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Getting overdosed on the real GOP, 71-year-old President Donald Trump never really understood when Sen. Ted Cruz said he had “New York values” Jan. 15, 2016 at GOP debate before the South Carolina primary. Trump promised during the campaign that he wouldn’t mess with Medicare and Medicaid, guaranteeing that whatever Obamacare replacement emerged it wouldn’t toss subscribers from their insurance. With nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office [CBO] confirming that some 33 million Medicaid subscribers would lose their insurance under the latest GOP plan, Trump finally sees what Cruz was talking about. Conservatives inside the GOP don’t want any part of Obamacare’s entitlement program, including the Medcaid expansion covering millions of low-income folks. Trump thought the GOP would go along with his promises to replace Obamacare.

When Cruz speaks of New York values, he’s talking about solid backing for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, all designed to give a leg up for retirees, elderly, disabled and income-challenged citizens. Those are the New York values that Cruz and other Republicans reject, something throwing a roadblock into Trump’s wish to replace Obamacare. Tweeting that Republicans “do very little to protect their president,” Trump made more enemies in the GOP. Most conservatives are ready to toss Trump under the bus when it comes to Russian collusion, despite Trump calling it “fake news.” Calling Republicans on the carpet about repealing-and-replacing Obamacare, Trump warned the GOP of serious repercussions if they don’t pass a replacement plan. “If Republicans don’t Repeal and Replace the disastrous Obamcare, the repercussions will be far greater than any of them understand,” Trump tweeted.

Conservatives would rather watch health care go up in smoke that pass any GOP plan that resembles Obamacare. Moderate members of the Senate, like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen Shelley Moore Capito (R-Va.), have already said they won’t vote for a GOP bill that tosses millions from expanded Medicaid coverage. Conservative, like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), oppose Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent GOP health care bill because it doesn’t go far enough eliminating government subsidies. Trump wants to blame the GOP but he never really understood the GOP blind-opposition to Obamacare. Using repealing-and-replacing Obamacare as popular refrain, Trump never really got the deep opposition to Obamacare regardless of how it benefits formerly uninsured citizens.

Trump digs himself into a deeper hole slamming the GOP for not passing an acceptable alternative to Obamacare. When Trump talks about “repercussions” to failing to repeal-and-replace Obamacare, he’s referring to cutting out 33 million from Medicaid I coverage. Trump doesn’t get that he doesn’t share the same conservative values as members of the House Freedom Caucus, whose opposition to Obamcare runs through every instinct in conservatives in the House and Senate. GOP lawmakers would rather toss Trump under the bus and live another day to battle Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called the GOP plan today “rotten to the core.” Schumer wants no part of any GOP plan that doesn’t include Medicaid expansion to cover the nation’s working poor. Conservatives can’t distinguish between health insurance and public entitlements like welfare.

When Trump had enough about health care, he turned to Democrats and the media elites pushing the Russian collusion narrative. “As the phony Russian witch-hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold Democrats and Russians,” tweeted Trump and eve of his son, Don Jr. and former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort speaking in closed session this week to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Several liberal news papers agrees with New York Times whose July 9 story about Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort meeting with a Russian lawyer has turned Washington into a paranoid beehive. Trump can’t get the monkey-off-his-back as long as former FBI Director Robert Mueller continues his investigation into criminal wrongdoing for allegedly colluding with Russia to win the Nov. 8 election.

Trump finds himself caught in a “sticky wicket,” admonishing the Senate for not producing an acceptable Obamacare repeal-and-replacement. Trump never really got what Cruz told him about his New York values. Instead of telling the American people the truth about Obamacare, namely, that it could be fixed with a little bipartisan cooperation, Trump continues to call the program “disastrous” because of premium rate hikes. Congress could easily fix the insurance industry’s propensity to gouge Uncle Sam, raising rates. While Trump thinks McConnell will pull and rabbit out of his hat, enough GOP senators won’t vote for the GOP replacement for oddly opposite reasons. Tossing millions of folks off Medicaid doesn’t sit well with moderate Republicans and the vast majority of Democrats. Trump has no one to blame but himself for not recognizing how his New York values depart from conservatives.