Milbank: When winning means more than governing
How does this happen?
On Wednesday, the House passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill by a lopsided margin of 309-118. A majority of both Democrats and Republicans supported the measure, which sailed through the Senate.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, alike celebrated, and President Trump said of the spending bill: “This is what winning looks like!”
Yet the day after this bill passed the House, the chamber split down the middle as it passed the “Trumpcare” legislation repealing Obamacare. All 193 Democrats and 20 Republicans opposed the bill, which survived by a margin of 217-213 and goes to the Senate, where it is so toxic that lawmakers there don’t even plan to consider it.
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How could the people’s representatives swing, in the space of 24 hours, from bipartisan congratulations to partisan recriminations? The difference was in Trump’s approach.
In the case of the spending bill, he acted as president of all Americans. He negotiated a compromise that thrilled nobody but satisfied the vast majority. In the case of the health care bill, he catered to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party, the 30-or-so members of the House Freedom Caucus, winding up with a radical and slapdash bill that would be at direct odds with what Americans say they want.
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