With the constant drumbeat of political warfare between Donald Trump and those who are concerned with justice and democracy in America, it’s easy to get distracted.
Now, I don’t mean distracted enough to forget the findings of every intelligence agency in the United States and around the world — that Russia intentionally and maliciously hacked and otherwise socially engineered the presidential election of 2016 in favor of Trump.
I definitely don’t mean anyone’s distracted enough to forget that Trump obstructed justice in plain view yesterday, right on his Twitter feed.
But with all of our national focus on Donald Trump, it’s definitely easy to forget that the GOP is no longer the Republican party. They are the party of Trump. All the way down to state legislatures, any Republican who doesn’t denounce Trump officially condones Trump, and there’s just not a whole lot of that happening because Republicans care more about getting elected than about democracy.
And Donald Trump’s number one goal has always been to undo all of the good things that Barack Obama did as President. Chief among those accomplishments is the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Republicans didn’t like it back in 2010 because it wasn’t their legislation (although it did start as a Republican idea), and they just didn’t want Obama to have any successes as President because that made him look good and by extension made them look bad.
But since Trump won the electoral college and took over the White House, their fury has tripled, and they have a leader writing a script they actually want to follow.
That’s exactly what we found out on Tuesday when in a rare moment of candor, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina admitted that Obamacare is still exactly what’s on the minds of Republicans as we head into the November midterms. In fact, Tillis helpfully provided Americans with a soundbite that may be the impetus to get people to the polls for this off-season election — and not in a way he’ll appreciate:
With 53 members we get health care done.”
That’s what Tillis told Politico on Tuesday, and what the junior Tarheel senator means is that if voters give up even just two seats in the Senate in November to Republicans without offsetting wins by Democrats — or without a Democratic takeover — the GOP’s number one priority will be to take away health care for millions of people. That’s what Republicans mean when they say “get health care done.”
It’s looking increasingly important every single day to maybe help a friend or two register to vote, and make sure you carpool to your polling places on election day. Take as many of your friends and family with you as possible.
The future of American health care is at stake, and this time, the news has nothing to do with Donald Trump.
Featured image via screen capture
