This is a big win for the resistance.
This is a win that honestly seemed impossible on November 8, 2016.
With a majority in the House and the Senate, and a dim-bulb President* ready to sign whatever they put in front of him, the whole country braced itself for an onslaught of zombie-eyed granny starving legislation that the Ayn Rand / tpotty / faux-libertarian wing of the Republicon party had been dreaming of for eight years.
And first up in the batter’s box was repeal of Obamacare.
They expected to do it quickly. Expected to do it on day one. It was going to be the first of many demoralizing victories for the Dark Side. We were supposed to watch helplessly as Rcons dismantled the Obama legacy brick by brick.
That’s not how it happened.
For some reason, God only knows why, the Blue Team looked at the impossible odds and said it ain’t over until it’s over.
We marched in the millions.
We jammed the Capitol switchboard.
We overflowed the town hall meetings.
We refused to give up without a fight.
And for those who do not understand human nature, a miracle happened today.
But for those who do understand human nature, we always had a chance.
Because just as many people here can’t let go of the primary wars, the Republicon Party’s factions are still fighting the primary wars also.
Remember that ZEGS didn’t want to be Speaker in 2015. He watched the t-potty renegades and the FreeDumb Caucus push St. John of Orange out of the Speaker's chair, and was left holding the bag when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy wimped out of taking the job.
ZEGS had to have his arm twisted to even consider running for Speaker, with pleas that nobody else could unite the fractured caucus. In the private caucus vote the night before, 43 people voted against him, but once they got in front of the C-SPAN cameras only 9 voted against him.
He kept a low profile during the election, barely hiding his contempt for DJT and refusing to endorse until he absolutely had no choice left. After the big 2016 election win, the RWNJ wing of the party were feeling their oats and worried that he would not support their President* strongly enough. There were rumors that ZEGS could not get 218 votes to be reinstalled as Speaker, but he was elected again.
And then the fun began.
Ryan pulled his old economic plan out of mothballs with great excitement, thinking the day had come. Putting up with the election of DJT would be worth it if it meant his Ayn Rand inspired budget could finally be passed and his legacy as young gun policy wonk would be fulfilled. But winning was easy, young man. Governing’s harder.
Speaker ZEGS found out that winning* the election didn’t end the split between the R factions, it burst it wide open. The hard core types were gloating—their guy in the White House was not known for compromise and neither were they. Not one piece of legislation they expected would be a January cakewalk for DJT to sign on Day One managed to materialize. And the most obvious instance of that was the Obamacare repeal “and replace”.
When all they had to do was vote for repeal, that was an easy meaningless vote, knowing Obama would simply veto it. But when they realized their constituents were serious that “replace” had to be part of the deal, they were in trouble. Everyone had a different idea of what was wrong with the bill. They had spent seven years complaining, but when put up or shut up time came, they could not agree on a plan.
Speaker ZEGS was cold and shamed, lying naked on the floor. Illusion never changed into something real. Even with the supposedly popular President* pushing as hard as he could, making calls, visiting reluctant members, lying about picking up support and turning no votes to yes, claiming there was no need for Plan B, bringing all his so-called dealmaking skill to the table, Ryan and DJT couldn’t get it done.
When the vote was postponed last night we all got excited, but then this morning I woke up to hear Thom Hartmann explaining a last minute deal DJT tried to make with the Koch Brothers.
I was worried for a few hours that DJT had figured out how politics really works: congress critters will only vote for bills that will help them hold their seats, and won’t vote for bills that threaten their incumbency.
And what helps them hold their seats?
Money.
Usually R members are rock solid in following party discipline because they fear losing access to RNC funding, and fear losing SuperPac funding, and fear that the party will give money to primary opponents. It does not matter what the voters want, they will ALWAYS do what the money men want.
Paul Ryan even cut some people off from his SuperPac yesterday to put the fear of God into some wavering members, and let the rest of the no voters sleep on it last night in the hope that they would be afraid of being cut off today.
