Leigh Ann Caldwell

But I came to realize toward the end that Republicans couldn't do anything without Trump.

And so they put all of their focus on, well, what, you know, what is Trump going to do?

you know, didn't come out in support of, you know, the bipartisan efforts, then they knew it was just, it was just, it was just done.

But, you know, I think that this also gets into, which I wrote about for Sunday, is how little Trump

thinks about Congress in the sense of he doesn't think any more legislation needs to come through the Hill.

He said in October that he's done with legislating.

He said it again in December.

He's done.

They don't need another bill.

And Trump just thinks that he can do everything that matters through executive order.

And the reality is that Republicans cannot get anything through Congress without Trump.

And so they're in this position

where they need the president but the president is done with them he got his tax extenders he got his money for for immigration enforcement and he was able to reverse like all the clean clean energy stuff through the one big beautiful bill and so there's nothing else that he cares about on the hill so there's not going to be another reconciliation huh i mean

Members of Congress, like Speaker Johnson, says that he's going to try.

He wants one.

Other members of Congress, other Republicans want it.

But if Trump's not involved, they can't get it.

That's why health care fell apart is because Trump is completely absent.

Yes, yes.

Yeah.