Scarborough: ‘The president didn’t really try to sell healthcare’

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough ripped President Trump’s work on the GOP’s struggling ObamaCare repeal-and-replace effort on Wednesday, saying the “distracted” president did not do enough to convince lawmakers to back the legislation.

“The fact is Donald Trump did a terrible job selling healthcare because he didn’t really try to sell healthcare,” Scarborough said on “Morning Joe.”

Scarborough’s comments come as the White House deals with fallout from Senate Republicans’ failure to pass the legislation, which had been a key campaign promise of GOP candidates in 2016.

{mosads}“He abused House Republicans that went out on the line for him earlier in the year. And then went out and talked about how mean that plan was and didn’t give senate Republicans any reason to believe he wouldn’t throw them under the bus at the same time,” Scarborough continued.

“Constantly distracted, never really focused. A lot of them complained that he didn’t even understand what was inside the bill, so he really couldn’t rally the base to support it. And you know, he can talk about 48 and 4, but the fact is he is 0-1,” he said.

The senate Republican healthcare legislation collapsed after Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) announced they would not support the bill on Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Republicans would try to move forward with a plan to repeal ObamaCare next week. McConnell lacks the votes to pass a straight repeal of the law, according to statements from senators who say they’ll oppose it.

The president said Tuesday that, despite the bill’s failure, the amount of Republican support it received was “impressive.”

“The vote would have been pretty close to — if you look at it — 48-4. That’s a pretty impressive vote by any standard,” Trump said.

“And yet you have a vote of 48-4, or something like that, and you need more — that’s pretty tough, he continued.

Trump will host all 52 Republican senators for a lunch meeting at the White House on Wednesday to discuss their agenda following the bill’s collapse.