Pablo Martinez Monsiva/AP
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.
Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2017
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.”
