RUSH: Remember what we talked about yesterday, Obamacare and the strategies involved? And I shared with you that in a strict political analysis, that Dr. Charles Krauthammer came up with a very brilliant take on this. If you are convinced that Obamacare — the repeal and replace — is going to fail… And as I pointed out yesterday, that seems to me to be the general state of mind, that it’s gonna fall, that it can’t pass. Doesn’t it seem that way to you? And not just the news coverage.
When you listen to various Republicans or any Democrat talk about it, don’t they convey to you that it doesn’t have a chance. It’s too confusing and there’s not enough agreement on this or that. But the general narrative of the Republican repeal and replace of Obamacare is that it’s blowing up. “The Republicans are incompetent. They don’t know what they’re doing; they’re gonna make it worse.” Doesn’t that seem to be the flavor of the news? Well, it is. And so the learned commentariat is weighing in on it with that in mind.
“Okay, if it’s gonna fail, then how do you avoid the political nightmare?”
And Krauthammer’s theory that he announced on the Fox All Stars a couple nights ago was this. He said (paraphrased), “The bill must pass the House, because the House is Republican; it’s dominated by Republicans. If the Obamacare repeal and replace does not pass the House, then the Republicans are gonna get all of the political blame, and it’s gonna be disastrous for them in the 2018 midterms, and it’s gonna be disastrous for Trump later on. So whatever the Republicans do, they have got to get it through the House.” Then Dr. Krauthammer’s theory is this: Get a bill that will pass the House — and pretty much anything would pass the House, theoretically.
In this bill you load it up with everything you think it really should be. Don’t play games with first phase, second phase, third phase. Do a genuine repeal, come up with a genuine replacement, do it as though you had a free rein to do the best you could. Put everything in this bill that you, as a Republican and a conservative, want the health care system to become.
The Krauthammer theory is the Democrats in the Senate will automatically vote against it and kill it, and in that way, the Democrats get the blame for it. But for this to work, the Obamacare repeal and replacement bill has to pass the House. If it dies in the Senate, under the theory, then the Republicans and Trump can blame Democrats for it.
Now, be honest. Even though that is brilliant theory, it still results in what? No change. It results in the Obamacare repeal and replace failing. Now, Krauthammer’s political strategy here is brilliant, but, again, it’s predicated on what everybody thinks is gonna happen, that it’s gonna fail. Isn’t it amazing to you that there’s no optimism?
Look, Paul Ryan’s trying to be. Grab sound bite number 21. Ryan came out today and praised Trump like he hasn’t been praised before. They’re shaking their heads in there like you don’t believe this. Did you hear it? (interruption) Okay, well, listen. You saw some of it, but you don’t believe it? Even before you hear it, you don’t believe it? Well, listen to it. It’s only 45 seconds, audio sound bite number 21 in three, two, one.
RYAN: I am very pleased and very excited, and I gotta tell you, it’s something I haven’t seen in a long time. This president is getting deeply involved. He is helping bridge gaps in our conference. He is a constructive force to help us get to a resolution so that we get consensus on how to repeal and replace Obamacare. It’s been very helpful, and the president of the United States is the one who’s bringing people together, sitting around a table, hashing out our differences, and the president is playing a very constructive role on this. His involvement and his engagement, his listening and his negotiating skills are bringing people together. Did you see him yesterday in Detroit and Tennessee? The president has a connection with individuals in this country. He goes around the media and connects with people specifically and individually. This is a power that we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan.
RUSH: Now, my friends, if you’ll pardon me for a moment, I’ve been pointing this out about Trump since last July, July of 2015 I have been harping on the thing that people who don’t understand Trump, if you want to try, you’ve got to understand this connection he has with people. And it was on display last night in Nashville. What a raucous rally, and in that rally Trump said (paraphrasing), “Don’t worry about this Obamacare stuff. Don’t believe what you hear. We’re gonna get in a room, we’re gonna roll up our sleeves and we’re gonna get it done. Obamacare repeal and replace, Obamacare’s a disaster,” and he kept harping, “We’re gonna get in a room, we’re gonna talk about it, and we’re gonna blow it up, we’re gonna end it, we’re gonna fix it.”
Crowd was going nuts, cheering, standing ovation. Ryan obviously heard that last night. Ryan obviously saw that last night. The one-on-one connection that Trump has with people, I guarantee you these people have noticed it. Not talking about Ryan here. I’m talking about the media establishment. And they’re jealous as hell of it. They are envious. There’s not a one of them that has a connection with their audience like Trump has with his. Not a one. There’s not a one of them that’s capable of it. So you add that to the mix of why they hate Trump.
So Trump makes it clear to these people we’re gonna get in a room, we’re gonna work on it, I’m gonna make it happen, we’re gonna make it happen. Here comes Ryan praising Trump to the hilt today, ’cause I think Ryan was waiting for Trump to confirm that he’s with Ryan on this. And that’s what Trump did last night. Okay? But even with all that, outside of Trump, outside of Ryan’s optimism there, the overall mood, which I think is common pretty much in Washington, pessimism, doom and gloom, it’s how they survive. The narrative is Obamacare repeal and replace is gonna fail. And because it’s gonna fail we gotta come up with a way that that failure isn’t gonna hurt us and that was Krauthammer’s theory.
Okay. Headline from the Hill: “Nervous GOP Senators Rooting for Ryan to Fail — A growing number of GOP senators are hoping the House fails to pass its bill to repeal and replace Obamacare so they won’t be blamed for killing it.” I told you. Dr. Krauthammer told you. So now everybody is operating on the basis that it’s gonna fail and blow up and how nobody wants the blame. What a bunch of gutless wonders that we have doing the bidding.