Dumpster Fire Week

Things we learned yesterday:

1. If you're angry with your coworkers, don't call Ryan Lizza to vent.
2. If you'd like to repeal Obamacare, don't count on the Republican Party to do it.

The Trump administration likes to give weeks a theme. We're in the middle of dumpster fire week. Let's begin with the Leader of the Free World's new communications supremo, Anthony Scaramucci, who shares the following wisdom (apologies in advance for the multiple F-bombs, but a quote is a quote):

“They’ll all be fired by me,” [Scaramucci] said. “I fired one guy the other day. I have three to four people I’ll fire tomorrow. I’ll get to the person who leaked that to you. Reince Priebus—if you want to leak something—he’ll be asked to resign very shortly.” The issue, he said, was that he believed Priebus had been worried about the dinner because he hadn’t been invited. “Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” Scaramucci said. He channelled Priebus as he spoke: “ ‘Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the fucking thing and see if I can cock-block these people the way I cock-blocked Scaramucci for six months.’ ” (Priebus did not respond to a request for comment.)

Try the decaf, Mr. Scaramucci. Of course, he was just getting warmed up:

Scaramucci also told me that, unlike other senior officials, he had no interest in media attention. “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said, speaking of Trump’s chief strategist. “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the fucking strength of the President. I’m here to serve the country.” (Bannon declined to comment.)

Let's not mince words here -- Scaramucci thinks he's a genius, but he's really playing the Kevin Kline character in "A Fish Called Wanda." Again, there's some working blue here, but it makes the point:

Rather than worrying about whether someone takes a meeting with Bill Shine, I'd suggest Scaramucci get his shine box.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have decided Obamacare is nifty and swell, so we'll have no repeal:

A months-long effort by Senate Republicans to pass health legislation collapsed early Friday after GOP Senator John McCain joined two of his colleagues to block a stripped-down Obamacare repeal bill.

“I regret that our efforts were simply not enough, this time,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor after the vote. “This is clearly a disappointing moment.”

“It’s time to move on,” he added after pulling the bill from the floor.

The decision by McCain to vote no came after weeks of brinkmanship and after his dramatic return from cancer treatment to cast the 50th vote to start debate on the bill earlier this week. The GOP’s ‘skinny’ repeal bill was defeated 49-51, falling just short of the 50 votes needed to advance it. Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski also voted against it.

I've been trying to keep track of this -- based on who you talk to, and when you talk to them, John McCain is either a hero or a monster, and the answer changes by the hour. For his part, Le Grand Orange is probably right:

Especially, watch your wallet

The Democrats want the Republicans to start negotiating with them now. I wouldn't bother. Let the death spiral keep spiraling for another year. Let it burn. At this point, it would be better to work on tax reform and see what happens there.