Donald Trump's failure to deliver a #Republican healthcare bill that would repeal Obamacare failed starkly on Friday. Whilst pundits and commentators are claiming that his fiery style of authority and his lack of understanding of politics are to blame, the main reason for the failure was many years in the making.
There has been a long running war amidst the ranks of the #Republican party for many years, and it has effected many of the party's lawmakers and leaders. This war has been brewing long before Donald Trump's outlandish style and brazen attack on Washington politics became a new reality, and the two conditions together brewed the perfect storm.
#Trump believes that the usual rules of political deal making don’t apply to him, but now he has found himself encased not only by rigid rules but also a Civil War in the ranks of the GOP.
Repealing #President Barack Obama’s healthcare legacy has been the Republican Party’s ultimate import for the last half a decade, but in halting the bill before the party could even vote on it, the fractious far right wing of the GOP out-maneuvered Trump and showed him who was really playing by the #rebel playbook. They took on and defeated the broken party establishment, which Trump must now somehow galvanize and lead.
The stark choice facing the president
And so the president must confront a stark choice: Does he yield to the raucous anti-establishment wing of his party?
Or does he utilize the #Democrats as a pathway to successful governance, since it is them that he could form a coalition with and get things done?
Yes, Trump has blamed the Democrats for his own party's shortcomings but if he is vain enough, or determined enough, to embark on legislative change then it is the Democratic Party that could open the doors of Washington to him.
This is what #Ronald Reagan did in his reign as President, and indeed he forged some of his most important deals with Democrats.
Going beyond the GOP to make deals
The center right of the GOP sided with Trump on the #healthcare bill and earned his praise on Friday. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, one of those from this group, admits that there is an issue in the GOP that needs addressing before they can move on.
“It’s really a problem in our own party, and that’s something he’ll need to deal with moving forward,” said Cole to the New York Times on Sunday. “… in the end, there’s a group of people in this party who just won’t say yes,” he added. “At some point, I think that means looking beyond our conference.”
Nobody knows for sure if Trump will approach this path toward #legislative agility, even though he formerly had little fixed ideology – aside from the art of making money – before he became a politician. As a president, he has utilized the rote #Republican playbook, siding on many issues with Speaker Paul Ryan and the party establishment. And whilst he is enraged about the bill and apparently wants revenge, he does seem determined to move on and galvanize as many of the party's faithful as possible and to marshal the next legislative bills through congress. These include spending bills, a #tax overhaul and a huge infrastructure package, all legislation that he could attract democratic support for, even though it has potential to split the GOP.
