Former GOP congressman and Donald Trump supporter Joe Walsh on Thursday tore into his party’s plan to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, insisting the bill is “a bad deal for Republicans” that will “bite [them] on the butt in 2018.”
Speaking with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle hours before an expected House vote on the American Health Care Act, Walsh admitted the Trumpcare bill “will not repeal Obamacare,” noting while he thinks it “will probably pass … it’s a bad deal for Republicans.”
“They are going to try and tell us it’s repealing Obamacare, but it’s not,” Walsh said. “The truth here is, the Republican party really does not want to repeal Obamacare, that’s why we’ve got this mess of a bill.”
Walsh said the Trumpcare replacement plan is “something that will make things worse, and the difference is Trump and the Republicans will own it.”
“This is the stupid game that D.C. plays,” Walsh added, arguing Trump just wants to pass something—and doesn’t really care about the specifics. “It’s got nothing to do with the policy,” Walsh pointed out.
"I don’t think Donald Trump really knows what’s in this bill, he just wants a victory,” Walsh admitted, later insisting “this victory … is going to bite Republicans in the butt in 2018.”
Walsh said it’s clear that Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan are “so desperate” for a victory that “it doesn’t matter what’s in the bill.”
“This is a huge mistake that the Republicans are going to regret,” Walsh cautioned.
Asked by Ruhle to comment on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) decision to go directly to the White House on Wednesday with information regarding the ‘incidental’ surveillance of Trump during the transition, the former Illinois representative also slammed his former colleague.
What Congressman Nunes did yesterday was beyond the pale,” Walsh said. “He oughta step down as the head of the intel committee.”
"Walsh argued while Trump will never apologize for his claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election, the president “was wrong to make that tweet.”
“We need a special independent commission to look into all of this,” Walsh said.
Watch the video below, via MSNBC:
