The fallout from the failure of Trumpcare continues this weekend. The GOP appears to be descending into a bitter intra-party squabble.
The Long Knives are out. Who will fall?
President Trump teased Fox News viewers with this tweet he sent out Saturday morning:
And what did Trump fangirl Jeanine Pirro have to say? Lots. In a 6 minute rant she called for Paul Ryan’s head. Because he wasn’t subservient enough to Donald Trump or something.
The Freedom Caucus has come under fire from Trump and Co. as well. Here’s a Trump tweet from Sunday morning.
So Trump lowers the boom on the caucus, despite the friendliness he extended to FC chair Mark Meadows on March 7:
Mark Meadows is a great guy and a friend of mine. I don’t think he’d ever disappoint me, or the party. I think he’s great. No, I would never call him out on Twitter.
That was then, of course.
But the knives are not out just for Ryan and the Freedom Caucus.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was on the chopping block. But on Sunday Priebus waved all that away, saying, “I’m not in any trouble. I’ve got a great relationship with the president, we talk all the time. Just before coming on the set he gave me a call…. This is gossip, and it’s always going to happen.”
Oh, and then Priebus suggested that, hey, let’s work with Democrats on health care!
“Everything’s on the table. We’ll give these guys another chance,” Priebus said on Fox News Sunday this morning. “If we can come up with a bill that accomplishes the goals of the president and Republicans alone, then we’ll take it and we’ll move forward with it.”
Well, that’s just swell.
And then there’s Steve Bannon.
Shortly before the health care vote, Bannon reportedly advised Trump to keep a “s**t list” of oppositional Republicans. And when the Freedom Caucus visited the White House last week, Bannon issued the following ultimatum:
Guys, look. This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill.
To which one unnamed FC member with balls of brass replied:
“You know, the last time someone ordered me to do something, I was 18 years old. And it was my daddy. And I didn’t listen to him, either.”
Whoever that person is, I want to kiss him.
So it appears that the GOP has formed their own circular firing squad, with volleys being blasted at Ryan, the Freedom Caucus, Reince Priebus, and anyone else not named Donald Trump. Unlike Ronald Reagan, Trump took on the presidency with little political ideology and no experience with governing. He thought he would be the CEO in a boardroom deal, when he found that dealing with Congress is more akin to herding cats. Now aides are fearing a government shutdown in April.
Sorry to say this, but this is the result of placing a celebrity businessman at the helm of the nation.
Ugly, messy, and perhaps unnerving, yet all so necessary. The presidential campaign was an indicator of what would be in store for the Trump Administration.
I’m satisfied with the Freedom Caucus. And, on this issue, more so than I am with Trump. As for the Democrats, I hope they continue to rub the noses of the GOP in the dirt. Maybe, for once, they’ll be humiliated enough to get down to business. The first order of which ought to give Ryan the boot!
Expect more of these strongarm tactics from team Trump. Ryan should have known better to rush the process to repeal/replace. This was Keystone Kops leadership.
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