I think most of the freedom caucus members will be happy to help move the rest of Trump’s conservative agenda, just not Ryancare. They were elected to repeal Obamacare, not put a GOP name and stamp of approval on it.
Trump should abandon this fiasco post haste. He can successfully prune and trim it as he goes, but in the meantime, concentrate on items where he will get more Republican support.
And the very worst thing he can do right now is to try to enlist democrat help to move a hated socialist program.
Reagan negotiated with and enlisted democrats, but it was for them to help him move his conservative agenda. He got them to move more towards his positions.
I think Trump would be wise to try to decouple repeal from replace. It is this perceived need to try to do both at the same time, that is giving the supporters of the status quo, the cover they need to obstruct repeal.
The reconciliation process was used by the Dems to sneak Obamacare in and now the RINOs are using those same arcane House rules to stall its repeal.
I would like to see Trump push for a full repeal, with an effective start date maybe six or seven months from now. That would allow time for seperate negotiations on replace, and would make it harder for the obstructionists to stop repeal and blaming their opposition on disagreements over the details of the replacement.
Maybe a replacement needs to take effect at the same time as repeal, in order to deal with those who have become dependent on Obamacare, but that doesn`t mean they have to be negotiated together.
Not always. He agreed to two dollars of spending cuts in the future (which Dems reneged on) in exchange for one dollar of tax increases.
Working with Dems is like making a deal with the devil.