“Obamacare’s gotta go” has long been one of Donald Trump’s favorite rallying cries. But it looks like he’s swerving toward the guard rails in this political game of chicken.
After promising just last week at a Michigan rally that the GOP was working on “something that’s really spectacular” as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, Trump’s now seemingly pressing pause.
In a series of tweets late Monday, Trump suggested change could wait. At least until next year. After the 2020 presidential and midterm elections.
Tweeted Trump, “The Republicans ...
Puh-leeze. The real deal? The GOP ain’t GOT no job health care plan. It’s the ultimate in haterade: They don’t have a plan; hate that (forever) President Barack Obama came up with a plan; so they must kill that plan; and then replace it with … nothing, or at least nothing the American people are going to go for, if recent polls count for anything.
As the Associated Press notes:
A Quinnipiac University poll last week found 55 percent of Americans supporting the improvement and not the replacement of the nation’s health care system.
A health care system that currently does things like protect people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or cancer, and allow young adults to remain on their parents’ plans until they turn 26.
Apparently, Trump’s loss change of heart came after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, during which the Kentucky Republican apparently hipped Trump to the game.
As the Washington Post reports:
McConnell told reporters that he and Trump had “a good conversation” Monday afternoon in which he said that Senate Republicans had no intention of trying to overhaul President Obama’s signature health-care law during a campaign season — a move many in the GOP saw as politically perilous, given that the issue helped Democrats in last year’s midterm elections.
“I made it clear to him we were not going to be doing that in the Senate,” McConnell said, also pointing out the difficulty in crafting a bill that could pass the Democratic-led House. “We don’t have a misunderstanding about that.”
Nope. No misunderstanding at all. Guess it’s time for a timeout, Trump.