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.”
IMO, I don’t think the administration ever really believed in what Ryan was trying to pass. they will let the Speaker twist in the wind over this....
What is “TrumpCare?”
It will be easier to find the names of the 40 who went on record refusing to vote for Ryancare. Replace everyone else.
Im good with that, get Ryan out as speaker for Gohmert!
I can promise you we will be re-electing Dave Brat.
He has done what he promised to do.
If the Trump administration comes after him, they will be the losers.
I hope so, but these early comments from the White House aren’t helping.
Keep Ryan? Say what?
Burn the boats of those who opposed Ryancare? Really?
No you don’t.
He’s talking about Republicans who refused to vote for this bill.
You don’t want to get rid of the 40 last Conservatives in Congress.
The conservatives in Congress are going to be the ones who are going to support the president’s other goals...
Tax cuts, building a wall, building a stronger military, taking care of our veterans, and etc.
yep. smells like fake news to me
...
I suppose anonymous sources don’t cut it with you either.
In 56 BC THERE WERE NO SAXONS IN DOVER!!!!!!
Saxons didn’t show up in the British Isles until 5th century AD led by Horsa & Hengist invited in as mercenaries by King of the Britons, King Vortigern (or so the legend goes!)
Yep. GOPe were putting lipstick on a pig.
I thought the same AFTER hitting ‘Post’...as usual. :-)
Bannon is trying to weed out the RINOs from the true believers.
Well, make up your mind! This morning, there was a Breitbart article that said Ban on hated the bill and said it was created by insurance companies to benefit them.
“I don’t like the talk of going after Republicans who opposed the bill though.”
If it was ever really said, it was pure disinformation to feed the MSM monkeys. Bannon is as conservative as it gets, so why would he ever go after his chosen people ?
ans. He wouldn’t.
YEP....lol!
That’s my take as well.
They are going to need those 40 votes when they do try to replace Obamacare.
They’re going to need a lot more too.
What this story says is the opposite: the RINOs were for this bill, the conservatives against it—and he’s reportedly targeting the conservatives.
anything that weeds out RINO’s and gets them to quit/retire/give up the swamp is fine by me.
Good. No problem...
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