Today in “You Don’t Say?” (AHCA Edition)
But if the A.H.C.A. stands as the chief policy distillation of Trumpism, then the central Democratic argument in 2018 and 2020 should be entirely clear: Trump is not a populist but just another pro-plutocracy Republican, and everything his party promised you on health care was a sham.
You don’t say?
Snark aside, a few observations:
- I am not sure the AHCA is a distillation of Trumpism, but is rather a distillation of the current state of the House GOP. It is Trumpism only in the sense that Trump doesn’t really care what is in the bill.
- I would like to point out that populism is really more a style of politics more than it is a promise of specific policy outcomes. Many politicians (and commentators) who use populist rhetoric and approaches often do not govern in a way that is commensurate to that rhetoric. (And in Trump’s case, I am not sure he knows the difference in any event).
- But yes: any promises about improving health care from Trump and the GOP has been a sham to date, and I don’t expect that to change.
Shouldn’t your point 1 read, “I am not sure the AHCA…”
“I don’t stand by anything” is all we need to know.
This is yet another example of how Republicans talk a good game about wanting to help many of the people who support them but in reality they want to put in place policies that mainly help the plutocrats and the fat cats…I remember a piece in some online magazine back in November that talked about people in West Virginia and why they supported Trump…I wonder how many of those same people will still want to support him and Republicans in next year’s elections and in 2020…there seems to be too many people in this country who don’t mind slitting their own throats…
@Ratufa: Indeed. Thanks.