TheChat: Here’s the latest reason why critics are pounding Donald Trump

Good morning.

▪ “Every time you decide that maybe a Trump Administration could work out ok, you're reminded (as by his tweets today) of one obstacle: Trump.” — conservative writer Bill Kristol on Twitter.

Kristol remains an intense critic of the president-elect’s. Kristol was referring to Trump’s tweets in which he insisted he won the popular vote save for people who voted illegally.

▪ “Can lawmakers work across party lines to enact change? Will the governor sign a bill rescinding at least a portion of the 2012 tax cuts? Unless the answer to both questions is `yes,’ the financial suffering of Kansas will worsen, plunging our state into a further downward spiral.” — former Kansas budget director Duane Goossen on the predicament awaiting lawmakers in 2017.

Goossen, who served under Democratic and Republican governors, says legislators have little choice but to raise taxes. “We have few options left,” Goossen wrote.

▪ “It’s not going to go away overnight. It’s way too complex for that.” — Karen Edison, director of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, speaking about the future of the Affordable Care Act.

If Missourians need health insurance now, they should seek it, Edison said.

▪ “There is talk of bullying the Legislature into another one time fix.” — Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, writing to her fellow Republicans about the need for a permanent fix to the state’s fiscal woes.

Brownback’s office is saying that it can address the current $350 million shortfall without significant budget cuts. No one knows what that means.