Minutes after the GOP leadership-led bill American Health Care Act (AHCA) was pulled from the House, NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd concocted the loony idea that the AHCA failed not because it couldn’t unite all factions of the GOP but that they chose not to work with Democrats.
Over on ABC, former Clinton partisan George Stephanopoulos and correspondent Jonathan Karl were a bit overly dramatic, boasting of the “crushing” and “devastating” defeat for Republicans.
Todd’s claim, however, was just patently absurd. Ignoring the fact that the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) was passed with zero House or Senate Republican votes, Todd lectured Ryan and Trump by wondering “what lessons does the White House and Speaker Ryan take out of this.”
Todd’s partisan hack job kicked into high gear with this claim that refused to take into account GOP control of both Congress and the White House:
There's certainly a lot of people who want to fix it and does the President now realize, you really can't successfully govern until you figure out a way to reach out to Democrats. That was the real reason why Republicans were in this box, because they were trying to pass a bill only with Republican support. Does he change his focus and suddenly figure out a way, is there a way to reach out to Democrats? That was real — the real reason why Republicans were in this box because they were trying to pass a bill only with Republican support. Does he change his focus and suddenly figure out a way, is there a way to reach out to Democrats?
Speaking as if he were channeling his past life as an aide for a Senate Democrat, he concluded that Trump should consider giving out “goodies” to the American people: “Give people things away, not take things away from them as this health care law would have done So, I think the question is going to be, how does the President — does he learn a lesson out of this.”
Going to ABC, Stephanopoulos teed up Karl this way: “The question now, Jon, how does he recover from this?”
Karl replied that it’s “devastating” and “not just because it’s a big defeat on his first legislative test” but also “a defeat on a campaign promise he repeated over and over again.”
“It gets right to the heart of the President’s brand — as Cecilia mentioned, the negotiator in chief. He is the master of the Art of the Deal. He is the one that can close the deal and in this case, he just couldn't do it....This was headed not the just toward defeat but towards a landslide defeat,” he added.
Stephanopoulos gleefully shot back: “A crushing defeat. I think that’s exactly right, Jonathan Karl. Right now, the votes are not there for President Trump's signature promise there on repealing ObamaCare.”
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from the NBC News Special Report on March 24:
NBC News Special Report
March 24, 2017
3:45 p.m. Eastern
CHUCK TODD: You're going to see some blame game, you’re going to see folks inside the White House say, Speaker Ryan made this mistake, that this was Congress' fault, this is proof that they can't work — they can’t get this — they can’t work in this new environment. You're going to see blame game from Congress to say, you know what? The President didn't make a huge effort on this. 18 days of focus on health care is nothing. President Obama focused a year and a half on it. It takes a long time. The question is going to be, what lessons does the White House and Speaker Ryan take out of this? Does it mean that ObamaCare, the idea of repeal and replace, is that now permanently dead? And what does that mean? How do they go about it? There's certainly a lot of people who want to fix it and does the President now realize, you really can't successfully govern until you figure out a way to reach out to Democrats. That was the real reason why Republicans were in this box, because they were trying to pass a bill only with Republican support. Does he change his focus and suddenly figure out a way, is there a way to reach out to Democrats? That was real — the real reason why Republicans were in this box because they were trying to pass a bill only with Republican support. Does he change his focus and suddenly figure out a way, is there a way to reach out to Democrats? Does he now I want to do tax cuts, I want to do infrastructure, I want to do goodies. Give people things away, not take things away from them as this health care law would have done So, I think the question is going to be, how does the President — does he learn a lesson out of this and how does he apply it going forward on the next big item, which, in this case, is likely tax reform.
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from the ABC News Special Report on March 24:
ABC News Special Report
March 24, 2017
3:40 p.m EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The question now, Jon, how does he recover from this?
JONATHAN KARL: George, this is devastating. It’s devastating not just because it’s a big defeat on his first legislative test. It’s a defeat on a campaign promise he repeated over and over again but it gets right to the heart of the President’s brand — as Cecilia mentioned, the negotiator in chief. He is the master of the Art of the Deal. He is the one that can close the deal and in this case, he just couldn't do it and the reason why they're pulling this, George, instead of going through the vote. The President said he wanted to vote. He called the bluff of the Republicans still unwilling to come in. He wanted a vote. The reason why they're pulling this is you know what happens when you get to a big, tough vote in Congress. If it is not going to pass, all of those who would reluctantly go on to show support for the President, he is going to fail any way. They would vote no. This was headed not the just toward defeat but towards a landslide defeat.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A crushing defeat. I think that’s exactly right, Jonathan Karl. Right now, the votes are not there for President Trump's signature promise there on repealing ObamaCare.
