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National Election Results: presidential

republicans icon Projection: Trump is President-elect
223
294
223
294
Harris
67,723,009
270 to win
Trump
72,439,085
Expected vote reporting: 90%

The Note: The aftermath of the failed health care push

Trump's moving on to tax reform after last week's failure to reform health care.

ByABC News
March 27, 2017, 7:53 AM

— -- Trump's first 100 day's with ABC’s RICK KLEIN and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE

Day No. 67

THE BIG STORY: President Trump is coming off of a week where he lost both credibility and control. He also lost something that is harder to define and may be harder to restore: the mystique of power. Since November, even Trump’s harshest critics had to recognize his political talents, which show in two ways: The seemingly unbreakable connection and communications link he has with a loyal block of voters, and the deal-making skills that grew his brand all the way to the presidency. But the Republicans who opposed the health care bill showed they neither fear nor love the president. That turns the question to the consequences: In the Trump playbook, look for a power move – something that goes beyond tweets and executive orders. If we’re ever going to be tired of all the winning, the Trump White House needs some victories as attention turns to tax reform and other big agenda items.

THE SLEEPER STORY: After a civil war comes reconstruction. But where does Trump go to build coalitions again? In the aftermath of Friday’s devastating fail, the president has attacked Democrats, conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, and – obliquely and oddly, through a recommendation to watch a certain news show – House Speaker Paul Ryan. Even if the president’s tweet to watch Fox News was a coincidence and not meant to hit Ryan, Breitbart and Twitter are taking care of that piece of the blame for him. Trump needs some dance partners moving forward, and there are signals that the same people who just beat him on health care are wary of teaming up with him again. The Freedom Caucus already lost one of its members in the aftermath. And the group’s chairman, Rep. Mark Meadows, said on ABC’s “This Week” that he’s prepared to have “a lot of flexibility” in tackling tax reform. The president can find willing partners out there, if he looks and resists the urge to tweet at them.

THE SHINY STORY: Here comes Jared to save the day. The announcement Monday that Jared Kushner will head up the new White House Office of American Innovation gives Trump’s son-in-law a broad mission that includes smashing through bureaucracies and fulfilling campaign promises on everything from veterans’ care to opioid abuse. Maybe this task force will surprise. But it’s not the first time the Trump White House - barely two months in - has trotted out a new initiative designed to both streamline government and keep the president himself on track. It’s also in keeping with deploying Kushner as a signal to Wall Street allies of serious people in control. It could be that the Trump White House needs an internal SWAT team to keep it moving in the right direction. It could also be that this new team draws friendly fire.

TLDR: The White House is turning the page by moving on to tax reform and other big promises, but how does the president act now that his ability to make deals has been undermined?

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets throughout Russia on Sunday in a wave of anti-corruption protests, the largest in years. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as well as hundreds of others were detained, and this image shows one of those protesters being arrested: (Credit: Alexander Utkin/AFP/Getty Images)

Riot police officers detain a protester during a rally in central Moscow, March 26, 2017.
Alexander Utkin/AFP/Getty Images

NOTABLES

--TRUMP SHIFTS BLAME TO CONSERVATIVES ON FAILURE OF HEALTH CARE BILL: Two days after pointing his finger at Democrats for the failure of the GOP health care proposal, President Trump shifted the blame to conservative Republicans and said he is open to working with Democrats on health care reform. Trump on Twitter called out the House Freedom Caucus, saying Democrats are “smiling” because the group of conservative lawmakers' opposition to the Republican health care proposal “saved” Obamacare and Planned Parenthood, notes ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS. http://abcn.ws/2ojB1s0

--'NO CONVERSATION' HAPPENING ON REPLACING SPEAKER PAUL RYAN: HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR: The chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said there is no talk of replacing House Speaker Paul Ryan after the Republicans' proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare was killed because it failed to garner enough GOP support, ABC's QUINN SCANLAN and NICKI ROSSOLL report. On Saturday -- hours after Donald Trump tweeted to his followers, “Watch @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews tonight at 9:00 P.M.” – Jeanine Pirro opened her show with a call for House Speaker Paul Ryan to step down. http://abcn.ws/2o6hFaJ

