Burst your bubble: what conservative media is saying about 'Trumpcare'
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Version 0 of 1. Donald Trump has repeatedly characterized the Affordable Care Act – popularly known as Obamacare – as a “disaster”. In attempting to modify it, he may have created a disaster of his own. It’s difficult to overstate the vehemence with which conservatives have condemned House speaker Paul Ryan’s proposal to replace the ACA. This criticism has come from every corner and sub-faction of the right, and it’s pretty hard to find a conservative who likes the plan. Trump’s problem is that he has supported this effort on a totemic issue which helped breathe life into the Tea Party movement. Once again we may ask: how many more conservative opinion leaders can he afford to alienate? Conservatives: Paul Ryan’s Healthcare Plan Replaces Obamacare with Obamacare-Lite Publication: Breitbart Author: Sean Moran is Breitbart’s policy reporter, covering Capitol Hill for the alt-light set. Why you should read it: The epicenter of the Trumpcare freakout might be Breitbart. The fact that it is devoting extensive coverage to a bill in Congress, rather than “social justice warriors” or immigrant crime, should tell you how totemic this issue is. In this piece, Moran gives lots of space to conservative legislators who are planning to vote with Democrats to kill a bill backed by Trump and Pence. His reporting also works hard to put the blame on Ryan, even though the White House has been promoting the bill. It sure makes you wonder about the former Breitbart CEO Steve Bannon’s private thoughts on the proposed Obamacare “fix”. Extract: “But conservatives remain unconvinced by the Republican leadership’s plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. Avik Roy states, ‘Expanding subsidies for high earners, and cutting health coverage off from the working poor: it sounds like a left-wing caricature of mustache-twirling, top-hatted Republican fat cats. But not today.’” This Is How You Got Trumpcare: Republicans Don’t Know What They Believe Any More Publication: RedState Author: Patterico, AKA Patrick Frey, is a longtime conservative blogger who, last year, scored a slot on the front page of RedState. (A previous stint as a Los Angeles Times blogger ended ignominiously when Frey was found to be sock-puppeting on the paper’s comment threads). Why you should read it: RedState was one of a few sites that toed an odd line during the election by attacking Trump from a Tea Party-like position. (Its relationship with him soured in 2015 after he attacked the Fox anchor Megyn Kelly, and the site disinvited him from its hitherto influential annual gathering). Like most movement conservative outlets, RedState is hopping mad that Obamacare has not simply been repealed. Frey’s basic critique – that the Republicans have moved left to compromise with the Democrats – will seem bizarre to most progressives, but it also shows how difficult this might be for the president, and the Congress, to explain to parts of their base. Extract: “But Republicans don’t believe in the free market any more. They believe in the same welfare-state principles as the Democrats, just on a slightly smaller scale. And so, to modify a popular saying: This is how you got TrumpCare.” Congressional Republicans’ Obamacare Replacement Won’t Cut It Publication: National Review Author: Michael Tanner is a senior fellow at the arch-libertarian Cato Institute. He carries out research for the thinktank into domestic public policy. He is a sharp critic of anything that looks like economic redistribution, and unsurprisingly, he has taken a dim view of Obamacare. Why you should read it: Tanner offers the standard conservawonk case against Obamacare, which, given the unpopularity of the package, and repeated premium shocks, is worth reading. He then points out that the mooted replacement is a mess: it’s a policy failure on the terms that GOP congresspersons set, and it’s politically ham-fisted. Extract: “If you want to see political malpractice in action, you don’t have to read Donald Trump’s latest tweet – just look at the mess Republicans have made of repealing and replacing Obamacare. Given seven years to come up with a replacement for one of the most poorly designed (and most scrutinized) laws in modern history, Republicans somehow managed to botch both the politics and policy.” Why everyone hates the GOP’s new health plan Publication: The Week Author: Damon Linker used to edit the Christian outlet First Things, and used to write speeches for Rudy Giuliani. But he has always been an independent-minded conservative. Back in the Bush years, he wrote a book warning about the “theocons” who wanted to dissolve the links between church and state, and last time he appeared in this column, he was arguing that Steve Bannon might qualify as a “theofascist”. Why you should read it: Linker dispassionately lays out the reasons why this bill has alienated absolutely everyone, whether they are on the left or the right, and he repeatedly characterizes the Republican party that produced it as “pathetic”. Part of the reason for the mess, according to Linker, is that Donald Trump and House GOP members have radically different ideas about healthcare – by the warped standards of Republicans, Trump is a “radical leftist” on this issue. Extract: “One reason many rank-and-file Republicans and conservative-movement intellectuals originally denounced Trump as a closet liberal is that he once supported a single-payer system – an option so far out in the direction of outright socialism that even Barack Obama and his Democratic majorities didn’t dare seriously consider it back in 2009. Trump doesn’t explicitly advocate such a radical reform today, but he alone among leading Republicans still talks in terms of providing “insurance for everybody”. Trump and the Freedom Caucus may agree, for utterly mysterious reasons, that ObamaCare is an unmitigated ‘disaster’, but they agree about very little else. Bridging that gap may well prove impossible.” Let’s fully repeal ObamaCare, then have an open debate on how to replace it Publication: Fox News Author: Senator Rand Paul and representative Mark Meadows are influential small-government conservatives in their respective chambers. Paul failed in his bid to be the Republican presidential nominee, but he can still cause trouble for the president. Why you should read it: Conservatives have already come up with a bunch of insulting nicknames for the proposed healthcare package – like RyanCare and RinoCare – but these two have gone with “ObamaCare Lite”. They insist that tinkering with the current system is unacceptable, and even dishonourable, given that Republicans ran on repeal. They argue that the only way forward is a complete repeal and an “open debate” about a replacement. Given the size and intransigence of the GOP’s hardcore libertarian/Tea Party bloc, it’s hard not to read this piece as a threat. Extract: “Conservatives don’t want new taxes, new entitlements and an ‘ObamaCare Lite’ bill. If leadership insists on replacing ObamaCare with ObamaCare-lite, no repeal will pass.” |