Trump targets individual Freedom Caucus members in Obamacare tweetstorm
President Donald Trump finished his Thursday how he started it — calling out some House Republicans on Twitter.
After threatening backlash for members of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus in the morning, he prodded specific members of the group to get behind his agenda more than eight hours later. The caucus helped to defeat the GOP Obamacare replacement bill last week.
On Thursday evening, Trump tagged Republican congressmen Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Raul Labrador of Idaho, contending that if they would "get on board we would have both great health care, massive tax cuts and reform."
Meadows is the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, but it wasn't immediately clear why Trump also singled out Jordan and Labrador.
In his earlier tweet, Trump threatened to "fight" GOP representatives who did not get behind his agenda, as well as Democrats, during midterm congressional elections next year.
Trump's broadsides come at a fragile time for Republicans, who failed to follow through on a key campaign promise last week despite holding both chambers of Congress and the White House. House GOP leaders failed to gather support from Freedom Caucus members, as well as some key moderate Republicans.
They now face a possible challenge in trying to unify behind a tax reform plan, their next legislative priority, and another possible attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Asked about Trump's earlier tweet Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he understood Trump's "frustration" with the Freedom Caucus but said he is encouraging House Republicans to try to come to an agreement on health care.
"I understand the president's frustration. I share frustration. ... We're close," Ryan told reporters at a news conference. "What I am encouraging our members to do is keep talking with each other until we can get consensus to pass this bill. But it's very understandable that the president is frustrated, that we haven't gotten to where we need to go."
In the days since the health-care bill's defeat, Trump signaled that he wanted to work with Democrats and holdout members of his party on new legislation that could pass Congress. It is unclear so far if Trump's threats will make Freedom Caucus members more or less likely to fall in line with party leaders.
Trump faces a historically low approval rating for this point in his presidency , and some Democrats see an opportunity to gain congressional seats in 2018 amid backlash to the president.
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