Trump Fires Prosecutor Preet Bharara

President Donald Trump fired one of the most high profile federal prosecutors, Preet Bharara, yesterday, after Bharara refused to resign. Bharara said that Trump had asked him to stay on and he agreed. For that reason, he didn't resign when Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente called him (and 45 other U.S. attorneys) on Friday asking for a letter of resignation. It is normal that a new administration replaces all the U.S. attorneys appointed by a president of the other party, but it is generally done over a period of time. An instantaneous firing like this is very rare.

Bharara has prosecuted many corrupt politicians, terrorism suspects, and corporations. It is not known if there was something he was working on that made Trump change his mind. Bharara did not announce his next career move, but surely New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who handles many of the same kinds of cases as Bharara did, noticed that Bharara is looking for a job. (V)

It's Getting Harder to Gerrymander

On Friday, a three-judge panel in San Antonio issued its ruling regarding three districts in Texas (namely, TX-35, TX-23, and TX-27). It was not good news for the Texas GOP, as it was decided that the state legislature specifically designed the districts to dilute the power of Latino votes. The judges were not shy in their opinion:

The record indicates not just a hostility toward Democrat districts, but a hostility to minority districts, and a willingness to use race for partisan advantage.

The ruling isn't necessarily final, since it can be appealed to the Supreme Court. However, the finding of discriminatory intent is an important one, since that triggers federal laws that allow the Dept. of Justice to step in and get involved in districting.

The bad news, from the Democrats' perspective, is that a Jeff Sessions-led Justice Dept. is not likely to be too vigorous in pushing for fairly-drawn districts (or in pushing against voter ID laws). However, Friday's success—paired with several other recent anti-gerrymander decisions—certainly gives momentum to the ACLU and other private groups who litigate these issues. (Z)

Major Insurance Company Supports ACA Replacement

Anthem, the country's second largest health insurance company, has endorsed much of Speaker Paul Ryan's AHCA. Anthem's CEO Joseph Swedish said that the GOP bill, "addresses the challenges immediately facing the individual market and will ensure more affordable health plan choices for consumers in the short term." What he didn't mention is that Anthem is trying to buy another large health-insurance company, Cigna, and that by cozying up to Ryan and Trump, he hopes they will approve his acquisition.

In contrast, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association wrote a letter expressing concern that the plan would cause large numbers of people to lose insurance. The group also opposed the 30% extra premium that people would have to pay for one year if they dropped their insurance, got sick, and then renewed it. It believes that healthy people will avoid buying insurance and then buy insurance if they get sick, just accepting the higher premium for one year. In effect, they were asking for either a mandate or a much more severe penalty for people who don't get insurance until they get sick. (V)

Trump Supporters Will Be Hit the Hardest by the AHCA

Nate Cohn of the New York Times has crunched the numbers and determined that voters who would be $5,000 worse off under the new health care plan went for Trump by a margin of 59% to 36%. The voters who would gain from the new plan went for Hillary Clinton. The reason is that the new plan doesn't provide a larger tax credit to people with more expensive plans. Since the new plan would allow insurance companies to jack up premiums for older people as much as 5x the standard rate, it will be older people who get stuck with more expensive plans but no corresponding increase in credits. Middle and lower income older people tended to vote for Trump. In addition, many Trump voters live in rural areas, which have more expensive plans to start with because there is less competition in rural areas than in cities. So all in all, despite Donald Trump's assurances that he cares about the "little guy," it is his voters who will bear the brunt of the new plan. (V)

Ads Targeting the New Health-Care Plan Have Started Already

A new grassroots activist group, Save My Care, is starting to run ads on social media and YouTube urging members of Congress to keep the ACA and reject Paul Ryan's new plan. On its Facts Webpage, the group lists the following items:

• 30 Million Americans would lose health coverage
• 52 Million Americans with pre-existing conditions could be denied health insurance
• 13 Million Americans would lose Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program
• 82% of those would would lose coverage are in working famililies

The numbers are somewhat suspect. The Brookings Institution, a widely respected D.C. think tank, recently estimated the number of people who would lose insurance under the new plan to be 15 million, not 30 million, for example. The estimate of 52 million people with pre-existing conditions is probably reasonable, however. The site is full of stories from individuals who had some serious disease and were able to get medical care as a result of the ACA.

