Ryan sought to weaken Trump, and he did.

[Maru Kitteh]

I believe this bill may have been pushed by Ryan, not because he expected it to become law, but because he knew it would weaken Trump. Hear me out.

I absolutely think Ryan expected that he would be able to get it out of the House, and that it would go on to die a messy death in the Senate. He did himself some some serious damage with this miscalculation by having it die on his own doorstep - BUT - I also think Ryan always knew it would never make it to the Oval Office desk.

This bill was touted, not just by the media, but Trump's own people as a terrific test of his amazing awesome superhuman powers of "The Art of Making the Deal!"TM.

Trump, already weakening fast under the weight of the fallout from his poor impulse control, now looks like an amateur, a patsy, a dope and a complete fraud . . because of course, he is all of those things. But for Trump, the damage goes much deeper than this one bill. The carefully crafted mythology of his prowess as a singular force, a master of negotiation - is now in tatters on floor. He has been exposed as a man who really has no special skills applicable to the complicated demands of governance.

A weak Trump is beneficial to Ryan.

In the short term, Ryan got more fertilizer on himself than he intended, to be sure, but I think the long-term damage to Trump, his weakness now exposed, is far greater.

[Cary]

1. You give him a lot of credit

God only knows, but I don't see him as being shrewd about anything. I don't see him as being all that bright. He did do himself serious damage so I suppose that might support your theory and mine?

I do think the whole Trump debacle backfires on all of them. When you dance with the devil, you don't change the devil. The devil changes you.

[Maru Kitteh]

10. I think he's very calculating, and usually fairly successful at it. This didn't go like he planned

but he's out in front of the cameras right now, looking like the adult in the room.

Where's Donny, and what does he look like?

[MFM008]

2. BUT

he has also weakened himself in the process.

[Idoru]

3. And they are going to do everything they can to put the blame on HIM

Nice theory but it doesn't make sense. This was everything Ryan dreamed of. And if it fails, Trump and Bannon will stab him in the back for it. Trump certainly isn't going to take the blame.

[Maru Kitteh]

4. Yes, as I said, he miscalculated. He thought he could get it out of the House.

That part backfired all over him.

But he knew that bill was a shit sandwich.

[mercuryblues]

5. No one

forced this vote on trump. During the campaign how many times did trump promise to repeal on DAY ONE.

[Maru Kitteh]

7. Yup. DAY ONE! His hatred for Obama is legend. What better way

to grind his shoe into the President's legacy than by extinguishing his signature accomplishment in Trump's first 100 days?

It was the WH who had their hair on fire to jam this through.

[haele]

6. Hmm, Ryan thinking he's playing a long game to sit in the big Oval Office chair eventually?

He's the type to think contrived fictional drama is a good representative of the way the real world works.
Someone's got to reduce his Netflix viewing; he's been watching too much "House of Cards"...


Haele

[Maru Kitteh]

8. Other possibilities; an atttempt at self preservation or even revenge against Bannon

Bannon has had the long knives out for Ryan for a some time. I'm sure Ryan would like to weaken Bannon, and weakening the WH would help with that.

[malaise]

9. Yep

He'll probably pull it after the ongoing meeting