Trump has no big plans to sell his health care bill this week
He is taking a different approach than Obama
WashingtonCNN
—
President Donald Trump has no plans to play a larger role in selling the Republican health care bill this week, an administration official told CNN Monday.
Though he often touts himself as the ultimate salesman with a knack for closing deals, he has remained tight-lipped and out of the spotlight, letting others make the last-minute push for health care reform for him.
There are no plans for Trump to travel the country to pitch the bill, the official said.
The President also has not visited Capitol Hill in hopes of cajoling dubious Republican senators who are wary to support the bill, like Vice President Mike Pence has. Instead, he’s worked the phones, calling Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Dean Heller of Nevada before he headed to the G20 Summit in Germany.
He has also tweeted his encouragement.
“For years, even as a “civilian,” I listened as Republicans pushed the Repeal and Replace of ObamaCare. Now they finally have their chance!” Trump tweeted Sunday.
Marc Short, Trump’s legislative affairs director, said Monday that “the President has remained very active in this debate, you will see him continue to remain so.”
But Short admitted during the off-camera briefing with reporters that “it’s a fair point” to make that Democrats were more organized messengers for their health care bill than Republicans have been.
“There’s more we could do to educate the public,” he said.
By and large, Trump has steered clear of the tactics his predecessor used to garner support for his health care bill.
President Barack Obama was known for shedding his jacket and rolling up his sleeves as he pitched health care reform town halls. He held campaign-style rallies outside of shopping centers in Minneapolis and lead thousands in chants of “Yes, we can.”
Obama even canceled a trip overseas just days before he was scheduled to depart because the House was expected to vote on health care in the coming days, and Democratic leaders were scrambling for votes.
With Trump not using presidential power to sell this bill – especially with large scale events in key states – the plan has little chance of rising from the depths of its low approval ratings. The Senate bill has just a 17% approval rating, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
“I think it comes down to the fact that he doesn’t really care that much about health care,” one Republican aide said of Trump. “He just wants it done so he can fulfill that promise.”
“This will be great if we get it done and if we don’t get it done it’s going to be something that we’re not going to like and that’s OK and I can understand that,” Trump recently told the senators gathered at the White House.
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President-elect Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From developing real estate and producing and starring in TV shows, he became a celebrity long before winning the White House.
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Trump at age 4. He was born in 1946 to Fred and Mary Trump in New York City. His father was a real estate developer.
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Trump, left, in a family photo. He was the second-youngest of five children.
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Trump, center, stands at attention during his senior year at the New York Military Academy in 1964.
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Trump, center, wears a baseball uniform at the New York Military Academy in 1964. After he graduated from the boarding school, he went to college. He started at Fordham University before transferring and later graduating from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania's business school.
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Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating college in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City.
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Trump attends an event to mark the start of construction of the New York Convention Center in 1979.
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Trump wears a hard hat at the Trump Tower construction site in New York in 1980.
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Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977 to 1990, when they divorced. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
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The Trump family, circa 1986.
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Trump uses his personal helicopter to get around New York in 1987.
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Trump stands in the atrium of the Trump Tower.
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Trump attends the opening of his new Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1989.
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Trump signs his second book, "Trump: Surviving at the Top," in 1990. Trump has published at least 16 other books, including "The Art of the Deal" and "The America We Deserve."
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Trump and singer Michael Jackson pose for a photo before traveling to visit Ryan White, a young child with AIDS, in 1990.
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Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999 and had one daughter together, Tiffany.
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Trump putts a golf ball in his New York office in 1998.
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An advertisement for the television show "The Apprentice" hangs at Trump Tower in 2004. The show launched in January of that year. In January 2008, the show returned as "Celebrity Apprentice."
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A 12-inch talking Trump doll is on display at a toy store in New York in September 2004.
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Trump attends a news conference in 2005 that announced the establishment of Trump University. From 2005 until it closed in 2010, Trump University had about 10,000 people sign up for a program that promised success in real estate. Three separate lawsuits -- two class-action suits filed in California and one filed by New York's attorney general -- argued that the program was mired in fraud and deception. Trump's camp rejected the suits' claims as "baseless." And Trump has charged that the New York case against him is politically motivated.
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Trump attends the U.S. Open tennis tournament with his third wife, Melania Knauss-Trump, and their son, Barron, in 2006. Trump and Knauss married in 2005.
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Trump wrestles with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania in 2007. Trump has close ties with the WWE and its CEO, Vince McMahon.
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For "The Apprentice," Trump was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2007.
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Trump appears on the set of "The Celebrity Apprentice" with two of his children -- Donald Jr. and Ivanka -- in 2009.
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Trump poses with Miss Universe contestants in 2011. Trump had been executive producer of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants since 1996.
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In 2012, Trump announces his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
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Trump speaks in Sarasota, Florida, after accepting the Statesman of the Year Award at the Sarasota GOP dinner in August 2012. It was shortly before the Republican National Convention in nearby Tampa.
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Trump appears on stage with singer Nick Jonas and television personality Giuliana Rancic during the 2013 Miss USA pageant.
Trump -- flanked by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, left, and Ted Cruz -- speaks during a CNN debate in Miami on March 10. Trump dominated the GOP primaries and emerged as the presumptive nominee in May.
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The Trump family poses for a photo in New York in April.
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Trump speaks during a campaign event in Evansville, Indiana, on April 28. After Trump won the Indiana primary, his last two competitors dropped out of the GOP race.
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Trump delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention in July, accepting the party's nomination for President. "I have had a truly great life in business," he said. "But now, my sole and exclusive mission is to go to work for our country -- to go to work for you. It's time to deliver a victory for the American people."
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Trump faces Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the first presidential debate, which took place in Hempstead, New York, in September.
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Trump apologizes in a video, posted to his Twitter account in October, for vulgar and sexually aggressive remarks he made a decade ago regarding women. "I said it, I was wrong and I apologize," Trump said, referring to lewd comments he made during a previously unaired taping of "Access Hollywood." Multiple Republican leaders rescinded their endorsements of Trump after the footage was released.
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Trump walks on stage with his family after he was declared the election winner on November 9. "Ours was not a campaign, but rather, an incredible and great movement," he told his supporters in New York.
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Trump is joined by his family as he is sworn in as President on January 20.
But it could be Trump’s absence is the best move for those who hope for the legislation’s passage.
The GOP aide told CNN that most senators would prefer for Trump to stay out of the health care negotiations.
“President Trump tends to complicate matters,” the aide said. “Honestly, I think they are happy he isn’t publicly pushing for it.”
Pence hitting the road
Pence, a former congressman, has been much more involved.
He shuttles back and forth to Capitol Hill for a luncheon with Senate Republicans almost every week, and in late June, he invited several of them who were undecided over to his private residence for dinner.
The vice president is scheduled to travel to Kentucky for a listening session with those who have been negatively impacted by the Affordable Care Act this Wednesday before heading to Providence, Rhode Island, Friday to deliver a speech his aides say will focus on health care at the National Governors Association summer meeting.
