It’s only been a half-day since Roy Moore became the presumptive next senator from Alabama, and he’s already parting ways with the president on how to replace the Obamacare law.
As Donald Trump licks his wounds from the pounding his preferred candidate Luther Strange took Tuesday night in a special election primary, Moore says he would vote ‘no’ on the GOP’s latest repeal proposal – because it’s not conservative enough.
Asked Wednesday morning on ‘Fox & Friends’ if he would have stood with Trump or defected with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul – who has never wavered in his opposition – Moore left no doubt.
‘I think I would have stood with Rand Paul,’ he said, calling the plan promoted by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana ‘socialized medicine at best.’
Roy Moore, who beat Donald Trump’s preferred candidate in Tuesday’s Alabama U.S. Senate Republican primary election, wasted no time in saying he would buck the president and oppose the latest GOP Obamacare repeal if he were already in office
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (left) set the tone for health care resistance against the president within the Republican Party; Moore said Wednesday that he ‘would have stood with Rand Paul’
Republicans this week seemingly gave up on passing the bill, which proposes to transfer billions to the states instead of mandating medical insurance coverage from Washington.
That’s not good enough, said Moore.
‘Transferring it to states is not getting you out of the business of socialized medicine,’ he insisted.
‘We promised to repeal Obamacare. we should repeal it.’
Moments earlier, Moore had assured the Fox news hosts that ‘the people of Alabama know me and they understand what I stand for. I certainly support President Trump’s agenda.’
Based on that seemingly inconsistent pledge, Trump has said he will campaign for Moore when he faces a Democrat in December.
‘I think that when he gets to know me that he’ll understand that I do support a very conservative agenda for this country. And I think he will back me,’ Moore said of the president.
‘I received ad call from him, and that’s what he said he would do.’
Trump had backed Luther Strange over Moore; Strange would have been a reliable ‘yes’ vote on the latest Republican bill to replace Obamacare with a state-based block grant program
Right before saying on ‘Fox & Friends’ that he would have bucked the White House on health care, Moore insisted that ‘I certainly support President Trump’s agenda’
Moore said he hopes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has backed moderate proposals and chafed at more comprehensive Obamacare repeals, ‘stands for a conservative agenda and what we promised the people as Republicans.’
Trump said last Friday during an Alabama rally for Moore’s primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange, that he ‘might have made a mistake’ with the horse he picked in the race.
He warned his audience that Moore would have a harded time beating a Democratic opponent in the upcoming special election, whild Strange would have coasted to victory easily.
‘Roy has a very good chance of not winning in the general election,’ Trump cautioned.
‘Roy is going to have a hard time, but I will be backing him if he wins.’
‘I’m going to be here campaigning like hell for him,’ he added.