For as long as Donald Trump has been in the public eye, he's been known as a brilliant dealmaker. Hell, "he" "wrote" a "book" called The Art of the Deal. But what's becoming more and more apparent in his first 60 days as president is that Trump is actually a garbage dealmaker whose only goal in every interaction is the ability to claim that he won. Doesn't matter what he had to give up. Doesn't matter if he even wanted what he got. Can he claim he won? That's what he wants more than anything.

Donald Trump did not win this health-care situation. Regardless of how the vote goes down later today (though reports are not promising for the bill's success), Paul Ryan played Donald Trump for the political amateur that he is, and even Trump knows it. Glen Thrush and Maggie Haberman's latest report on the administration in The New York Times all but confirms it.

Mr. Trump has told four people close to him that he regrets going along with Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s plan to push a health care overhaul before unveiling a tax cut proposal more politically palatable to Republicans. He said ruefully this week that he should have done tax reform first when it became clear that the quick-hit health care victory he had hoped for was not going to materialize on Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the act’s passage, when the legislation was scheduled for a vote.

In getting Donald Trump to align so thoroughly with this health-care plan (Trumpcare, anyone?), Paul Ryan just might have been able to defang the president. Oh, he claims he came to drain the swamp? He claims he came to fight for the little guy? Well, Paul Ryan doesn't care about the little guy unless he's also a billionaire, and he knows that Trump doesn't give a shit either. And in this process he has greatly hurt Trump's ability to claim outsider status from the Republican establishment. By getting Trump to publicly put himself on the line for this bill, Ryan pulled off a classic "I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me."

Remember when Donald Trump claimed he wanted health care for everyone? Well, Paul Ryan has him backing a plan that would cut coverage for 24 million people. What kind of negotiation is Trump running where he starts with the position that "everyone should be covered" and ends up conceding not just coverage cost increases, but also willingly allows 24 million people to lose coverage? It turns out it's easy to make deals when you are willing to give up everything you claim you want. That's like someone claiming they're great at haggling and then going to a car dealership and paying a hundred grand for a Honda Civic.

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