Trump is reportedly dealing with self-doubt over his support of the GOP health-care bill

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Molly Riley-Pool/Getty Images)

In public, President Trump is having a great time pretending to drive big rigs and wearing pins that read "I Heart Trucks," but behind the scenes, he is seriously regretting throwing his support behind House Speaker Paul Ryan's health-care plan, The New York Times reports.

Four people close to the president told The Times he now wishes he had pushed through tax cuts first, which would have pleased Republicans, rather than focus on the deeply unpopular health-care overhaul. Stephen Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, and Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, are both in agreement with him, and Trump gave his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, a message that he delivered Thursday night to GOP leaders: Hold a vote on the health-care bill Friday, and if it fails, Trump is moving on.

The Times' Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman spoke with more than a dozen aides and allies of Trump, and they said he's spent the last week jittery and impatient. He's someone who cares more about winning than dealing with policy details, the people close to him explained, and he prides himself on making deals, sometimes at the last minute, which is why he's struggling with negotiating with moderate Republicans who think the health-care bill is too harsh and conservatives who think it doesn't go far enough. Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, has said for days he thinks it was a mistake for Trump to support the bill, and senior Republicans told The Times that Vice President Mike Pence suggested Trump keep his distance from the proposal, making sure to remind people that it was all Ryan's idea. Read more about Trump's self-doubt at The New York Times.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.