Former President Bush communications director Nicolle Wallace excoriated Donald Trump for having an incompetent White House who bungled the healthcare bill. Former Fox News host and new MSNBC host Greta Van Susteren showed her true colors, a Trump apologist, as she launched an incoherent defense of our undemocratically illegitimate president.
Greta Van Susteren, MSNBC’s Trump Apologist
Rachel Maddow asked her audience to give Fox News Greta Van Susteren a chance at MSNBC just before Greta’s first show. After watching her for a few weeks, it is evident Greta failed.
Nicolle Wallace made a fact-based statement that most objective observers of the Trump/Ryan healthcare debacle concluded.
“I think we put the wrong frame around the failure if we sort of posit that it blew up because he spent too much time trying to please conservatives,” Wallace said. “It blew up because of the staggering incompetence of the White House policy operation. The president didn’t know what was in the bill. So he couldn’t sell it because he didn’t know which pieces would please which wings of frankly either party. I personally don’t think he knew where his own coalition of voters would be most upset. I’d been out talking to Trump voters since before inauguration. I’ve interviewed three, four dozen of them. I have not heard a single complaint about Obamacare. It’s got a bad brand. But not a single one of them who were on Obamacare was unhappy with it. So I think that it blew up not because of ideological politics, but because of just staggering gross incompetence of the process with which the White House went about trying to, you know we call it sausage making. But you know, this was the ugliest legislative process I have ever seen.”
“So much about the genius of Paul Ryan,” said panelist Tina Brown.
“I think Paul Ryan got swept in a messy process,” Wallace replied.
Greta Van Susteren then went into her Trump apologist mode.
“Nicolle, I actually put the blame on the House,” Van Susteren said. “And I very much love Speaker Ryan.”
Nicolle Wallace snapped back.
“You can, I won’t,” Wallace replied assertively. “Greta you can blame them, but I worked in the White House and in my life I have never seen something so half-baked. There was no support for any piece of it. And people can blame Paul Ryan. That’s fine.”
Trump apologist Van Susteren interrupted Wallace.
“Let me finish,” Van Susteren shouted. “Let me finish, please. The way that I saw this unfold was this. The president was reasonably disengaged from this although he did say during the campaign he had a plan. I never saw that plan. But then it became outsourced to the Speaker of the House and the Republican. The Speaker of the House said he had the votes. President Trump went in, to sort of be the closer, was unsuccessful at being the closer, but that the primary generating force on this was in the House. And they didn’t have the vote. And the president couldn’t close the deal. But I saw this bill as more originating out of the House, not coming from the president, although he did promise a bill. But I think that’s where it fell apart, in the House.”
What is so astounding as Greta Van Susteren defended Trump is how in her defense of Trump, she was forced to say he failed. He said he had a bill. She acknowledges the Donald had none. Trump said he is the deal maker. Greta said Trump could not close the transaction. Trump said he would fix the healthcare system. But she admits he outsourced it to Ryan. So whose fault is it? Whose incompetence is it? It turns out Greta confirmed what Nicolle Wallace articulated precisely.
