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<\/p>\n\n President Donald Trump is preparing to make health care a central focus of his midterm sales pitch, despite weak polling and misgivings among some of his own advisers about elevating an issue that\u2019s long proved disastrous for the Republican Party.\n <\/p>\n
\n The approach developed by Trump and his senior aides aims to spotlight key priorities that they believe carry broad voter appeal, like lower drug prices, while seeking to preempt an expected barrage of Democratic attacks over rising health costs, according to more than a half-dozen administration officials and others familiar with the matter.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done a bad job over the years in that we don\u2019t talk about health care, and when we do, it\u2019s only when we\u2019re forced to,\u201d said a Trump adviser involved in the discussions. \u201cThere\u2019s good stuff that Trump\u2019s trying to do, and we need to get more aggressive on it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The strategy has already created some headaches.\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump officials in recent weeks have pitched GOP lawmakers on mounting a longshot bid to pass major health legislation ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections, despite little congressional appetite to do so. And inside the administration, White House aides are orchestrating an extraordinary shakeup of Trump\u2019s health department in an attempt to remedy concerns about its messaging operation and move its focus away from more divisive topics like vaccines.\n <\/p>\n
\n The intensifying emphasis on health care marks the White House\u2019s latest bid to solve the cost-of-living woes dragging down Trump\u2019s approval ratings and deepening fears within the GOP of a midterm rout. On Thursday, the president will travel to Georgia to deliver the latest in a set of affordability-focused speeches touting his economic accomplishments.\n <\/p>\n
\n That message hasn\u2019t resonated widely with voters so far, polling shows. While there\u2019s hope that shifting toward health care will help the administration gain traction, several Republican allies working on the issue privately characterized the approach as a sign of the sheer depth of the challenge facing the administration nine months out from Election Day.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere truly are not many things they will be able to do that will alter the fate of the Republican majority,\u201d said one Republican close to the White House. \u201cThat\u2019s obviously a tough place for them to be.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Republicans have struggled for more than a decade to formulate a winning health care platform, most notably failing repeatedly during Trump\u2019s first term to repeal and replace Obamacare. That 2017 episode alienated voters and shifted the politics of the issue decisively toward Democrats, presaging a 40-seat swing that cost Republicans control of the House the following year.\n <\/p>\n
\n Since then, Democratic candidates have enjoyed a sustained polling advantage on health care. And despite Trump\u2019s efforts to revamp the GOP\u2019s agenda by embracing the Make America Healthy Again movement and staking out a more populist position on drug prices, there\u2019s little evidence he\u2019s managed to significantly narrow the gap.\n <\/p>\n
\n A White House official argued that Trump could still defy the party\u2019s history on health care and insisted that the administration is committed to campaigning on the issue. Major parts of the president\u2019s health agenda, such as cutting drug prices, are broadly popular, the official said, and can serve as tangible evidence that the administration is addressing affordability concerns.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cPOTUS isn\u2019t the traditional Republican, and many of the things we do don\u2019t fit in the traditional Republican mode,\u201d the official said. \u201cHe\u2019s already built something here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But in recent briefings on midterm strategy, Trump\u2019s political advisers offered a blunter motivation for leaning in on health care: They have no other choice.\n <\/p>\n
\n James Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff, and top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio have privately warned Republicans that Democrats are likely to focus their campaign attacks overwhelmingly on affordability and health care issues, according to two people familiar with their message. That became especially obvious after Trump failed to strike a deal last year to extend certain Obamacare subsidies, triggering price increases for millions of enrollees.\n <\/p>\n
\n Health care costs also consistently rank among Americans\u2019 top affordability concerns, making it a potent issue in a midterm landscape officials expect will be shaped primarily by voters\u2019 economic views.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Against that backdrop, Trump\u2019s team has argued that it needs to go on offense.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don\u2019t think they just want to be attacked for letting health care costs go up,\u201d said Alex Conant, a longtime GOP operative. \u201cTrump wants to define himself, rather than letting Democrats define the Republican position.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n In a meeting on midterm strategy Tuesday night led by Blair and chief of staff Susie Wiles, Trump\u2019s team stressed the importance of portraying the midterms as a choice for voters between the progress the administration\u2019s made or going back to a situation they voted against just a year ago, a source present told CNN. Though Trump officials acknowledged that Americans are skeptical and, in some cases, unhappy, they struck a positive tone, contending that it\u2019s still possible to message around those challenges.\n <\/p>\n
