Trump Attacks the Freedom Caucus

During the 2016 Presidential campaign I was repeatedly asked by my disbelieving friends about my unwavering support for Donald Trump, a man whom I had gone to see speak in person on two occasions and for whom I voted in the general election.They would repeatedly inquire: 

“Is there anything that Mr. Trump can do to make you not support him?"

“Nope, none that I can think of.”

“Is there anything he could say that would put you off?"

“Nope”, I would blithely state with true conviction.

“Is there any action he could take that could possibly make you waver?” They would ask.

“Not a chance!” I emphatically state.

So now what happens?

“Hey Wal Man, Donald Trump just said that he is going after the Freedom Caucus!”

“He WHAT!?”

Yeah, that would do it. Donald Trump just put the Republicans in the Freedom Caucus on the same political level as the Democratic Party. Can you beat that?

Saved from American Healthcare Act

If it wasn’t for the Freedom Caucus, a group of 32 fiscally and morally conservative Republican lawmakers from across the nation, the United States citizenry would have had to deal with yet another failed piece of legislation: The American Healthcare Act that President Trump and his new establishment GOP ally Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had tried to dress up and call “Fillet Mignon”. But the American people, the Freedom Caucus membership AND other Republican legislators knew it was the same old “Government Cheese”.

It was the Freedom Caucus that had actually saved Trump from looking bad by not allowing them to pass that Turd.

But this is obviously not how the President is looking at the situation. 

So Where’s the Art of the Deal?

So instead of listening to the Freedom Caucus’ concerns or recognizing their input and that of other Tea Party Republican’s like Libertarian Rand Paul, Mr. Trump and Mr. Ryan take a stand-offish pose and do a “My Way or the Highway” ultimatum. And it backfired.

So what’s the new plan? There isn’t a new plan. Mr.’s Trump and Ryan are going to bring the old failed plan back and instead of negotiating new legislation, they’d rather threaten the people who opposed it instead. Good idea.

Trumps New Allies…the Democrats?

So now President Trump is proposing to reach across the aisle to the Democrats to craft Healthcare Legislation rather than work with members of his own party.

This can't be happening. 

Trump Finds Strange Bedfellow

Donald Trump has taken a step toward the GOP establishment with his decision to side with Paul Ryan. It does not look to be a winning combination and I’d be surprised if it is a lasting relationship. Mr. Ryan ran for the house Speakership with the majority consent of the Freedom Caucus. Can he win friends by now opposing them? Not bloody likely.

Election 2018

Is the President really going to campaign against his own party come 2018? While some of the Freedom Caucus could be vulnerable, I don’t think a majority of them are going anywhere. Especially if their constituency feels they are under fire from a president, quite frankly, many of them weren’t too thrilled about in the first place. They didn’t all love Mr. Trump, they just hated Hillary Clinton more. 

Much, much more.

Can you see Donald Trump perhaps flying into Texas to oppose Randy Weber, who now holds the retired and much admired Ron Paul's seat? How’s that for optics.

Conclusion

Hopefully this gets walked back sooner than later and that Mr. Trump decides to incorporate more “Freedom” into the American Healthcare Act if it’s going to be brought back up for a vote. I’d rather see no legislation at all and have American healthcare become a market force rather than have it remain a government force. The state of healthcare is as it is because of government interference in the marketplace and nobody should have any illusions about this after the last 8 years of rising costs, shortages and hardships for those who pay and freebie give-a-ways for those who don’t.

If the President and his Republican majority are going to accomplish anything, they had better start bringing everyone to the table rather than thinking they can just punch any bit of legislation through Congress. The Freedom Caucus has the support of a great many American voters and many Conservative and Tea Party Republicans look to them in the hopes that they will continue to have their views represented and have a voice in our government. It is THEY who got Mr. Trump elected. 

For Donald Trump to call them out after the legislative blunder he almost committed is, in what should best be described in his own words: “Huge Mistake.”

Huge.