“On Long Island, Trump to highlight violence from MS-13 gang to push Congress on immigration.” -David Nakamura

David Nakamura at the Washington Post details President Trump’s efforts to eradicate the violent MS-13 gang in America’s cities. The President will be visiting Suffolk County on Long Island, which has seen a surge in violent crime from the gang – 17 murders in over 18 months – the Washington Post reports. The President will deliver “a very forceful message about just how menacing this threat is,” and highlight “the systemic consequences of our failure to enforce immigration laws over many years,” a White House aide told the Post. The President will use the speech to lay the foundation of his immigration policy – which includes arresting and removing violent gangs, bolstering the number of ICE and Customs Border Patrol officers, constructing a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and urging the passaging of the sanctuary cities and Kate’s law in the U.S. Senate.
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After the failed healthcare vote, Avik Roy in the National Review writes, “the GOP cannot simply `move on’ and give up on health care. Health care is the biggest driver of our debt and deficit, the biggest driver of growth in government, and one of the biggest drivers of economic insecurity for those in the middle class and below,” he emphasizes, noting healthcare reform isn’t “optional.”

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Yesterday, the President honored Alexandria, Virginia’s first responders. CBS Newsreports that “President Trump honored five first responders to the Alexandria congressional baseball practice shooting Thursday afternoon at the White House with Medals of Valor, the highest decoration of bravery bestowed upon public safety officers.”

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On the domestic energy front, Reuters reports that “U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year,” in a sign that President Trump’s “efforts to revive the battered industry are working.”

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In the Wall Street Journal, Kimberley Strassel questions, “who paid for the ‘Trump Dossier’” acknowledging Democrats don’t want you to find out – “and that ought to be a scandal of its own.”