There have always been two goals for Republicans in health care reform. One is to destroy, not only ObamaCare, but also Medicare, Medicaid, and the rest of the New Deal’s safety net, and give all the money they save into defence spending and tax cuts for the 1%.
The other goal is to survive the first goal. Medicare and Medicaid, and now the ACA as well, are very popular, even with the Republican base. Destroying them will generate major outrage, leading to election losses, leading to a loss of power for the GOP — something they will not tolerate.
And, as has been mentioned by many a Kossack, The Republicans OWN this. They can’t blame Democrats, Hillary, or anyone else for the catastrophe that will happen with the passage of this legislation.
But they have a plan. A cynical, soulless, despicable plan.
Blame other Republicans.
“I tried, folks! I tried to stop it, or to make some changes, but I couldn’t. The Senate produced the plan without my input! The House was supposed to revise it! And Trump — Trump could have vetoed it! It’s everybody else’s fault!”, will be the speech from every elected Republican in Congress. Fox will back them up with looks at this vote and that vote, until the populace doesn’t know who to blame.
Don’t let them.
Keep track of every vote. Make sure everybody knows, from now until 2018, about every “yes” vote made by every Senator and Congressman for this monstrosity, and make sure they see what the Republicans are trying to do.