Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Stay tuned: “President Donald Trump said Wednesday it was ‘highly unlikely’ he would fire Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. His statements, made in the Oval Office, come less than 24 hours after telling a room full of Republican lawmakers that he was considering doing so.”
* As tragic as this is, it’s also very easy to believe: “The Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill could result in more than 1,000 additional deaths every year, according to a report published Wednesday in JAMA Health Forum. The cuts could also lead to nearly 100,000 more hospitalizations each year, the report found, and around 1.6 million people may delay seeking care.”
* The end of an unnecessary mobilization: “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the removal of 2,000 National Guard troops who were mobilized in response to protests in Los Angeles last month over immigration raids, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.”
* All is not well at the high court: “In clearing the way for President Trump’s efforts to transform American government, the Supreme Court has issued a series of orders that often lacked a fundamental characteristic of most judicial work: an explanation of the court’s rationale.”
* I’d be more inclined to believe announcements like these if the White House agreed to share any of the substantive details: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he reached a preliminary trade deal with Indonesia that will set a 19% tariff on the Southeast Asian country’s U.S. exports.”
* If this report is accurate, it’s a doozy: “A senior National Institutes of Health leader was fired Monday amid an investigation into a contract on autism and other topics that could have benefited his spouse, according to three officials familiar with the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.”
* House Republicans sure do cave to Trump a lot: “President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a group of House Republicans who blocked several cryptocurrency regulation bills from moving forward earlier in the day had changed their minds following a White House meeting, and would now vote to advance the legislation.”
* My expectations for Fox News are not high, but this surprised me: “Greg Gutfeld on Tuesday proposed a shocking way for conservatives like him to deflect from allegations of fascism: make ‘Nazi’ their n-word.”
See you tomorrow.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
