by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- At a time of deep divisions between U.S. President Donald Trump and his own party, the split picked up steam this week, fueled by a spat between Trump and a leading GOP senator.
Tensions began to simmer last week, when Senator John McCain, who was the Republican nominee for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, refused to back Trump's healthcare legislation, which would have repealed and replaced the previous administration's healthcare overhaul known as Obamacare. As a result, Trump's legislation derailed.
In response, the fuming president on Monday night tweeted out a video that showed McCain speaking against Obamacare over the past several years. Trump tweeted that he was sending out "A few of the many clips of John McCain talking about Repealing & Replacing O'Care."
"My oh my has he changed-complete turn from years of talk," Trump wrote on Twitter.
In a separate attack, Trump on Monday said McCain's "no" vote on his healthcare bill was a "slap in the face" to Republicans. GOP lawmaker Lindsey Graham on Monday also jumped into the brouhaha, defending McCain against Trump's blistering remarks.
DEEPENING DIVISIONS AMONG REPUBLICANS
The attacks highlight the ongoing problems between Trump and establishment Republicans, which began during his 2016 presidential campaign, with much of the party turned off by Trump's controversial rhetoric, and what many in Congress see as his unpredictability.
As for Trump, the president believes he cannot rely on his own party. That distrust led him earlier this month to make a deal with the opposition party - to the chagrin of many Republicans - to approve a higher debt ceiling in order to quickly pass disaster relief to the flood-ravaged state of Texas.
Despite Republican control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House, Trump has had a tough time since he came to office in January. Despite voters' high hopes that he would pass meaningful legislation, Trump has failed twice to pass a healthcare bill. Some GOP lawmakers are also distancing themselves from the president, in the lead-up to the 2018 congressional elections.
"Republicans are not united. That is the reason why, despite having majority control of the House and Senate, they have been unable to pass any significant legislation," Darrell West, senior fellow at U.S. leading think tank the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua.
Experts said this is not the end of the bickering and divisions.
"We should expect more intra-party fights because Trump is going to blame Republicans like McCain who did not side with him," West said.
However, the attacks are unlikely to work in Trump's favor, and will likely backfire, at a time when the president's support is slipping in the polls, some experts said.
"Trump's attacks will backfire because as his popularity slips, more Republicans will put distance between themselves and the president," West explained.
NO LOYALTY TO REPUBLICANS
Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, a non-profit and non-partisan policy and education organization located in Washington, told Xinhua that these spats demonstrate that "despite being elected as a Republican, Trump has little or no loyalty to the party as a whole."
"His cooperation with Democrats and willingness to call out Republicans demonstrates that he is far more focused on results than bridging intra-party divides," Mahaffee said.
"For the Republicans, they want their disagreements to be kept behind closed doors, rather than openly aired," Mahaffee said.
Beyond the spats, what Republicans seek is greater consistency and predictability on policy from the president. In many ways, Trump is seen as a wild card when it comes to negotiation goals that he might set for tax reform, infrastructure, and other issues, Mahaffee said.
