I had planned on writing this post early this month. But Sunday evening I got into an exchange on Twitter about the controversy with the Times and Bret Stephens and many people canceling their subscriptions over his hiring. That prompted me to discuss some broader questions about the future of digital news journalism and advertising. It gives me a launching off point to discuss the broader issue. As I explained in that exchange, I have no dog in the Times fight. People should make their choices and – this is all I’ll say – whenever possible judge publications in their totality and over time. The leeway to make some mistakes is one thing that keeps a publication vital. But I want to talk in more depth about the issue of journalism and subscriptions, both in terms of the journalism industry generally and specifically how it affects TPM.

It now seems likely that there will be a House vote on Trumpcare Third Try some time this week. It might well not happen. It’s impossible to know for sure. But it does appear much more likely than people thought as recently as this morning.

Here’s the big thing to keep in mind, front and center. Trumpcare 1.0 went down in flames in part because of the CBO score showing that 24 million people would lose their health care coverage and that most of the protections provided by Obamacare would be scrapped.

Here’s where we are. After weeks of false assurances, puffery, and salesmanship intended to give Obamacare repeal some legislative momentum when in fact there was none, the White House appears closer to securing the necessary votes than it has at any point since the bill was yanked in March. It’s not a done deal yet, and in truth, it’s difficult to trust any of the pronouncements by the interested parties after all the nonsense talk of the last few weeks. As of now, no vote has been scheduled, and the window for getting the vote done is narrow. The House is gone on recess from Friday through next week. A vote would have to be Thursday. That’s looking more likely than it has in weeks. Stay tuned.

We’re now past the 100 Days. And it was more or less universally agreed that, in historical terms and against expectations, it was an abysmal failure. President Trump as much as conceded this with his wild mix of angry denunciations of the 100 Days standard combined with press releases touting meaningless metrics like number of executive orders signed, number of foreign leaders talked to and similar nonsense. Set all that aside. That’s really a given. What I’m interested in now is Trump’s reaction. He failed. He gets that. But why did he fail? In the Trumpian psyche, it can’t be Trump’s personal failure or a failure of strategy. So who’s to blame?

In recent days, we’ve gotten the answer, though I have not seen it put together as such. The problem is the constitution or more generally, democracy.

The new wrinkle today in the House GOP’s desperate effort to round up enough votes to repeal Obamacare is another proposed amendment to the bill. It is designed to win over moderates but would actually do very little to move the dial on the key policy imperatives of the bill. It’s important to understand that because the tone and tenor of the political coverage will tend to downplay it. It’s much more fun to cover the will they or won’t they get the votes and the shuttle diplomacy up and down Pennsylvania Avenue than to grapple with the underlying policy implications of the bill.

I wanted to share some background perspective on The Trumpcare Long March and whether there’s a chance Trump will still be able to repeal Obamacare and toss 20+ million off their healthcare care coverage. 

Trump to meet with two key House GOPers opposed to Trumpcare.

Trump lashes out at Clinton and Comey in late night Twitter outburst.

It seems Sebastian Gorka isn’t quite fired after all. And it’s Trump himself who’s protecting him.

EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Gorka tells @JakeTurx that he personally met with @POTUS on Monday and got assurances that he’s not being asked to step down. pic.twitter.com/2gVFtRZ8fF

— Ami Magazine (@Ami_Magazine) May 2, 2017

Here’s how ridiculous the Trumpcare 3.0 situation has gotten. A few minutes ago, Rep. Rodney Davis was on MSNBC telling plain falsehoods, lying about Obamacare and also – in a weird mix of plaintiveness and disingenuousness – complaining that the Democrats in the House weren’t coming forward to help them repeal Obamacare.

Beyond the disingenuousness, he actually seemed slightly sad because their situation is so hapless and helpless.

Here’s the video …

I wanted to share some thoughts on the role of bigness and monopolies in our lives today. I want to preface this by noting that what you’ll read here are things that many of you have almost certainly experienced yourselves. They are most definitely what we call ‘first world problems.’ My point in sharing them is not to say ‘woe is me’ but to describe some basic and recurring experiences which illustrate a larger point.

Let’s talk about buying cable and Internet service, shall we?

The fun thing for Republicans about this morning’s push to pass Trumpcare 3.0 in the House is that it’s so close that basically each of the remaining undecided Republicans will reasonably be the “deciding” vote that lost health care for 20+ million people and got rid of protections for people with pre-existing conditions. So not, “House Republicans passed” it. But you, Rep. X cast the deciding vote that lost these 20+ million people lost their health care. You did it. It was you.

Fun times.