I don't think Trump is bluffing when he threatened to challenge House freedom caucus members in 2018. I don't think he will follow through with the threat, mostly because with his dismal approval ratings he won't have enough influence to inspire a serious primary challenge to any freedom caucus representatives (and at least some of those representatives have greater reason to fear a challenge from the left in a backlash against Trump).
I don't believe he is bluffing because Trump believes his own bullshit. He is pissed off that the AHCA went down and blames the freedom caucus for its failure, even though it would have failed in the Senate even if it had FC support. So he is lashing out at them and hoping they are scared that he has enough followers in the electorate to take them down. In fact, he probably doesn't, or, even if he currently does, he won't after a year of sinking approval ratings.
And in related news, I am at the same time terrified by and reassured by the President's deep stupidity and his ignorance of how the American political system works. President Trump is not capable of being an effective president, but he is incompetent enough to cause all sorts of unnecessary problems. So while he will probably bungle some of the scariest things he wants to do, he will also not be able to effectively respond to a legitimate national crisis (which may or may not be caused by Trump himself).
I don't believe he is bluffing because Trump believes his own bullshit. He is pissed off that the AHCA went down and blames the freedom caucus for its failure, even though it would have failed in the Senate even if it had FC support. So he is lashing out at them and hoping they are scared that he has enough followers in the electorate to take them down. In fact, he probably doesn't, or, even if he currently does, he won't after a year of sinking approval ratings.
And in related news, I am at the same time terrified by and reassured by the President's deep stupidity and his ignorance of how the American political system works. President Trump is not capable of being an effective president, but he is incompetent enough to cause all sorts of unnecessary problems. So while he will probably bungle some of the scariest things he wants to do, he will also not be able to effectively respond to a legitimate national crisis (which may or may not be caused by Trump himself).
