Senate Republicans Would Prefer Trump Shut Up Already About Denying Millions Health Care
Best to keep the evil schemes secret.
We’ve discussed how Donald Trump is still hellbent (and hell bound) on destroying Obamacare, because he’s obsessed with former real American President Barack Obama, his superior in every possible way. I’m convinced Trump wanted to kill Obamacare before he knew it had anything to do with healthcare. He just can’t stand the words “Obama” or “care.”
So, here we are in the last days of 2023, and Trump has made the Affordable Care Act a big policy issue for next year’s election. Republicans, especially in the Senate, want nothing to do with his delusions … at least on this matter.
Burgess Everett at Politico writes, “The GOP conference is still scarred from its 2017 attempt with Trump to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which failed on the Senate floor.”
Like so.
I never get tired of seeing a stone-faced Mitch McConnell, apparently devastated that somewhere, a cancer patient might survive. You can understand why Republicans aren’t in a hurry to revisit their loss. Supervillains rarely repeat their failed schemes. They’re all about the future.
“Boy, I haven’t thought about that one in a while,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune said when asked about Trump’s ACA vendetta. “I just don't know what [Trump’s] thinking or how we would go about doing that. That fight, as you know, was six years ago now. And so, if he’s got some ideas, we’re open to them.”
No one can truly know what Trump is thinking, other than he’s focused solely on himself and his personal grievances. However, Thune should at least know that Trump has no constructive ideas. He appreciates little about the legislative process, but there’s also the risk that he could repeal the ACA through brute voice. If he wins the presidency, he could also end up with enough votes in the Senate to achieve his twisted aims.
Chuck Grassley claims that when he’s visiting with constituents in Iowa, he doesn’t hear anyone demanding they lose access to their health care. Well, duh.
“I’m going to spend my time on rural health care,” Grassley said, “and getting more doctors and stuff like that.” He should talk to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed a six-week abortion ban into law. This isn’t how you keep doctors in your state.
Sure, Republicans still loathe the Black president’s big legislative achievement, which they made a point of derisively nicknaming “Obamacare” and thus guaranteeing him legislative immortality. However, Everett generously suggests Republicans are genuinely concerned with lowering health care costs. They just can’t come up with anything better and aren’t eager to embrace Trump’s latest Lost Cause.
“I don’t see [killing Obamacare] as being the rallying cry, I really don’t,” Shelley Moore Capito said.
“We’ve gotten so far down the road now that it’s almost technically impossible to do that,” Thom Tillis admitted before offering some nonsense that explains why it was so hard for Republicans to actually nuke the ACA when they had the chance: “But there is a way to get rid of all the bad and hopefully put some good back in place.”
The ACA is popular, so it makes sense that Republicans would remain cagey. In other words, don’t trust what they say but instead vote for Democrats who openly support your access to health care.
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[Politico]
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"I’m going to spend my time on rural health care,” Grassley said.
There's no joke I can make about that. It just makes my head hurt. Like, stop the so-called Deaths of Despair. Give us decent homes and decent jobs and decent food and decent transportation and hope.
This. Is. My. Healthcare. On. The. Line.
...as if I didn't already have enough incentive to bust my ass for 2024 FFS.