Gingrich: Trump deserves some blame for ObamaCare repeal failure

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Thursday that President Trump should share some of the blame for Senate Republicans’ failure to pass a scaled-down ObamaCare repeal measure.

“The fact is, with very narrow margin — 52 people — [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] got 49 out of 52. And I think the president can’t disassociate himself from this,” Gingrich said on “Fox & Friends.”

“He’s part of the leadership team, he’s not an observer sitting up in the stands. He’s on the field. It was a collective failure.”

The former GOP leader’s comments came as Trump escalated a feud with McConnell, calling Thursday for the Kentucky Republican to “get back to work” on healthcare, among other policy initiatives.

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McConnell said earlier this week that Trump had “excessive expectations” for moving his legislative agenda through Congress, prompting a rebuttal from the president.

“Senator Mitch McConnell said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don’t think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?” Trump tweeted Wednesday.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders acknowledged that the president was frustrated with the Senate majority leader.

McConnell has drawn the ire of some Republicans in recent weeks, after the Senate narrowly rejected a measure to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act.

The measure garnered the support of 49 Republicans, but three others — Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) — broke rank and voted against it.

That vote delivered a blow to the GOP’s most recent efforts to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law and exasperated Trump, who has vowed to let ObamaCare “implode.”

The president has since abandoned that call, encouraging Republicans in Congress to get back to work on healthcare legislation.