Trump denies that his posted tweet, directing his 27 million Twitter followers to watch Fox news’ ‘Judge Jeanine’ Show when she called for Ryan’s resignation, was not a form of criticism against House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Before the show aired, Trump posted a tweet “Watch @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews tonight at 9:00 P.M.” At first glance, the tweet appeared to be innocuous, even perhaps commercial.
But immediately, as the show aired and the content unfolded, Trump’s tweet fueled questions about the actual intent of the Trumps online nudge.
During the show’s “Justice With Judge Jeanine” segment, host Jeanine Pirro blamed Ryan, R-Wisconsin, for the failure of the health care reform bill. In her monologue, Pirro’s proclaims that “Paul Ryan needs to step down as speaker of the House,” Pirro declared. “He failed to deliver the votes on his health care bill. The one trumpeted to repeal and replace ObamaCare. The one that he had seven years to work on. The one he hid under lock and key in the basement of Congress. The one that had to be pulled to prevent the embarrassment of not having enough votes to pass..”
Even more interesting, Pirro dismissed any blame against the President, claiming that, “This is not on President Trump,” she said. “No one expected a businessman to completely understand the nuances, the complicated ins-and-outs of Washington and its legislative process.
How would he know which individuals upon whom he would be able to rely? Many of them, friends and establishment colleagues of Speaker Ryan,” Pirro goes on to add.
With Trump excused from blame, Pirro continued by making the case for Ryans resignation. While making ensuring her viewers understood her reasoning, Pirro explained her position by saying that, “You, on the other hand, Speaker Ryan, know very well who the 15 hard-liners, the 10 moderates, and all the other ones, insisting Ryan was very knowledgeable about what the bill was up against.
“YOU, of course, know their demands. And if you didn’t, why didn’t you? Some actually shut down the government over ObamaCare and you couldn’t figure out what you needed to do to get their support? You knew no Democrat was going to support it and that you would have to rely on the Republicans. How could you possibly misjudge this? And where was your whip [Louisiana Rep.] Steve Scalise in all of this? How tough a lift was this? And why start with this if you are not sure you’ve got the votes?
While addressing Ryan in what seemed like a personal, direct attack, Pirro asserted that “The American people won’t forget this and neither should the president. “
When asked about the President’s intents, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the president’s post on Twitter was not an attempt to undermine the House Speaker. “He wanted to show support for her show. That’s it,” commented Spicer, adding that Trump “likes the show.”
Aides that work with Ryan said that the tweet was, “a fluke, not a conspiracy.”
“The president was clear his tweet had nothing to do with the speaker,” said the aides, further claiming that “They are both eager to get back to work on the agenda.” Trump gave praise to Ryan, stating “I think Paul really worked hard” to get the bill passed.
Earlier that day, Trump blamed conservatives for the bill’s failure, posting a tweet that reads that “Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!”
Then, President Trump switched his narrative slightly, acknowledging the role that Democrats played in the failure as well. . “With no Democrat support, we couldn’t quite get there. We were just a very small number of votes short in terms of getting our bill passed.”
Pirro denied, while still on the air, that she and the President had coordinated her comments with his tweets, further insisting that she did not have any previous contact with Trump regarding her show. Pirro proclaimed that “ I certainly haven’t spoken with the president about any of this.”
White house aides provide credence to Trump’s remarks claiming that “Speaker Ryan and the president are in a great place.”