Trump Ain’t The Negotiator He Bragged About, The White House’s Fear About Michael Flynn, And Dogs Wearing Legwarmers

April 28, 2017 10:28 a.m.

Start your day with TPM.

April 28, 2017

The Gist: On the campaign trail, Donald Trump marketed himself as an expert negotiator who would draw on his years of cutting deals in the boardroom to deliver the best terms for the American public. Almost 100 days into his Oval Office tenure, this high-stakes, take-no-prisoners style has proven to be more of a hindrance than a help for the President—and failed to secure a single legislative victory.

The White House’s Creeping Fear About Michael Flynn

The Gist: Is the White House covering up? Of course they are. Maybe it’s because they know the truth is that explosive. Or maybe it’s because they simply don’t know what a real investigation would find.

Trump Says He Thought Presidency ‘Would Be Easier’

The Gist: In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Donald Trump acknowledged that being president is tougher than he had imagined. “I loved my previous life. I had so many things going,” he told Reuters. “This is more work than in my previous life.”

From The Reporter’s Notebook

President Donald Trump tried a new negotiating strategy on Thursday as the deadline to avert a government shutdown loomed, according to TPM’s Esme Cribb. In a scattershot tweetstorm, he accused Democrats — whose support Republicans need to pass a spending measure and keep the lights on — of “bailing out insurance companies,” “blocking” miners’ health care, “jeopardizing the safety of our troops” and “Politics!”

Agree or Disagree?

Josh Marshall: “By going back to the repeal trough again and again, Republicans are allowing Democrats to plausibly argue in 2018 that Republicans will keep coming after your health care coverage as long as they’re in power. This is now demonstrably the case. With Republicans trying to do this again and again, Democrats will be able to say: They tried to take away your care, kill pre-existing conditions protections etc. And they’re going to keep trying. My moderate GOP opponent here, do you trust him/her?”

Say What?!

“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely.”

– President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would like to diffuse the standoff with North Korea over nuclear weapons with diplomacy, but he warned that “major” conflict is possible.

BUZZING: Today in the Hive

From a TPM Prime member: “I get that it sucks that not everyone can make $400K doing something ‘easy.’ There are major league pitchers who make more per inning thrown than I made in my first job out of college in a year. Capitalism is weird and sorta sucks in the ‘fairness’ department. But it’s actually a skill to be able to speak the way Obama does and his eight years (!!) as president of the United States is worth something, if not just bragging rights for a company to be able to say ‘we had Obama come speak to our people’ and I’m sure the employees love it. These companies are swimming in cash and they might as well pay up. I think this all is a lot less insidious than people make it out to be. His spokesperson said he’d make a variety of speaking engagements, including paid and unpaid. I’m not saying this as someone who loves WS or is a big defender of this sort of thing on principle but I am just so tired of hand-wringing about this issue when there are grifters and criminals and neo-Nazi sympathizers in the White House.”

Have something to add? Become a Prime member and join the discussion here.

What We’re Reading

Cecile Richards To Ivanka Trump: Words Don’t Matter. Women Want To See Action. (Huffington Post)

Dogs Are Wearing Legwarmers Because We’re Not Having Babies. (Racked)

Start your day with TPM.

TPM Staff

Have a tip? Send it Here!