Rivals placing hurdles to weaken the President
The Trump Administration’s failure to push through a healthcare law that sought to replace Obamacare is a major embarrassment for President Donald Trump who had made the repeal of his predecessor's legislation one of his main electoral planks. The setback is especially acute given that he could not get the draft American Healthcare Bill passed despite having a majority in the House. The Bill had to be withdrawn because of division in the ranks of the ruling Republicans, with certain sections worried that the proposed legislation would be as bad, or worse, than Obamacare. It could not get the support of a minimum of 215 Republicans to get it through. It is unfortunate that sections within the Republican camp do not realise that their primary duty is to ensure that the assurances given by their party leader, and on the basis of which Trump made it to the White House, are honoured.
Their obstruction is akin to betraying the public mandate. Of course, it may also be true that President Trump's team did not manage to convince the Republican rank and file about the need to repeal the previous regime's law on healthcare, despite so much evidence of Obamacare having failed to deliver; the President now says Obamacare would “explode”. The conservative House Freedom Caucus refused to back the proposed law because it wanted more aggressive measures to lower insurance costs. Besides, it wanted a revamp of Federal regulations on various insurances products. That the ruling party has thrown in the towel, at least for now, is evident in House Speaker Paul D Ryan's remark, “We're going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.” The Democrats must be chuckling with delight. It does appear that President Trump, despite the emphatic victory in the presidential election, is either not being allowed to function or is functioning without a though-out plan in mind. The latter is the reason that his critics will offer, who believe — as they did during the election campaigning — that Trump flings grand but unworkable ideas. But the first is a real possibility. Trump has been facing deliberate hurdles from not just within his party and the Opposition, but also from beyond the political spectrum.
Few US Presidents in recent memory had to go through the challenges of the kind that Trump has had to endure. Coincidentally, nearly every major one of these has to do with his stated position to the electorate. For instance, he had talked tough on illegal immigration and on the dangers the US faced from immigration from nations that were hotbeds of terror. When his administration brought in an order to ban travel to the US, of citizens from a list of such countries, the courts blocked the move. A second example relates to US-Russia ties. Trump had made it clear during the presidential fight that he would work to improve relations with Russia and that he shared a rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Soon after he began to announce his team after being elected President, Trump was assaulted with allegations that some of his choices had inappropriate links with the Russians. His National Security Advisor Michael T Flynn was forced to quit and demands for probe into further ‘questionable’ ties still resonate. One sincerely hopes that President Trump is allowed to function.