Posted on 03/24/2017 1:41:29 PM PDT by drewh
Bannon Tells Trump: ‘Keep a Sh*t List’ of Republicans Who Opposed You
Trumpcare is in trouble and if it fails, Steve Bannon has pledged to remember who defied the White House.
If TrumpCare dies, the White House won’t forget who killed it — and plans on keeping a “sh*t list” of Republicans who stood in their way.
According to multiple Trump administration officials speaking to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity to talk freely, the president is angry that his first big legislative push is crumbling before his eyes—and his chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon is advising him to take names and keep a hit list of Republicans who worked for Trumpcare’s defeat.
“[Bannon] has told the president to keep a sh*t list on this,” one official told The Daily Beast. “He wants a running tally of [the Republicans] who want to sink this…Not sure if I’d call it an ‘enemies list,’ per se, but I wouldn’t want to be on it.”
One aide described it as a proposed “sh*t list” for Republicans not sufficiently loyal. Courses of action stemming from any related tally is yet to be determined, but the idea and message is that “we’ll remember you.”
Two senior Trump administration officials with direct knowledge of the process told The Daily Beast that Bannon and Trump have taken a “you’re either with us or against us” approach at this point, and that Bannon wants the tally of “against” versus “with us” mounted in his so-called West Wing “war room.”
“Burn the boats,” Bannon (in his typical, pugnacious style) advised Trump, according to one official involved. Burning one’s boats is a reference to when military commanders in hostile territories order his or her troops to destroy their own ships, so that they have to win or die trying.
Sources also said that others including Mick Mulvaney, Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget and co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, endorsed the idea of the running list, and that Trump agreed with the idea.
Emails to the White House and Bannon seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Freedom Caucus members, of course, are no strangers to barely-veiled threats from Trumpworld, and have remained undeterred this week by earlier attempts. On Tuesday, when Trump made his high-profile visit to Capitol Hill to try to rally Republicans to get behind his and Ryan’s plan, Trump specifically called out Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, several times. According to those in the room, the president made it clear that he expected Meadows’ vote and support when push comes to shove. (As of Friday late morning, Meadows is saying he’s not budging yet.)
“Mark, I’m coming after you,” Trump said, only half-jokingly, on Tuesday.
Freedom Caucus aides said they were similarly unperturbed on Friday. One simply responded to The Daily Beast’s question regarding potentially getting on Trump and Bannon’s “sh*t list” with one word: “Meh.”
“From day 1 in this fight, conservatives have been far more focused on keeping their promises and doing what’s best for their constituents versus any hypothetical political challenges,” another conservative congressional aide said. “That remains unchanged.”
Republican House members jumping ship on the AHCA, both in the hardline-right and so-called “moderate” camps, are hardly alone in their buyer’s remorse. On Thursday night, The New York Times reported that Trump himself has told four people close to him that he regrets going along with Speaker Ryan’s plan.
Bannon, for his part, is hardly pleased with the bill as it stands. According to Trump administration officials, Bannon himself hates the current AHCA—“he thinks it’s a piece of shit…and he told me as such,” one source described bluntly. “But, I mean, he's not going against [the president].”
If Trumpcare/Ryancare goes down in flames, a great share of the blame will inevitably be shoveled onto Speaker Ryan and House GOP leadership—a Republican leadership that just two short years ago Bannon was calling out as “all cunts.”
Oh for Gods sake grow up. You people who read fake news and promptly turn on each other are the reason we lose. Try loyalty for a change instead of making us a laughingstock, all the media has to do is throw a piece of rotten meat out there and you guys will tear anyone on our side apart trying to swallow their poison
the key to winning is to purge all RINO’s everywhere now. Freedom Caucus is not an enemy to anyone...
We might not but a lot sure do.
Burn the boats is a bunch of old world Euro BS. The best amphibious force on planet earths history is the US Marines. We don’t burn our own boats, and we still took the islands.
Ryan will realize it when Louie G is speaker.. :)
Louie IS a conservative.
“the key to winning is to purge all RINO’s everywhere now. Freedom Caucus is not an enemy to anyone...”
The key is to purge ALL Rinos everywhere???? Really...how do think you will do that?
How do you elect an ultra-conservative in Miami-Dade or NY or any of the other 100’s of moderate left of center districts???
You think you can replace Representatives that have been serving their district for years and are VERY popular!!
You have this unbelievable goal equating to world
domination...grow up and look at the country as it is not as YOU want it to be and will never be.
And as of today, Freedom Caucus IS our enemy!!
burn the life boats of the RINO’s in Washington, not the patriots draining the swamps
I’m not so sure I’m buying into this story. We already know of that phone message of Ryan saying he’d never work with Trump. This bill wasn’t ready. If it didn’t fail here it surely would at the House level, then the Senate version, etc. And every other initiative would have been hamstrung.
Trump knows when to fish or cut bait. Get the tax reform front and center. Work the budget and infrastructure where you may get something done. Notch a few more wins at that level. When 0bamacare is flashing read, Dems will be more in a position to work out the problems with it.
How does this story square with a Breitbart story that is saying that Bannon has panned the bill, that the bill was written by the insurance companies?
They can’t have it both ways. Either:
A- Bannon is pissed at those who wouldn’t help pass the bill, or
B- Bannon hated the bill and hoped it would fail.
“Sources close to the administration “ have claimed both...media covering all possibilities with “sources”...
this is fake news. anybody who listened to Bannons radio show knows he despises Ryan. I will go with the Breitbart stoey
Damn, now there's a family of "anonymous sources"...............those people know everything about everything and everybody.
Um, you realize that there were no Saxons there when the Romans landed in Britain, right? They were in Saxony. The Anglo-Saxon migration started in the 6th century when the Roman rule was collapsing. There may have been Druids when the Romans arrived, as described by Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness.
Agree..And then in 2018 PRIMARY them....
That’s an old list, several of them are no longer in Congress, one, Capito is now a Senator.
And as of today, Freedom Caucus IS our enemy!!
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Become a Democrat then.
She does and so do I.
I have called my congressman to express my extreme disappointment that he wanted to vote no.
STAND BY OUR PRESIDENT!
I suspect this is posturing by Trump. I don’t think he really wanted it to pass, but this gives him something to beat the GOP=E with.
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