Trump Ignites Republican Civil War

by Alice Salles

President Donald Trump continues to use Twitter to vent his frustrations, and on Thursday, he used the social media platform to attack members of his own party.

Urging Republicans to fight members of the House Freedom Caucus, a congressional group consisting of members who lean more conservative than their peers, the president added that these lawmakers “will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, and fast.”

The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

Immediately after the president issued the threat, Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash, a Republican representative from Michigan, hit back, attacking Trump for failing to keep his promise to “drain the swamp.”

It didn’t take long for the swamp to drain @realDonaldTrump. No shame, Mr. President. Almost everyone succumbs to the D.C. Establishment. https://t.co/9bDo8yzH7I

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) March 30, 2017

Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) also responded to the president, saying it was “unfortunate” he had used the widely popular online platform to claim the most conservative Republicans in Washington were actually hurting the Republican agenda.

“We’re not fighting the president, we’re trying to honor what we ran on,” Yoho told MSNBC.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who is not a member of the House Freedom Caucus, also took to Twitter to defy the commander-in-chief, saying Trump’s decision to go after Republicans proved he had become quite comfortable in Washington, D.C.’s “swamp.”

“It’s a swamp, not a hot tub,” he told the president.

@realDonaldTrump it’s a swamp not a hot tub. We both came here to drain it. SwampCare polls 17%. sad https://t.co/4kjygV2tdS

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 30, 2017

Adding that the health care plan Trump supported polled poorly, Massie demonstrated why many conservatives refused to support the bill, which was introduced (http://paulryan.house.gov/healthcare) by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

After the very public back and forth, Ryan tried to intervene on the side of the president, saying he’s just “frustrated.”

Trump has enough reasons to be angry at conservatives who lean towards a more traditional approach to public policy. After all, the more “conservative” in this sense, the less interventionist the lawmaker tends to be. As a result, these lawmakers tend to reject policies that align with big spending, military-loving establishment Republicans — and that just won’t fly in Trump’s vision for America.

If members of the House Freedom Caucus (and non-members, in Massie’s case) remain as brave as they have appeared in the short period Trump has occupied the White House, this won’t be the last time we’ll be hearing from these freedom-lovers. They might even block some very, very bad policies and help keep Trump busy throwing shade on Twitter.

If @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador would get on board we would have both great healthcare and massive tax cuts & reform.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

Where are @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador?#RepealANDReplace #Obamacare

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

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