The pending reopening of the government after an historic shutdown may not be the win President Donald Trump thinks it is, as it poses a new headache for the Republican Party, reports CNN.
"It's the Trump ship that never sails," writes Stephen Collinson. "The president was back at it on Monday, promising an imminent solution to America’s growing health care crisis — on which he has repeatedly failed to deliver in the past."
Speaking about healthcare subsidies, the main issue that kept the government shut on the Democrats' side, Trump said Monday, "I tell you, we’re going to be working on that very hard over the next short period of time, where the people get the money."
"We’re talking about trillions and trillions of dollars, where the people get the money,” Trump added.
He said this, CNN notes, "without giving details about a vague idea to send cash to affected policyholders to replace subsidies while bypassing insurance firms."
Trump's words, Collinson writes, is a "typical example of the waffle" he conjures "to escape a jam in a photo-op."
But Collinson is not so sure Trump can escape this one.
"Trump and Republicans once again own the issue of health care, with millions of citizens — not just those on ACA plans — afflicted by rising premiums and high deductibles against the backdrop of a wider cost-of-living crisis," he writes.
Just as in Trump's first term, he once again "lacks a comprehensive, detailed" healthcare plan, a "fogginess," Collinson describes, as nothing new, but one that presents the Republican Party with a big problem.
"If the GOP cannot fix the immediate issue of the subsidies — and convince voters they have a serious solution to this and other affordability questions — their 2026 midterm election hopes could take a dive," he writes.
The fight over healthcare is "tearing at Republican Party unity," Collinson says, pointing to the estrangement of former Trump loyalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Senate Republican leader John Thune's agreement to hold a vote in December on extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies as part of the deal with moderate Democrats to reopen the government.
Democrats, Collinson argues, have gained more from the shutdown battle, in their "highlighting of the ACA issue and attacks on Republicans for failing to fix health care."
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who helped broker the shutdown deal, joining seven others in the Democratic caucus to back it, agrees.
“Finally, because of the shutdown fight, we’ve had a number of Republicans who have figured out that this is an issue for them. So, now we’ll see. We’ll see if they are really going to work with us to make sure that Americans can afford their health insurance.”