Trump faces off against Washington Republicans used to saying no.

President Trump (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)

WASHINGTON — President Trump, while trying to push a health care bill through Congress, is also trying to overcome a Republican political culture that for years has rewarded saying no to political leaders.

For most of the past decade, many Republicans in Congress who wanted to raise money or their profile have followed an easy playbook. They opposed then-President Barack Obama, resisted any attempts to work with him, and then campaigned for reelection based on the success of their efforts to obstruct him.

Outside groups such as Heritage Action, FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth — who are now opposing Trump’s health care replacement proposal, saying it does not go far enough — have followed this arc as well.

The health care fight, then, is about more than just one issue, said Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who still advises McConnell from the outside. It’s a crucial battle to determine whether Trump will be able to get anything substantive done during his presidency.

“If there is the incentive structure to register reservations publicly and not work productively, all it will do is repeat itself in perpetuity. That’s how the Hill works,” Holmes said.

In other words, Trump’s entire presidency may be at stake if the self-proclaimed master dealmaker cannot find a way to get his own party’s members in Congress to follow his lead now.

Jon Ward.

Full story at Yahoo News.