Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links to read the full articles/ op eds.

As we continue to note, the treasonous behavior of Putin puppet and weak Man Baby Donald "Rump" Trump is becoming harder to ignore, as is his ignorance of how international trade and trade balances work:

The United States had been working on an agreement with the European Union nations, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, but that effort was abandoned after Trump won the presidency. Japan and Canada are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multi-country pact that Trump pulled out of after taking office. 

“The whole purpose of T-TIP was to open the U.S. market to Europe and vice versa. Now that’s been thrown under the bus along with TPP,” said Monica de Bolle, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 

She said Trump wrongly cites trade balances with individual countries, a largely meaningless metric, to attack trade deals. “Trade is a web. It’s not a buy-sell thing. It’s a web," she said. "The stupidity of this is hard to exaggerate.”  (our emphasis)

Not if you've ever followed Rump's career it isn't.

Here's a teaser from a letter from 29 European Union Ambassadors to the U.S., debunking Rump's nitwit notions on trade (h/t P.E.C.):

There has been a lot of talk recently about the trade and investment relationship between the European Union and the United States. Who wins? Who loses? 

The fact is, we are both winning and have been for years. Claims to the contrary, including that the United States is at the losing end of this relationship, deserve to be debunked. Because the United States makes more money doing business with the E.U. than with anyone else.

Make America Go it Alone!

Ruth Marcus on the Rump regime's continuing efforts to take health care away from our fellow Americans:

A continuing challenge of covering the three-ring circus that is the Trump administration is not letting the outrageous antics and statements of the president and his allies distract attention from the outrageous policies being implemented on his watch. 

One example, unfolding right now in the midst of the president’s various rhetorical wars — with our Group of Seven partners, with the special counsel, with his own attorney general — is the administration’s remarkable move not to defend the constitutionality of key parts of the Affordable Care Act. 

This is a huge deal. First, if the administration’s position prevails, millions of Americans will lose the protections they thought they had against being denied coverage if they suffer from preexisting conditions. Second, and perhaps even scarier, the administration’s behavior sets a dangerous precedent about the obligation of this and future presidents to follow their constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress.

While anything is possible, most legal experts are highly dubious about the prospects for the underlying Republican lawsuit.  With this self- own by the Rump regime (combined with higher premiums due to Republican sabotage) health care is back full force as an issue in the 2018 mid- terms:

“No issue is more personal than health care, and this is a perfect storm of two of the most personal aspects of health care coming together: skyrocketing premiums and the loss of protections for people with pre-existing conditions,” Tyler Law, the national press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), told TPM. “We know voters are paying close attention to this, because there is not a district in the entire country where health care is not a major issue.”

At the "summit" (nadir?) between Rump and Kim Jong-un, one thing won't be on the table, and one thing will:

When Trump meets Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday, he will be sitting down with the leader of one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in modern history — a country that has committed "unspeakable atrocities" on a vast scale in a manner reminiscent of Nazi Germany, according to a 2014 United Nations investigation. 

But two administration officials tell NBC News the U.S. has decided not to bring up human rights at the summit. And Trump has made clear he would be willing to offer security guarantees and financial aid to Kim if he gives up his nuclear arsenal... (our emphasis)

Human rights?  Psshew!  A little bribery?  Rump's business model. America comes down another notch or ten.

We conclude with our recommendation to check out Infidel 753's excellent link round- up. If you can't find anything funny, interesting or new there, you may want to have your pulse checked!