Our president just did a mini-press conference and barred any news organization that wasn't overtly conservative. Yeah, it's about trying to marginalize the press that doesn't report Trump's every utterance without non-positive comment but it's also because the guy is simply incapable of answering non-fawning questions. Here are some links…
- So Trump says that "very few people" are covered by Obamacare. Fact checkers everywhere — like here, here and here — are pointing out that this isn't true. His plan seems to be to replace it with something much worse, insist it's better and to call anyone who disputes him a liar.
- And Sarah Kliff explains what the much-awaited Republican "replace" plan will probably involve. Apparently, those who said it would cost less and be better meant it will be better and cheaper for really rich people.
- Frank Rich thinks that Trump's rollback of transgender rights is just kind of a warm-up for curtailing the rights of other minorities, particularly their rights to vote.
- Many of my friends who think Trump is a horrible leader took some comfort when he spoke of repairing America's infrastructure. That, at least, would do some good and create some real jobs. Okay…but Matthew Yglesias says that may not happen because it might get in the way of tax cuts for the rich. In a Republican congress, nothing can get in the way of tax cuts for the rich.
I'm going to take the weekend off from this kind of thing to work on a script. If you want a lot of dumping on Trump, just watch the Oscars.