Mr. Burguiere, who is a head writer and producer on “The Glenn Beck Radio Program,” argues that the failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act rests squarely on the shoulders of Republican leaders who have perfect cover to pass conservative legislation. Not only will Mr. Trump “sign anything” Republicans put in front of him, he’s provided legislators a week full of stories to distract the news media and public from criticizing the health care bill. It’s one of the “inadvertent benefits of having a tweeter-in-chief.” Read more »

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• Philip Klein in Washington Examiner:

“From the beginning, the entire Republican healthcare push has been a farce.”

Written just before the Senate failed to pass “skinny repeal,” Mr. Klein’s op-ed decries the bill, a piece of legislation that he calls “an insult.” Writing that it’s “totally bonkers” to expect senators to vote for a bill they don’t want to become law, Mr. Klein criticizes the bill from the right; it’s a “skinny bill” that “wouldn’t repeal much of anything.” Read more »

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From the Left

• Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone:

“I already miss Anthony Scaramucci.”

Mr. Scaramucci is a welcome addition to the administration, according to Mr. Taibbi. After all, he writes, he’s “reignited the comic potential” of the Trump presidency. He notes that Mr. Scaramucci’s strategy as White House communications director looks like that of his boss’s: “Don’t ever react to the news or attempt to explain it, but continually stay ahead of it by making new news of your own.” Read more »

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• Jeet Heer in New Republic:

“Scaramucci may long remain in good standing — as long as he doesn’t break one golden rule.”

Mr. Heer matches Mr. Scaramucci’s penchant for salty language, and diagnoses the particular type of New York personality evident in the Washington newcomer’s demeanor. To survive in President Trump’s White House, Mr. Heer argues, Mr. Scaramucci can betray as many colleagues as he’d like on his way up the ladder as long as he adheres to one rule: Don’t get more press than the boss. Read more »

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• Scott Lemieux in The Week:

“I have never been happier to have been dead wrong.”

Mr. Lemieux is proud to have been wrong in his assessment of Senator John McCain of Arizona. He joined others on the left in mocking Mr. McCain “for harshly condemning a process he cast a decisive vote to continue.” Now that Mr. McCain’s vote was one of three Republican votes to secure the defeat of the “skinny repeal” bill, Mr. Lemieux won’t hesitate to admit he was wrong about the “maverick” he criticized just a day earlier. Read more »

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• Greg Sargent in The Washington Post:

“For Trump, this has never been about improving our health-care system.”

In the wake of the “skinny repeal” bill’s defeat — a bill that Mr. Sargent calls “Trumpcare” — it’s time, he writes, to dispel with a number of untruths. Among them, the need to recognize that the Affordable Care Act is not collapsing on its own and that government-subsidized health coverage “has actually helped enormous numbers of people, even if it isn’t in the manner that Republicans had hoped.” Read more »