Week In The News: Opioids, Russia, GOP Battle

Jeff Flake says “enough.” White House takes action on opioids. Trump’s Russia dossier. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

We broadcast this show from Atlanta as part of our #OnPointListens national tour.

Reckless, dangerous and debasing the nation.  Hard words on President Trump this week from two Republican senators.  But they’re leaving Washington, where the train rolls on.  The way cleared for a big tax bill this week.  Details, and a fight, to follow.  Consumer rights against big banks curtailed.  The president talking opioid emergency, tangled in a Gold Star fight.  We’ve got Republicans, Democrats and the Trump dossier.  General Mattis in the DMZ.  New harassment charges every day.  This hour, On Point:  Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines. --Tom Ashbrook

Kyle Wingfield, conservative columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (@kwingfieldajc)

Lisa Desjardins, correspondent for PBS Newshour. (@LisaDNews)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

NBC News: Trump Calls Opioids 'Worst Drug Crisis In American History' — "'This epidemic is a national health emergency,' Trump said during an address at the White House. 'Nobody has seen anything like what is going on now. As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue. It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.'"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Does D.C.'s Establishment Understand Middle America Yet? — "The political class, particularly Democrats (since they lost), continue to conduct their post-mortems of the 2016 election that threw so many for a loop. As is often the case, it’s questionable whether they are pursuing a real understanding of what they didn’t grasp before, or simply looking for snippets to restore confidence in their prior beliefs — which they can try to sell back to the same folks who rejected them earlier as reasons why their approach hadn’t been all that errant in the first place."

Washington Post: The Clinton Camp And DNC Funded What Became The Trump Dossier: Here's What It Means — "Some on the right even alleged that Democrats paying Steele amounts to 'collusion' with foreigners. But Russia-Steele comparisons aren't apples-to-apples. The British after all are, unlike the Russians, America's allies. Also, Steele was not acting as an agent of a foreign government, which is what would likely be required to prove collusion in the case of the Trump campaign and Russia."