Despite the fact that Donald Trump promised not to touch Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security, those promises went out the door with his “One Big Beautiful Bill” and the one trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, something that will hurt small rural states the most. Have no doubt, not only did Trump drive this particular bill, but he wanted it done by the July 4th deadline, leaving no room for further debate on the exact cuts. We can expect them to be as reckless as, well – we’ve come to expect. The Democrats will spend the next 18 months running against that bill, something that already has Republicans in a cold sweat, according to a report in Politico.
Republicans don’t actually fail to understand that the American public actually likes having a social safety net. Traditionally, however, Republicans just use race whistles and immigration tactics to offset that they steal from the poor. But it doesn’t work as well when a hospital in one’s small town closes six months after Medicaid cuts. And Republicans know that Trump will lose a lot of popularity over the next year – he is a lame duck already. It is inevitable. So they’re worried. According to the report:
“they’re fretting it will lead to some ugly electoral losses.”
“GOP lawmakers are warning that slashing spending on Medicaid and food assistance will cost the party seats in the midterms — threatening their razor-thin House majority — by kicking millions of Americans off safety-net programs.”
It is bad enough when the non-presidential party inevitably loses seats in Congress during the midterms. Add to that fact that the Republicans hold the barest of majorities in the House, and it is shaping up to be a disaster of epic proportions.
The outlet further quotes Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) as saying, “You would be foolish not to worry about it… If you don’t keep the voters right with you, you’re going to awaken to a bad, bad, bad day.”
According to the report, “adding to the GOP angst” is that “Democrats are preparing to weaponize the bill as they did Republicans’ failed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017.”
Okay. Hold up here. Yes, the House will likely flip on basic midterm principles alone. But the goal really should be the Senate. Yes, it is a monster uphill climb down three seats, but if it were ever to be done, it would be this particular midterm with Republicans defending far more seats and having to defend that reprehensible bill. But the onus is on the Democrats, and that spells some trouble because Democrats are historically bad at this.
They are forever too risk-averse. At the point in time when Democrats should be running on getting all this back and much, much more, they are in danger of triangulating themselves right into a pretzel. Now is not the time, not with Bernie Sanders and AOC lighting up red states with enthusiasm. Many Democrats are afraid to have Sanders and AOC as the face of the party. They need to embrace it, far more so than someone like Newsom (Who suffers from “California Democrat-Syndrome, anyway). People like these social safety programs and don’t feel like giving tax breaks to billionaires as part trade. Tax cuts on tips and overtime do nothing for most Americans – many of whom are already restricted to two jobs of 30+ hours to begin with.
So run on the far left for a change. It is not like they have anything to lose. Trump isn’t going to sign a damn thing they pass anyway and the Republicans are in real trouble. The economy isn’t great and – if anything – getting worse. Meanwhile, billionaires spend their money in the stock market, not on healthcare, and not at Walmart – two staples of the American economy.
Watch the hospitals start closing. If you think that Republicans are sweating now…
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Total agreement and yet…… those thumbs are on the scales. How to stymie that?