From the Left

/

Politics

Can Democrats Save Trump From Himself?

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

After President Donald Trump's first legislative battle, a deplorably stingy attempt to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, went down without a vote in the House, I wondered: What happened to all of the "winning"?

"We are gonna win, win, win," Trump had promised at a National Rifle Association convention in Louisville last May, among other locations. "We're going to win with military, we're going to win at the borders, we're going to win with trade, we're going to win at everything. And some of you are friends and you're going to call, and you're going to say, 'Mr. President, please, we can't take it anymore, we can't win anymore like this, Mr. President, you're driving us crazy, you're winning too much, please Mr. President, not so much, and I'm going to say, I'm sorry, we're going to keep winning because we are going to make America great again."

Ah, as Mr. Trump might say, those were the days.

When House Speaker Paul Ryan was forced to withdraw the repeal-and-replace bill that he designed and Trump supported, Trump sounded more like one of the "loo-zahs" that he loves to mock.

It was quickly apparent that Trump was too ignorant of the contents of the American Health Care Act to play his usual blame game very persuasively after its defeat.

At first he tried to blame Democrats. That was hilarious. The Grand Old Party controls the White House and both houses of Congress, yet Trump still flatters the magical power of Democrats to gum up GOP plans.

 

"We had no votes from the Democrats," Trump said on Friday shortly after the bill was pulled. "They weren't going to give us a single vote, so it's a very difficult thing to do."

Sure, it's hard to get votes from people when you don't ask. "The president never called us once about this," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, partly because they knew Democrats were not about to support an outright repeal of President Obama's signature legislation.

But by Sunday, Trump had broadened his list of the blameworthy to the far-right House Freedom Caucus and two conservative political groups. "Democrats are smiling in D.C.," he tweeted, "that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club for Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & (Obamacare)!"

Only two days earlier, Trump praised the "very good people" in the Freedom Caucus after the bill was pulled, saying, "No, I'm not betrayed. They're friends of mine."

...continued

swipe to next page

(c) 2017 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

Comics

Gary McCoy Bob Englehart Pedro X. Molina Bill Bramhall Kirk Walters Steve Benson