Senate Republicans had a clear plan to pass the healthcare bill by keeping Trump far away from it. That plan was blown to bits on Wednesday, as Trump proclaimed himself heavily involved and knowledgeable on health care.
On June 22, CNN reported, “Donald Trump may be the President of the United States, but when it comes to passing health care reform through the Senate, Trump is the understudy to Mitch McConnell’s lead. Senators and their top aides on Capitol Hill have made it clear to the White House as health care legislation makes its way through the Senate that the less involved Trump is, the better for the bill’s prospects.”
Trump is not popular or influential with Senate Republicans, so the plan was to keep his toxicity far away from the healthcare bill.
The plan lasted for six days.
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Trump tweeted:
Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare. Wrong, I know the subject well & want victory for U.S.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2017
The unpopular and clueless president has waded into the health care bill minefield and began to blow things up. Trump and his administration’s public comments on the health care bill have ranged from alarming ignorance to flat out lies. The only hope that Senate Republicans had for passing the bill was to keep Donald Trump out of it. With Trump sticking himself in the middle of the mess, a difficult to pass health care bill may have become an impossible task for Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association