Amazingly, Sanders also claimed that contrary to popular belief, the White House had vetted Jackson before Trump Twitter-nominated him for one of the biggest jobs in the federal government. But apparently the West Wing is so bad at its job that staffers did not uncover any of the allegations Tester’s office did. Earlier this week, the Senate committee postponed Jackson’s confirmation hearing, and, at this point it’s not clear when or if said hearing will ever take place. In which case, we assume, Trump will announce he’s kicking Mike Pence off the 2020 ticket and asking Jackson to be his running mate. All the best people, indeed.

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Ben Carson pays it forward by tripling the rent on poor people

While running for president in 2016, Ben Carson claimed, strangely, that if elected, he would be the first African-American president, a declaration he backed up by claiming that Barack Obama was “raised white.” Carson, on the other hand, was more authentically black, he said, because he “lived in the ghetto” in Boston in “dire poverty,” a “very different experience” from Obama who “grew up in a relatively affluent environment.” Years later, as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, has Carson’s upbringing allowed him to bring a uniquely empathetic point of view to his job? Funny you should ask!

The Washington Post reports that during a conference call on Wednesday, Carson proposed changing how rental subsidies are calculated so that hundreds of thousands of low-income families would end up paying triple their current rent. Right now, tenants typically pay 30 percent of their adjusted income, but under Carson‘s proposal, the percentage would go up to 35 percent, meaning the 712,000 families whose outlay is capped at $50 a month would owe three times that. In addition, Carson, who has called poverty a “state of mind,” would allow public-housing agencies and property owners to impose work requirements on their residents (though seniors over the age of 65 and people with disabilities would generously receive exemptions).

Housing advocates, naturally, have called the proposal, which would need congressional approval, “cruel hypocrisy,” reminding H.U.D. that the purpose of its programs is “to provide a stable home for people who otherwise can't manage on their own.” But according to Carson, many low-income individuals are milking and manipulating the government, “because they know how to work the system.” In related news, Carson had nothing to say about demoting a whistleblower who complained about being asked to “find the money” to buy him a $31,000 dining set for his office, when lawyers said he wasn’t allowed to spend more than $5,000 without congressional approval.

Macron rips his American B.F.F.

Despite spending the week hugging, kissing, and engaging in grooming rituals, French president Emmanuel Macron used his Wednesday speech before congress to . . . basically take shots at everything his buddy Trump believes in: