From his own blustering but ultra-generic statements, it has been apparent that Donald Trump has absolutely no idea what the Senate's version of a "healthcare" bill actually contains. Perhaps nobody bothered to tell him; perhaps they have tried to tell him repeatedly but he simply can't retain the information. Also, he is an mean-minded idiot.
So now Republicans are debating whether to ask Trump for his assistance in selling the bill to the public or if they would prefer he keep his pie-hole shut.
[S]ome lawmakers and congressional aides privately bemoan his thin grasp of the bill’s principles, and worry that his difficulty staying on message will do more harm than good.
“You know, he’s very personable and people like talking to him and he’s very embracing of that, so there will be certain people he’d like to talk to,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “But I’d let Mitch handle it,” he continued, referring to the lead role Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has played thus far.
Ah, whether to unleash the shouting liar or chain him up in the basement for a while: It is indeed a dilemma. That said, it's not clear that Senate Republicans have any say in whether Trump attempts to "help" them, and they certainly won't have any say whatsoever in how he does it. You'll recall Trump went from holding a celebration with House Republicans in the Rose Garden over the passage of their own healthcare bill, only to blast it as "mean" during the drafting of the Senate version; his habit of changing his opinion to whatever would best impress his audience from one moment to the next has made him an unreliable would-be ally.
And this, too, hasn't gone unnoticed.
One Republican congressional aide said that comment left some lawmakers worried that the president — who had no real ties to the GOP before running for the White House — could turn on them if a bill passes but the follow-up becomes politically damaging. The official insisted on anonymity in order to describe private discussions.
Trump "could" turn on them when the full implications of the Senate legislation become clear? Trump will absolutely turn on them when the full implications of the Senate legislation become clear. Donald Trump ran on fixing everything via unspecified magical powers; if uninsuring tens of millions of American citizens and skyrocketing premiums for many millions of others results in public backlash against Donald Trump, Donald Trump will not hesitate to pin the blame on every individual senator that voted for the thing. Trump doesn't have a political career to protect. He doesn't give a damn what happens to the party, so long as he gets the public adoration he so craves.
Republicans are probably wasting their time pondering how best to involve Trump in all this, or whether to involve him at all. They don't have much input here. He'll shout what he shouts. It turns out there is a downside to rallying your entire party apparatus around an incompetent and unpredictable manchild; they probably should have seen that coming.