RUSH: Remember what we talked about yesterday, Obamacare and the strategies involved? And I shared with you that in a strict political analysis, that Dr. Charles Krauthammer came up with a very brilliant take on this. If you are convinced that Obamacare — the repeal and replace — is going to fail… And as I pointed out yesterday, that seems to me to be the general state of mind, that it’s gonna fall, that it can’t pass. Doesn’t it seem that way to you? And not just the news coverage.
“Okay, if it’s gonna fail, then how do you avoid the political nightmare?”
And Krauthammer’s theory that he announced on the Fox All Stars a couple nights ago was this. He said (paraphrased), “The bill must pass the House, because the House is Republican; it’s dominated by Republicans. If the Obamacare repeal and replace does not pass the House, then the Republicans are gonna get all of the political blame, and it’s gonna be disastrous for them in the 2018 midterms, and it’s gonna be disastrous for Trump later on. So whatever the Republicans do, they have got to get it through the House.” Then Dr. Krauthammer’s theory is this: Get a bill that will pass the House — and pretty much anything would pass the House, theoretically.
In this bill you load it up with everything you think it really should be. Don’t play games with first phase, second phase, third phase. Do a genuine repeal, come up with a genuine replacement, do it as though you had a free rein to do the best you could. Put everything in this bill that you, as a Republican and a conservative, want the health care system to become.
The Krauthammer theory is the Democrats in the Senate will automatically vote against it and kill it, and in that way, the Democrats get the blame for it. But for this to work, the Obamacare repeal and replacement bill has to pass the House. If it dies in the Senate, under the theory, then the Republicans and Trump can blame Democrats for it.
Now, be honest. Even though that is brilliant theory, it still results in what? No change. It results in the Obamacare repeal and replace failing. Now, Krauthammer’s political strategy here is brilliant, but, again, it’s predicated on what everybody thinks is gonna happen, that it’s gonna fail. Isn’t it amazing to you that there’s no optimism?
Look, Paul Ryan’s trying to be. Grab sound bite number 21. Ryan came out today and praised Trump like he hasn’t been praised before. They’re shaking their heads in there like you don’t believe this. Did you hear it? (interruption) Okay, well, listen. You saw some of it, but you don’t believe it? Even before you hear it, you don’t believe it? Well, listen to it. It’s only 45 seconds, audio sound bite number 21 in three, two, one.
RUSH: Now, my friends, if you’ll pardon me for a moment, I’ve been pointing this out about Trump since last July, July of 2015 I have been harping on the thing that people who don’t understand Trump, if you want to try, you’ve got to understand this connection he has with people. And it was on display last night in Nashville. What a raucous rally, and in that rally Trump said (paraphrasing), “Don’t worry about this Obamacare stuff. Don’t believe what you hear. We’re gonna get in a room, we’re gonna roll up our sleeves and we’re gonna get it done. Obamacare repeal and replace, Obamacare’s a disaster,” and he kept harping, “We’re gonna get in a room, we’re gonna talk about it, and we’re gonna blow it up, we’re gonna end it, we’re gonna fix it.”
So Trump makes it clear to these people we’re gonna get in a room, we’re gonna work on it, I’m gonna make it happen, we’re gonna make it happen. Here comes Ryan praising Trump to the hilt today, ’cause I think Ryan was waiting for Trump to confirm that he’s with Ryan on this. And that’s what Trump did last night. Okay? But even with all that, outside of Trump, outside of Ryan’s optimism there, the overall mood, which I think is common pretty much in Washington, pessimism, doom and gloom, it’s how they survive. The narrative is Obamacare repeal and replace is gonna fail. And because it’s gonna fail we gotta come up with a way that that failure isn’t gonna hurt us and that was Krauthammer’s theory.
Okay. Headline from the Hill: “Nervous GOP Senators Rooting for Ryan to Fail — A growing number of GOP senators are hoping the House fails to pass its bill to repeal and replace Obamacare so they won’t be blamed for killing it.” I told you. Dr. Krauthammer told you. So now everybody is operating on the basis that it’s gonna fail and blow up and how nobody wants the blame. What a bunch of gutless wonders that we have doing the bidding.
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