Recently I was getting to know two new congressional candidates running for seats held by Republicans in California. I asked one why he had donated so much money to John Kasich's presidential campaign in 2016. He told me he "used to be" a Republican. And now he wants to be in Congress... as a Democrat?
Last November there were 5 congressional districts in Southern California with Republican Representatives that went for Hillary. In each one Trump did significantly worse than Romney had. In the district that straddles Orange and San Diego counties, CA-49, represented by Darrell Issa, Romney had won the district in 2012 with 52.4%. In November Trump got 43.2%, a 9 point drop-off. And Issa had the scare of his political life. His race was the last one decided in the whole country and in the end he edged out Doug Applegate 155,888 (50.3%) to 154,267 (49.7%).
In Elizabeth Warren's words, "TrumpCare isn't a health care bill. A bill that destroys health care for millions to shovel cash to the rich isn't a health care bill. This is the same cruel bill that House Republicans tried to pass weeks ago. It still strips coverage from millions. Still guts Medicaid. Still strips funds away from states like Massachusetts that are battling the opioid crisis. The only thing that's changed about TrumpCare in recent weeks is that they made the original plan even more brutal. This isn't football. It's not about scoring points.
On January 24th John Conyers introduced H.R. 676, the Medicare for All Act. He had 50 cosponsors on that first day, mostly progressives, but New Dem Eliot Engel signed on and so did a member of the House Democratic leadership, Jim Clyburn. No other members of the leadership signed on that day-- nor since-- no Nancy Pelosi, no Steny Hoyer, no Joe Crowley, no Ben Ray Lujan.
A couple of weeks ago an ad hoc group-- Save My Care- ran a powerful ad against vulnerable Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller, who is up for reelection in 2018 and is the most likely GOP senator to lose his seat. Heller thanked his lucky stars that he didn't have to go on the record one way or the other in regard to Ryan's botched and failed TrumpCare bill which never made it onto the floor of the House, let alone to the Senate. The 30-second spot (above) ran and certainly had its impact.
A couple of nights ago, Rachel Maddow did a long and interesting segment about what the Trumpist Regime does behind closed doors. The whole segment is posted above. And it's primarily about how the Trumpists are secretly moving more troops into Syria without asking for congressional approval. The decision making is behind closed doors. The second example that Maddow discusses though, is the one I want to take up today.
Sunday, Texas conservative Ted Poe resigned from the Freedom Caucus because of TrumpCare. He was for it. The Caucus was, by and large, against it. Maybe Poe was afraid of Trump's wrath but that is odd in a Houston area district that wasn't especially pro-Trump. Romney won Poe's district with 63%, around the same that McCain won it with. Trump only managed 52.4%.
Trump congratulating Issa on getting Pelosi to encourage some rich guy to run against Doug ApplegateMonday we mentioned-- in passing-- a poll that Darrell Issa had taken, which he had tried to keep secret, that shows him losing badly in 2018 to Doug Applegate. The next day, the L.A.
TRUTH is a defense to libel and slander. Just last Friday, March 10th, Darrell Issa’s $10 million defamation lawsuit against progressive Marine Colonel Doug Applegate was dismissed. The judge held that Applegate’s TV commercials in question were in fact true. Even better, Issa’s own poll filed with the San Diego County Superior Court and conducted 30 days post-election had Applegate beating Issa by 8%.
Friday, life-long opportunist Darrell Issa was on Bill Maher's show, Real Time, and declared himself one of the first House Republicans willing to stab Señor Trumpanzee in the back over Putin-Gate. "You cannot have somebody, a friend of mine Jeff Sessions, who was on the campaign and who is an appointee," he told Maher in regard to the question about investigating the Trump campaign. "You're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office to take-- not just to recuse. You can't just give it to your deputy.
