The gambit was straight out of a corporate deal-maker’s playbook: President Donald Trump told House Republicans that it was now or never to repeal and replace Obamacare and demanded a vote by Friday. No more negotiations.
It was a bluff, and a stubborn band of Republican lawmakers called him on it. Now Trump’s been struck with a humiliating defeat on his first major legislative test, and it’s a body blow that calls into question whether he can move his agenda through Congress, including proposals on tax reform and infrastructure spending that helped propel a stock market rally since his election.