\n The new focus has mirrored Trump\u2019s own rising enthusiasm for campaigning on parts of his health care agenda. The president has taken particular pride in his \u201cMost Favored Nation\u201d initiative, which offers Americans negotiated discounts on certain medicines. He insisted earlier this month that \u201cthe Republican Party should be able to win the midterms on that alone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n He\u2019s similarly talked up the potential of his so-called Great Healthcare Plan \u2014 a loosely constructed framework for tackling health costs centered on funneling subsidies directly to individuals that he\u2019s pressed lawmakers to prioritize on Capitol Hill, despite little appetite for passing major legislation on a complicated topic in an election year.\n <\/p>\n
\n The White House in the meantime has taken steps to shore up key elements of its health messaging operation. In late January, Wiles quietly tasked a trusted senior Trump official with evaluating the US Health and Human Services Department\u2019s inner workings, following months of internal clashes and public missteps that had frustrated the White House and complicated efforts to execute on its agenda, two people familiar with the matter said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The conclusions submitted by the official, Brad Smith, formed the basis of a shakeup of the department\u2019s senior ranks coordinated between the White House and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The overhaul resulted in the ouster of two top Kennedy aides from their Senate-confirmed roles and elevated four others. The Washington Post first reported Smith\u2019s involvement.\n <\/p>\n
\n Still more changes are under consideration: Trump officials are weighing a move to effectively sideline Kennedy\u2019s close aide, Stefanie Spear, amid dissatisfaction over her handling of HHS\u2019 activities and messaging efforts, the people familiar said.\n <\/p>\n
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\n The newly elevated group, which includes two staffers who worked closely on Trump\u2019s drug pricing initiative, will instead take over much of the department\u2019s day-to-day operations, in a bid to more closely coordinate its work with the White House and avoid the negative headlines that plagued HHS at times over the past year. Specifically, the department is expected to pivot away from Kennedy\u2019s polarizing efforts to revamp the nation\u2019s vaccine policies.\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump officials have instead pushed for Kennedy to travel more frequently to promote broader-appeal ideas like healthy eating, in hopes of turning out the MAHA devotees who bolstered Trump\u2019s coalition in 2024. The HHS secretary is one of several Cabinet members expected to hit the road in the coming months, with Trump aides on Tuesday urging them to make themselves available for any lawmakers who request their presence \u2014 and above all, to stay militantly on message.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about, what are the winning issues for the midterms?\u201d said one of the people. \u201cThat\u2019s all that matters.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
Dustups and skepticism<\/p>\n
\n Still, the recalibration remains a work in progress. After the Food and Drug Administration last week abruptly refused to review a new flu vaccine developed by the drugmaker Moderna, setting off alarms across the pharmaceutical industry, complaints about the surprise move eventually reached Trump.\n <\/p>\n
\n The president responded angrily, berating FDA Commissioner Marty Makary over the decision, two people familiar with the episode told CNN. The FDA has subsequently said it will now review the flu shot, after Moderna submitted a revised proposal.\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump must also contend with broader skepticism of his health agenda, including among some of the Republican lawmakers he\u2019s counting on to line up behind his priorities. Despite the fanfare surrounding Trump\u2019s ability to strong-arm drugmakers into lowering some prices, there\u2019s still hesitation among conservatives about trying to codify an approach first popularized by prominent progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders.\n <\/p>\n
\n The president\u2019s Great Healthcare Plan faces even longer odds. Republicans have only a narrow majority in the House, dwindling enthusiasm in the Senate for another big legislative push and, despite Trump\u2019s urging, little unified support for spending the last stretch before the midterms on a topic that\u2019s burned them numerous times before.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cTrump gets that it\u2019s a problem and he needs to talk about it, but he has the same problem we\u2019ve traditionally had,\u201d said veteran Republican strategist Doug Heye. \u201cWe\u2019ve never been able to really demonstrate what we\u2019re for.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump is preparing to make health care a central focus of his midterm sales pitch, despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-490053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}