During a televised press conference, Paul Ryan just unraveled his cognitive dissidence. Against all evidence, the speaker had been hoping that President Trump could somehow cut a deal with the Freedom Caucus without making major concessions. He should’ve known better.
“This is a disappointing day for us,” Ryan told reporters shortly after pulling his American Healthcare Act. But for anyone paying close attention it wasn’t a surprising development.
For months, Trump’s business acumen has been grossly exaggerated, and the stubbornness of the “hell-no caucus” underestimated. The subsequent failure of the American Healthcare Act reflects both basic arithmetic and recent history.
Leadership hasn’t gotten along with the Freedom Caucus since those obstinate conservatives started meeting in the basement of a Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill. First, they scalped John Boehner, driving the former speaker to give up his gavel. Then they reduced Ryan to writing a wish list of policy proposals, for which he can go right on wishing.
Trump’s entrance didn’t change that equation as much as leadership had calculated. After watching former Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan and company climb on stage with the populist, Ryan assumed that the president could somehow succeed where he and others had failed. But it wasn’t love that drove the Freedom Caucus to Trump. It was an enduring animosity for leadership.
That group didn’t get on board with Trump because they liked his populist policies. Obviously their conservatism doesn’t dovetail with his big government designs. Instead, they backed the one candidate the establishment wouldn’t. They just hoped to exploit the Trump’s subsequent disruption for their ends.
No amount of arm twisting, soothsaying, or threats could change that temperament. “I was a little surprised,” Trump admitted during a press conference announcing the failure. For all his supposed negotiating prowess, the president wasn’t able to soften the Freedom Caucus position on full repeal.
And that’s not likely to change. Trump and Ryan have agreed for now to let Obamacare limp on until collapses in a heap under its own weight. But this exercise wasn’t all for naught. The failed attempt provides a helpful guide for navigating the congressional landscape. It should be clear to the White House and speaker’s office that unless they can reach across the aisle to Democrats, they’re going to be beholden in some degree to the Freedom Caucus.
No amount of wishful thinking can change that.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
