(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Republicans In Congress Want Us To Believe That "MAGAcaid" Votes Are Based On Fear of Trump. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-02
Everybody is reporting that evil people like Senator Lisa Murkowski who voted for “MAGAcaid” (The new MAGA version of Medicaid — No One Gets Health Care!) because of the fear inspired by Donald Trump. That’s not the entire reason for MAGAcaid. I’m with Digby on this one:
x One more time, folks. This isn't a Trump thing. “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”--Vice President Dick Cheney "They'll get over it." - Mitch McConnell This is all performative nonsense meant to secure tax cuts and keep working America poor, sick and desperate. It's their raison de'etre. — digby (@digby56.bsky.social) 2025-07-01T18:25:42.200Z
While some element of fear of Trump supporters may have played a role in MAGAcaid, what’s really going on is that the current GOP is filled with people who simply hate to pay taxes for the social safety net. Full stop. The legacy media still talks about — cough, cough — “moderates” in Congress, but I’m with Catherine Rampell of now MSNBC: GOP moderates on the Hill are like Bigfoot sightings. There is no proof they exist.
At one time before Reagan showed up, there were what was called “liberal Republicans.” Most folks just called them moderates. But the GOP moderates of days of yore who helped with the passage of some of the New Deal bills or Civil Rights legislation have been EXTINCT for decades.
The Overton Window has been dragged so far to the right that conservatives are now considered moderates by our lazy, corrupt, and stupid legacy media. What we have is a center left Democratic Party versus reactionaries/fascists. The buzzword of “centrists” ends up describing what are really conservatives.
And the conservatives of the GOP are not any better than the fascists now running the party.
Look at how they are openly mocking those dependent upon Medicare. We have Joni Ernst saying, “Everyone dies! Grow up!” The Grim Reaper McConnell says “They’ll get over it.” Shit. He’s been for throwing off the half million people in Kentucky who got health insurance through the ACA since it first passed. Rand Paul didn’t vote for MAGAcaid because it wasn’t MAGA enough (Absolutely NO HEALTHCARE FOR ANYBODY!).
The Republicans in Congress are greedy, selfish people who live comfortable lives and want the big payoff when they retire. They want those lobbying firm jobs or seats on corporate boards. And deep down they HATE paying taxes to give people “free stuff!”
My Lord how my deceased Republican uncle would go on about deadbeats getting “free stuff.”
Political analysts may wonder at how so called politically savvy Republicans could vote for MAGAcaid, but deep down in the Republican DNA is the acceptance that government is just bad and should be done away with. Yes, their constituents will suffer, but as Digby points out, Republican senators and congressmen believe they can lie with the same impunity as Trump does. They just have to will into existence that they are “reforming” Medicaid and all the idiots among the American voters will buy their lies.
And if that doesn’t work, you will hear the likes of Murkowski claiming that they had to vote for MAGAcaid because they feared Trump! In other words, it’s not their fault. It’s Trump’s! Murkowski is already saying stupid, cowardly shit like that.
That line of so called reasoning might work with MAGA voters because they have given up on logic and reasoning. But I don’t think that will sell to all those people who wanted their eggs to be cheaper. Having your elderly parents be forced to move back home from a nursing home isn’t go to make life cheaper or more affordable.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/2/2331260/-Republicans-In-Congress-Want-Us-To-Believe-That-MAGAcaid-Votes-Are-Based-On-Fear-of-Trump?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
