Though far from over, the Senate’s path to repealing and replacing Obamacare got more difficult on Tuesday when Mitch McConnell announced that the chamber would not vote on its health care bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, before the July 4 recess. But as he did during the House’s effort to pass its health care bill, Trump has tried to present himself as what he pledged he would be on the campaign trail: a dealmaker and closer who makes Washington work. On Tuesday evening, Trump met with Republican senators in the White House and the results were not comforting, regardless of your perspective on the Senate’s (bad) bill. Per The New York Times:
A senator who supports the bill left the meeting at the White House with a sense that the president did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the Senate plan — and seemed especially confused when a moderate Republican complained that opponents of the bill would cast it as a massive tax break for the wealthy, according to an aide who received a detailed readout of the exchange.
Mr. Trump said he planned to tackle tax reform later, ignoring the repeal’s tax implications, the staff member added.
The Senate’s bill, like the House’s, is as much a tax break for the wealthy as it is a health care bill. It’s arguably more of a tax break for the wealthy than a health care bill. This is not even a new development—it has been the defining feature of the GOP’s health care reform, which violates nearly all of Trump’s core promises about what replacing Obamacare would look like, for months. Meanwhile, Trump has spent his mornings live-tweeting Fox & Friends and his weekends golfing at his private clubs.