are "angry" at both parties.
2. Almost a quarter of Republicans have a newly unfavorable view of the GOP.
3. A majority of Republicans disapprove of GOP leaders in Congress. Approval of Republican leaders in Congress overall has dropped from 39% in January to 20% now, and much of the movement has come because Republicans have turned their back on their party's leadership on the Hill.
4. Republicans are souring on Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's favorable rating is at 58%; Senate Majority Leader McConnell's favorable rating is at 31%.
5. Republicans think Trump is moving them in the right direction -- not the GOP. A broad eight in 10 Republicans (79%) say Trump is moving the party in the right direction.
Read more in Ryan's full story here. | | AND MICHELLE OBAMA'S FAVORITE 'LEMONADE' SONG IS... | | | Photo courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter | | Former first lady Michelle Obama got pretty candid while speaking at the Inbound 2017 conference in Boston on Wednesday.
CNN's Jenny Hansler rounded up some of her most interesting remarks:
On the 2016 election: "Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice."
On life in the White House: "When you're in it, you don't have a moment, a second, to think."
On former President Barack Obama, post-White House: "Barack is not going to turn into what this President was, which is somebody tweeting in the wind and stirring up mess without really knowing what they're talking about."
On her goals as first lady: "I think that it's important for the person in that position to have the freedom to determine what that role should be for themselves. For me, I wanted it to be substantive. I didn't want to be a first lady of slogans or symbolic gestures. ... I hope I brought a bit of vision and strategy to the work that we did."
On criticizing the President: "When you've been in that position -- which others weren't when they criticized my husband -- it is very difficult to lead when you have a peanut gallery of people who don't know what they're talking about second-guessing what you do."
On her favorite song from Beyonce's "Lemonade:" "All of them. There are so many songs I play over and over again but there is one in particular I don't know why, I tap into, I had to think about that a little bit, but it's 'Love Drought.' I love 'Love Drought.' "
Read Jenny's full story here. | | MORE FROM THE MENENDEZ TRIAL | | CNN's Laura Jarrett is still reporting live from Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez's trial in New Jersey. Here's her latest courtroom dispatch:
When prosecutors said former Sen. Tom Harkin planned to testify on Wednesday, everyone's ears perked up. But his testimony ended up being somewhat overshadowed by the story a former health administrator told about a tense call with Menendez's staff in 2009.
Dr. Louis Jacques described for the jury that one of Menendez's staffers was "persistent" in their lobbying efforts on behalf of Menendez's co-defendant, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a wealthy doctor.
The doctor had been hit with a massive Medicare overbilling charge to the tune of $8.9 million and Jacques said Menendez's staff used the senator's name to tell officials to make the charges go away.
Then things got heated.
Read her full story here. | | Wired's Ashley Feinberg uncovered Wednesday that Jared Kushner is registered as a woman, according to New York State Board of Elections records.
"Kushner can't even fill out the most basic paperwork without screwing it up, so it's a mystery why anyone thinks he's somehow going to bring peace to the Middle East," Brad Bainum, a spokesperson for American Bridge, a liberal opposition research hub and the group that first identified Jared's voter slipup, told WIRED. "Would anyone but the President's son-in-law still have a West Wing job after repeated disclosure errors and a botched a security clearance form?"
Read more in CNN's story here. | | | K, bye! Hope you have a great rest of your Wednesday. And please don't forget to tell people you know to subscribe. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media, and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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