Donald Trump v. Paul Ryan
Trump and the Speaker of the House Ryan have a complicated relationship
REPUBLICANS — President Trump lost crucial GOP support for his AHCA bill and has had a testy relationship with party leaders.
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The relationship between President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has been making headlines again and not because of their combined efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act.
In the midst of their efforts to rally Republican support for the American Health Care Act (AHCA), audio of comments made by Ryan during the election have surfaced stealing the headlines and public’s attention.
This story has again raised the issue of whether or not Trump and Ryan would be able work together to implement the Republican party’s platform of reform.
The released audio was from a conference call between Ryan and Republican members of the House and took place just a few days after the extra video was released showing Trump making vulgar comments about his treatment of women.
In the recording, Ryan says he will not defend Trump, then or in the future, and that each member should focus on winning their own elections to ensure that the Republicans maintain control of the House.
The comments made during this call were initially made public during the election and were followed by then Presidential candidate Trump attacking Ryan on Twitter calling him “a weak and ineffective leader.”
However, since his election Trump and Ryan appear to have reconciled in the name of advancing the Republican platform.
A few days before the inauguration, Trump’s Senior Advisor Kellyanne Conway described the surprise felt among members of the transition team as they saw Ryan and Trump working together.
“There is collaboration – no confrontation – and a shared purposefulness where differences once existed.”
Conway said, according to The Washington Post.
However, the attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare has been the first test of the unlikely partnership, and it has not gone well.
For over a week, both Ryan and Trump attempted to gather support for the bill with Ryan providing Trump with the names of congressmen who the president could put pressure on to earn more support for the bill.
Ryan has even taken to referring to Trump as “the closer” for the GOP.
“President Trump was here to do what he does best, and that is to close the deal,” Ryan said after a meeting between the president and Republican house members last week.
“He is all in, and we are all in to end this Obamacare nightmare.”
The two could not gather enough support for the bill as Speaker Ryan was forced to pull it from the floor before it even went to a vote.
Trump has already said he wants to move on from the issue of healthcare reform to focus on passing budget and tax reforms.
However, a loss this big and this early in his presidency could have negative effects down the road, a fact fellow House Republican Jim Sensenbrenner noted prior to the bill’s failure.
“If this one (healthcare reform) fails, the ability to deliver on the next big (issue) is going to be significantly impaired,” Sensebrenner said, according to the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel.
“(Ryan’s) prestige is on the line.”
Over the next several months it is important Trump and Ryan continue working together in order to be successful in implementing Trump’s other campaign promises.
If they don’t, then there is a very real chance that the Republican party will continue to splinter and fail to pass legislation despite controlling both houses of Congress and the presidency. If they do not, then the Republican Party may be in for a major wake up call when it comes time for the mid-term election in 2018.
Lapp is an opinion writer.