pushed to give details on the
policy agenda he could only
muster an irrelevant talking
point, “Well, it’s whether you
have full repeal, whether you
have partial repeal, whether
you have the basis of it. It’s
spread all over.” Others talk
about lowering premiums and
providing greater access to
healthcare, yet Lisa Murkowski
(R-AK) is not convinced that
the House bill achieves any of
those goals and the Senate bill
will be quite similar.
through their own obstruction
and rhetoric, and President
Trump’s refusal to be
“betrayed”. No matter how hor-
rific the consequences of the
bill, no Republican wants to be
the first to take a stand against
Trump, or no one that could put
the bill’s passage in jeopardy.
If one Senator decides to jump
ship, the Congressional sup-
port for such a toxic bill might
start to fall away. However,
Trump’s popularity with the
base and the near decade of
anti-Obamacare rhetoric mean
that the backlash would have
to be monumental for Republi-
cans to consider voting against
both their own mandate and
the loyalty obsessed leader of
the country.
Whatever Republicans attempt
to push through on a Senate
vote will be the result of eight
years of opposition rather than
progress. At this point they
cannot back down and vote
against Obamacare repeal,
7