Huh. Don't know what to make of that, even with all the talking heads.
WHAT TO MAKE OF IT 1) The Republicans had seven years to come up with an alternate to Obamacare. 2) The alternate they came up with is perhaps the most universally reviled piece of legislation since the Fugitive Slave Act. 3) Paul Ryan attempted to gild the stinkflower by "amending" it; his amendments, according to the CBO, would still cause 24 million Americans to lose their healthcare but would also decrease the budget savings by 66%. 4) Democrats took the easy way out - point out what a piece of shit the bill was, and what a piece of shittier its amendments were. 5) Republicans were forced to choose between siding with Tinyhands or losing next term and punted, withdrawing the bill from consideration. 6) Trump, ever the skillful negotiator (as one of my friends pointed out, it takes some skill to go bankrupt in the casino industry), doubled down and said if the Republicans didn't bring the bill to a vote today, he'd veto any attempt to pass any further legislation. 7) Paul Ryan, growing more and more appreciative of the shitshow he saddled John Boehner with, tucked tail and ran to Trump to tell him that not even the Freedom Caucus is stupid enough to vote on this abortion of a legislation 8) UTTER AND TOTAL FAILURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. (8) is far and away the best part. This was literally the Republican put-up or shut-up moment and they gutterballed so hard it's going to be difficult for them to reach consensus for a while. They're going to need to rally back somehow because, as every Democrat has been pointing out for years, Obamacare is a Republican health care bill. It'sthe only thing that could make it past the Republicans and fuckin'A, it's a long goddamn way from perfect but there is no reasonable, logical way to do anything else "republican" that won't grenade the very lives of a majority of Republican voters. one of my pundits commented this morning on what a stupid idea it was for the Republicans to go after healthcare reform first instead of tax reform because tax reform would have made all the republicans happy, nobody of consequence would squeal and it would give them a checkmark in the win column from which to broaden their domination campaign. Instead they charged the barricades with wiffle ball bats and got clobbered. this is an unequivocal loss for the Republicans and anyone who tells you differently is delusional. It's also an unequivocal loss for Trump; if the chucklefuck who ran on what a great negotiator he is can't get a fucking Republican majority to pass fucking healthcare reform, how the fuck is he going to get Mexico to pay for a border wall? Or renegotiate NAFTA? Or strike new trade deals with China? It's gonna be a fuckin' crazy weekend. Trump ain't sulking down to Florida for the first time in 5 weeks and he's got the whole FBI debacle, a resounding defeat on Trumpcare and Schumer's threatened filibuster to think about. And he can still tweet. Hold onto your butts.
30 or so Republicans that make up the "Freedom Caucus" aka the Anarcho-Capitalist wing of the RNC wanted to gut maternity funding, slash Medicare and Medicaid, end the Insurance industry profit caps, and bring back existing condition limitations. The 200 or so other Republicans, however, want to get re-elected. And any Democrat that votes for this needs to have an MRI to see what sort of brain damage they are suffering from.
Totally blamed the democrats. Edit: which is effectively the same as giving credit for saving healthcare to the Democrats.“We had no Democrat support; we had no votes from the Democrats,” he said during a press availability following the decision to pull the effort. “They weren’t going to give us a single vote so it’s a very difficult thing to do.” The president also downplayed suggestions that his first major legislative effort ended in failure, telling reporters that he never once claimed during the campaign that he would repeal and replace Obamacare during his first 100 days. He continued: “And, again, I think what will happen is Obamacare, unfortunately, will explode. It’s going to have a bad year.” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman wrote on Twitter, before the presser, that “Trump tells me in interview this is now the Democrats’ fault, and that he anticipates that when Obama[care] ‘explodes’ they will be ready to deal.” She added: “Trump told me he is happy having this in the rearview mirror. ‘It’s enough already,’ he said of the negotiations.”