It was a quiet weekend in Washington, as President Trump spent much of his time golfing, but his actions last week left much of the political world still catching up to his executive actions.
Trump opened up his weekend by tweeting about his pride in his decision to loosen some requirements for Obamacare, allowing people to shop for health insurance across state lines.
He spent much of the weekend golfing, going out with both Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Paul urged Republicans to act boldly on tax reform after playing his round with Trump.
Trump tweeted later in the weekend that he wasn’t moving as slow on major policy goals as some critics believe, instead moving quickly on some major policies.
Trump was also served a subpoena in a defamation case brought by a woman who’s accused Trump of sexual assault.
Much of the weekend was spent by others reacting to his moves late last week.
Among them were medical and business groups who pleaded with Congress to approve the payments in order to keep premiums down.
A German minister said Trump’s actions on the Iran deal is moving the world closer to war.
National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump made the move because Iran can’t be trusted to comply with the deal.
McMaster said Trump’s method of dealing with North Korea — negotiating while threatening war — is the best way to keep Kim Jong Un in check.
In a light-hearted moment, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson responded to charges Trump has “castrated” him by saying, “I checked, I’m fully intact.” He added he’ll use diplomacy to try and avoid conflict with North Korea “until the first bombs drop.”
He was more serious in the same interview when he again refused to shoot down rumors he called the president a “moron” during a meeting at the Pentagon.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Trump’s threat to pull out of the Iran deal completely would only help the Iranians because they would be able to play the victim while also working toward getting a nuclear weapon.
American Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the U.S. will not pull out of the deal — and instead use it to send a message to North Korea. Haley also denied her relationship with Tillerson is full of tension, as some reports have indicated.
Graham, after playing golf with Trump, praised him for decertifying the Iran deal, which he said is not working.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to decertify the Iran nuclear agreement and called it a very brave choice.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud also praised Trump’s decision in a call with the president, according to the White House.
On the healthcare front, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Trump made the right move by ending cost-share reduction payments from the government to insurance companies that helped keep premiums down for expensive patients.
Murphy, meanwhile, called the same decision “healthcare arson.”
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said Trump’s decision to end the payments will hurt Americans.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, another Republican, questioned what Republicans are doing by following Trump’s lead on policies, including healthcare. Kasich added he’s leaving the door open to running for president in 2020.
An analysis showed most of the people who will be hurt by Trump’s decision to end the payments live in states the voted for Trump in November 2016.
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon gave a rousing speech to the Value Voters Summit Saturday and sent a rousing message to the GOP establishment.
He also sent a warning to potential Trump opponents in the 2020 election, on both sies of the aisle: Trump will be even more popular in a few years’ time. He said Trump would win 400 electoral votes, which hasn’t been done in 30 years.
Speaker Paul Ryan said he’s not particularly concerned with Bannon’s push against the GOP establishment in an interview Sunday night.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, blasted Bannon for saying he’d take down the establishment, calling his remarks inappropriate.
The Harvey Weinstein scandal continued to spiral, as attorney Lisa Bloom said she made a massive mistake in agreeing to represent the philandering movie producer.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski hit back at accusations of Trump being a sexual predator by saying there was a sexual assaulter in the White House and he was Bill Clinton.
Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham implicated Clinton, Anthony Weiner, and Eliot Spitzer in a joke about Weinstein.
Weinstein was kicked out of the Motion Picture Academy for the allegations of sexual misconduct Saturday night.
Ryan said Sunday night “it would be naive” to think similar things don’t happen in Congress.
In Puerto Rico, officials announced the death toll from Hurricane Maria continues to rise and is now at 48.
The government leaked out word it doesn’t want to disclose what’s in James Comey’s FBI memos publicly.
TV networks announced they wouldn’t be showing the national anthem live during this weekend’s NFL games as the controversy over protests by players continued.
The protests spread overseas as a German soccer team took a knee in solidarity with NFL players doing the same.
White House adviser and Trump daughter Ivanka Trump encouraged unleashing the power of women to help the country’s economy and social fabric.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced the social media site would come up with new rules to protect women from harassment while using the service.
Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned the United Kingdom not to rely on Trump to come up with help negotiating a Brexit deal.
Clinton also called Trump’s decision to decertify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal a major mistake.
Department of Homeland Security officials met with leaders from the states to determine the department’s authorities now that they’ve declared election infrastructure as “critical infrastructure.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Obamacare provided the public “peace of mind” when it came to healthcare.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she’s not going to be leaving Congress because she needs to fight for Obamacare.
Pelosi said later it’s going to be up to congressional Republicans to avoid a government shutdown, which Trump has threatened if he doesn’t get money for the southern border wall.
Hustler Magazine owner Larry Flynt offered $10 million to anyone who has enough dirt on Trump that it ends up getitng him impeached.
Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. said he’s told Trump he needs to start calling some Republicans “fake Republicans” in order to hurt them in elections.
In bizarre weather news, Hurricane Ophelia turned into a Category 3 at one point as it headed east toward Europe. It was expected to hit Ireland as a tropical depression Sunday night.
Microsoft blamed North Korea for a cyberattack on hospital computer systems.
Nearly half of Republican voters say they would be in favor of a pre-emptive attack on North Korea.
The U.S. Coast Guard responded to an oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.
In California, state Senate president Kevin de Leon officially announced his plans to mount a primary challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein next year. Feinstein is running for her fifth full term after first winning a special election in 1992.
In the Middle East, ISIS is holding on to its last strongholds in Raqqa, its self-proclaimed capita city. Allied forces backed by the U.S. hold about 90 percent of the city.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a federal attorney to prosecute a murder case in Iowa that’s being trated as a hate crime.
Elsewhere in the entertainment world, comedian George Lopez was booed off stage for his anti-Trump jokes.
The new season of Saturday Night Live remains heavy on political commentary.
This week, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was mocked as the clown Pennywise from the movie “It.”
The show also went after Weinstein after not joking about the sexual misconduct scandal last week.
Actor Alec Baldwin also appeared on the show to once again reprise his role as Trump, this time mocking his tax reform speech.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel said he’s not overly bothered by losing Republican viewers who don’t like his opinions on gun control or healthcare.
