That's why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, after insisting that the vote had to happen before the July 4 recess, postponed the vote earlier this week. The votes weren't there -- or even close to there.
McConnell has spent the 72 hours since announcing the unscheduled delay trying to craft a series of tweaks that would simultaneously win support from conservatives who think the bill doesn't go far enough to repeal Obamacare and centrists who worry the bill leaves too many people uninsured. This is delicate and painstaking work, trying to find the exact right balance to lose only two Republican senators and pass the bill while dealing with the very real possibility that no such "right balance" exists."
Here's how to think about what Trump's tweet does to McConnell and his ongoing negotiations: You and a big group of friends (9 or so) are going out to dinner. They are picky people. You've finally narrowed down your restaurant choices to two. Then, just as you are on the verge of deciding, some other dude you only sort of know comes in and says "Have you guys thought of this other place we could eat?"
It would be a giant pain in the butt right? (I have been in this situation before. It's the worst.) Well, that's what Trump just did.
Now, even as McConnell tries to button-hole his Republican colleagues to make hard political choices, there's an escape hatch offered by the president. And, when you have options you really don't like, anything else sounds great.
In short: It's not a good situation for Mitch McConnell. But Donald Trump just made it even tougher.
The rest is here:
Donald Trump just went bull-in-a-china-shop on health care - CNN
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