Congressional Republicans are in a real Obamacare trap, which Jason Easley has been predicting since Obamacare was passed. The trap is the same trap as Social Security and Medicare: Now that people have their insurance, they don’t want to lose it.
Warning of the coming autumn of discontent, a source close to GOP congressional leadership wrote Axios in an email of Congressional Republicans, “They’re going to go home and get the [stuff] kicked out of them because people think it actually was accomplished — and, by the way, people are likely going to be getting their premium increases that are going to occur regardless of whether they pass this bill or not. …
And now the president’s threatening that he’s not going to approve the money for the insurance subsidies — it is going to be a catastrophic political problem …”
President Trump is threatening to not pay for the insurance subsidies because he wants to stick it to Obama so badly and he doesn’t understand how to win politically. What this will actually do is stick it to vulnerable Congressional Republicans. Republicans have already been undermining Obamacare in ways that will raise costs for Americans, but guess who’s in charge now? That’s right. And they don’t have an alternative that doesn’t enrage voters.
The problem for Republicans is they have been running on repealing Obamacare and its regulations that protect consumers, so they have to do something. Their “something” was so heinous it activated the People to show up at town halls and relentlessly call their representatives.
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How important is the Obamacare issue? The Montana special election is closer than it should be. A senior Republican strategist told Politico if Republicans “cannot come up with better candidates and better campaigns, this cycle is going to be even worse than anybody ever thought it could be.â€
Trump won Montana 56 to Clinton’s 35. But Democrat Rob Quist is running on helping people keep their insurance. He calls Trumpcare the “UnAmerican health care bill.” His GOP opponent Greg Gianforte got busted on tape supporting the Republican atrocity.
Quist’s campaign said it raised over $550,000 after Gianforte got caught supporting the Republican bill. This is part of what is making this special election in red red Montana an actual race. Yes, the Republican is expected to win, but it all comes down to turnout in a special election.
In February, Five Thirty Eight predicted, “Democrats have won a number of statewide races in Montana recently, including the governorship last year. They have a chance of winning this seat. But Gianforte would be a strong favorite.” Then came Trumpcare and now the race is much closer.
The Obamacare trap is real. But instead of blaming President Obama, Republicans need to hold themselves accountable.
Obamacare was based on addressing a real crisis for Americans comprised of the need for affordable healthcare insurance and the unsustainable rising costs of healthcare. Republicans did nothing to solve the problem except troll Obamacare for seven years. They trolled it so hard, even though the exchanges were a conservative idea, that they now have to come up with something different. But surprise surprise, healthcare reform is hard.
And now it’s all on them.
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