Oh they gave him the power to do so. He was a cheerleader in selling it. He owns it.
Let’s look at the facts. Trump is no conservative on Health Care. And that’s HOW HE WON Regan democrats and Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Remember the primaries? The first debate when he praised Canadian style universal health care? Running against Cruz that he wants to have people dying in the streets?
But here’s another fact. Neither are Republican voters. They voted for Trump promising “health insurance for everyone.” They didn’t vote for the Freedom Caucus repealing Obamacare and replacing it with nothing. The Freedom Caucus wanted to take away Title 1 benefits in Obamacare which meant no coverage for people with per-existing conditions and a return to medical underwriting. That would have gotten 50 votes in the House and been dead on arrival in the Senate.
Of course it was a political sham for Republicans to vote to repeal 50 times when they were sure Obama would veto it. They are liars. Welcome to the world of politics.
The bill was garbage because it was a compromise between the Freedom Caucus and Moderates where none was possible. Moderates was never going to vote for a bill that took 24 million off the rolls. Freedom Caucus was never going to vote for a bill that didn’t bring us back to the sucky health care world of 2008. That ship has sailed. People now expect government help to buy health insurance. You can’t ever take an entitlement away once it has been handed out. It’s against the laws of politics.
Here’s the thing. The Freedom Caucus did Trump a favor. Repeal/Replace was always doomed to fail. The gap between GOP moderates and conservatives is too wide. If it passed, the Senate would have made it much more moderate (expanded subsidies to old and poor) and more medicaid coverage. It would have gone back to the House and the Freedom Caucus would have killed it but only after months and months and months of fighting. Better to punt now and move on to taxes and infrastructure. Trump knows Repeal/Replace is a dead end and political loser for the GOP. It’s why he was ready to pull the plug after two weeks.
He’s attacking the Freedom Caucus now as a negotiating tactic to peel off some of the weaker members so they won’t screw up his tax reform and infrastructure plans. If Trump is not able to get anything done, say hello to Nancy Pelosi and impeachment in 2019.