Trump’s Out of Political Capital Already

Too bad for the so-called president that he can’t borrow political capital from his friends in the Russian mob, because he appears to be running low. This happened today:

Conservative House Republicans rebuffed an offer by President Trump Thursday to strip a key set of mandates from the nation’s current health care law, raising doubts about whether House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has the votes to pass the bill.

Trump met at the White House with the most conservative House Republicans, hoping to close a deal that would help ensure passage of the party’s health-care plan by shifting it even further to the right. But the session ended with no clear resolution, and some lawmakers said they needed more concessions before they would back the bill.

Apparently the bill is still being rewritten even as Paul Ryan is trying to get the House to vote on it today.  And why is today so gosh-darn important? Because today is the seventh anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. [Update: No vote today. They’ll try again tomorrow.]

House Republicans have been working to gut the bill even further from the version that the CBO said would cut 24 million people off from getting health care. But word is that there are enough Senate Republicans worried about their future re-election campaigns that such a bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate.

Greg Sargent wrote a couple of days ago:

The fate of the GOP health plan appears to hang in the balance, with GOP leaders still struggling to find the votes to pass it in the House. There is widespread disagreement both about the bill and its prospects for passage. But one thing appears to be widely agreed upon: President Trump has now “taken ownership” of this bill.

Yet Trump’s ownership of the GOP plan is not having the desired effect. It doesn’t appear to be moving many Republicans — indeed, GOP critics of it appear to be hardening in their opposition — and a new poll out this morning finds that support for it is dropping.

Possibly even Republicans can find the daily Gallup tracking poll showing approval for Trump slowly deflating like an old tire — he’s now consistently in the high 30s rather than the low 40s — and a new Quinnipiac poll finds substantial majorities of Americans could not say Trump is honest, has good leadership skills, or cares about most Americans. A majority still finds him intelligent, however, which means there are a few more scales to fall from a lot more eyes.

Perhaps they hadn’t yet read the latest Time magazine interview of Trump, in which he comes across as a spoiled 12-year-old, and a not very bright one at that. It’s so bad that after a few paragraphs I had to double-check it wasn’t a spoof. See also 9 bonkers things Donald Trump said in his new exclusive interview with Time.

15 thoughts on “Trump’s Out of Political Capital Already

  1. Too bad for the so-called president that he can’t borrow political capital from his friends in the Russian mob, because he appears to be running low.

    LMAO… 🙂

  2. Is t-RUMPLE-thin-Skin out of “political capital?”

    No one knows.
    Least of all t-RUMPLE-Thin-Skin!
    He’s never worked with “capital.”
    He grifts for money from fools, bigots, misogynists, xenophobes, the religiously intolerant uber-“Christian” assholes, super-conservatives, homophobes, rubes, dupes, marks, nit/half/dim/fuck-wits, stooges, dopes, morons, gullible goobers, etc…

    And once he gets that money in his bank account, he takes off, and starts another “t-RUMP” grift!
    “Hey! I gotta new Condo!
    Hey! I gotta new hotel!!!
    Hey! I gotta… yadda, yadda, yadda…”

    So, as for “political capital,” he knows not whereof you speak…

  3. I’m thrilled that the Trump steamroller has been thwarted, at least for now. I posted it a few days ago, but it’s worth revisiting, Paul Ryan is an Epic Failure.

    The arrogance and stupidity of these people is mind boggling. Health care is difficult under the best of circumstances, even when everybody is experienced and has good intentions. The fact that they could not come up with an alternative plan in 7 years would’ve given most people pause about jumping straight into repeal and replace. You’d think they would start with something simpler and easier to accomplish, to get the momentum rolling.

    Every bit of resistance from sane people and failure on their part is important, to get to the 2018 election without destroying the country. Run out the clock.

  4. Can we laugh now or should we wait until tomorrow? It appears that the whips are still trying to whip the caucus into passing some version of a bill tomorrow morning, and they have all night to do it. I can hardly wait to snicker and LMAO but I am not sure that this is wise until the overnight efforts have failed.

  5. We should laugh all the time at the clowns in the Republican Party. Laugh heartily, laugh sardonically, just laugh and laugh. Because they hate it, especially their Fearless Leader Donald Trump *. Whatever they do tomorrow, laugh at the fact that the most substantive bit of policy they’ve managed to do in over eight years is to try to time the repeal of the ACA to make a trivially smug and stupid point.

    * I don’t know how many people remember the details of Rocky and Bullwinkle, but Fearless Leader was Boris and Natasha’s boss. The incompetence of both of Fearless Leader’s subordinates fits the use of FL for Trump, as does FL’s own incompetence. But beyond that is that Fearless Leader also had a boss, Mr. Big, who was incredibly short (about Rocky sized). A short Russian boss to a figurehead leader who is incompetent and has incompetents working as underlings – it’s really a perfect fit.

  6. The emperor has got no clothes? It’s not only about the health care bill. It’s the overall of Trump getting his ass tore up. Trump’s mental health issues with his utterly debilitating narcissism and lies are starting to become more prominent in our national dialog. Nobody defeats the truth.. In the words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic…The truth goes marching on…but not so for Donald Trump.

  7. Wonder when push comes to shove if Ivanka will be able to bannish Bannon? When the Donald has to circle the wagons will Bannon be on the outs?

  8. They’re gonna turn the White House into Trump’s Alamo..

    Dickeylee… No need to wonder..If push comes to shove Ivanka rules. Nobody gets in the way of daddy’s little girl. Donny, Ivanka, and Jared are going the last three remaining when it comes time to start tossing people under the bus.

  9. I think we need to stop the nomination process on Gorsuch.

    Democrats can turn to McConnell, pull a Mitch, and say, “We’re not working on nominating a SC Judge during the last year of t-RUMP’s presidency!”

  10. paradoctor …I have no idea what Ivanka’s role in the White House is, but I do know I have a major resentment about her and her husband both being in the White House. I suspect it has something to do with the bestowal of unmerited authority.

  11. Hmmm. How long before Trump declares political bankruptcy? 😉

    As long as he’s making money off of being President, it could be a while.

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