But that did not work this time, because there was other, bigger, money in play.
DJT threatened to primary people unless they voted yes, the RNC threatened to pull financial support from people unless they voted yes, Ryan pulled his money too, and some started to waiver.
But there are people on the red team who despise DJT as much as they despise giving people health care. And some of them are extremely influential people with access to the party’s largest donors.
According to Hartmann, the Koch Brothers offered substitute campaign funding to Freedom Caucus members who promised to vote no and hold out for something more conservative!
So the scary part was the apparently DJT finally figured this out yesterday and the art of the deal maker did the only thing he knows how to do. Find out what the other guy wants and give it to him.
The Koch brothers are the largest leaseholders in the Keystone pipeline, so this morning DJT upped the ante by signing approval for the pipeline, in a direct attempt to tell the Koch Brothers OK, I gave you what you wanted, now give me what I want!
But DJT found out he was playing in the big leagues. He found out that political deal making is not like business deal making because more than money is involved. There are ideologues who will not budge. Money alone won’t buy them.
Turns out Thom Hartmann put the exact rant that woke me up this morning on YouTube. I’ll let him tell it:
We have so many strange bedfellows in this fight. The Koch Brothers had the chutzpah to take the pipeline deal and STILL not release the FreeDumb Caucus votes! Oh, snap! DJT was outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned! But he didn’t turn it around like Yorktown. He just went whimpering to defeat.
And in spite of how shocked we were on November 8 and January 20, and how gloating and boastful and smarmy the MAGAts were in asking “what are they resisting?” the Resistance does seem to riding a wave of pushback against the DJT agenda, as he is thwarted in some key campaign promises even the deplorables will have to notice.
Hillary is not locked up. Mexico is not going to pay for the wall. The Muslim Ban was slapped down by the courts. And now he has failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, and apparently won’t try again for the foreseeable future, because he just figured out it is too complicated to pull off in two months. Who knew it would be so complicated. Everyone, Donald. Everyone but you.
The cherry on top is that apparently when he was on the phone with WaPo’s Bob Costa, giving him the inside scoop that the bill was being pulled, DJT claimed to be unaware that there were ideological factions at each other’s throats within the R party! This fool is President of the United States, people. That’s how little he knows (or cares) about how the game is played, the art of the trade, how the sausage gets made. #FireTheFool
Speaker ZEGS overreaching. Folks waking up to realize they didn’t want their health care taken away when the Rcons didn’t have anything to put in its place. Hundreds of people screaming at town halls. Thousands and thousands of people jamming the Capitol switchboard. The Koch Brothers showing DJT how political hardball is played—take the guy’s deal and then vote against him anyway.
That’s how Obamacare got saved.
For now.
There will be more sabotage: endless GOPropaganda and blaming Democrats and price gouging by insurance companies and heartless lack of action by Republicon governors as Rs continue to nip at the heels of the ACA to weaken it as much as they can.
So this isn’t over, and we are in it for the long haul and we have many more battles to come.
But we won today and deserve to enjoy it for at least a while before we get back out there for the next round of fighting.
LMM has been all over this diary for a reason and I am going to let him give the last word to my fellow activists, my fellow resistors.
I know that we can win.
I know that greatness lies in you.
But remember from here on in…
History has its eyes on you.
we won! we won! we won! we won! the world turned upsi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ide DOWN!!!
Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Mar 23: Rcons hate Obamacare for selfish, greedy, racist reasons, but not enough to fix it.
Mar 22: Neil Gorsuch’s attempt to seem wide-eyed and innocent makes him look even worse
Mar 21: Using Trump as a bad example—no Trump Sleep, Trump Food or other Trump habits
Mar 20: Is DJT a compulsive liar, or out of touch with reality? Five scenarios...
Mar 19: A budget is a moral document—a statement of public compassion
Mar 18: Ribbons: CBO scorers, Senate Intelligence Committee, Judge Derrick Watson
Mar 17: They know DJT is lying. Here’s one sad reason they follow him anyway.
Mar 16: Mick Mulvaney's ignorant, callous, evil, Republicon definition of compassion
Mar 15: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points re DJT 2005 tax return
Mar 14: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points about Obamacare repeal
Mar 13: Culture, Civilization, Rural America, Working Families—the missing word is a “tell”
Mar 12: The Rcon definition of Christians is as wrong as the Rcon definition of Democrats.
Mar 11: Ribbons: A Day Without a Woman, Native Nations Rise, Voting Rights Act still lives
Mar 10: How to talk to people who have trouble understanding actions have consequences
Mar 9: Where’s the fire? The real reason Rs are trying to rush TrumpCare through Congress
Mar 8: Message Discipline 101: TrumpCare, RyanCare, GOPCare, DonTCare—what’s in a name?
Mar 7: How very hard it is for a woman to go a day without paid (or unpaid) work
Mar 6: Can DJT really be stumbling into the exact investigation we want?
Mar 5: How is it even possible that deplorables see a man of faith when they look at DJT?
Mar 4: Blue Ribbon Winners—Chris Hayes, Malcolm Nance, Cierra Fields
Mar 3: I’m glad Bannon, Conway, Carson, Sessions, Miller, et al. are in the DJT Administration
Mar 2: “In every major fire it always starts with smoke. And smoke is what kills you.”
Mar 1: Am I the only one whose skin crawled at the Carryn Owens BIRGing moment?
FEBRUARY
Feb 28: Spinspotting 101: Special Prosecutor for what? It’s so easy to answer that question
Feb 27: Spinspotting 101: I’ve seen no evidence because I haven’t looked for any evidence!
Feb 26: If Neil Gorsuch were a man of integrity, he would decline the S.Ct. appointment
Feb 25: True Blue Ribbons: Russia Flag trolling, Dixie Swastika grabbing, District Days demonstrating
Feb 24: There is no such thing as a compassionate conservative
Feb 23: Chief of Staff, Nat’l Security Advisor, GOP Head, President Bannon—too many hats!
Feb 22: DJT has a few questions for you—SMURF THIS POLL!
Feb 21: The end of “access journalism” means it’s time to #sendtheinterns
Feb 20: KAC lying low for now… can we banish her (and all her ilk) from the airwaves completely?
Feb 19: DeVos cartoon, Ruby Bridges, unearned unhappiness and childlike faith
Feb 18: Blue Ribbon Winners—Vice Adm. Harward, Melissa McCarthy, and intel whistleblowers
Feb 17: And Ain’t I an American?
Feb 16: Please tell your family and friends—If you regret your DJT vote, speak up NOW
Feb 15: R-supported forced childbirth laws deny the autonomy of women
Feb 14: What did the president know? Everything. When did he know it? From the beginning.
Feb 13: Coping with The Madness of King Donald by hoping political comedy will save us
Feb 12: The Poverty and Justice Bible
Feb 11: Blue Ribbon Winners—Swastika removers, Ninth Circuit Panel, and the Persisterhood!
Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”
Feb 9: Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?
Feb 8: We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you
Feb 7: Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE
Feb 6: Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right. BRAVO!
Feb 5: These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs
Feb 4: Blue Ribbon Winners—Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers
Feb 3: Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be
Feb 2: Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)
Feb 1: July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010
JANUARY
Jan 31: If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist
Jan 30: Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons
Jan 29: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Jan 28: Blue Ribbon Winners—Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...
Jan 27: I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut
Jan 26: Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor? Here’s how to start
Jan 25: The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out
Jan 24: #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?
Jan 23: Spy the Lie 101: How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!
Jan 22: Why I prayed for the President* today
Jan 21: The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds
Inaugural (!) diary: Stop expecting Republicons to make sense