On Twitter on Sunday, Donald Trump said: "Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Obamacare!" The Freedom Caucus is a group of three dozen ultra-conservative lawmakers who planned to block Speaker Paul Ryan’s American Health Care Act bill, which was pulled from the House floor on Friday in a stunning defeat for the President.
Trump lashes out at conservatives
The criticism marked a shift for Trump, who had avoided blaming Republicans and House Speaker Paul Ryan for the defeat of the bill. House leaders abruptly scrapped a planned vote on repeal on Friday because not enough support materialized, largely due to the Freedom Caucus, made up of Congress's most rebellious conservative members.
On Sunday, Trump hit out at members of his party. Ryan is now under heavy political pressure for not being able to marshal votes in favor of the plan. In his favorite mode of communication, the president sent out another tweet Sunday morning about the doomed “repeal and replace” measure.
Shortly after the president's tweet, his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said the White House is open to working with Democrats on health care reform. Conservative activist Ralph Reed quickly retweeted the president’s comment and added his own view about the consequences for Republicans who oppose the Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill.
The failure of AHCA
Donald Trump was forced into a humiliating climbdown when it became clear his bill to repeal Obamacare did not have the support it needed to become law. He had spent the week trying to win over 30 or so hardline members of the Freedom Caucus who believed the American Health Care Act did not go far enough in undoing key features of Obamacare.
Trump left the White House on Sunday morning for the Trump National Golf Course in Potomac Falls, Virginia. Aides did not immediately respond to questions about what the president would be doing at the club or if he would be playing golf. Trump also spent Saturday at his Virginia club.