In talks with Trump, Conservatives make Ryan the scapegoat

Powerful conservative groups wary of alienating President Trump are blaming their opposition to his healthcare initiative on House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

The American Health Care Act, though authored by Ryan, with input from House and Senate Republicans, was crafted with an eye toward satisfying Trump's liberal inclinations on healthcare policy.

The president promised to repeal Obamacare on the campaign trail.

But he has publicly supported government-run healthcare in the past and vowed to replace the Affordable Care Act with a plan that maintains its high coverage levels and generous benefits, but at lower cost and absent its onerous regulations.

That process led to a bill that is too liberal for Washington's high-profile conservative activist groups, the Republican Party's self-styled ideological enforcers.