It's all Paul Ryan's fault, says the White House, that we're not in Obamacare repeal nirvana. That's absolutely true, but not in the way they think it is.
A Thursday evening meeting between top aides to President Donald Trump and House Republican leaders turned heated when the White House officials exhorted Speaker Paul Ryan to show immediate progress on the GOP's stalled plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The meeting was tense. At one point, according to three sources briefed on the meeting, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus suggested it could be detrimental to Ryan’s speakership if Republicans fail to pass a bill. Others disputed that characterization, saying the comments were not aimed specifically at Ryan’s but more broadly: As in, all Republican lawmakers' jobs are in jeopardy if they don't deliver.
"It was really bad," said one person familiar with the meeting. "They were in total meltdown, total chaos mode."
Multiple White House and Hill sources familiar with the meeting said Vice President Mike Pence and Priebus leaned on Ryan to accept a series of changes they floated to conservatives, but which House leaders and moderate Republicans have rejected. Aides sparred over the inability to advance a new bill, saying it should have been done weeks ago.
It is Ryan's fault, not because he can't twist enough arms for what is an incredibly shitty bill, but that for seven years this golden boy great white hope wonk pretender did absolutely nothing to try to craft a replacement that everybody wouldn't hate. Some of this blame goes as well to his predecessor John Boehner, but Ryan was supposed to be the smart one, the policy guy.
He didn't meet with stakeholders. He didn't meet with Democrats. He didn't talk to the rank-and-file of the Republican party to find out what would fly for them in their districts. He introduced no real legislation, the House's committees have had no real hearings. Repeal and replace has been a total sham for seven years and Paul Ryan is largely responsible for it and for conning every Republican—not to mention way too many in the chattering class—into believing he was capable of handling something as massive as one-sixth of the economy—our healthcare system. He's as out of his element on this as Trump is on everything. And he deserves all the shit he's going to be getting for however long Trump manages to stay in office.