Donald Trump’s self-destructive decision to try to completely dismantle the Affordable Care Act, as the race for the 2020 election is just beginning, has Republican lawmakers and GOP consultants panicking. They know something that he apparently doesn’t know: that Trump’s moves on healthcare and other social programs will assure that he loses in 2020. And they also will severely harm the chances of all other Republican candidates in next year’s elections.
According to a new report in the Washington Post, “a growing number of Republicans fear that they risk being tagged as the party of the 1 percent — handing Democrats a potent political message.”
What’s ironic is that Republicans are so deluded as to think that Trump will cause them to be “tagged as the party of the 1 percent” when it is mainly their past policies and programs (such as their Tax Scam bill) which have caused the public to see them as the party of the rich.
The Post also points out that recent budget proposals from the White House have hurt Republicans politically, such as:
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“Massive rollbacks of programs including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security Disability Insurance, as well as cuts to the Special Olympics, Meals on Wheels, and programs related to autism and other developmental disabilities.”
All of this is making GOP lawmakers nervous because they know they will soon have to face their constituents who are already very skeptical of Trump’s policies.
The GOP is the Party of the Rich
Republican analysts, according to the Post, are worried that the GOP is becoming more associated with representing the rich and powerful, while Democrats are promoting a more populist message that is resonating with many middle class voters.
According to one longtime GOP consultant, Mike Murphy, “disaster is just around the corner” if Republicans continue to blindly support Trump.
“We’re diving into a wood chipper,” Murphy told the Post before adding:
“I guess that’s the plan — being on the wrong side of issues, on top of the head winds we’re facing, with the House Freedom Caucus and Trump’s ego providing our political compass.”
As the Post concludes, Republicans are now trying “to gut former president Barack Obama’s health-care law and other popular federal programs, including those that help the poor and people with disabilities.”
Trump Policies Will Cause a Disaster for Republicans in 2020
One Democratic congressman, Rep. Kurt Schrader from Oregon, summarized the situation very succinctly when he said:
“The reaction is: ‘Make my day.’ Democrats swept the midterms based on health care, among other key issues. The president is helping us make our case.”
This article makes clear that Republican leaders have ignored the lessons from the 2018 midterm elections, and they are hurtling headlong into another major election disaster in 2020.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
