Fox & Friends suggests Republicans who opposed the party's health-care bill are 'not true to their country'

(Image credit: Screenshot/Fox News)

published 18 July 2017

Fox & Friends on Tuesday questioned how loyal the Republican senators who opposed the GOP-backed health-care bill are to America. The morning after it became clear that Senate Republicans' plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare does not have enough support to move forward, co-host Brian Kilmeade noted that conservative Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had vowed to "make my hands dirty and make it work somehow," and that moderates like Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) had been concerned by opposition to the bill from outside of Capitol Hill. "So these people are being true to their school, just not true to their party, and maybe not true to their country," Kilmeade concluded.

Then, citing an apparent quote from President Trump that Senate Republicans would "look like dopes" if they couldn't get the repeal and replace done, Kilmeade asked: "Do they look like dopes?"

Ari Fleischer, press secretary to former President George W. Bush, contended that Trump was "right." "It's not a question of being true to your party or true to your country, it's a question of being true to your word," Fleischer said. "They should not have elevated the issue for eight years among Republicans, saying, 'First thing we'll do is repeal and replace,' if they weren't capable of doing it."