Trump ignites another round of GOP infighting
WASHINGTON — Republican strife turned into open warfare Thursday as President Donald Trump tore into members of the House Freedom Caucus, while conservatives pledged to stand their ground.
“The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning. “We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!”
It was Trump’s most direct threat to date to the conservative coalition that stymied his health care bill last week with the help of moderate Republicans who were also opposed. Trump went on to name names later in the day, singling out Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) — the chair of the Freedom Caucus — along with Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Raul Labrador of Ida-
ho, and tweeting that if they “would get on board we would have both great healthcare and massive tax cuts & reform.”
He also tweeted at the Freedom Caucus earlier this week, accusing it and its supporters of helping Democrats protect the Affordable Care Act and Planned Parenthood.
Conservatives who support the Freedom Caucus responded to Trump’s proclamation Thursday with a mixture of disappointment, dismissal — and defiance.
“There is a better way to negotiate a positive outcome than for the president to use the approach of lumping the Freedom Caucus in with Democrats, setting them up as the enemy of the people,” said JoAnn Fleming, the Texas-based executive director of Grassroots America, who has deep
contacts throughout the Texas grass-roots conservative movement.
“It’s deeply disappointing and disturbing,” she added.
Leaders of several other conservative groups who support the Freedom Caucus downplayed Trump’s remarks while reiterating that they stand by those who helped defeat last week’s health care bill before it even got to a vote, on the grounds that it didn’t go far enough in repealing Obamacare.
“Trump knows, when your approval rating is 35% and 30% of those are conservatives, they’re your friends, and they’re the ones who are supporting the Freedom Caucus and will continue to support the Freedom Caucus,” said David McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth, a conservative group that opposed the last health care plan, which was shepherded by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
McIntosh, whose group was among those
criticized by Trump this week, said he’d read the president’s tweet as a message to return to negotiations on the health care bill, but he added of the Freedom Caucus, “We’ve helped them get elected; we’ll help them get re-elected. Especially in a primary.”
Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners, two conservative groups backed by the deep-pocketed Koch brothers, last week promised to spend millions aiding lawmakers who opposed the health care bill on the table. Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, reiterated their support for those lawmakers in an interview Thursday.
“We remain committed to working with the president and the leadership and the Republican Congress to move forward in a principled way,” Phillips said. “At the same time we’re absolutely going to keep our commitments to have the backs of those who do the right things,
like insisting on full repeal of Obamacare.”
Following Trump’s tweet, several Republican members of Congress also served up pointed pushback, with Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky mocking, “It’s a swamp not a hot tub. We both came here to drain it. #SwampCare polls 17 percent. Sad!”
Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan was more biting: “It didn’t take long for the swamp to drain @realDonaldTrump. No shame, Mr. President. Almost everyone succumbs to the D.C. establishment.”
And Labrador, of Idaho, admonished: “Freedom Caucus stood with u when others ran. Remember who your real friends are. We’re trying to help u succeed.”
Meadows, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, generally kept a low profile Thursday, but he told the Washington Examiner’s editorial board that Trump is “not being well-served” by some of his advisers.