After all its hard work on health care in the past week, Congress is taking a much-needed two-week vacation next week. The site helps people find town hall events to go to where they can ask questions of their representative. (V)

Mar-a-Lago Is a Spy's Paradise

The White House is very heavily guarded and no one can get in without a thorough inspection. However, Donald Trump seems to be turning his Mar-a-Lago estate into the Southern White House, and it isn't guarded at all. In fact, the members of the club can bring in guests with almost no vetting. There is physical vetting, in terms of searching for weapons when a member or a guest of a member enters, but no background check. Much to the dismay of the Secret Service, a list of the club's nearly 500 members has leaked out, allowing foreign intelligence services to contact them and ask them to do a bit of spying for them, possibly in return for some cash or a promise not to disclose the kompromat the foreign government has dug up on the member. Also, Trump is famous for not paying his employees well, so foreign governments might approach waiters, maids, etc., with suitcases full of money in return for simply planting a few wireless microphones or cameras at carefully selected locations.

Other presidents have tried to escape D.C. before, but most of them had a house or the house of a friend they stayed at. George W. Bush had his ranch in Texas, as did Lyndon Johnson. George H. W. Bush had the family compound in Kennebunkport, ME. John Kennedy had some nice digs up in Hyannisport, MA. Richard Nixon went to the house of his friend Bebe Rebozo in Key Biscayne, FL. All of these were private locations that were easily secured. In contrast, Mar-a-Lago is a semipublic resort where 1,000 unvetted people could be present while the president is there. And we haven't even begun to talk about the damage a camera- or grenade-bearing drone could do while the president is out golfing. The concept of the president spending 30% of his time at an unsecured location must give the head of the Secret Service, Joseph Clancy, nightmares every night. (V)

"Deep State" Conspiracy Theories Getting Wilder

The notion that there is a "deep state" of career bureaucrats and Obama loyalists in the government who are working to subvert the Trump administration has taken hold of many members of the Republican Party, including many who work (and/or live) at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. On Saturday, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) took the conspiracy to the next level, declaring that former President Obama is the one who is actually running the show:

President Obama himself said he was going to stay in Washington until his daughter graduated. I think we ought to pitch in to let him go someplace else, because he is only there for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to run a shadow government that is going to totally upset the new agenda. It just doesn't make sense.

When Kelly was contacted about his remarks, he was furious, insisting that they were meant for the private consumption of his Republican audience, and not for the larger public. Which suggests a certain awareness of: (a) how kooky the theory sounds, or (b) how implausible the notion is, or (c) both. (Z)

Cuomo Prepping to Throw His Hat into the Ring

Early speculation about the Democrats' candidate in 2020 has focused primarily on sitting senators (Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Tim Kaine, Al Franken) or on former members of the executive branch (Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden). However, not every president comes out of Washington, D.C. In fact, four of the last seven were state governors before moving to the White House. And so, we should not forget that possibility when handicapping 2020.

The first governor to make his move is New York's Andrew Cuomo. He's now hired two Florida consultants to help him network with Democratic movers and shakers, and to raise money. He's scheduled a series of fundraisers, hoping to expand on his $22 million war chest (not bad for a governor, but a pittance for a presidential candidate). He also took a trip to Israel recently for a meet and greet with Benjamin Netanyahu. Inasmuch as New York is emerging as ground zero for anti-Trump pushback (courtesy of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and others), Cuomo will be in an excellent position to curry support with unhappy Democrats. Other state governors who may eventually join him in the race include John Hickenlooper (CO), Roy Cooper (NC), and Mark Dayton (MN). (Z)

Dueling Bestsellers on Amazon

The duel between anti- and pro-Trump Americans has spilled over into virtually every area of American life: the movies, television, sports, music, retail sales, etc. That includes, naturally, online retailer amazon.com, which has all manner of products for partisans on both sides. That includes "Not my President" t-shirts, and Donald Trump toilet paper, and pencil holders where you stick your writing instrument...somewhere that would be very uncomfortable, and "Make America Great Again" Christmas Ornaments.

Attracting particular attention these days are a pair of books that have each topped amazon's bestsellers list in the past few months: Why Trump Deserves Trust, Respect and Admiration and Reasons To Vote For Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide. Naturally, both books are completely blank. This bit—the "world's shortest book" gag—is an old one, dating back to World War II. Think German Comedians or French Military Victories or Great Italian Generals. Still, the classic gags never go out of style, it would seem. (Z)

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---The Votemaster and Zenger