SPEED READ with ABC's ADAM KELSEY

ROGER STONE: ‘I’VE HAD NO CONTACTS OR COLLUSION’ WITH RUSSIANS. Political strategist Roger Stone, longtime friend and adviser to President Trump, doubled down on his defense against allegations that he or others in the Trump campaign may have colluded with Russia in its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. “I have had no contacts or collusion with the Russians,” Stone told ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on “This Week” on Sunday. “There is no collusion, none -- at least none that I know about, in Donald Trump's campaign for president.” ABC's ALI DUKAKIS has more: http://abcn.ws/2npFGLw

SCHUMER: TRUMP SHOWED 'BASIC LACK OF COMPETENCE' ON HEALTH CARE BILL. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized President Donald Trump after the GOP-backed health care bill failed to garner enough support for a vote on the House floor Friday, saying the president showed two unhelpful traits during negotiations, ABC's NICKI ROSSOLL writes. "The first is basic lack of competence," Schumer told ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS during an exclusive interview on “This Week” Sunday. "You cannot run the presidency like you run a real estate deal. You can't tweet your way through it." http://abcn.ws/2npRrBL

TRUMP WILL END OBAMA'S SIGNATURE CLEAN POWER PLAN THIS WEEK: EPA CHIEF. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt slammed the 2015 Paris accord to combat climate change as "a bad deal." Pruitt also revealed in an interview with ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on Sunday that President Trump will this week sign a new executive order that will eliminate a signature Obama-era policy for combating climate change, the Clean Power Plan. ABC's NICKI ROSSOLL has more: http://abcn.ws/2o6e1gJ

TRUMP AIDE IN CHARGE OF SURROGATE OPERATIONS LEAVING POST. Boris Epshteyn, the special assistant to the president in charge of surrogate operations is leaving his post, a senior Trump administration official told ABC News Saturday, ABC’s KATHERINE FAULDERS and DAVID CAPLAN write. He may assume a different role in the White House, though. "We are exploring opportunities within the administration," the official said. http://abcn.ws/2nSBrcr

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

'TRUMP TROUBADOUR' LOSES TRUST IN PRESIDENT OVER HEALTH CARE: 'I FEEL BETRAYED.' Once-staunch Donald Trump supporter Kraig Moss followed the Republican to more than 45 campaign rallies across the country and became known as the "Trump troubadour" for his guitar-playing at the candidate's events. But now Moss, an upstate New York resident whose son died of a heroin overdose, says President Trump's push for the GOP health care bill caused him to lose trust. Moss said he was particularly upset by the bill’s weakening requirements for insurers to cover mental health and substance abuse treatment. "I feel betrayed," Moss told ABC News. "I feel like I've been lied to.” ABC's FREDA KAHEN-KASHI has more. http://abcn.ws/2n540iX

IN THE NOTE’S INBOX

NEW VIDEO: ‘JUSTICE REFORM, STATES LEAD.’ The bipartisan organization U.S. Justice Action Network, which works to reform the justice system at the state and federal level, is releasing a new video highlighting state efforts to move justice reform legislation forward. The new video titled "Justice Reform, States Lead" highlights five of the 27 governors who have prioritized reforming their state’s justice system, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner among others. WATCH: http://bit.ly/2o9bGBN

WHO’S TWEETING?

@maggieNYT: NEW - senate Intel committee wants to question Kushner about Russia, Becker/Rosenberg/me https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/us/politics/senate-jared-kushner-russia.html?referer=

@KFaulders: Ryan spox @AshLeeStrong says @POTUS & Speaker Ryan spoke again today. "The president was clear his tweet had nothing to do with the speaker"

@ryanstruyk: No mention of health care in latest Trump fundraising email of week's greatest hits. Though it does say: "Trump is keeping his promises..."

@AP_Politics: Ivanka Trump accepts Merkel invitation to attend women's economic summit in Berlin, by @Catherine_Lucey https://apnews.com/e88731cd9ef446e2bbbe7e8d3ebf3db9/Ivanka-Trump-to-attend-women's-economic-summit-in-Berlin?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP_Politics

@JoeNBC: "Reagan had one key quality that you don’t have: He knew what he didn’t know."~@maureendowd to @realDonaldTrump https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/opinion/sunday/donald-this-i-will-tell-you.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=

@NYTmag: Our next cover story is up early: Inside Trump's efforts to get his agenda through Congress. By @draperrobert http://nyti.ms/2nTbSrD

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