Many conservatives predicted that President Trump, once disappointed at conservatives in Congress failing to go along with his populist program, would turn to Democrats in order to ram through his agenda.
It didn’t take long for Trump to open that door.
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Trump and Ryan failed because the policy they pushed didn’t repeal Obamacare – it re-enshrined its central regulations, which conservatives opposed. Trump and Ryan failed because even their good policy changes were opposed by moderate Republicans in Congress.
So, who did Trump blame? Was it Ryan, for pandering to moderates in the Republican caucus? Was it the moderates, who wanted a watered down bill? Was it Trump himself, who made promises that Democrats would have loved, then insisted on Obamacare 2.0 rather than a true free market repeal?
Nope. It was conservatives.
You know, the people who actually took the whole “repeal Obamacare” thing seriously. The people who thought that a new entitlement program was a bad idea. The people who didn’t lie to their constituents.
Conservatives, the people who brought Republicans their victory in 2010 and 2014, who despised Hillary Clinton so much that they turned out in record numbers for a man noticeably short on conservative credentials in 2016. They’re the problem.
Trump himself has fired off only one tweet casting blame for the Trumpcare debacle:
Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 26, 2017
This is laughable. Trump doesn’t give two figs about Planned Parenthood – he spent much of the campaign praising them. Heritage and Club for Growth both supported Trump ardently during the election. The top members of the House Freedom Caucus were all Trump campaign stalwarts.
But Trump is blaming them. Of course. This is the same guy who said during the election cycle that he didn’t care if the Republicans lost the Senate, since that would enable him to work with Democrats.
And so White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus blamed the conservatives in the GOP, and then added that Trump could work with the Democrats instead.
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Trump’s new war on conservatives, cheered by establishment lackeys, was totally predictable. If Trump pursues that war, it’s all downhill for conservatives from here.
Which means that conservatives must stand and fight. It’s time to send Trump conservative legislation – make him veto it. Push Ryan to propose legislation that will please conservatives, rather than treating them as an out-group to ignore. If Republicans gained the White House and Congress and Senate only to dump conservative principles in favor of bipartisan mush, they won’t have only blown the most obvious chance of our lifetimes, they’ll have broken all their promises. They’ll deserve to lose.
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— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 27, 2017
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