ANALYSIS: After defeat, 3 paths ahead for President Trump
It’s a new world for President Trump.
— -- It’s a new world for President Trump.
Friday’s health care failure was a lesson in the difficulty of governing for the political rookie president. The dealmaker was unable to dictate an outcome, after an embarrassing episode that showed the president is neither loved nor feared inside his own party.
What is next for the president? There are three possible routes for Trump and his White House, but they all mean building coalitions in order to get partners to move forward on the big-ticket agenda Trump has promised.
Go it alone
Trump could try to work around -- and despite -- Congress to a greater extent. That would mean that he focus on executive orders and keep pushing with the hope that Congress would be persuaded by any successes to start working with him. He could continue those White House visits to woo and cajole.
For now, the president seems more inclined to tangle with new political enemies than to avoid them. Over the weekend, he attacked the House Freedom Caucus for dealing a huge blow to his health care legislation with a tweet: “Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!”
He may have wanted to try to blame Democrats Friday but came around to who actually took health care down by Sunday.
Any tensions with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., could also push Trump to work solo. While the White House maintains that the Trump-Ryan partnership is more solid than ever, whispers are growing of suspicions between this particular odd couple.
Go right
As the health care debate intensified, Trump entertained the Freedom Caucus, bringing members to the White House over and over again. It didn’t work but what became obvious is that a few dozen hardline conservative House members effectively control the agenda, by denying leadership a governing majority.
On ABC News’ “This Week” Sunday, the caucus’ leader, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he’s prepared to have “a lot of flexibility” in tackling tax reform. He also noted that the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party are going to have to come together if they want to get anything done.
"It's all hands on deck with regards to Obamacare, tax reform, the border wall," Meadows said.
Break the mold
The president could make his own way forward by scrambling traditional political coalitions. He could seek out moderates and cross party lines, or work with more precision on individual issues where majorities exist but in unusual ways.
It’s a strategy that seems impossible during these gridlocked times, and Trump’s words and actions to date have left him with few Democrats as willing partners. Still, issues like infrastructure, trade and even parts of health care offer opportunities.
It would be a Trumpian path, something he may be uniquely positioned to pursue. But that did not seem likely Friday when he attacked Democrats for sinking the health care bill, a disingenuous charge, given how it was crafted to get around Democratic opposition, not entice cooperation.
But the Trump administration is starting to signal a willingness to work with Democrats. “It's time for the party to start governing,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said this weekend.
"I think it's time for our folks to come together, and I also think it's time to potentially get a few moderate Democrats on board as well,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”
All three are possible paths forward for Trump but it’s unclear which one he might choose. He’s not someone who’s easy to predict, which is unlikely to change just because of a single defeat, no matter how stunning.