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This week, Mr. Trump didn’t mention Obamacare at all in his convention speech. The word that rallied Republican voters for nearly a decade has barely been uttered. It came up precisely once during the convention, during a speech by Natalie Harp, a cancer survivor who is not an elected official.
In the 2012 and 2016 G.O.P. conventions, repealing Obamacare was a central, almost obligatory part of every political speech, a goal shared by every candidate, a priority of almost every Republican voter.
Republicans used the term Obamacare 23 times in 2012 and 13 times in 2016, during the prime-time evening hours (transcripts show no mentions of the Affordable Care Act at the 2012, 2016 or 2020 conventions). Speakers usually referred to it in calls for repeal. This year, there were no calls for repeal, just a claim from Ms. Harp that the Affordable Care Act caused expensive insurance premiums.
Republicans tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act after gaining control of the White House in 2017 (they already controlled the House and the Senate). Their proposed replacement bill was deeply unpopular. And they lost control of the House in 2018 after a campaign in which Democrats hammered their health care record.
Ten years of using empty rhetoric about 'Obamacare' to rile up the rubes, and now the anti-ACA crusade ends not with a bang but with a whimper. Sure, the GOP will keep working behind the scenes to bring back pre-existing conditions, primarily by begging the courts to do it for them, but they won't talk about it anymore.
All that sabotage, all that pain inflicted on Americans in furtherance of a pointless anti-ACA obsession. All for nothing.
A Word Not Uttered by Republican Officials at the Convention: Obamacare
Ten years of using empty rhetoric about 'Obamacare' to rile up the rubes, and now the anti-ACA crusade ends not with a bang but with a whimper. Sure, the GOP will keep working behind the scenes to bring back pre-existing conditions, primarily by begging the courts to do it for them, but they won't talk about it anymore.
All that sabotage, all that pain inflicted on Americans in furtherance of a pointless anti-ACA obsession. All for nothing.
A Word Not Uttered by Republican Officials at the Convention: Obamacare
Ten years of using empty rhetoric about 'Obamacare' to rile up the rubes, and now the anti-ACA crusade ends not with a bang but with a whimper. Sure, the GOP will keep working behind the scenes to bring back pre-existing conditions, primarily by begging the courts to do it for them, but they won't talk about it anymore.
All that sabotage, all that pain inflicted on Americans in furtherance of a pointless anti-ACA obsession. All for nothing.
A Word Not Uttered by Republican Officials at the Convention: Obamacare
Im pissed today, if you haven’t noticed. ‘Where’s Waldo’ Biden?! No one cares about one sides’s safety-free rallies. Your state and ME are being overlooked by Biden & Co.That's because they think the entire country is as clueless as Trump's base is.
Too bad for them the smart people didn't forget about their decades-old promise of a great healthcare plan, including Trump's promises in 2016 and his promise of about 2 months ago to sign a great big beautiful plan.
The Dems need to push that failure 24/7 between now and November.
Expecting Congress to deal with Obamacare is a fool's dream. The Congressional Dems won't go for it under any circumstances and there are enough Republican Elites beholden to donors and lobbyists like the CoC who don't want Obamacare to go away. So yeah...it's not worth mentioning as a campaign issue. It's better to just leave it alone and let the battle be fought in the courts.
So what was Trump waiting for when the Repubs controlled Congress?
Oh, yeah, "It’s an unbelievably complex subject, nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.”
He didn't wait. He got the House to vote to repeal Obamacare and then got the Senate to vote on it. But guess what...that Republican Elite who knew he was dying turned his thumb down. How convenient for the other Republican Elites, eh?
There were pressing matters to address — all important.
Perhaps people feel better in a world free of immediate danger...sort of healthcare in a bit.
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