What A Day: With arms Bide open

BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI

& CROOKED MEDIA

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

FEVER PITCH

Joe Biden has revived the debate over whether Donald Trump is a symptom or a cause of the Republican Party’s radicalization.

“With Trump gone you’re going to begin to see things change,” Biden told supporters. “Because these [Republicans in Congress] know better. They know this isn’t what they’re supposed to be doing.” He made similar comments on the campaign trail in Iowa today.

It’d be nice if Biden were right about this. After all, who doesn’t want our political crisis to end with Trump’s defeat in 2020?

But for now the GOP fever shows no signs of breaking:

Republicans in Congress voted unanimously in support of the Trump administration’s blanket defiance of congressional subpoenas.

Senate Republicans have refused to allow votes or even debate on any significant piece of legislation House Democrats have passed, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked legislation to protect the 2020 election from foreign attack.

McConnell has boasted repeatedly about having turned the Senate into a legislative “graveyard” and about how he’ll be the “grim reaper” for progressive legislation if Democrats win the presidency. Who knows, maybe the guy will come around!

Other Democratic candidates have taken a more realistic view of the modern GOP. The question of which argument plays better in a Democratic primary will probably only start to become clear after the first candidate debate in a couple weeks. But as we learned through the Obama years and into the Trump era, betting on Republicans to do the right thing doesn’t end well. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me consistently for 30 years, shame on the human condition.

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Between 2010-2017, one third of all donations on the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe went to medical fundraisers, which is why you’ve undoubtedly seen campaigns on the platform to raise money for people who’ve racked up big, unexpected medical bills.

While it’s inspiring to see people come together to help others in need, these fundraisers are a symptom of our health-care system’s serious shortcomings.

American health care is absurdly expensive (and our outcomes are not so great). Forty percent of Americans don’t have enough money to cover a $400 emergency. Last year alone, Americans borrowed $88 billion to cover health care costs. And that’s after the biggest drop in the uninsured rate in decades. (Thanks Obama!)

So it’s no surprise that health care remains voters’ biggest concern, and that Democrats are proposing bolder solutions on the campaign trail. As the Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri put it, “what if as a nation we just did one BIG Kickstarter once a year to help everyone pay medical bills instead of 327 million individual ones.” Crazy thought!

President Trump sympathized with Kim Jong Un who had his half brother killed for being a possible CIA source and promised not to put him in a position like that. Cool, cool, super cool.

Iran has increased its nuclear fuel production after the Trump administration abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated during the Obama administration. Does this fall under Art of the Deal or Tired of Winning?

The Vatican has rejected the idea that gender exists on a spectrum, and said that’s “nothing more than a confused concept of freedom in the realm of feelings and wants.” This is a blow to LGBTQ advocates who hoped for a more tolerant and accurate message from the Catholic Church.

Thousands of images of travelers and license plates that Customs and Border Protection stored were stolen in a digital breach of a subcontractor who wasn’t supposed to have them in the first place.

Comedian Jon Stewart, an advocate for 9/11 first responders, made no effort to hide his contempt for members of Congress who skipped a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the 9/11 victims compensation fund. “...I can’t help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting health care and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to. Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders, and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress.”

Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI)—the only Republican to acknowledge Trump has committed impeachable offenses—has resigned from the conservative House Freedom Caucus. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stifled laughter when asked whether Amash should leave the party altogether, which honestly, rude.

Universal Studios Hollywood concealed that a June 2008 fire destroyed hundreds of thousands of master recordings of some of the most iconic music of the last century, including virtually all of Buddy Holly’s masters, plus some by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, Bing Crosby, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, and many others. Why couldn’t the fire have taken out the masters of the Minion movies instead?

The first Democratic primary debate will have five moderators: Savannah Guthrie, Rachel Maddow, Lester Holt, Chuck Todd and José Diaz-Balart, which honestly doesn’t seem like enough when you consider 4,000 people are running.