On Monday, President Trump began his renewed push for Trumpcare with strong statements about the unsalvageability of Obamacare. “Obamacare has wreaked havoc on the lives of innocent, hard-working Americans,” Trump said at the White House. “They say death, death, death. Well, Obamacare is death. That’s the one that’s death.” He was speaking in front of victims of the Affordable Care Act at the time.

Trump also threatened senators who refused to vote for Trumpcare, which does not yet have a text presented to the public or to Congress. “Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling America that you are fine with the Obamacare nightmare,” Trump stated.

Senators are considering whether to advance to the floor some form of Obamacare revision; it’s unclear what changes will be made on the floor. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) has called ailing Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who was just diagnosed with brain cancer, to see if McCain will be available to come to Washington D.C. to vote on advancement of some form of Obamacare replacement in the Senate.

All of this is designed to fulfill a campaign promise to at least talk about repeal and replacement, but there is no unifying text for Republicans to vote on. As The New York Times reports:

Instead, if Mr. McConnell can muster 50 votes to begin debate on the House bill, he could quickly move to replace it with an entirely new bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. If that amendment vote fails, as expected, he could move to replace the bill that was passed in the House with a health bill that has been worked out in closed-door negotiations between Republican senators.

Republican senators have little to lose by advancing some bill to the floor of the Senate; they don’t have to vote for the final bill. But this means that Trump’s push is largely a production: it’s not designed to pass a final piece of legislation. Already, the Senate parliamentarian has stated that any bill passed under reconciliation cannot cut Planned Parenthood funding or install a back door individual mandate.

Perhaps Trump is working with McConnell behind closed doors to understand whatever bill will be presented and advance it beyond the mere opening stages. But it’s quite possible that Trump will declare victory if any Senate vote passes to even allow debate, then blame the vagaries of the Senate if nothing major passes. That wouldn’t be Trump’s fault — it would be McConnell’s and the Republican Congress’. But Republicans shouldn’t be fooled by premature declarations of victory on Obamacare repeal.