The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Nancy Drew a Line

Today in 5 Lines

The House and Senate are expected to vote on a massive budget deal that will prevent another government shutdown and increase federal spending by about $300 billion. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she will not vote for the bill because it doesn’t address the so-called “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, but it’s not clear how many Democrats will follow her lead. The White House said President Trump “was surprised” by the reports that former staff secretary Rob Porter abused two of his ex-wives. Chief of Staff John Kelly reportedly knew that Porter had issues preventing him from receiving full security clearance. Trump met with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to discuss foreign policy.

Today on The Atlantic

Turning on Trump: New poll results show that President Trump’s support among white, working-class women in the Midwest is waning. (Ronald Brownstein)
‘Somebody Was Asleep at the Switch’: Here’s how a Nazi got on the ballot in an Illinois congressional race. (Elaine Godfrey)
The White House’s Domestic-Abuse Problem: It’s no surprise that none of President Trump’s staff found the domestic-abuse allegations against Rob Porter disqualifying, since several members of the team have faced similar claims. (David Frum)

Follow stories throughout the day with our Politics & Policy portal.

Snapshot

Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah takes questions in his first formal White House briefing. Leah Millis / Reuters

What We’re Reading

What Debt?: The Republican Party used to demand massive spending cuts, and adamantly oppose raising the debt ceiling. They seem to have changed their tune. (Damian Paletta and Erica Werner, The Washington Post)

‘Välkommen, Senator McConnell’: The GOP’s current economic policies are making the United States more like Sweden, writes Kevin D. Williamson. (National Review)

‘From Fallujah to FBI Investigation’: California Representative Duncan Hunter is an ex-Marine who served three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the lawmaker’s colleagues worry he’s “on the brink of personal and political ruin.” (Rachael Bade and John Bresnahan, Politico)

A Bigger Battleground: As part of their plan to retake the House, Democrats are now targeting more than 100 Republican-held congressional districts in the November midterms. (Alex Seitz-Wald, NBC News)

TTYL, HFC: If the budget deal announced by the Senate on Wednesday passes, it could be the end of the House Freedom Caucus. (Stan Collender, Forbes)

Visualized

‘We’re Entering a Missile Renaissance: Only five countries can hit any place on earth with a missile. That could soon change. (Sergio Pecanha and Keith Collins, The New York Times)

Question of the Week

In The Atlantic’s March issue, Jonathan Rauch and Ben Wittes argue that “the best hope of defending the country from Trump’s Republican enablers, and of saving the Republican Party from itself” is for all voters—Republicans and Democrats alike—to vote against Republican candidates at every opportunity, “until the party either rights itself or implodes.”

Do you believe the GOP needs to be defended from Donald Trump? If so, do you agree with this strategy?

Share your response here, and we’ll feature a few in Friday’s Politics & Policy Daily.

-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey)

About the Author

Elaine Godfrey is an assistant editor at The Atlantic.

Twitter

The myriad Trump scandals can obscure the fact that they’re all elements of one massive tale of corruption.

The sheer volume of Trump scandals can seem difficult to keep track of.

There’s the ongoing special-counsel investigation into whether the Trump campaign aided a Russian campaign to aid Trump’s candidacy and defeat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton; there’s the associated inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice when he fired former FBI Director James Comey, whom he had asked not to investigate his former national-security adviser; there are the president’s hush-money payments to women with whom he allegedly had extramarital affairs, made through his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and facilitated by corporate cash paid to influence the White House; there is his ongoing effort to interfere with the Russia inquiry and politicize federal law enforcement; there are the foreign governments that seem to be utilizing the president’s properties as vehicles for influencing administration policy; there’s the emerging evidence that Trump campaign officials sought aid not only from Russia, but from other foreign countries, which may have affected Trump’s foreign policy; there are the ongoing revelations of the president’s Cabinet officials’ misusing taxpayer funds; there is the accumulating evidence that administration decisions are made at the behest of private industry, in particular those in which Republican donors have significant interests.