Trump to Republicans: Vote for Obamacare repeal or lose your seat 'I'm asking for your vote on Thursday,' the president said.

President Donald Trump arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning with a stern message for Republicans who've been wobbly about dismantling Obamacare: Give me your vote or you may lose your seat in 2018.

During a closed-door meeting with the House GOP conference, the president gave a full-throated endorsement to the House repeal bill that will come to the floor for a vote on Thursday. He warned that if Republicans don't pass the bill, "I honestly think many of you will lose your seats in 2018."


Trump even called out the bill's most vocal critic in the House, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who's led the conservative opposition to the Republican health care plan. "Mark, I'm gonna come after you" if he keeps it up, Trump said, according to multiple sources.

The sources cautioned that Trump may have been "half joking," as one put it. He winked and he smiled at Meadows, and acknowledged the congressman was a strong supporter of his campaign.

But singling out Meadows in front of his colleagues sent a clear message: Trump wants him to get in line. And fast.

"This Thursday we have a chance to repeal and replace Obamacare, and this time you've actually got someone who will sign the bill," Trump told them. "I'm asking for your vote."

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and the House GOP leadership welcomed the presidential admonition to the GOP ranks ahead of Thursday's vote, which looks by all accounts to be a cliffhanger.

GOP leaders have projected confidence in passage, and they're optimistic that Trump's personal appeal to the conference will put the bill over the top. But House Freedom Caucus members emerged from a meeting Monday night claiming they have enough votes to block the legislation.

In that regard, the meeting might have been exactly what leadership needed. Trump made abundantly clear that he's all-in on the Republican health care plan, which could determine the course of his entire first-term legislative agenda.

The president was accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, both of whom served in the House until recently. At one point, Trump joked that perhaps he shouldn't have plucked Mulvaney from the House because the vote is so close and he could use the vote.

Trump entered the meeting to loud cheers.

"We have a chance to do something fantastic, to do something amazing," Trump told the lawmakers, according to sources in the room.

He later added: "Many of you came in on the pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare. I honestly think many of you will lose your seats in 2018 if you don't get this done."

Trump thanked lawmakers who had opposed the health plan but worked with him and GOP leaders to get to "yes." He mentioned Reps. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), who all announced their support Tuesday after changes were made to enhance health care tax credits for the elderly. Trump also thanked Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.), who negotiated a number of concessions for conservatives last week.

Then Trump got to Meadows. The Freedom Caucus chief visited the president at his Mar-a-Lago resort over the weekend to discuss changes he and a number of hard-liners wanted. The White House signaled, however, that negotiations were closing and conservatives had gotten all the concessions they would.

Trump noted at Tuesday's meeting that Meadows supported him on the campaign trail and predicted: "I think Mark Meadows will get on board, too." He added, "Because honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks."

Trump also made a point of making Meadows stand up before the room. When Meadows tried to make light of the situation, saying Trump's Florida estate was very nice, Trump countered that "I guess it wasn't lovely enough" because Meadows is still a "no" on the bill.

"It's a good bill," Trump said. "It's going to go to the Senate, and the alternative is Obamacare and that's a disaster."

Meadows later said he didn’t think Trump would take him on politically if they ultimately differed on the health care bill. The reason? Meadows says he was there for Trump during his own political doldrums.

“When the chips were down, there was one member of Congress in North Carolina that was willing to campaign with him,” Meadows said. “I can’t imagine he would do anything different.”

As he left the meeting, Trump cautiously predicted victory on Thursday.

"We're going to have a real winner," Trump said. "It was a great meeting. They're terrific people. They want a tremendous health care plan. That's what we have, and there are going to be adjustments to it. But I think we'll get the votes."

Several Freedom Caucus members exited the meeting saying they still weren't convinced they should back the plan. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), a Freedom Caucus member and one of Trump's earliest campaign supporters in Congress, said his mind was not changed by the president's appearance. The same was true for Rep. Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina governor.

“I think that what’s in the bill will drive the train for myself and I think many of the other Freedom [Caucus] members as well,” Sanford said.

Asked about Trump’s decision to single out Meadows, Sanford said, “It was, I think, done in good spirit. I think it was received that way as well.”

DesJarlais said the president emphasized there would be continued negotiations with the Senate and when the bill comes back to the House as well.

Leadership was elated by Trump's aggressive sales pitch for the bill. Asked whether Trump had closed the deal, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, “I think he did great." GOP whip Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) called the meeting "epic."

And Ryan, at a news conference after the conference meeting, said “the president just came here and knocked the ball out of the park, he knocked the cover off the ball.” Ryan ignored a question about whether he was 100 percent confident the bill would pass the House on Thursday.

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The vote is a test of the new president’s deal-making prowess in a notoriously factional and conflict-prone Republican conference. He’s already become a central player in helping the House GOP whip team corral support, flipping from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ more than a dozen conservatives.

But while he’s summoned lawmakers to the White House before, his decision to come to Congress’ turf is a sign of how significant the impending vote is for his fledgling administration.

Trump’s trip up Pennsylvania Avenue capped weeks intra-party diplomacy by the White House, spearheaded by Vice President Mike Pence, the White House’s legislative affairs team, Price and Mulvaney.

Pence summoned anti-abortion members of Congress to his Capitol office late Monday.

Even after his meeting with the full Republican conference, Trump plans to put extra pressure on House moderates, who are being called to the White House Tuesday afternoon. The president is also expected to meet with conservatives.