How do you negotiate with a pathological liar?by digby
Bowl me over with a feather. He’s still an f-ing moron:
President Trump appeared to distance himself further from a bipartisan Senate health-care effort Wednesday, warning against “bailing out” insurance companies.
“I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made a fortune w/ O’Care,” Trump wrote on Twitter. He was referring to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who forged a deal with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) that was released Tuesday and was greeted by ample GOP skepticism.
The president’s tweet Wednesday was his latest conflicting statement about the Alexander-Murray plan.
The compromise would authorize payments to health insurers that help millions of lower-income Americans afford coverage in exchange for granting states greater flexibility to regulate health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
That’s Bannon talking, telling him that “bailing out insurance companies” is a good talking point. They may even think they can pull over some lefties with that disingenuous line.
Here’s the problem. All of the GOP repeal and replace bills include huge payments to insurance companies. Not that Trump’s dipshit supporters know or care. Still, it seems worth pointing out that this is a stupid “populist” line that isn’t true.
How long are they going to put up with this? What’s the point? They won’t even be able to get their holy grail of tax cuts with this man in the WH.:
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) sat down with Mike Allen immediately after getting off the phone with President Trump, who called to encourage him about the bipartisan health care bill he announced yesterday with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Trump told Alexander that he supports the effort, is glad they’re trying, but still needs to review the deal to “reserve his options.”
Alexander’s bottom line: “Trump completely engineered the plan that we announced yesterday,” by calling me repeatedly and asking Sen. Murray to be a part of it. “He wanted a bipartisan bill for the short term.”
Yes, but: Minutes later, Trump tweeted: “I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co’s who have made a fortune w/ O’Care.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s take: “The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare,” Doug Andres, Ryan’s press secretary, told Axios.
It truly is the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. We’ll be so lucky to live through this.
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