Donald Trump turns on senior Republican Paul Ryan after disastrous failure to ditch Obamacare and bring in replacement health bill
President left humiliated after boasts about deal-making as he tries to claim ditching the bill was never his top priority
DONALD Trump has tried to put on a brave face after his disastrous failure to get rid of Obamacare and replace it with a new health bill.
The President was left humiliated after failing to get the right-wing Freedom Caucus in Congress to back his changes, after they said the cuts didn’t go far enough.
In a defiant tweet he posted: "Obama-Care will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!"
But behind closed doors he has reportedly turned on Paul Ryan, the House Speaker and the second-most powerful Republican, blaming him for failing repeal his predecessor’s biggest policy achievement.
Mr Trump fells like he was talked in to making it his first priority, and is now seeking to claim it was never top of his list of business when he entered the Oval Office.
But a video has been widely shared on social media over the weekend highlighting how often he claimed on the campaign trail that he would immediately bring in his own healthcare act if he beat Hillary Clinton.
After the bill collapsed, Mr Trump said he “never said repeal and replace Obamacare” by the 64th day of his presidency, which was Friday, adding: “I have a long time.”
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The defeat, which is all the more remarkable given his party has a majority in both Congress and the Senate, is a massive blow to Mr Trump’s image as an arch dealmaker.
It also blows a potentially massive hole in his budgetary plans, as it had been hoped the ‘World's Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017’ would save around $1trillion.
But after pulling the legislation from the floor of the House on Friday Mr Ryan said: “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.”
CNN quoted an official saying Mr Trump was becoming “frustrated with his staff’s inability to get this done” and felt he had been misled by Mr Ryan.
A source said: “He was talked into doing this bill first. It was not negotiated well on his behalf. He’s relied on his staff to give him good information and they haven’t.
“And that’s the problem.”
The new act would have slashed welfare payments, and analysis found 24 million people would lose health coverage within ten years if it had passed.
The defeat comes after a rough couple of weeks for the Trump presidency, which is still in its infancy.
After his travel ban was once again blocked by the courts, further questions have been raised about senior figures in his administration having ties to Russia.
And relations with the UK are in need of repairing after his spokesman Sean Spicer alleged GCHQ had spied on Trump Tower at the behest of Mr Obama.