Pierce: Every Republican Supports This Madman Initiative

[babylonsister]

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a12846097/republicans-support-trump-obamacare-assault/

Every Republican Supports This Madman Initiative
There's not an inch of space between Paul Ryan and Donald Trump on this one.
By Charles P. Pierce
Oct 13, 2017


I was going to wait for Courageous Man of Courage Bob Corker—or, perhaps, Principled Young Conservative Renegade Ben Sasse—to speak out boldly against the president*'s latest act of spiteful vengeance and encompassing cruelty. After all, Brave Bob Corker thinks the president* is a serious threat to blow up the world, and Principled Ben Sasse is deeply concerned about the mean things the president* said about NBC. Surely, they must see that his pointless assault on the sick and vulnerable is also of a piece with his unfitness for office, which weighs so heavily on their minds.

However, I checked with The Weather Channel, and they say a hard freeze in Hell is unlikely before Christmas. So here we are, via CNN:

Nearly 6 million enrollees, or 57%, qualify for the cost-sharing payments this year, according to the most recent data from the Department of Health and Human Services. The subsidies are expected to cost the federal government about $7 billion in 2017. The uncertainty over the subsidies' fate was a key reason that many insurers are substantially hiking their rates for 2018 -- some by more than 20%. Several major carriers dropped out of the individual market, unwilling to wait and see what Trump and congressional Republicans would do.

In other words, under this president*, the federal government has adopted the fundamental Trump Organization guiding principle of reneging on your debts. Good to know. You, there, with your dialysis treatments? You're no better than a glazier who did a little work at the Trump Taj Mahal.

Insurers have already signed contracts committing them to participating in 2018 and setting their rates. They must continuing offering the reduced deductibles and co-pays to eligible enrollees, but they won't be paid for them. That's why many asked for such large rate hikes. Obamacare enrollees eligible to receive premium subsidies, which are not affected by Trump's move, will continue to get discounted rates. But those who don't could see their costs skyrocket again next year.

In fact, the Congressional Budget Office decided it couldn't wait for the Courageous and Principled Men of Courageous Principles to decide that decimating millions of lives because the previous guy made a mug out of you at a formal dinner party is evidence of a seriously warped mind that shouldn't be within an area code of actual power. So the CBO decided to remind them—and us—what a vicious bit of business this is. From Josh's joint:

The CBO found that the move would cause premiums for people whose care is supported by the payments to climb 20 percent higher by 2018 and 25 percent higher by 2020. They also estimate that the move would increase the federal deficit by $194 billion dollars by 2026, and it would lead to 5 percent of the U.S. population having no access to a non-group insurer. The deficit would increase, the CBO explained, because insurers would compensate for the lost subsidies by raising premiums across the board, forcing more people to depend on government tax credits.

The important thing to remember here, if you're commenting on the obvious fact that this action borders somewhat on the sociopathic, is that it has the unanimous support of the Republican Party, inside the Congress and out. Speaker Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver, is all-in, and so is his caucus, including the Freedom Caucus maenads who very likely are dancing naked and tossing peeled grapes into each other's mouths.

This is a philosophical revulsion against the very idea of a social safety net. The president* may be acting out of id-based contempt and bone-deep ignorance. But the support he's getting for his actions from all the people who otherwise are laughing at him behind his back and hoping that he doesn't start World War III in such a way that it can be hung on them in the next election is deliberate and calculated. It is a premeditated catastrophe visited on people whom Paul Ryan believes in the darkness of his soul and in the shadows of his mind do not deserve the help of the government of which they are a part. They just found a useful hatchetman to serve an agenda of ruthless sadism.

[NBachers]

1. "an agenda of ruthless sadism"

"an agenda of ruthless sadism"

[gademocrat7]

2. So true.

[Duppers]

3. Great article.

[pat_k]

4. Law is irrelevant when the executive functions that implement law are destroyed.

It's doesn't matter that much of DT's "legislative agenda" has been derailed. The evil and/or incompetent people he has appointed are destroying executive functions at every level. Law is irrelevant when the executive branch is too dysfunctional to implement the law.

As long as the crony capitalists, anti-government reactionaries, and right-wing religious zealots he's elevated to positions of power are given free reign to do their worst, they'll continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that the guy in the Oval Office is a dangerously delusional psychopath hellbent on providing how "powerful" he is to the world. They know how dangerous he is. Perhaps they think they can keep him "under control" somehow. They can't.

[smirkymonkey]

5. K&R

I just woke up out of a nightmare about Trump. Hating him with every fiber of my being. I am so sick of it. I have forgotten what it is like to wake up and not be fearful or angry.

[Garrett78]

6. And yet the Republican electorate will blame Democrats.

Democrats must take control of Congress and push for single payer.

[malaise]

7. And is sworn to secrecy

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029713092

[Orrex]

8. I have stated it from the beginning:

Trump is advancing the GOP agenda on all fronts; he has done absolutely nothing that is contrary to Republican goals, and they will ride his crazy train as long as they can.

Even after he crashes and burns (or, as I hope, he has a massive stroke on live tv and collapses into a heap while pissing and shitting himself), the Republicans will have gained tremendously from his time in office. They have absolutely no incentive to rein him in.