| | | | | President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat for his administration's Made in America Week event Monday at the White House. Credit: Pool/Getty Images | | | How Health Care Went Down: Trump's hope for repeal, replace goes kaboom!
Hunter's Road Trip Interview: Meet Maj Toure, founder of Black Guns Matter
Congrats, Brooke Baldwin: CNN anchor got a sweet surprise during a birthday trip to Hawaii | | | What the White House Is Talking About:
No public events on President Donald Trump's schedule today, but he called a last-minute assembly of the press pool to share his thoughts about the implosion of health care legislation.
What the White House Press Corps Is Talking About:
The implosion of the health care plan -- how it happened, which other senators might come out against it, and whether a push by Trump now just to repeal, and not replace, Obamacare will have legs. Briefing: At 2 p.m. today off-camera, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Number of days since on-camera briefing: 19. | | But First Tweets:
Here's what Trump is thinking this morning, as told by his Twitter feed: | | How it Went Down:
Picture this scenario: You're POTUS, and you've invited a handful of Senate health care holdouts over to the White House to feed them a nice dinner and cajole them in the hopes of winning their votes. Maybe there's ice cream, two scoops. Meanwhile, *during dinner,* two Republican senators *tweet* they're bailing on the proposed Trump-backed health care bill. Before dessert's over, probably, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is releasing a statement conceding, "regretfully," the effort to repeal and replace is kaput. In other words, if you're Trump, it wasn't a good night.
This story continues to unfold at breakneck speed, and there's a lot of "what's next?" speculation, so follow along with live updates here.
The Eighth Man:
In addition to being a fabulous movie/book title, CNN is first to report special counsel investigators are actively seeking the mysterious eighth man who reportedly attended the meeting with a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr during the presidential campaign. He has now been identified as Ike Kaveladze.
Weee-oh, Weee-oh, Weee-oh:
Guys, fire trucks are cool, and I sort of always hope that if I'm ever invited to sit behind the wheel of one, I, too, would pretend to be a fireman speeding toward a burning building, just like Trump did Monday at the Made in America event. I'm not mad at him. According to the pool report, the President actually said, "Where's the fire? I'll put it out," when he got inside. However, that fire was probably the flailing health care plan, and he maybe should have actually been spending time literally putting it out. | | Credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images
Ivanka-Made Philippine Treat for Arabella's Birthday:
While watching Ivanka Trump's Instagram account Monday, as I am wont to do, I noticed that for daughter Araballa's 6th birthday party she was prepping hot dogs with, wait for it, marshmallows on top. | | Credit: @ivankatrump/Instagram
Intrepid reporter, CNN's Betsy Klein, did some research and discovered that this treat is common in the Philippines at children's parties. Unclear what the connection is to the Trump/Kushner household, but at least we have a point of reference for the skewers. | | They REALLY Miss Obama:
Cleveland couple Cassi and Adam (no last names for privacy) opted to model their engagement photo session in the mold of Barack and Michelle Obama. Literally. Their photographer, Natasha Herbert, shot them in four poses, two below, that were replicas of lovey-dovey documented pics of the former first couple. So, that happened. | | Credit: @natashaherbert/Instagram
Dress Like the President:
In a special installment of "Dress Like" today, you can buy the Stetson "El Presidente" cowboy hat that Trump was gifted Monday for $1,005. It's available in Silverbelly, which is the color he got, and also in black. | | Credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images; stetson.com
But ... You Have to Get Your Own Personalization:
Trump's hat was specially customized by the Stetson folks, who put the presidential seal, Trump's name and "Make America Great Again" on the inside. | | Credit: @CLH45/Twitter
Congratulations, Brooke Baldwin:
Big congrats and lots of warm wishes going out to my friend and colleague (and COVER/LINE fan), Brooke Baldwin, whose boyfriend, James Fletcher, whisked her away to Hawaii last week to celebrate her birthday -- and also to propose. She said yes 🍾 . Yay, love! | | | Credit: @brookebcnn/Instagram | | What Washington Is Talking About:
Callista Gingrich is testifying in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be the US ambassador to the Vatican.
What America Is Talking About:
Monday was hometown night on "The Bachelorette" for Rachel Lindsay, including a trip to Los Angeles with Dean Unglert to meet his dad.
Poll of the Day:
A Bloomberg News poll found health care is the issue Americans see as the most important facing the country right now. Unemployment and jobs came next, followed by terrorism. | | For the next two weeks, I'm driving cross country for COVER/LINE. You can read about it every day in the newsletter and follow along on Instagram, at @cnncoverline and @hunterschwarz.
~The Great American Road Trip 2017~ Stop No. 1: Philadelphia
Like all good road trips, mine started late; it always seems to take longer to pack up the car and get out of town than you think it will. It's 139 miles from our nation's capital to our former capital, Philadelphia. It's the birthplace of America, the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and more recently, the site of the 2016 Democratic National Convention -- "Hilladelphia" as I called it last year.
Driving into town, I pass the Wells Fargo Center, which was transformed during the DNC into a fortress of barricades and Secret Service, while outside, Bernie Sanders supporters, Jill Stein fans and anti-Clinton protesters demonstrated throughout the week. Clinton won 82.4% of the vote in Philadelphia County, but Donald Trump won the state of Pennsylvania.
What Philadelphia Is Talking About:
The chancellor of Pennsylvania's state university system, Frank Brogan, announced he will retire in September.
Philadelphia's Must-See Political Spot:
Independence National Historical Park. It's got Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and the Liberty Bell, and it's also the site of Clinton's final 2016 rally, a concert held on Election Day eve with Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi and the Obamas. | | Credit: Ryan Alexander
Meet Maj Toure:
Toure is the founder of the group Black Guns Matter. We met at the Gun Range in north Philly, and he's wore his Black Guns Matter shirt, black with a Run DMC-esque logo. The shirts are a fund-raiser for the group, and also, they make him look jacked, he says. | | Credit: @cnncoverline/Instagram
"We founded Black Guns Matter because we kept seeing and traveling, there's the same issues in every urban demographic," Toure says. "In urban areas, it's told if you got the firearm, you must be the bad guy or you must be law enforcement or you must be military. It's never told that you can just be a hard-working citizen that just wants to protect what's yours and protect your life."
People are either "missing the information" about legal gun ownership, he says, or they think, "That's not for me, that's for country redneck white dudes."
Toure is also a rapper, and he says he sees a difference in how guns are handled in hip-hop versus country.
Hip-hop "has been based on misinformation," he says, and "on promoting tales that help people go to prison," while for country music, "it might just be 'I got my shotgun, I got my beer,' whatever the story is, it's still more of an appreciation of their rights."
He sees a change in how guns are represented in hip-hop as a way to help change misconceptions.
"There's a few things that get people together, but music and guns is one of those," he says. | | | | | | |
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