‘Hello, Bob’: President Trump called my cellphone to say that the health-care bill was dead

Washington Post ^ | 03/24/2017 | Bob Costa

[MaxistheBest]

President Trump called me on my cellphone Friday afternoon at 3:31 p.m. At first I thought it was a reader with a complaint since it was a blocked number.

Instead, it was the president calling from the Oval Office. His voice was even, his tone muted. He did not bury the lead.

“Hello, Bob,” Trump began. “So, we just pulled it.”

Trump was speaking, of course, of the Republican plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, a plan that had been languishing for days amid unrest throughout the party as the president and his allies courted members and pushed for a vote.

Before I could ask a question, Trump plunged into his explanation of the politics of deciding to call off a vote on a bill he had been touting.

The Democrats, he said, were to blame.

“We couldn’t get one Democratic vote, and we were a little bit shy, very little, but it was still a little bit shy, so we pulled it,” Trump said.

Trump said he would not put the bill on the floor in the coming weeks. He is willing to wait and watch the current law continue and, in his view, encounter problems. And he believes that Democrats will eventually want to work with him on some kind of legislative fix to Obamacare, although he did not say when that would be. ---------------------------------------

[flaglady47]

“M”oving forward, any tax legislation will now have to keep the $1 to $2 trillion ObamaCare spending in place; ultimately meaning far less room for comprehensive tax reform. Again, the intransigent CONservative caucus just dealt a blow to tax cuts – this is “disappointing” to the Trump economic agenda and will ultimately mean lesser job growth.””

Bingo.

[MaxistheBest]

This is also from Conservative Treehouse:

Blaming Ryan now only allows the UniParty to hide again. And keeps everyone in the dark about the actual construct of the UniParty.

The House Freedom Caucus are just as much a part of the UniParty as Paul Ryan. Each becoming “controlled opposition” on an ‘as-needed’ basis.

ObamaCare will fail. ObamaCare was designed to fail. What follows the failure of ObamaCare is a single-payer system, again supported by the Big Government UniParty.

There was one shot at avoiding the single-payer conclusion.

That shot was to actually pass the repeal and replace O-Care proposal previously designed by Dr. Tom Price.

The only reason why the bill was put forth, was because Trump won the election. The UniParty had no option other than to put some form of Repeal/Replace forth or the electoral sunlight would have exposed the UniParty.

We cannot now avoid the path to single-payer government controlled healthcare.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/24/my-final-thoughts-on-the-failed-healthcare-reform/#more-130467

[Pinkbell]

Indeed. Democrats celebrating tonight.

[af_vet_1981]

Here we go. The Freedom Caucus may have just cut off their nose to spite their face. I heard Trump in the Oval Office too talking about how they can do a bipartisan deal if Obamacare collapses. The Freedom Caucus would not be necessary. Instead of getting something, they will get nothing.

Yep, perhaps a Single Payer option may not be as bad as it sounds; we certainly cannot count on the freedom caucus to get a deal; they blew it. President Trump will have to do a deal with the Democrats, like President Reagan had to do.

[stylin19a]

The President’s number is blocked on Costa’s cell phone ?

[RocketMan1]

Trump won with the votes of mostly Republicans and some Democrats that wanted 0bamacare repealed, NOT repaired. The Bill that Ryan got Trump to support did not repeal 0bamacare and actually made certain that it will last forever and would not reduce the cost of health insurance. Ryan lied to everyone about his “my way or the highway” crap sandwich! Ryan’s stubborn stupidity is what killed this Bill and the voters will blame his failure for making 0bamacare permanent!

[jonrick46]

Trump said Ryan’s bill is better than Americans realized.

“A lot of people don’t realize how good our bill was because they were viewing phase one. But when you add phase two which was mostly the signs of secretary price who is behind it, and you add phase three which I think we would have gotten, it became a great bill,” Trump said. “Premiums would have gone down and it would have been very stable, would have been very strong. But that’s okay.

“But we’re very, very close,” he said. “And, again, I think what will happen is ObamaCare, unfortunately, will explode.”

[FenwickBabbitt]

Yes, you are certainly displaying the Freedom Caucus mindset that it is always better for the Democrats to win than for our side to compromise at all and get a much better deal for ourselves. Trump already tried to get through the most conservative bill that wouldn’t lose mainstream Republicans needed to pass it, but our side wouldn’t go along. The only choices that he’s been left (unless some obstinate Congressmen change their mind) is to keep Obamacare or to work with the more rational Dems (few that there are) on a replacement. That’s not his fault. But we can always pretend that Trump actually wanting to replace Obamacare, instead of putting on shows pushing for bills that will never pass, is the bad guy for moving in the only direction that’s been left to him.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you were right and our side fully ruins this great opportunity we have by handing both the congress and presidency back to the Dems on a silver platter—but we can be thrilled with all the principles we’ve displayed. To hell with saving the nation, protecting the borders, stopping the leftist inundation of our society, we must get 100% of what we want or take down our party and the country with it! And it doesn’t matter at all how much we harm our president or make it impossible for him to get anything done. He’s our enemy too if he doesn’t do 100% of what we want. RINO Trump, the next goal for “conservatives” to take out, while they proudly pave the way for a President Elizabeth Warren.