I was somewhat disconcerted by the President’s seemingly enthusiastic support of the bill - but I have little doubt Trump is playing the long game.
There’s a good reason for his enthusiastic support. The first rule of negotiating is that you never EVER put forth an offer that you are not 1000% committed to. Otherwise the other side will know it and simply ignore you. It’s a lot like being a great poker player.
I wasn’t. Even though the bill was terrible, it was simply the beginning of a long process in which it would undergo numerous changes.
I think starting that process would have been better than not starting the process as happened today.
However, I agree that there is also value to be found in what happened today.
At least now the arrogant as **** Speaker knows that he is not going to dictate the bill to everyone else.
And at most, maybe we get rid of him, because he is part of the problem.
I am not upset with today’s events, because if at first you don’t succeed... as they say.
“I was somewhat disconcerted by the President’s seemingly enthusiastic support of the bill”
That’s a tactic to ensure one’s opposition does not become an issue. It’s a “for sake of argument” move, aka “give ‘em enough rope and they’ll hang themselves”. Trump comes out of this without anyone blaming him for opposing the attempt - because he didn’t; the bill failed on its own merits, not from culpable actions on his part.
“I was somewhat disconcerted by the President’s seemingly enthusiastic support of the bill - but I have little doubt Trump is playing the long game.”
We’re of the same opinion: upset about the “enthusiastic support”, but optimistically believing it was part of a long game to let Paul Ryan self-destruct and replace him as House Speaker.
Notice how the House so rapidly came up with this crap bill, how easily on board he got, and how easily he washed his hands of it as it crashed and burned? Normally, something this big would take several months to hammer out into something that could be voted on with a reasonable chance of success. This whole fiasco was rushed in a big way.
I think someone got snookered, and it wasn't DJT. The press is crowing that it was a loss for Trump, but the fact is Ryan was the big loser here. President Trump has shown us that he is amazingly good at exposing frauds and traitors for the whole world to see. This may have just been one of his 'stings' to out more traitors.
If I'm right about any of this, this has to be one of the most cunning presidents we have had in our lifetimes. In fact, almost frighteningly so, and I'm glad he's on our side....