Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos…Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia used the phrases “interpretive jiggery-pokery” and “pure applesauce” in a dissenting opinion on Thursday, which are either scathing insults about the court’s logic on Obamacare subsidies or names for the new dance moves he plans to unveil once the court goes on recess.
Get The Lid straight to your inbox each afternoon -- click here to sign up.
’16 AT 30 THOUSAND:
Republican presidential candidates have released a barrage of statements slamming the Supreme Court over today’s decision to uphold Obamacare subsidies. But we have a sneaky suspicion that the court’s decision isn’t all bad news for GOP candidates with their eyes on the White House. For one, it allows them to keep up the drumbeat for a full repeal of the law, which will energize the base (In the latest NBC/WSJ poll, a majority of GOP primary voters - 55 percent - said that the law should be “totally eliminated,” and an additional 36 percent said it needs a “major overhaul.”) And they can make a big-picture argument that a Republican-held White House really is the only way to ensure the end of Obamacare, which remains relatively unpopular with independents, too. (A combined 56 percent of indies say that the law should be gutted or dramatically changed, and just eight percent of ALL Americans say they think it’s working well as it is.)
The other advantage is they can continue to lambast the law without the immediate need to craft a legislative replacement, or at least figure out what to do about 6.4 million Americans who would have been effectively kicked off their health insurance plans. The candidates who are talking about repealing and replacing Obamacare are going to be under pressure to present a tangible alternative. But at least now they can avoid getting hit with ads featuring Americans who can no longer afford care after losing their subsidies.
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- NBC’s Pete Williams explains the Supreme Court’s rejection today of a challenge to the Obamacare law involving federal subsidies for health insurance.
- NBC’s Perry Bacon looks at the next steps for the Republican party after today’s ruling.
- GOP 2016 candidates are vowing that the fight against Obamacare isn’t over.
- NBC’s Mark Murray explains how the Supreme Court handed both Obama and the GOP a victory.
- NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell writes that Chris Christie is poised to announce his presidential run on June 30.
- Univision is ending its relationship with the Miss Universe organization over comments about Mexico made by Donald Trump.
CAMPAIGN QUICK READS
CLINTON: POLITICO writes that hedge-fund billionaire Daniel Loeb deleted a joke about Hillary Clinton’s sexuality from his Facebook page.
JINDAL: “Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s showing on Facebook was about the same as his showing in most polls. Unspectacular,” McClatchy writes of the social media response to Jindal’s 2016 announcement.
KASICH: He told Radio Iowa that he wouldn’t take a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants off the table.
RUBIO: A pro-Rubio group is launching a big ad campaign highlighting the senator’s opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.
FOR THE RECORD…
“Today, these robed Houdinis transmogrified a ‘federal exchange’ into an exchange ‘established by the State.”
-- GOP senator and 2016 candidate Ted Cruz on today’s Supreme Court ruling
TOMORROW’S SKED
Hillary Clinton is the featured speaker at the Virginia Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.
George Pataki, Rick Santorum and Rafael Cruz speak at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, CO.
Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Rick Santorum all hold campaign events in Iowa.
