Wednesday News: Trump Budget is Pure Evil, Anyone Who Supports It Must Be Defeated in 2018; Gillespie’s Stupid New Ad

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, May 24.

• Britain says attacker likely had help as focus shifts to his Libya visits
• When Terrorists Target Children (“The Manchester attack is an effort to stir vengeance so intense as to destroy values.”)
• US leak of Manchester attacker’s name strikes new blow to intelligence sharing (“The disclosures renewed concerns over leaks from Donald Trump’s administration two weeks after the US president revealed classified information, apparently from Israel, to Russia’s foreign minister in a White House meeting.” This administration is a disaster.)
• Trump’s hazy views confuse allies ahead of summit
• Trump calls Kim Jong Un a ‘madman with nuclear weapons,’ according to transcript of Duterte call (Wait, I thought Trump admired Kim Jong-Un.)
• Ex-CIA director was worried by contacts between Russia, Trump campaign associates, he says
• The Pontiff Versus the Mogul (“President Trump prepares to meet Pope Francis as his recently released budget shows just how different his philosophy is from the one that drives the leader of the world’s Catholics.” Trump’s budget is basically the antithesis of Jesus’ teachings.)
• Trump’s budget scam (“All presidents fudge the numbers. But this one represents a new level of deception.”)
• Trump undermines Senate GOP’s Medicaid backers (“The president’s sharp budget cuts align with conservatives eager to constrain the program’s growth in an Obamacare repeal bill.”)
• Steep cuts in Trump’s budget proposal don’t sit well with many in GOP (“The president’s proposal to cut federal spending by more than $3.6 trillion over the next decade — including deep reductions for programs that help the poor — drew praise from some fiscally conservative lawmakers. But most Republicans flatly rejected the plan.”)
• Trump escalates the war on women (“While the media chases scandals, Republicans threaten women’s health and reproductive rights.”)
• The dumb accounting error at the heart of Trump’s budget
• Trump’s Budget Is Built On A Fantasy (“Leave aside, then, the details of what Trump is proposing and focus instead on how he is proposing it: via economic projections that have little basis in reality.”)
• A not-so-innocent abroad: Trump bumbles across the Middle East (“Did the president know where he was?”)
• Trump pushes the boundaries on the Russia probe — again (“The Post reports the president pressured intelligence officials to deny the existence of evidence of collusion during the election.” This is way worse than just “pushing boundaries.”)
• Senate Intelligence Committee issues new subpoenas to Flynn’s businesses
• 5 moments that show Trump isn’t about to get any help from the intelligence community
• What to watch for in new healthcare score
• Here are the 66 programs eliminated in Trump’s budget (Includes the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy, the National Wildlife Refuge Fund, the Green Climate Fund and Global Climate Change Initiative, etc, etc. F’ing disgrace.)
• Fox News retracts online Seth Rich report while Hannity keeps pushing the conspiracy (Why is Hannity still employed? Anywhere?)
• Alex Jones, right-wing media wastes no time politicizing Manchester bombing
• Trump’s Biggest Broken Promise (“It’s right there in his new budget.”)
• Tim Kaine: Democrats need to talk to the middle class
• Sen. Tim Kaine On Trump And Russia And GOP Health Care Bill
• The life and death of the Seth Rich conspiracy theory (Fox is a cancer on America and needs to die.)
• Ignore the lofty rhetoric: Trump’s budget proposal is a massive tax cut paid for by brutally gouging the needy (“Mick Mulvaney claims his budget puts “taxpayers first.” It slashes taxes for the rich and wreaks havoc on the poor” And trashes the environment, clean energy, etc.)
• Trump wants to sell off half of the nation’s strategic oil reserve, McCain calls Trump’s budget “dead on arrival”
• Ed Gillespie Debuts New Ad in Virginia Gubernatorial Race (Hahahaha, “Enron Ed” actually BRAGS about helping to author the disastrous “Contract with America” AND advise Dubya? What a nut! Also, it’s laughable that this Swamp Creature personified would “stand up to special interests.” This entire ad is a bad joke, but apparently Gillespie is counting on voters being ignorant.)
• Brat, Kaine weigh in on Trump’s $4.1 trillion spending plan (Brat needs to be defeated next year.)
• Republican Congressman Dave Brat lauds Trump’s budget proposal; others less enthused (I repeat, Brat needs to be defeated next year.)
• Trump budget draws sharp criticism and some measured support (Anyone who supports this moral and economic abomination, such as Rep. Rob Wittman, needs to be voted out of office in 2018.)
• Schapiro: Democrats survived – and thrived – after earlier nomination fight (Sometimes I think Democrats’ favorite sport is hand wringing about tough primaries. Instead, we should be celebrating them!)
• GOP, Democratic lawmakers vow to defeat Trump plan cutting Chesapeake Bay funds
• The women are running; big jump in female candidates for Virginia House (The Post finally figures out what we’ve known about at Blue Virginia for months…)
• 3 Democrats who never held office vying to be Virginia’s lieutenant governor (I remain astounded that no elected Virginia Democrat threw their hat in the ring for LG this year.)
• Soap operatic GOP race for Va. lieutenant governor to play out in courtroom (“Days ahead of primary, a state senator will try to quash subpoena in defamation case.” Republican freak show.)
• Editorial: Good sense from gubernatorial candidates Ed Gillespie and Tom Perriello (Wow, the Republican Times-Disgrace said something nice about a Democratic idea???)
• Equality Virginia endorses Northam for governor
• Dark money comes with a twist in Virginia’s statewide races (Here we go again with the disgraceful false equivalence and smearing of Avaaz, which is a superb organization.)
• Editorial: Wagner talks Southwest Virginia (Wagner “wants to build roads. Lots of them, too, which he happily ticks off like a shopping list: a wider Interstate 81, the Coalfields Expressway in the coalfields, and the proposed Interstate 73.” Instead, we should focus on high-speed rail. Imagine if people could get from Wise County to Richmond and beyond in 2 hours or whatever?)
• Governor McAuliffe promotes clean energy jobs in Virginia’s coalfields
• McAuliffe visits Abingdon, touts craft beer’s economic benefits
• Parks in D.C. and Arlington lose ground to West Coast in ranking, report says
• Rain relents today, but more coming