“You can call it what you want, but that’s the only reason we don’t have it, because of John McCain,” President Donald Trump told the syndicated “Rick & Bubba” radio show in an interview Monday. | Alex Brandon/AP Trump: McCain ‘the only reason we don’t have’ Obamacare repealed

President Donald Trump blamed John McCain on Monday for Republicans’ failure to pass a bill to repeal Obamacare in the Senate, insisting the Arizona Republican is “the only reason” the Affordable Care Act is still law of the land.

“You can call it what you want, but that’s the only reason we don’t have it, because of John McCain,” the president told the syndicated “Rick & Bubba” radio show in an interview Monday. “Without John McCain, we already have the health care.”


McCain’s dramatic “no” vote in the wee hours of a Friday morning vote in the Senate in July sunk the GOP’s effort to pass a so-called skinny repeal bill. McCain announced opposition to the latest legislation to repeal Obamacare last week, writing in a statement that he “cannot in good conscience vote” for it.

Trump, who has no major legislative achievements to date, said Americans should be frustrated by Congress’ inability to deliver on a campaign promise.

“It’s disgusting,” Trump said, according to The Washington Post. “When I ran, I was told I’d have a bill on my desk. I’d sign it Day One.”

“Now when it matters because you have a president who’s actually going to sign it, they don’t do it,” he continued. “And they pander, and they grandstand.”

Saturday is the last day Senate Republicans can pass Obamacare repeal on a party-line vote using a budget maneuver called reconciliation. Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have revised their bill since McCain, Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) either announced that they won’t vote for or are leaning against supporting the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill, which would block-grant federal health care funding to the states.

“Looks like Susan Collins and some others will vote against,” Trump said. “So we’re going to lose two or three votes, and that’s the end of that.”

Trump phoned in to support incumbent Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, who faces a Tuesday primary against controversial former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, whom Trump twice called “Ray.”

Moore has tried to tie Strange, the establishment candidate, to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who Trump has feuded with over his failure to shepherd a health care bill through the chamber.

“Mitch is not, polling-wise, the most popular guy in this country,” Trump said. “They like to label him (Strange) as Mitch’s best friend, but he’s not.”