The Daily Beast has a good run down of internal angst in the Republican Party over Trump’s decision to push for full repeal of Obamacare. On the face of it, this seems like a self-defeating decision, one made in the face of opposition from members of Trump’s own cabinet. After all, opposition to previous efforts to repeal Obamacare fuelled mass protests that roiled Trump’s presidency and were a major factor in the Democrats retaking the House in the midterms.
As The Daily Beast reports, Trump’s move is making Republicans nervous:
GOP officials couldn’t help but marvel at Trump’s inability to enjoy a rare grace period. “They are completely tone deaf,” texted one of the party’s top strategists. “How bout a few more victory laps on Mueller while you can get away with it? WTF is wrong with them?”
The report also contains this interesting tidbit:
One of the party’s top pollsters told The Daily Beast that private data showed that the issue of health care had likely cost Republicans more than a dozen seats in the House in 2018.
“It was mostly all pre-existing conditions,” the pollster said. “Where they got the big run. Where they went from 20 seats to winning 40 seats, was on health care.
Politico is reporting that “The Trump administration’s surprising move to invalidate Obamacare on Monday came despite the opposition of two key cabinet secretaries: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Bill Barr.”
All of which bolsters my confidence that 2020 will be about health care.
