When Obama and the Democrats pushed through ObamaCare despite massive public opposition, Republicans exploited that by promising to repeal ObamaCare. In four consecutive elections, voters rewarded them for that promise, culminating in the 2016 election of a president pledged to sign repeal into law.
And then some Congressional Republicans began to break ranks, defying President Trump and revealing that they were admirers of ObamaCare and would resist repeal or even any substantial change in the law.
In part, they submitted to the intimidation of pro-ObamaCare protest mobs. Courage has never been a strong point of “moderate” Republicans.
However, the Republicans-in-name-only (RINO’s) needed little persuasion. As part of the Washington establishment, they never really opposed ObamaCare. It made government bigger, more powerful and more expensive. It reduced our freedom. It was everything that the Washington crowd sees as good, and a long-awaited addition to the “swamp” against which Trump campaigned so successfully.
If they had wanted to carry out their promises of repeal, they could have fought back against the propaganda campaign in which the media praised ObamaCare. They could have pointed out that millions of people lost their insurance policies and that tens of millions live in counties where policies are not offered or where a single insurance company has a monopoly. They could have pointed to the skyrocketing premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. They could have pointed to the growing cost to the taxpayer. And they could have pointed out that Democratic plans to “fix” ObamaCare require taking away more of our money and more of our freedom. That would have been a powerful message on the failure of ObamaCare, putting up truth against the media’s fake news.
Instead they praised ObamaCare and vowed to protect it against President Trump and a majority of Congressional Republicans. When Ted Cruz enraged the establishment and the media with an amendment to make more significant cutbacks in ObamaCare in order to bring down premiums, that became just one more reason for these establishment senators to vote no.
ObamaCare was the first big test for the Trump agenda. The coalition of RINO’s and Democrats who defeated the President are hoping this gives them the momentum needed to crush his entire congressional agenda. No tax reform. No border wall. No expanded deportations. No protection against terrorists. No budget cuts. No more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court.
Perhaps grass roots pressure from conservatives will allow Trump to win some congressional victories, but it will be a long and difficult fight every time. The only way to get Congress to participate in “draining the swamp” will be the replace the RINO’s and some Democrats, starting with the 2018 elections and continuing in 2020. GOP Senators Jeff Flake and Dean Heller, two of the least reliable RINO’s, are up for reelection next year. There are also ten Democrats in states that voted for Trump. Replacing most or all of those twelve with constitutional conservatives would be a huge step toward having a Congress that will work with President Trump to carry out his mandate.
Your signature on FedUp PAC’s “Fight, Lead, or Get Out of the Way” petition to the GOP leadership in Congress will help us push them toward vigorous defense of and support for President Trump.
