I was half-joking. You're right that it probably wouldn't pass.
But politically, it's the only way I can see them possibly both technically keeping their promise and not causing themselves a catastrophe.
I think it's quite possible that no plan is actually able to pass in the end, and so current law remains intact. Remember that while they can defund the current law with 50 votes in the Senate plus a majority in the House, they can't actually change insurance regulations without being subject to a Democratic filibuster, and good luck with that.
So Trump and others insist on it being "repeal and replace" rather than just "repeal and nothing", but they can't actually get the votes to pass their "replace" option, so nothing passes, and Trump tries to blame the Dems for thwarting his election promise.
No, that's what I'm saying. I think it's quite possible that they *don't* simply de-fund it. They try to pass a simultaneous repeal-and-replace, but it doesn't pass because they don't have the votes for it. And then they're just stuck and move on to other issues. I mean, if it was actually a high priority issue for Trump, then they'd try to press ahead with it. But since it's clear that he doesn't care, then I think "nothing passes and Obamacare survives" is a very real possibility.
I don't think Trump cares about anything, really. The point is more whether Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell care. They're the ones running the country for at least the next two years, after all. Though I agree that both would rather just let Obamacare stand and say "Well, we tried" than actually change anything, which makes the Obamacare-survives hypothetical very possible.
