So the Republicans in the House of Representatives managed to squeeze through their repeal of Obamacare by the thinnest of margins of 217-213 even though it did not undergo any of the normal scrutiny that a major bill should receive. But we do know that it seeks to deprive many people of basic health care protections and is a huge siphoning of money from the poor to the rich.
Many are suggesting that this bill will not pass in the Senate in the current form but we have to remember that Republicans have the majority there too and one thing that you can be sure of is that while some senators talk as if they are independent thinkers (I am looking at you, John McCain and Lindsey Graham) when it comes down to voting they will cravenly follow the party line like the most extreme right-winger. So we are in dangerous territory, with only the filibuster standing in the way and that might be the next casualty.
Democrats are suggesting that this vote will harm Republicans in the 2018 mid-term elections but we should not be too sanguine about it. That election is a long way away and who knows what might intervene in the meantime to distract people. Maybe another war will be started, always a surefire way to get people to support the president.
Seth Meyers takes a closer look at what just went down.
Trevor Noah says that one of the abominations of this whole process is that they view this as a game that they need to ‘win’ and don’t give a damn about those who get shafted.
“Maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years”
Soon to be followed by “nobody knew it was this complicated!” when he discovers he doesn’t know shit as usual.
Mano Singham: That election is a long way away and who knows what might intervene in the meantime to distract people.
Especially if the Flat Earth Republican Party manages to convince its low-information, Fox-news-watching base that Obamacare was already failing badly and that they, geniuses though they be, were unable to fix it.
They are doing this through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the majority to avoid the filibuster.