The Note: Trump's mean tweets shrink presidency

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June 30, 2017

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Trump's mean tweets shrink presidency

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

1. President Trump...yes, the president...tweeted Thursday attacking "Morning Joe" hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, which earned him criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike and ultimately distracted from his own message and agenda. 2. Scarborough and Brzezinski responded on "Morning Joe": "We're OK. The country is not," Scarborough said. "He attacks women because he fears women." "It's been fascinating and frightening and really sad for our country," Brzezinski said. The two also co-penned a Washington Post op-ed, in which they deny the claims that Brzezinski was "bleeding badly" and that Trump had rejected their requests to join him at Mar-a-Lago. 3. Kellyanne Conway on "Good Morning America" said she won't endorse Trump's attacks but endorses "the president's right to fight back when he is being mercilessly attacked and when the air waves are filled with raw sewage about him and his fitness for office." Conway also seemed to catch herself, "George, that the toxicity both way -- coming to the president is terrible." 4. The Trump travel ban gets its first court challenge from Hawaii, which is questioning the administration's definition of what it means to be in a close familial relationship. 5. Another deadline broken: Republicans are hung up on health care as Congress leaves Washington today for a week, but expect lawmakers to face their constituents in town halls.

THE TAKE with ABC News' Rick Klein

With vile insults that fit inside 140 characters, Donald Trump is shrinking his own presidency. And for what exactly? What infuriates his friends and allies alike is that his outbursts are both uncontrollable and inexplicable. Yes, he faces harsh criticism, but that comes with the job. What the job does not entail – what it has not entailed through 44 presidencies – are personal, nasty, public attacks on fellow citizens. Forget what it means to be "presidential" – the outrage this time is that he's missing what it means to be a decent person. (Joe and Mika go further in their response op-ed: "Donald Trump is not well," reads the headline.) As for the impact, it so happens that three Republican women are on the list of health-care nos that he needs to be yeses. There are obvious ironies of first lady Melania Trump's supposed commitment to combating cyberbullying. But what Trump is costing himself with these attacks is more than anything a bill or a new initiative can recapture. He's eroding his own standing and credibility, at home and in the world, to settle slights no one seems to care about except himself. Fighting fire with fire leaves everything aflame.

THE HEALTH CARE OPPOSITION MOBILIZES

Republicans head home and they'll likely find the "resistance" waiting. On a call Thursday night, leaders from President Obama's former political group told volunteers to stay "vigilant" on health care during the Independence Day recess. They warned those listening that while on break, Republican lawmakers may try to make tweaks, changes and keep working the bill. The bill, that if passed, would undo the single biggest part of Obama's legislative legacy. "Over the course of the next week our main task is to communicate that those side deals are just not going to fly. This bill is fundamentally broken and cannot be salvaged," Jack Shapiro, director of policy and campaigns at the newly re-energized Organizing for Action, said on the call. OFA had been out of the public eye for most the 2016 campaign but, in the past few months, has been lending institutional knowledge and organizing help to groups and issues on the left. Shapiro told activists to be ready to mobilize, keep calling Senate offices and look out for town halls. "We cannot let this bill go through and so we are going to pull out all the stops to make sure that it doesn't," he added. All signs point to plenty of fireworks this Fourth, ABC News' MaryAlice Parks writes.

"Powerhouse Politics" podcast - Sen. Joe Manchin talks health care, Russia investigations and the Koch brothers

If GOP health care talks collapse, the moderates are ready to move in. "I would like to say there will be a centrist movement," said Sen. Manchin, D-W. Va., "which is really where things used to get done." But Manchin has been left waiting by the phone when it comes to health care. http://abcn.ws/2srUgBh

CBO: 35-percent drop in Medicaid spending by 2036 under GOP health bill

The finding came in an additional analysis, requested by Democrats, released Thursday after Monday's comprehensive review of the plan. http://abcn.ws/2u47Gp2

Trump meeting with Putin amid Russia investigations

President Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at next week's G-20 summit in Germany, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster confirmed Thursday. A spokesman for the Kremlin said Monday that Russia was ready to attend a full-scale meeting -- the first since Trump has taken office -- in addition to any interactions the pair would have at the summit. http://abcn.ws/2sryv4u