President Trump on Friday afternoon pivoted to blaming the Democrats for the implosion of the American Health Care Act, the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. “We had no Democrat support; we had no votes from the Democrats,” he said during a press availability following the decision to pull the effort. “They weren’t going to give us a single vote so it’s a very difficult thing to do.” The president also downplayed suggestions that his first major legislative effort ended in failure, telling reporters that he never once claimed during the campaign that he would repeal and replace Obamacare during his first 100 days. He continued: “And, again, I think what will happen is Obamacare, unfortunately, will explode. It’s going to have a bad year.” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman wrote on Twitter, before the presser, that “Trump tells me in interview this is now the Democrats’ fault, and that he anticipates that when Obama[care] ‘explodes’ they will be ready to deal.” She added: “Trump told me he is happy having this in the rearview mirror. ‘It’s enough already,’ he said of the negotiations.”
