By Logan Pillard
After House Speaker Paul Ryan ran to the White House with his tail between his legs on the afternoon of March 24 to inform the president he did not, as previously promised, have the votes to pass Trumpcare, Negotiator-in-Chief Donald Trump did what any savvy business man would do: He quit. When addressing the public, he announced he would let Obamacare explode and blamed Democrats for the bill’s failure.While Republicans do what they do best and point fingers, they only have to look in the Oval Office for their culprit. After only two months in office, Trump has taken L after L, which equates to virtually nothing being accomplished in the Executive Branch. So now health care is finally off the table and Trump can move forward to slashing taxes for the wealthy and “fixing our broken tax system,” will he finally get that famous W that has eluded him these past couple months? Probably not.
Though Republicans would normally squeal gleefully over new tax cuts, rifts throughout the GOP, made apparent by their recent health-care embarrassment, could prove to be difficult in bringing a party together to secure a majority vote to reform a tax system that hasn’t been touched in more than 30 years. This is even more true when we consider the proposed reform potentially harms representatives’ constituents and their chances of securing their seats in the midterm elections.
Trump, however, doesn’t seem to care about the voters who cheered him on throughout his campaign, let alone the well-being of the lower 98 percent of Americans. Whether it be a budget that cripples social programs for the poor and elderly or a health-care plan that would see the repeal of nearly 24 million American’s health care, Trump seems to only care about his own inflated sense of ego and the need for validation that can only come from constant winning and the adoration of supporters. Perhaps this is why Trump finds the need to waste taxpayer money with weekend trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where “elite” members of society feed money into his pocket through costly memberships and where he spends his days playing rounds of golf, blissfully ignoring all presidential responsibilities.
The problems arise for Trump when his voters finally catch on. Throughout his presidential campaign, he promised the “forgotten men and women of this country” he’d fight for them. He promised affordable health care for all and tax reforms that would fix a broken system, and he swore to destroy the legacy of former President Barack Obama all while decreasing the national deficit. It was these forgotten men and women who flocked to congressional-representative town halls to voice their opposition to the cuts to Medicaid and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act that Republicans pushed. The American people spoke, and they believe access to affordable health care should be the right of all Americans, not just the wealthy. It is these same people who will voice their outcry when taxes for the middle class will rise while the wealthy just get wealthier.
Make no mistake, Trump is a coward. Fueled by his own narcissistic ego, he will do anything to win, regardless of what it does to the American public. His acts over the last two months are evidence enough that he is not a president for the people but a president for himself.