'WTF Is Wrong With Them': Republicans Horrified as Trump Goes After Obamacare Again

[highplainsdem]

Sam Stein, in the Daily Beast tonight:


https://www.thedailybeast.com/wtf-is-wrong-with-them-republicans-horrified-as-trump-goes-after-obamacare-again

Over the past 24 hours, Republican officials have watched in horror as the Trump administration once again fully embraced the repeal of Obamacare, just over a year after the issue proved toxic for the party at the ballot box.

The embrace came in two steps: with the Department of Justice siding with a lower court ruling that declared the health care law invalid in toto and with the president tweeting that the Republican Party would become the party of health care reform. And it quickly complicated what was widely viewed as one of the best weeks of Trump’s presidency. Ebullient over a four-page summarization of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s meddling—a summarization that said the president was not guilty of collusion—Trump suddenly found himself back in a debate that has vexed his administration.

GOP officials couldn’t help but marvel at Trump’s inability to enjoy a rare grace period. “They are completely tone deaf,” texted one of the party’s top strategists. “How bout a few more victory laps on Mueller while you can get away with it? WTF is wrong with them?”

But seasoned Trump hands were hardly surprised at the rake Trump had placed his foot on. “And there’s something unusual about him stepping on a good message?” one former administration official said, laughing when asked about the timing of the announcement.

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Trump did little to alleviate the anxiety later on Tuesday, when he addressed Senate Republicans and reiterated his desire to tackle health care reform again but, according to several senators, didn’t offer any specifics.

Asked if the president had outlined a plan on health care, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) simply said “no.” Several GOP lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol also avoided elaborating on details of a plan from their side, and deferred to the ongoing judicial process.

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“I don't think it's going to pass the House,” Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker and an informal adviser to Trump, conceded to The Daily Beast.

Other allies of the president also saw potential hazard ahead. When asked if he thinks it’s wise for President Trump and the GOP to go back down this road on Obamacare, Barry Bennett, a former senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said it “depends which part. Pre-existing conditions [protections are] widely popular,” though Bennett said “everything else has been a failure.”

Those close to the president say that part of what motivates him on continuing his pursuit in scrapping the Affordable Care Act, even after past failures, is his inability to move beyond setbacks. When other party stalwarts or members of the Republican elite see a liability and political third rails, Trump simply sees the visceral satisfaction of erasing a cornerstone of the Obama legacy.

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The administration’s hope is that a court ruling invalidating Obamacare will compel those Democrats to compromise. But few GOP officials imagine that a resolution would be found shortly thereafter, if one could be found at all. And they figure that in the absence of a replacement bill, Trump would shoulder the blame.

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