The story starts the previous day. On Thursday, March 23, Republicans were supposed to vote on the bill, but because Trump and Ryan could not get enough Republican votes to pass the bill --despite the fact that Trump threatened the Republicans-- Ryan postponed the vote. But Trump insisted on forcing a vote today, March 24. According to Omaha.com:
White House officials told rank-and-file Republicans late Thursday that the president was through negotiating with holdouts. White House officials said that if the measure failed, Trump would move to the rest of his agenda — leaving lawmakers to blame for blocking the party's long-time goal of overturning Obama's overhaul.
But the next morning, Paul Ryan had to go in person to the White House to tell Trump they still didn't have enough votes to pass the Trumpcare in the House of Representatives. Thus, Trump had two options: A) Force a vote on the House, which would guarantee a major political defeat and embarassment, since it would show even Republicans don't support Trump. Or B) Pull the bill from the House floor and accept a defeat that would not be as politically damaging as a failed vote.
Incredibly, according to The New York Times, Trump insisted on forcing a vote on Trumpcare:
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, facing a revolt among conservative and moderate Republicans, told President Trump on Friday that he did not have the votes to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to decide whether to pull the bill from consideration. But the president insisted that lawmakers cast their public votes Friday afternoon.
Republicans got nervous. Even Newt Gingrich, who supported Trump in 2016, said Trumpcare was a bad idea to force the vote:
Why would you schedule a vote on a bill that is at 17% approval? Have we forgotten everything Reagan taught us?— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) March 24, 2017
Gingrich was referring to a Quinnipiac poll released on March 23 that showed only 17% of voters supported Trumpcare, while 53% opposed it.
Other Republicans who opposed Trumpcare decided not to let Trump blame them for the failure of the bill. For example:
I've never faced a worse bill than the #AHCA & will vote “NO” today on a bad bill that will hurt so many Americans. https://t.co/mHo3ixuye7— Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) March 24, 2017
In the end, Trump had to agree to pull the bill. And According to the The New York Times, Paul Ryan said the Republicans had no intention of trying again to get a vote on it. Therefore, he said, Obamacare would be "the law of the land" for the "forseeble future."
Well, guess what happened next? The stock market, which was crashing because of the prospect of Trumpcare being approved, rebonuded sharply:
BREAKING: Stocks sharply rebound after news that House pulled GOP health plan https://t.co/CU3RZXa6wX pic.twitter.com/ifr9MKpCcz— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 24, 2017
And even though the bill had to be pulled because Trump, a self-proclaimed expert negotiator who wrote a book called "the art of the deal", could not convince people in his own party to vote for the bill, he ended up blaming the failure of Trumpcare on the Democrats, who hardly did anything at all to stop the bill. According to The New York Times:
Mr. Trump, in a telephone interview moments after the bill was pulled, blamed Democrats and predicted that they would seek a deal within a year, he asserted, after “Obamacare explodes” because of high premiums.
He also said it to the press from the Oval Office. The Washington Post released the full video interview.
What's pathetic about the video is the fact that Trump said Trumpcare failed because the Democrats didn't want to vote for it even though, number one, the Republicans have a majority in Congress that could defeat Democratic opposition easily, and number two, the Republicans introduced this as a budget reconciliation bill, which virtually shielded them from a Democratic filibuster. So there was no real reason for the Republicans losing the vote on this... except for the fact that even Republicans knew Trumpcare would be a DISASTER and a political suicide.
Even more pathetic is the fact that Trump claimed he was just a "team player" when it was HIS healthcare bill. Aside from not having the balls to admit he failed, he also claimed the biggest losers were... wait for it... Democratic congressional leaders Nanci Pelosi and Chuck Schumer! Here's the video:
Trump, after GOP health bill pulled, says "the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer" because "they own Obamacare" pic.twitter.com/ZXrzaVc6Ky— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) March 24, 2017
To which Nancy Pelosi responded with giggles and saying "we'll take credit for that":
.@KellyO asked Pelosi about Trump blaming them for defeat— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) March 24, 2017
Pelosi: "Did he blame us for the defeat of his flagship issue? We'll take credit" pic.twitter.com/mBxIgF1GxH
So there you have it. Trump lost BIGLY. He lost with the Muslim ban --twice-- and now he lost with his number one issue; the repeal of Obamacare. So much for the master negotiator who peddled the "art of the deal".
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