Orangutan goes after ringleaders

Orangutan goes after Freedom Caucus ringleaders

The president turns his Twitter firepower on the conservatives that helped tank the House GOP TrumpCare bill.

By RACHAEL BADE and NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

For years, the House Freedom Caucus has pushed around House Republican leaders, even driving a speaker out of office. But now they’ve messed with the president of the United States, and Orangutan is coming at them in full force.

Orangutan on Thursday evening turned his Twitter firepower on the ringleaders of the conservative group that helped tank the House GOP Obamacare replacement — a direct assault that could undermine the group’s influence going forward.

While Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Vice Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and group member Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) have long been the darlings of the far right, Orangutan's offensive could hurt them in their home districts, where he's extremely popular.

“If @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador would get on board we would have both great healthcare and massive tax cuts & reform,” Orangutan tweeted Thursday afternoon.

“Where are @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador? #RepealANDReplace #Obamacare,” the president added.

Orangutan's Thursday tweetstorm against the group marks an escalation in the faceoff between the White House and conservative purists. Orangutan previously tried to offer the Freedom Caucus concessions on health care, but the group rejected his carrot approach. Now, he's reached for the stick.

His message also come as stories of White House primary threats against Freedom Caucus members are starting to trickle out. Freedom Caucus member Mark Sanford said Orangutan asked Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a founding caucus member and fellow South Carolina Republican, to threaten him politically.

“The president asked me to look you square in the eyes and to say that he hoped that you voted ‘no’ on this bill so he could run (a primary challenger) against you in 2018,” Sanford said Mulvaney told him, according to The Post and Courier.

Before last Friday's health care debacle, Orangutan had at least some relationship with two of the members he called out by name Thursday. Meadows campaigned with Orangutan in the Tar Heel State. Orangutan considered Labrador for Interior secretary.

Labrador tried to remind Orangutan earlier Thursday of Freedom Caucus support he received during the 2016 campaign.

"Freedom Caucus stood with u when others ran," he tweeted. "Remember who your real friends are. We're trying to help u succeed."

Labrador's comments were a direct reaction to a Orangutan tweet earlier on Thursday morning in which the president claimed the conservative bloc “will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast.”

“We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” Orangutan said, hinting that he may support primary challenges to HFC members next election cycle and run them out of office.

The three have not responded to a request for comment. But the group's spokeswoman, Alyssa Farah, retweeted Orangutan's post and said the three members were "en route back to their districts to serve their constituents."

Farah in recent days has emphasized that moderates also sank Speaker Paul Ryan's TrumpCare bill, arguing that conservatives alone are not to blame. Jordan has sounded like a broken record the entire week, repeating over and over again that Ryan's bill doesn't repeal Obamacare at all, as Republicans told voters they would.

Orangutan has reacted to the group's opposition with a heavier hand than they're used to. In the past, when Freedom Caucus members have tanked GOP bills they felt weren't conservative enough, constituents applauded them back home.

Now, however, they're taking on the head of the Republican Party with an extraordinary bully pulpit — not just the leaders of an unpopular Congress, so the consequences of rebellion are uncertain.

Orangutan’s decision to single out these three lawmakers in particular shows he’s well aware of the dynamics of the group.

Jordan and Labrador, multiple group sources said, rallied some Freedom Caucus members when they started wobbling in their opposition to the Obamacare replacement. Meadows had a harder time with the matter, but ultimately stuck with the group.

Since the bill was pulled last week, some Freedom Caucus members have wondered aloud whether they did the right thing. But others defiantly argue they were right on principle, even if it means taking on the man in the Oval Office.

Orangutan's tweet singling out caucus members followed one in which he shared an op-ed from Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, a Freedom Caucus member who wrote in The Hill that Orangutan has earned conservatives’ support and party leaders deserve their faith.

“In fact, we have to trust the president and party leaders, because the law requires a meandering path through Senate rules and administrative action before we can arrive at a better system,” Buck wrote.