Darrell Issa

My first tip off yesterday was press release from racist Republican congressman Darrell Issa. His office sent this out early on Tuesday:

CA-49 is a district that includes the northern part of San Diego County and the southern part of Orange County. It stretches from the UC San Diego campus, through Del Mar, Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Camp Pendleton and up through San Clemente to Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Ladera Ranch. It's a traditionally Republican district, although Obama narrowly beat McCain 50-49%. Romney won it 4 years after, 52-46% and last year the voters were repulsed by Trump and gave Hillary the win, 50.7% to 43.2%.

The GOP mess has crossed over into popular culture; it ain't going' awayOne week ago, Politico interviewed Mike Madrid, a well-known Republican political consultant in California.

Bruce Poliquin represents the "other" Maine congressional district, almost the whole state minus Portland, Augusta and the southwest coastal strip. He's got Lewiston-Auburn, Bangor and everything up to the Canadian borders on the west, north and east. Politically, it's a swing district. Obama beat McCain by 10 points and beat Romney by 9 points, Last year, though, although Maine went for Hillary, ME-02 went for Trump 51.4% to 41.1%.

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.

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.