Teabagistan

The New York Daily News reports: Start brainstorming alternative nicknames to “TrumpCare.” Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday suggested the real-estate mogul turned President wasn’t slapping his name on the GOP’s proposed Obamacare replacement — demurring when asked during a Fox News interview if it were to be branded “TrumpCare.” “Well, it’s the American Health Care Act and I …

The Daily Beast reports: A House Republican has reintroduced his own Obamacare repeal measure with the not-so-subtle title of the “World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017.” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the powerful Rules Committee, introduced the legislation last week, just days before GOP leadership unveiled their proposal to begin the process of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care …

Mediaite reports: Would-be Donald Trump foreign policy advisor Monica Crowley spoke out for the first time Tuesday night about the plagiarism scandal that forced her to forgo that White House position, saying on Fox News’ Hannity that it was a false hit job. “What happened to me was a despicable straight-up political hit job,” insisted Crowley. “It’s been debunked, my …

This morning Trump praised the GOP’s Obamacare replacement plan: President Trump made some brief remarks today in support of the Obamacare replacement bill released by House Republicans last night. He said that Obamacare is collapsing and that he’s “proud to support” this replacement, which he expects to be clearer and “more popular” with the American people. “It’s a very complicated …

The Washingtonian did some digging into why former Trump campaign spox and compulsive liar Katrina Pierson did not land a White House position and instead now works for a pro-Trump outfit. They report: So what happened? Pierson says she was offered the role of deputy press secretary. She accepted it, she says. But then she backed out. “It was funny …

The Hill reports: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson doubled-down Monday on his description of slaves as immigrants, arguing that the label fits anyone who comes into a country from the outside – even “involuntary immigrants.” “I think people need to actually look up the word immigrant,” Carson said. “Whether you’re voluntary or involuntary, if you come from the …

The Washington Post reports: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who during his confirmation hearings repeatedly vowed to promote human rights as a core American value, alarmed human rights advocates when he did not appear in person to present the State Department’s annual human rights report, released Friday. In a break with long-standing tradition only rarely breached, Tillerson’s remarks were limited …

The Austin Statesman reports: U.S. Sen Ted Cruz said Thursday that calls for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign or recuse himself from an investigation of ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign were “political theater,” and that Sessions’ meeting with the Russian ambassador during the campaign — that he failed to disclose at his Senate confirmation hearing …

Business Insider reports: The head of the House oversight committee on Thursday morning said Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from the investigations into Russia’s election-related hacking and communications with President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, said on Twitter that “AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself.” House Majority …

From Breitbart editor Joel Pollak: The Post does not provide the full transcript of the question, from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), and Sessions’s answer. Instead it summarizes the exchange in a way that makes it seem that Sessions was asked if there was any contact at all between the campaign and representatives of the Russian government. The New York Times …

Politico reports: A Republican congressman who is potentially eyeing a Senate run mocked Democratic women on Wednesday for wearing white at President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress. Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said the “poorly dressed” Democratic women wore “bad-looking white pantsuits” in solidarity with failed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. During a radio town …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is good for business: Lucrative, and sometimes shady, political business. Four out-of-state political groups are now raising money via solicitations saying they are trying to draft Clarke, the national political firebrand, to take on U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin next year, even though Clarke has given no indication he wants …

Buzzfeed reports: The Associated Press is suing LifeZette for more than $49,000, claiming that the Laura Ingraham-helmed website failed to pay months of licensing fees. The complaint, filed on Friday in District of Columbia Superior Court, alleges that LifeZette entered into a year-long licensing agreement to use AP content in July 2015, agreeing to pay $4,200 per month. The AP …

The New York Daily News reports: The NRA’s top gun revealed a paranoid vision of the world in a Friday speech that painted Democratic protesters as well-paid criminals bent on terrorizing the country. National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre unloaded on the left, saying its demonstrators are paid $1,500 a week to wreak havoc. “They’re angry. They’re militant and they’re …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s top two advisers will take the stage together Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in their latest attempt to dispel notions that they are combative rivals fighting for power in the West Wing. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon found themselves at the center of reports of West …

The Trace reports: The National Rifle Association is vowing to defend Donald Trump from “the forces who conspired” against his candidacy. The new president “will need every ounce of energy we can muster,” NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre declares in an ad released this week. “And he has no more powerful ally than the NRA.” The ad begins with …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Florida Republicans are more determined than ever to pass bills expanding gun rights in the wake of the deadly Pulse nightclub and Fort Lauderdale airport shootings. They say law-abiding gun owners should be allowed to take their weapons to airports, government meetings and state universities, and would be in a better position to protect themselves and …

“Why is there nothing going on? You know there’s probably 4 million armed men in this country, 4 million armed men, ex-military, police, militias, why are they not saying anything? Where are they? Why am I sitting here like a schmuck alone taking on so much on my shoulders? Where are they? Where are these 4 million men? I want …

The Hill reports: For the past three weeks, Democratic protesters have swarmed Republican town hall events across the country, booing, shouting down and trying to embarrass GOP lawmakers seeking to gut ObamaCare. In the coming weeks, grassroots conservatives will be fighting back. FreedomWorks, the Tea Party-aligned outside group, beginning next month will be organizing rallies and urging its nearly 6 …

Sports Illustrated reports: Texas governor Greg Abbott mocked the NFL’s “decision makers” on Twitter after the league issued veiled criticism of a proposed “bathroom bill” in the state. Abbott’s tweet came after a league spokesman told the AP that prejudicial legislation could be a factor when the NFL chooses where to host events like the Super Bowl. “If a proposal …