Republicans and Republican wonks are waking up to the nightmare that is Donald Trump as their nominee—apart from all that racism stuff. Their problem is that he's not really serious on that policy stuff, particularly on the thing they've been screaming about for the past six years: Obamacare and healthcare reform.
Donald Trump’s inconsistencies on health policy are baffling experts and deepening the doubts that conservatives have about his candidacy. […]
“I’d say it’s still pretty uncertain,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, a longtime Republican health policy adviser. “What he has said in the debates isn’t what’s on his website, which makes you wonder which version you should pay attention to.”
One of Trump’s most prominent refrains on healthcare is that he “will not let people die on the streets,” adding, “We gotta take care of people that can’t take care of themselves.”
James Capretta, a healthcare expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said Trump has not backed up those slogans with policy.
“I think it’s wrong for Trump to suggest that somehow he’s got some idea to try to take care of people on healthcare in a way that other Republicans have been negligent on,” Capretta said. “Beyond asserting that he wants to do this, the explicit plan to try to do something about it has been really inadequate to the task.”
And they're just realizing this? Let's posit this idea. All of the conservative opposition to Obamacare had pretty much nothing to do with the actual reforms enacted by the law. The fact that Republicans—who have been foaming at the mouth over the law for six long years—have remained so adamantly opposed to it had a lot more do to with the president who passed it than what was actually in it.
Likewise, the Republican base’s fervor for Trump has absolutely nothing to do with his vision for the nation's healthcare system.
The only policy proposals coming from Trump that the Republican base cares about have more to do with building walls, blocking immigration, and deporting the brown people. Because, news flash Republican establishment, you've allowed the dark underbelly of your party to prevail. Visceral hatred of this black president is pretty much the only litmus test the Republican party has had for its elected officials since 2010.
The GOP establishment's problem with Trump goes far, far deeper than his policy inconsistencies. That's the ugly reality they need to wake up to.