Trumpcare (non)vote was great TV
The political ramifications of the failure of the Republican Party to get a vote on Trumpcare in the House of Representatives on Friday are best left to experts.
But as TV goes, if you dropped in and out of coverage it played out like terrific drama – or, more often, dark, dark comedy. It even happened in acts, if you will, with everything building to a climax – a climax that never actually took place, but that left us with the star of the show at the finale, issuing dire warnings and casting blame before moving on.
Of course, most of the machinations were held behind closed doors, which meant spending Friday morning watching talking heads and experts speculating on just what House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump might be talking about when Ryan visited the White House. This was interesting for a while, as far as it went, because whether in traditional media, on social media or on talk radio, the fate of the nation hung in the balance.
Actually, with the exception of talk radio, it was a little more reserved than that. But the combination of Trump’s boasting that he would get rid of Obamacare (on day one of his administration, but who’s counting?) and the Republicans’ insistence that the country is drowning in a health-care disaster certainly raised the stakes.
As did Trump’s 11th hour insistence that Ryan put the bill up for a vote. The question reporters asked most of the people wrangling the bill into shape in the last 24 hours: What’s the big hurry?
Important as this was, it began to wear a little thin on the developing front. The 24-hour news cycle is a demanding mistress.
And then came Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, for his daily briefing. If the administration is “Seinfeld,” Spicer is George Costanza, the sad man we love to watch squirm. In retrospect, while he admonished the media not to be so pessimistic about the bill’s chances, the fact that he often referred to it in the past tense might have meant something.
While Spicer spoke, CNN put up a small window that showed House members debating the bill. Of course, we couldn’t hear them, which kind of defeated the purpose, but they were there, and it was kind of comforting just to see it, to know it was happening. As a visual cue, it added to the sense of excitement and urgency. Then we’d occasionally see footage of Ryan walking into the White House, or walking out. What’s going on in there, commentators wondered? Surely Ryan is telling the president he doesn’t have the votes to pass the bill? But Trump insisted that the House vote. Ah, intrigue. My vote for dumbest question: One reporter asked Spicer if he was still calling Trump “the closer.” For reasons known only to himself, Spicer attempted to come up with a real answer.
When Spicer was done CNN chased down every House member it could stick a microphone in front of. Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks, hustling down a sidewalk, said a meeting to discuss the bill was the most inspiring one he’d been to, because he was in the midst of great statesmen.
Then came the big news: Ryan was pulling the bill. There would be no vote. This was Christmas Day for cable TV.
Ryan held a news conference, in which he said straight up it was a disappointment, all while reminding everyone what a disaster Obamacare was (no reporter challenged this). He seemed sad, defeated and, come to think of it, he probably was. Asked what members were supposed to tell their constituents when they went home for the weekend, constituents whom they had promised would soon be rid of Obamacare, Ryan said it was a good question.
Then the big gun: Trump himself, from the Oval Office. Usually live Trump is the best Trump, but Friday he was subdued, not exactly resigned to defeat – he blamed Democrats for not working with the Republicans – but not the boastful closer Spicer referenced the day before.
He repeated several times that Obamacare will implode and then explode, that Democrats now owned it (didn’t they always?) and that politically it’s probably best for Republicans that Democrats now face all the blame. He covered blame and politics but was a little short on, you know, the good of the American people.
But he, like Ryan, made it clear that, at least for now, it’s on to other things.
Next episode: tax reform. It’s can’tmiss TV. bill.goody