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A lot of people were surprised two weeks ago when Donald Trump started posting on social media about trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act . I certainly was.

The attempt to wipe out Obamacare in 2017 was one of his administrations most spectacular policy failures, and one of its most damaging political failures too. The backlash to the unpopular effort was a big reason Democrats took back the House in 2018. Two years later, it helped put Joe Biden in the White House, while giving Democrats a narrow hold on the Senate as well.

A sensible, thoughtful politician mindful of that experience would do everything to avoid the subject altogether. Or, if they were truly committed to the repeal cause out of principle, they would return to it only after developing a well-considered strategy to succeed where the last attempt failed.

Suffice to say it does not appear Trump did that.

The likely backstory, according to a report in Politico , is that a Wall Street Journal editorial on the Affordable Care Act piqued his frustration with the program, enough that he decided to post on Truth Social that he was seriously looking at alternatives to Obamacare and imploring fellow Republicans to never give up on trying to get rid of the law.

Trumps own advisers didnt seem to expect the post, based on the Politico story, and Republicans in Congress certainly didnt. In the days that followed, they made clear their reluctance to try repeal again in no small part, Im sure, because so many of them were around last time and remember how that all turned out.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican and senior Finance Committee member, told a local radio station that I dont hear any Republicans talking about it. His GOP colleague from South Dakota, Majority Whip John Thune, offered similar thoughts to Politico : Boy, I havent thought about that one in a while.

Translation: Are you f**king kidding me?