We just won a huge victory on the health care bill, and most people don’t even realize it yet. The failure of the current bill was a godsend for those who are serious about repealing Obamacare. Going forward, Trump can now say that he did everything he could to support the GOP establishment version of this process. It will cost him nothing to now turn around and try and alternative approach. On the other hand it will cost to Paul Ryan everything to resist that.
Paul Ryan and his guys tried to cram this thing down our throats with threats and blackmail. Trump supporter at it, no matter what, to the hilt. Nobody on the hill can say that they were not supported by the president. I say that Trump gets a pass from the conservatives, and room enough to turn around and take a charge at it from the side. People lamenting the early death of the trumpet ministration or falling for the same thing that everybody falls for dealing with Trump. This will not hurt him at all. This will make him stronger if he takes the opportunity to come through for the workaday conservatives who put him where he is.
His ultimatum to the house and to the nation in general about passing Obamacare repeal or living with it is now a strong negotiating position.
Paul Ryan says that now we will have to live with Obama care for the foreseeable future. I say that we will live without Paul Ryan in the foreseeable future.
Most of “we” (not us here) don’t see very far into the future. We don’t play the long game. Most of “we,” then, see the “foreseeable future” as “forever” (sigh). And when the headlines say “Trump says he’ll move on,” they are trying to get “we” to think that that means he won’t come back to it.
OH, he’ll come back to it. I suspect in a different way, though. AND the O-care system will be in disarray so the dems will have little to say, although that will probably not keep them from saying how “people will lose their insurance”. It’s lousy insurance to begin with, so have no fear about losing it.
I think you may be right about this not hurting Trump. He is remarkably teflon on these kinds of issues, perhaps because he isn’t a politician. They live and die by this crud; he doesn’t give a rip. Makes it much harder to “nail” him.
Incidentally, ?anyone notice that the last ruling by that kook federal judge essentially made all the attempts of O-care to force nuns and others to carry contraception, etc now unconstitutional. His EO part can be overturned but the opinion still stands and I bet can be used as precedent.
Respectfully disagree. This wasn’t an Obamacare repeal, never was, never intended, not even close to a repeal.
If Trump would’ve taken the position of staying out of it and letting the Congressional gang make sausage I agree he would have leverage.
Unfortunately he endorsed this to the hilt and he and the VP spent hours shuttling back and forth lobbying for its passage. This was as much Trump’s legislation as Ryan’s.
“This was as much Trump’s legislation as Ryan’s.”
I agree this was a victory for the country but am disappointed that Trump the biz wiz backed it as strongly as he did.
Not that this is particularly relevant, but was a bit puzzled by the absence of Trump’s top senior policy advisor. ??
Liz are you referring to Bannon? The Bannon conundrum is that his former media outlet was actively lobbying for the legislation to fail while his boss is lobbying for its passage and Bannon is claiming to hold a grudge agains those who didn’t vote for its passage.
No, Jared Kushner. Skiing in Aspen? Was this the right message to send?
Interesting point. Great question.
I do agree with your opening premise that this is a victory.
If Trump chooses to enforce Obamacare as written I think our current healthcare economy crashes by year’s end and then in the words of the always sage Rahm Emanuel: never let a crisis go to waste.
With healthcare in shambles and our nation on the fiscal brink we can hopefully erase Medicaid, Obamacare, etc. from the books and return this to the states where it belongs.
Nice bit of reframing….and nice work “Free-fall Caucus”. VA for all, here we come. :-)
We dodged a bullet in avoiding it being cemented with a bipartisan stamp, but I still don’t trust the GOP to honor their campaign promises and actually repeal it. The moment McConnell came out talking about keeping the filibuster just weeks after the election, I had a sinking feeling they were going to piss away a chance to really reform things because it’s the same old GOP: spineless and insincere.