July 18, 2017

Trump Now Wants Republicans to Let Obamacare Fail on Its Own

“I’m not going to own it.”

Pablo Martinez Monsiva/AP

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President Donald Trump is calling on Republicans to allow the Affordable Care Act to collapse on its own and force Democrats into replacement negotiations. 

“Let Obamacare fail and then everyone’s going to have to come together and fix it,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. He added, “I think we’re probably in that position where we’ll let Obamacare fail. We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it. We’ll let Obamacare fail and then the Democrats are going to come to us.”

The new plan to intentionally sabotage the health care law marked an abrupt shift from Trump’s suggestion on Monday to repeal the health care law without a replacement plan. His latest remarks came shortly after three Republican senators announced they would oppose the motion to allow the straight appeal to move forward.

Despite the legislative failure of the Republican repeal-and-replace plan on Monday night, Trump appeared to commend himself for rallying an “impressive” margin of support from his own party.

“But the vote would have been, if you look at it, 48-4,” he said. “That’s a pretty impressive vote by any standard.”

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That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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