Why The GOP Is So Hell
Congressional Republicans and President Trump seem hell-bent on pushing through a bill to replace parts of the Affordable Care Act. âDuh â you say  âthe Republicans have been promising to repeal Obamacare since literally the day it was passed.â
Throughout his campaign  Trump promised to repeal Obamacare  although he at times also made outlandish pledges about how he would replace it with a bill that offered coverage to all Americans  which the legislation emerging from the Republican Congress is unlikely to do.
And crucially  a recent Survey Monkey poll conducted for FiveThirtyEight showed that while 89 percent of core  Trump  supporters like how the president is handling health care  only 58 percent of âreluctant  Trump  supporters â feel the same way. These reluctant voters put  Trump  over the top in the Electoral College in 2016 and will play a major role in determining the GOPâs fortunes in 2018  and 40 percent of them disapprove of how  Trump  has handled health care.
Drutman added  âRepublicans understand that Democrats are going to be charged up regardless of whether or not they repeal Obamacare  because âimpeach  Trump .ââ
The current GOP rhetoric about Obamacare â that its markets in many states are collapsing and that therefore Republicans must enact a bill reforming the legislation and rescuing Americans who may be left without coverage â is misleading. While  Trump  and others in  his  party are eager to paint Obamacare as collapsing under its own weight  some insurance companies are publicly saying that one of main reasons they are abandoning the Obamacare marketplaces is that they are not sure that  the Trump administration  will take steps to support  them . And the Republicansâ AHCA bill includes cuts to Medicaid  which has nothing to do with the Obamacare marketplaces.
âConservative politics is now less about ideas or accomplishments than it is about making the right enemies cry out in anguish â wrote Charles Sykes  a longtime conservative radio talk show host  in a recent New York Times op-ed titled âIf Liberals Hate Him  Then  Trump  Must Be Doing Something Right.â (Sykes  who ended his radio show in December and is now a regular commentator on MSNBC  is anti-Trump and leery of conservatives who back the president.)
That is obviously a negative view of todayâs Republican Party. But from 2009-16  one of the core organizing principles of the GOP was opposing Obama. And  Trump  has basked at times in reversing the policies of  his  predecessor  holding high-profile celebrations in the White House Rose Garden after the House passed the AHCA and when  he  announced that the U.S. was withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement. At the latter event   Trump  also knocked liberal elites abroad  making sure to emphasize  he  was reversing Obamaâs climate policies because  he  cared about people in âPittsburgh  not Paris.â
Those competing incentives that are making life difficult for the party at large are reflected more narrowly in what is happening right now in Washington  where Senate Republicans are trying to write a bill that will get 50 of the chamberâs 52 party members behind it. There is a divide between more moderate Republicans  like Alaskaâs Lisa Murkowski  who want to leave some of the Medicaid expansion in place  versus those like Utahâs Mike Lee  who favor a more comprehensive repeal of Obamacare. That kind of conservative-moderate divide is common on many bills  but on health care  there is also a divide between people like Lee and those like  Trump  and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Itâs not clear that  Trump  or McConnell have clearly defined views on health care. So getting a bill through â but not a âmeanâ bill â would both accomplish a key party goal and potentially minimize the political fallout. In contrast  Lee has very specific health policy goals. And he may prefer no bill at all to one that he feels does not repeal enough of Obamacare.
Congressional Republicans and  [TGT]  seem hell-bent on pushing through a bill to replace parts of the Affordable Care Act. âDuh â you say  âthe Republicans have been promising to repeal Obamacare since literally the day it was passed.â
Throughout his campaign   [TGT]  promised to repeal Obamacare  although  [TGT]  at times also made outlandish pledges about how  [TGT]  would replace it with a bill that offered coverage to all Americans  which the legislation emerging from the Republican Congress is unlikely to do.
And crucially  a recent Survey Monkey poll conducted for FiveThirtyEight showed that while  [TGT] supporters like how  [TGT]  is handling health care  only 58 percent of âreluctant   [TGT]   supporters â feel the same way. These reluctant voters put   [TGT] over the top in the Electoral College in 2016 and will play a major role in determining the GOPâs fortunes in 2018  and 40 percent of them disapprove of how   [TGT] has handled health care.
Drutman added  âRepublicans understand that Democrats are going to be charged up regardless of whether or not they repeal Obamacare  because âimpeach   [TGT] 
The current GOP rhetoric about Obamacare â that its markets in many states are collapsing and that therefore Republicans must enact a bill reforming the legislation and rescuing Americans who may be left without coverage â is misleading. While   [TGT] and others in  his  party are eager to paint Obamacare as collapsing under its own weight  some insurance companies are publicly saying that one of main reasons they are abandoning the Obamacare marketplaces is that they are not sure that   [TGT] will take steps to support   [TGT]  . And the Republicansâ AHCA bill includes cuts to Medicaid  which has nothing to do with the Obamacare marketplaces.
âConservative politics is now less about ideas or accomplishments than it is about making the right enemies cry out in anguish â wrote Charles Sykes  a longtime conservative radio talk show host  in a recent New York Times op-ed titled âIf Liberals Hate Him  Then   [TGT] Must Be Doing Something Right.â (Sykes  who ended  [TGT]  radio show in December and is now a regular commentator on MSNBC  is anti-Trump and leery of conservatives who back the president.)
That is obviously a negative view of todayâs Republican Party. But from 2009-16  one of the core organizing principles of the GOP was opposing Obama. And   [TGT] has basked at times in reversing the policies of   [TGT]   predecessor  holding high-profile celebrations in the White House Rose Garden after the House passed the AHCA and when   [TGT]   announced that the U.S. was withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement. At the latter event    [TGT] also knocked liberal elites abroad  making sure to emphasize   [TGT]   was reversing Obamaâs climate policies because   [TGT]   cared about people in âPittsburgh  not Paris.â
Those competing incentives that are making life difficult for the party at large are reflected more narrowly in what is happening right now in Washington  where Senate Republicans are trying to write a bill that will get 50 of the chamberâs 52 party members behind it. There is a divide between more moderate Republicans  like Alaskaâs Lisa Murkowski  who want to leave some of the Medicaid expansion in place  versus those like Utahâs Mike Lee  who favor a more comprehensive repeal of Obamacare. That kind of conservative-moderate divide is common on many bills  but on health care  there is also a divide between people like Lee and those like   [TGT] and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Itâs not clear that  Trump  or McConnell have clearly defined views on health care. So getting a bill through â but not a âmeanâ bill â would both accomplish a key party goal and potentially minimize the political fallout. In contrast  Lee has very specific health policy goals. And he may prefer no bill at all to one that he feels does not repeal enough of Obamacare.