Senate Republicans fret over whether Trump will help them or hurt them

From his own blustering but ultra-generic statements, it has been apparent that Donald Trump has absolutely no idea what the Senate's version of a "healthcare" bill actually contains. Perhaps nobody bothered to tell him; perhaps they have tried to tell him repeatedly but he simply can't retain the information. Also, he is an mean-minded idiot.

So now Republicans are debating whether to ask Trump for his assistance in selling the bill to the public or if they would prefer he keep his pie-hole shut.

[S]ome lawmakers and congressional aides privately bemoan his thin grasp of the bill’s principles, and worry that his difficulty staying on message will do more harm than good.

“You know, he’s very personable and people like talking to him and he’s very embracing of that, so there will be certain people he’d like to talk to,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “But I’d let Mitch handle it,” he continued, referring to the lead role Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has played thus far.

Ah, whether to unleash the shouting liar or chain him up in the basement for a while: It is indeed a dilemma. That said, it's not clear that Senate Republicans have any say in whether Trump attempts to "help" them, and they certainly won't have any say whatsoever in how he does it. You'll recall Trump went from holding a celebration with House Republicans in the Rose Garden over the passage of their own healthcare bill, only to blast it as "mean" during the drafting of the Senate version; his habit of changing his opinion to whatever would best impress his audience from one moment to the next has made him an unreliable would-be ally.

And this, too, hasn't gone unnoticed.

One Republican congressional aide said that comment left some lawmakers worried that the president — who had no real ties to the GOP before running for the White House — could turn on them if a bill passes but the follow-up becomes politically damaging. The official insisted on anonymity in order to describe private discussions.

from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2u8vPLj