Good Thursday morning, I'm Jake Sherman, and welcome to your political playbook audio briefing.

Stay tuned after the show for a message from the Embassy of Japan.

The What's Going on Presidency?

Over the last week, the Trump administration has taken several tactical and political steps

that would be seen in any other administration as such massively stupid political blunders

that one would wonder if somebody is

asleep at the switch. Usually, if one disagrees with the White House on the substance, you might

be able to discern what the administration is trying to do ideologically. These all seem to some

degree to be self-defeating. Relitigating health care, the political issue that cost Republicans to

the House, President Donald Trump voluntarily decided he would plunge his party back into the maelstrom of legislating a new health care reform bill.

The singular issue that Republicans believe cost them their House majority.

The reality is plain.

The GOP has no idea what it would do to reform health care.

This isn't a guess.

This is what we know based on eight months of trying.

Why relitigate an issue that tore the party apart and cost it dearly politically?

Gutting the Special Olympics. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed cutting $17.6 million

dollars in U.S. contributions to the Special Olympics.

$17 million isn't even a speck of sand when it comes to the federal budget, and it comes

at the political cost of dinging an organization that tries to lift up severely developmentally

disabled people. Not to mention, Congress was going to ignore this request anyway. Roy Blunt went to

the Special Olympics last week in Abu Dhabi, and he's charged with this spending. How is the juice

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