I mentioned earlier this week that a big part of Trump’s MO is firing off ten flares, letting everyone react to everything and then hanging back to decide on his own timetable which of those flares he’s actually going to follow through on. It’s critical to take back that initiative. When Trump and Republicans have a trifecta there’s little direct impact Democrats can have on any legislative decision. Lots of things are important, damaging. Go after things that are clearly unpopular. Political power is unitary. Landing a punch on one policy front reduces the White House’s ability to act everywhere else.
One thing that we are absolutely sure is going to happen is an extension of the 2017 tax cuts. This is a dead certainty. There are already rumblings that the Trump White House will cut the Affordable Care Act proper to get the money. But they are openly saying they will cut Medicaid to do it. (In the Trumpite taxonomy, defense, Medicare and Social Security are supposedly off limits.) But here’s the thing. With Medicaid expansion, Medicaid is functionally part of the ACA. Maybe some policy wonk will tell you they’re separate things. That’s silly. They’re not. Don’t listen to that silly person. Cutting Medicaid — through whatever means you choose to do that — is cutting the ACA. That’s a big reason why there are currently a historically low number of people uninsured. Donald Trump is going to hand out tax cuts and pay for it by cutting the ACA. Simple.
