Not within the GOP. And more specifically, his base within the GOP isn’t budging…that core 30-35% who will support him regardless of anything. Heading into what is shaping up to be a very rough 2018 year for the GOP, they simply cannot afford to have 1/3 of their base sit it out in protest over Trump being kicked out of office.
That’s going to take years, possible in excess of a decade. It certainly isn’t going to happen before Nov. 2018, and having him resign/step down/impeached/25th etc, won’t help in the least. Because it will be a constant reminder of what happened and which party supported him.
And Trump won’t be going quietly into the night. They will have to drag him out, kicking and screaming, and he will NEVER drop the issue in the media.
1.7 million votes. And 2.1% points. The pardon didn’t help, but Americans were worn out from 2 republican terms, a recession and most importantly, the entire Watergate story. They wanted change, and Carter fit the bill. Ford never really had much of chance.
Exactly, the House and the Senate are two totally different bodies. A House member may only have a few hundred thousand constituents in a small area whereas the vast majority of senators have millions over an entire state. In many cases, there are different needs and wants in cities vs. rural areas, and in many cases there is resentment between the two. But the bigger issue is that if you’re going to throw 100s of thousands off Medicaid and thousands more off their healthcare plans, there’s no amount of money you can throw at the state to offset the political damage.
I worry the other ‘moderates’ only worry about being challenged from the right. For instance, I don’t see Dan Sullivan on the list of the bill’s opponents and he’s the next Senator from AK up for re-election. Of those who are on the list, Dean Heller is number two on 538’s list of the most ardent Trump supporters. Mr. No not a No Johnson is third. So, I just can’t help but be pessimistic about the whole thing.
We could also see a repeat of what happened as the health care bill foundered in the House of Representatives just a few weeks ago: the bill was amended to allow states to waive even more protections and regulations in their insurance markets, a few billion dollars was thrown at the individual market, and several moderates fell in line after being promised side deals on unrelated issues.
McConnell is not going to let a trillion dollars in tax repeal go easily, and I believe some form of this is going to become law eventually. But I have to note that the reason it hasn’t is because of every person who has picked up a phone or gone to a town hall since Trump took office - hooray for people willing to actually do something besides bitch. This is the good news and I am trying hard to stay positive in the face of the worst political shitstorm I have seen since the 60’s.
I am so praying this gets us to universal healthcare some way, some how. Even if the Republicans can’t pass anything, they have been horribly successful at sabotaging the ACA that it is truly in tatters right now and no matter what happens legislatively people are suffering and will continue to suffer until we have universal healthcare.
FUCK INSURANCE - GIVE ME UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE
edited to correct spelling and to add: I did not know Collins was contemplating a run for Maine governor. If that is true, then I believe she may not fold as she is probably already triangulating her position for that election.
I think most of them understand that it’s much easier to survive a primary challenger that you can bury in money than it is to survive a general election with an excited Democratic base. And the reason you don’t see some folks on the list of the bill’s opponents is precisely because they don’t want to go on record either way until they absolutely have no choice. For some, the best tactic was to come out against the bill forcefully and say “no” to it, but others are choosing to ride the fence in hopes of it going away entirely.
That list is a list of people who unexpectedly vote most often with PP. I don’t think that list is particularly telling being that the Senate hasn’t voted on much more than confirmations and post offices. There’s been no significant legislation so far.
This isn’t really a Republican issue, its a humanity issue.
Will the yes voters let millions of Americans suffer and die and/or will the no voters value those lives over their parties survival concerns.
A yes vote is an admission of true heartlessness and has nothing to do with improved healthcare or concern for the masses.
A no vote is a recognition of individual smarts combined with enough backbone to publicly realize what passage of the, Repeal and Kill, bill would really do.
The yes voters have lost site of the mission. Healthcare is one thing and conflating healthcare with profits/taxes is another. The yes voters are still trying to extend the failed trickle down economic theory by giving all benefits to the rich who miraculously and with zero evidence will distribute it nice and evenly down upon the actual needy.
One of the questions is, why the middle man if the point is for the needy to benefit, then just benefit the needy and cut out the greedy.
Its the same pool of money, the only other question is, whose hands does it wind up in?
Perhaps more importantly, the right is not going to go along with money McConnell attempts to throw to the left, even on a state by state basis (Murkowski). If Cruz and Lee don’t demand it, the HFC certainly will in the House.
The reason McConnell has gone with such a hard line bill was precisely to ensure it gets through the House. He doesn’t want this dragging on, and is perfectly aware that the longer the details are out there, the more severe the electoral damage is going to be. So he has to have a bill that not only satisfies his own side in the Senate, it also has to be able to pass Ryan’s House without any changes. And just to make it more interesting, the House is already bogging down in budgetary issues.
The hardship this bill will engender, the pain and suffering, are not imaginary. It only takes one person in the neighborhood with a needlessly dead relative, a long night in the emergency room with a sick kid, a $300 bill for medication that used to cost $10, for unrest to begin.
When food prices go up because of immigration policies, people don’t really get that or they can justify it. When they have to rush their kid to the hospital for an asthmatic attack that they used to get medication for, that they get. No parent’s going to say to themselves, yeah, my kid suffering is worth sticking it to them damn Obama liberals.
That’s the bedrock of the political damage here. Real pain for real Americans. (Gah, I can’t believe I just wrote that.)
True, everybody is going to want some sweet, sweet goodies if they start making deals with the left. Who wouldn’t?
Great post. You’re right. No one in the Bucks County who is sitting in the waiting room cradling a sick kid is going to think, “This is all so totally worth the new stadium in Pittsburgh.”
New NPR/Marist poll out shows that the Senate bill has a 17% approval rating. Virtually the same as the ryancare version. The poll was done in the week before the CBO score came out.
The benefits offered by the three plans would be identical for all Americans, regardless of age or income. Benefits would be provided for:
–hospital care;
–physicians’ care in and out of the hospital;
–prescription and life-saving drugs;
–laboratory tests and X-rays;
–medical devices;
–ambulance services; and,
–other ancillary health care.
There would be no exclusions of coverage based on the nature of the illness. For example, a person with heart disease would qualify for benefits as would a person with kidney disease.
No family would ever have annual out-of-pocket expenses for covered health services in excess of $1,500, and low-income families would face substantially smaller expenses.
The program of Assisted Health Insurance is designed to cover everyone not offered coverage under Employee Health Insurance or Medicare, including the unemployed, the disabled, the self-employed, and those with low incomes. In addition, persons with higher incomes could also obtain Assisted Health Insurance if they cannot otherwise get coverage at reasonable rates. Included in this latter group might be persons whose health status or type of work puts them in high-risk insurance categories.
A principal feature of Assisted Health Insurance is that it relates premiums and out-of-pocket expenses to the income of the person or family enrolled. Working families with incomes of up to $5,000, for instance, would pay no premiums at all. Deductibles, co-insurance, and maximum liability would all be pegged to income levels. President Nixon, February 6, 1974
Nixon’s plan also included an employer mandate with the employer paying 75% of the premium.
You are correct. There’s no way for Collins, Heller and Capito to climb down now regardless of what goodies McConnell offers to sweeten the deal. There was a reason he kept everything under wraps for as long as he possibly could. His only strategic option was a blitzkrieg, shock and awe campaign where it would be done and dusted before anyone realized it. That window has closed and the sheer unmitigated immorality of the bill is on full public display leaving McConnell twisting, twisting slowly in the wind. There’s also the certain knowledge that Trump would turn around and stab his collaborators in the back the moment he’d signed off on their handiwork. Who’s going to throw their seats away in order to deliver a “win” for a man that faithless?
