Donald Trump sent out a curious tweet last night. As Newsmax notes:
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on Saturday slammed House Speaker Paul Ryan for the healthcare replacement failure and questioned his agenda hours after President Donald Trump told his Twitter followers to tune in to her show.
Watch @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews tonight at 9:00 P.M.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2017
“Paul Ryan needs to step down as Speaker of the House,” she said in her opening statement. “The reason? He failed to deliver the votes on his health care bill. The one trumpeted to repeal and replace Obamacare.”
Later, Pirro said, “I want to be clear, this is not on President Trump. No one expected a businessman to completely understand the nuances, the complicated ins and outs of Washington and its legislative process. How would he know which individuals upon which he would be able to rely?”
This is not surprising. When Trump ran for president, he was light on specifics for repealing and replacing Obamacare. He assured voters that the replacement plan would be “something terrific.”
Trump is certainly to blame, to some extent, but no one ever accused him of being a wonk.
Perhaps Ryan was hamstrung by Trump’s preference for some form of socialized healthcare, but it doesn’t seem like Trump too tied to any particular plan. He would have, and did, support almost anything. The GOP, and specifically Ryan, who’s long been considered a wonk, had eight years to come up with an alternative to Obamacare that made healthcare better and more affordable and they didn’t.
It’s true that what Ryan could accomplish was tempered by the reconciliation process. But it’s also true that he never made it clear to the American people. A disaster of a first draft was rolled out, and THEN Ryan and company scrambled to explain to voters that it was only phase one of a three phase process.
This is signature Ryan. When it comes to the conservative issues the man clearly cares about, he’s often silent. When it comes to pushing bailouts, bloated budgets, and whatever the chamber of commerce, crony capitalist wing of the GOP wants, there he is, ready to forge ahead.
We wouldn’t be at all surprised if Trump, or his team, understood this, and that they acted in a manner that would ensure Ryan’s humiliation, and eventual resignation.
Trump’s Tweet makes us even more curious.
