Donald Trump just hung another albatross around the GOP’s neck

| 3:00 pm EDT April 4, 2019
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Imagine you’re the president, and you just survived – or at least survived the first wave of – a national scandal covered extensively in the media. You’re not out of the woods, but people may be inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt, because the economy is pretty good. Do you use this potential boost in the ratings to apologize to the country and then begin work on a project that would get lots of bipartisan support like spending on infrastructure, or do you chase after your accusers and decide to take healthcare from twenty million people? If you chose the first option, you’d probably be a better president than Donald Trump.

Trump’s own party tried to distance themselves from it immediately, forcing him to make the spectacularly stupid announcement that the GOP has a better and cheaper plan – they just won’t reveal it until after the 2020 election, hoping by then he’ll have the political capital to make good on his promise to repeal Obamacare, which he initially planned to do on day one of his administration. When McConnell announced that he was going to turn his back while Donald Trump trashed Obamacare, I said not to take it as a sign of Republicans doing the right thing. Yesterday, thanks to Nancy Pelosi, they added a bit more clarification to their official stance.

Pelosi called for a vote on a House resolution that admonished Trump’s attacks on the Affordable Care Act. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, passed overwhelmingly by 240-186. Only eight yes votes came from Republicans – and yes, the bill called for protecting those with preexisting conditions. The Republicans have spoken, making clear that while they may not work with Donald Trump to kill the ACA – at least not yet – they’re going to keep their mouths shut and fingers crossed while he does everything he can to undermine it.

Through their outright cowardice, House Republicans not only helped push healthcare to the forefront in the 2020 election, they’ve also put an albatross around their own necks. It’s imperative that Democrats unite on an improved healthcare system for voters in 2020, and vote out every last Republican who claims to protect preexisting conditions – they’re all lying.