At a White House meeting this week, staffers for President Trump warned Republicans that the President isn’t happy about their failure to pass healthcare reform, and if they don’t do it soon, Paul Ryan will lose his position as Speaker of the House. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Transcript of the above video:
With all of the craziness that has gone on this week, it’s likely that you missed a story that’s actually pretty important. On Wednesday evening, there was a meeting at the White House between White House staffers, including Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, and Vice President Mike Pence, and House Republicans, including Paul Ryan. Now, during this meeting they discussed what to do about the healthcare fiasco that they have created. As it turns out, neither the White House, nor Republicans, and House of Representatives want to give up on their plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. It just turns out none of them have any ideas on how to actually do that.
Ryan Priebus did issue a warning to Paul Ryan during that meeting, and this is what’s very important to this story. They hinted at the fact that Trump has suggested that if Paul Ryan does not succeed in passing a Republican created healthcare plan, he will very likely lose his speakership position. We also learned, earlier this week, that Donald Trump had told the current president of CNN that, “I’m good at getting even with people,” something to that effect. That’s exactly what we’re seeing happen right now with this whole Paul Ryan healthcare fiasco.
Donald Trump ran on the platform of repealing and replacing Obamacare. Said he was going to do it day one, is going to be one of the first things he signs. Now that Paul Ryan and the Republicans in the House have failed in their quest to repeal and replace, Donald Trump is also feeling the sting in his poll numbers and, to be quite honest, in his ego. Now he’s threatening Paul Ryan, basically telling him, “If you don’t do this, if you don’t make me look good, I will get even with you. I will turn those House Republicans against you and force them to vote for a new House speaker.” Well, technically, the president can’t do that. But Paul Ryan understands the severity of what Trump and his staffers are trying to tell him. He knows that if this healthcare plan, whatever plan they come up with, fails, then he has failed. Then he will likely fail in his reelection bid in 2018, and that is exactly what he deserves at this point.
However, there’s two sides to everything, and if you oust Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House, probably going to get somebody much, much, worse. That’s what happened when John Boehner resigned, and then we got Paul Ryan. Boehner was horrible, Paul Ryan is worse. Paul Ryan is worse, his replacement, especially if handpicked by Donald Trump and promoted by Donald Trump, is going to be an absolute disaster for the United States and for the rights of the American public.
The only thing we have going for us is that, after the 2018 midterms, it might not even be Republicans who get to choose the Speaker of the House. If things keep going this way, it will be Democrats in control of the House in 2018, or should I say, after the 2018 election. Donald Trump also understands that, Paul Ryan understands that, and all Trump staffers know that. That’s why they’re pressing Ryan on this issue, telling him, “Get off your ass, do something about this, and make us look good. Because if you fail, you’ve not only failed this one little test, but you will have failed the entire party,” and essentially cost them the House in 2018.
