Well, this is kinda fun.  The only damn thing that Congress can agree on is that Donald Trump cannot be trusted.

Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on sweeping sanctions legislation to punish Russia for its election meddling and aggression toward its neighbors, they said Saturday, defying the White House’s argument that President Trump needs flexibility to adjust the sanctions to fit his diplomatic initiatives with Moscow.

So here sits Donald Trump.  If he vetoes this sucker, that means that he’s in Putin’s pocket.  If he accepts it, Putin’s pocket is gonna get kinda tight around Trump’s patootie.

It’s not written in cement yet.

There are still hurdles to clear. Neither Speaker Paul D. Ryan nor Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, immediately issued statements on Saturday to give the agreements their blessing.

It will be fun watching those two bless one side or the other.

Twitter.

So Trump and Ryan have declared war on the Freedom Caucus.

They don’t seem properly chastised because most of them are referring to it as “drama.”  And, Trump’s 35% approval rating doesn’t make his hands look any bigger.

What’s he gonna do – call Vladimir and ask him to buy some better Republicans?

Dude, they seem to have you and Ryan in a corner.  And you’re whining and whimpering.

Sad.

When trying to get a bill passed in Congress, there are several things that work – reasoning, logic, research, even horse trading. Those things all work.

This is not how it works.

The Washington Post detailed the House GOP’s fight over the ObamaCare repeal and replacement plan this week, rounding up the dramatic details of leadership’s fight to win support for the measure.

At one point, the paper said, House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.) got down on one knee to plead with Rep. Don Young of Alaska – the longest-serving Republican in Congress — to support the bill. (He was unsuccessful.)

Oh Paul. Oh dear. That’s an image I cannot get out of my mind. Oh dear. I know that taking away health insurance from 24 million American meant a lot to you, but on your knee?

Besides, Paul, I think Young meant something else when he wanted you on your knees. And, come to think of it, that might have worked.

Here’s how this bill passing thing works:

Things have been a tad gloomy between Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.

So to spice things up, Breitbart releases a tape of a conference call with Paul Ryan blasting Donald Trump last October.

Because I care deeply about your well-being, I will not send you to Breitbart.  Here’s the pertinent parts of the call.

So the division between Trump and Ryan just got wider than a barn door.  Trump values loyalty.  Ryan values Ryan.

The best I can figure is that Bannon decided that Ryan was getting too much Trump attention.  Jealousy is not pretty.

Paul Ryan was on Face the Nation yesterday morning talking about the Republicans’ new anti healthcare bill they’re trying to sell to the American people.  Host John Dickerson tried numerous times to get Ryan to acknowledge that millions will lose their healthcare and that all major medical associations are opposing the measure.  Ryan engaged in his now familiar obfuscation with a big smile, repeating this most often used mantra of giving people “choice” and fostering “competition” in health care delivery.

Here’s the problem with the Republicans’ key economic assumption in their ideology.  Choice and competition come from a functioning free market.  You can call our healthcare delivery system in the US a lot of things, but “free market” is not one of them.  Here’s why:

Over 30 years ago, Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School developed a model to describe markets.  In his model, he describes 5 essential forces that control markets.  To be a fully functioning market, the power of buyers must be in parity with the power of the sellers.  At the same time, buyers must have alternatives from existing competitors, and those competitors must be continually under threat from new entrants into the market as well as new products or services that can substitute for the product already being sold.  An example: You want a car; you have numerous choices between new and used, expensive or thrifty.  You can buy online, you can buy from individuals, you can buy from numerous dealers.  You can check prices online, making the market relatively transparent.  As well, you can choose when you buy that car.  Or you can buy a motorcycle.  Or you can not buy a car and take Uber.  This market balance represents a relatively free market, subject to truth in advertising and financing laws.

Now, let’s look at our healthcare markets: Sellers (insurance companies and healthcare providers) dictate coverage and pricing.  The polices are intentionally complex and pricing is completely opaque.  In most Americans’ cases, EMPLOYERS pick which plan their employees can buy.  In this market, the sellers hold all the power and the buyers have only the choices that are dictated.  Additionally, the insurance markets are protected by state agencies, making it very difficult for alternatives to get into the market.  To make matters worse, when you’re sick, the LAST thing you have time or the inclination to do is price shop for healthcare.  Removing the market protections the ACA provides puts individual buyers at  the mercy of this cruel government protected market.  Republicans are trying to jam free market ideology into a market that is anything but free.  The cabal of insurance companies and healthcare delivery companies is impossible to to fight, especially by individuals.

So, with these clear market realities that make the Republican plan unfair and unworkable, what does that say about Paul Ryan’s argument for his plan?  There are two possible answers: 1) Ryan is stupid with no understanding of the realities of markets; or 2) He’s a lying sack of sh*t (sorry Momma) who is looking out for his base and the interests of his largest donors to the detriment of everyday Americans like you and me.

I’ll take Door Number Two, Alex.