Comment on Senate health bill pegged at $829 billion

Washington Post: “It was a comeback tale, based on the notion of a single bad night. ‘When you get knocked down, you get back up!’ Biden declared, nailing the lines off a teleprompter, at full volume, to cheers. His next campaign ad was set.” “But the crisis that may yet topple his candidacy would only get worse.” “The speech showcased the promised candidate, but also reinforced the inconsistency.

Washington Post: “Trump has not communicated his choice, the people familiar with the situation said, but discussions inside the campaign have narrowed in on Sens. J. D. Vance (R-OH) and Marco Rubio (R-FL).” “North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also in the mix, and Trump, who has a habit of changing his mind, was privately discussing other names as recently as the last week.”

New York Times: “It is all a new role for a man best known as a happy-go-lucky political operator, a consummate team player and a prodigious fund-raiser, whose paid speeches since leaving Congress include one titled ‘The Happy Warrior Leadership Mindset.’” “Now, bent on settling his own political scores, Mr. McCarthy has been inserting himself into a high-stakes election cycle in which Republicans are pressing to win control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.”

“Donald Trump has never shown much interest in grooming successors,” the New York Times reports. “When he left as host of “The Apprentice,” he mocked the ratings of his replacement. No alumni network exists for former Trump White House staff members in the way there does for the two presidents who preceded him.

Politico: “More than six months before the next American president takes office, there is already an extraordinarily advanced effort across the NATO alliance, and far beyond, to manage a potential transfer of power in America.” “With President Joe Biden listing badly in his bid for reelection, many allies anticipate that at this time next year they will be dealing with a new Trump administration — one defined by skepticism toward Europe, a strident strain of right-wing isolationism and a hard resolve to put confronting China above other global priorities.”

“French voters head to the polls Sunday for the final round of parliamentary elections that hinge on whether France is prepared to hand control of the National Assembly to Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigrant forces and usher them into the halls of government,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Le Pen’s party, National Rally, is facing longer odds after a coalition of leftist parties and the ranks of President Emmanuel Macron agreed to try to pool their voters, withdrawing hundreds of third-place candidates in order to set up head-to-head matchups with Le Pen candidates in the final round of voting.”