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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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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