Irreconcilable divisions within the Republican ranks doomed the GOP’s health care plan, leaving Donald Trump and Paul Ryan with brutal setbacks. Complicating matters, party leaders now can’t agree on whether the health care fight is actually over.Friday afternoon:
It was an admission of defeat that House Speaker Paul Ryan probably didn’t expect to make just three months into a fully Republican government: “Obamacare is the law of the land…. We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.”
Vice President Pence on Saturday reaffirmed the Trump administration’s commitment to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, saying President Trump “won’t rest” until the law is dismantled.
On Sunday morning’s Meet the Press, President Donald Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney declared that the White House is no longer trying to repeal Obamacare. “We’ve moved on to other things,” Mulvaney said. “The president has other things he wants to accomplish.”
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan told Republican donors Monday that he intends to continue pushing for an overhaul of the nation’s health-care system by working “on two tracks” as he also pursues other elements of President Trump’s agenda. “We are going to keep getting at this thing,” Ryan said….
The chairman of the House tax committee declared Monday he is “turning the page” from health care to tax reform….
For those keeping score at home, Republicans aren’t giving up on repealing the Affordable Care Act and implementing a conservative alternative. They’re also moving on. Except they’re not. But maybe they are.It’s worth noting for context that the Pence and Ryan quotes came in the form of public remarks to supporters, suggesting GOP leaders want their base to believe there’s still a chance they’re trying to tear down “Obamacare,” but the contradictions between these series of statements are nevertheless tough to miss.
Recommended
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."