Trump calls for bipartisan unity on health care — after calling Schumer ‘head clown’

Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer

President-elect Donald Trump continued his Twitter assault on Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who are trying to block Republicans and the incoming administration from repealing the Affordable Care Act.

“The Democrats, lead [sic] by head clown Chuck Schumer, know how bad ObamaCare is and what a mess they are in,” Trump wrote Thursday on Twitter. “Instead of working to fix it, they do the typical political thing and BLAME. The fact is ObamaCare was a lie from the beginning.”

The president-elect added: “It is time for Republicans & Democrats to get together and come up with a healthcare plan that really works – much less expensive & FAR BETTER!”

Trump’s call for bipartisan agreement on the issue comes a day after battle lines between both parties were drawn on Capitol Hill.

At a pair of strategy sessions with GOP leaders Wednesday, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said that the first priority of the Trump administration would be to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature health care law.

“Obamacare has failed,” Pence said after a meeting with House Republicans. “Now is the time to keep our promises. Step one will be to repeal Obamacare.”

Related: Bernie Sanders displays giant Trump tweet on Senate floor

Pence said Trump will sign executive orders to begin the process of repealing Obamacare on his first day in office Jan. 20.

Obama was also on Capitol Hill Wednesday, meeting with Democrats to discuss how to block GOP efforts. As he was leaving, the president was asked by reporters what his message was.

“Look out for the American people,” Obama said.

Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi speak following a meeting with Obama on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi speak following a meeting with Obama on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

After the meeting, Schumer said that Democrats “have a great deal of optimism” that parts of the Affordable Care Act will, in fact, stay, and that Republicans “don’t quite know what to do” with their newfound power.

“They’re like the dog that caught the bus,” Schumer said. “They can repeal, but they have nothing to put in its place.”

Schumer then unveiled a tagline that uses Trump’s campaign slogan to attack the GOP plan.

“The Republican plan to cut health care wouldn’t make America great again,” Schumer said. “It would make America sick again and lead to chaos.”

The New York senator also addressed Trump’s “clown” dig, saying Republicans “should stop clowning around” with health care.