Donald Trump gave a formal statement to the press about the failure of the GOP-majority House of Representatives to pass the ACHA.
‘We were very close, and it was a very, very tight margin. We had no Democrat support. We had no votes from the Democrats. They weren’t going to give us a single vote, so it’s a very difficult thing to do.’
So, just in case anybody miscounted, some official numbers [1]:
The current House has 435 seats.
237 are Republican.
193 are Democrat.
(There are five vacancies due to appointments to the Trump Administration.)
Anyone who thinks that passing a bill in the House without any Democratic support, with a 43 vote majority, is or should be “a very difficult thing to do” … raise your hands.
The rest of Trump’s statement is an amazing ramble about how the ACA is falling apart (due to the GOP not being willing to fix it over the last seven years, just voting to get rid of it, and apparently still being unwilling to fix it) and how the Democrats, those darn Democrats, somehow defeated the GOP (majority) bill.
‘So, what would be really good with no Democrat support, if the Democrats when it explodes, which it will soon, if they got together with us and got a real health care bill, I’d be totally open to it, and I think that’s going to happen. I think the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, because now they own Obamacare. They own it, 100 percent own it. And this is not a Republican health care. This is not anything but a Democrat health care. And they have Obamacare for a little while longer, until it ceases to exist, which it will at some point in the near future. And just remember this is not our bill, this is their bill.’
No, Donald. You broke it, you bought it. The GOP has the White House. The GOP has the House. The GOP has the Senate. The GOP is in full charge of the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal Government.
It’s all on you, baby.
Someone did actually ask why the Republican majority couldn’t pass a bill by a simple majority.
‘Well, we were very close. We were just probably anywhere from 10 to 15 votes short. Could have even been closer than that. You’ll never know because you never know how though vote. But in the end I think we would have been 10 votes, maybe closer. And — but it’s very hard to get almost 100 percent. You know, you’re talking about a very, very large number of votes, among any group. And we were very close to doing it. But when you get no votes from the other side, meaning the Democrats, it’s really a difficult situation.’
Indeed, it goes on, paragraph after paragraph, predicting doom for the ACA, blaming the Democrats, saying nice things about Republicans, predicting doom for the ACA, blaming the Democrats, saying …
It’s … well, it’s actually kind of pathetic. Which is more pathetic, that Trump blames the Democrats for somehow stopping the Republican majority from passing a bill, or Trump thinking that people will believe that the Democrats somehow magically did so, I don’t know.
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[1] https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/party-breakdown
Read President Trump’s Response to the Republican Health Care Bill Failure
“Let Obamacare explode”
His supporters will believe it though.
Folks down in Texas, Alabama, Missouri, etc. will all see this as further evidence of a corrupt Washington, where the "protected minority" defy the wishes of the majority because of… Soros?
Failure to understand the vultures picking over their own bones…
"Winners make policy and the losers go home." Waiting on that policy, Mitch!