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The Republicans’ Political Suicide

Republicans had it all: Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court. Then they floated a “repeal and replace” plan to get rid of Obamacare, apparently an act of political suicide. Healthcare is the new third rail in American politics.

Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."

11 Comments. Leave new

  • alex_the_tired
    March 17, 2017 7:52 AM

    1. Trumpcare is/will be a disaster.
    2. The Republicans will, finally, have their moment of clarity.
    3. The Republicans will put though universal single-payer healthcare. (Remember when the Dems lost the South in the 1960s by voting for civil rights?)
    4. The Democrats will be confronted with the biggest nightmare of all: the Republicans were the ones who got. it. done. And the Democrats will spend the next generation trying to explain why they couldn’t.

    • Glenn
      March 17, 2017 9:57 AM

      The Democrats made their nut by moving ever to the right, but still a smidgen to the left of the Republicans.

      The Republicans, as a party, would destroy the Democrats if they reversed the field on the Democrats and left them hanging out overtly as the far right party.

      But then, the Democrats could have won the election if they played fair with Sanders, but the neocon party oligarchy would have lost and been dethroned.

      I think that both parties would rather lose their elections than suffer the reorganization of the players and policies within their parties.

      In my opinion, the “elected” are not the People’s representatives to the Power Elite, but representatives in service to the Power Elite and not in service to the people; the system is more autocratic than democratic, so the role switch won’t work out that way.

    • Whimsical
      March 20, 2017 6:55 AM

      3. The Republicans will put though universal single-payer healthcare. (Remember when the Dems lost the South in the 1960s by voting for civil rights?)

      BWHAhAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAH! *wipes tear from eye* Thanks Alex, I needed a good laugh.

      The reality is, even if it were possible to re-organize 1/6th of the U.S. economy in the absurdly short time frame you find acceptable, it will NEVER be the Republicans who put it through.

      Doing anything that “hurts” the 1% to benefit the 99% is anthemia to them both as they are now, and for the foreseeable future. The idea they are going to have a moment of “clarity” that will convince them otherwise is laughable on its face.

  • CrazyH
    March 17, 2017 10:35 AM

    Ted, methinks thou art an optimist. Nothing they’ve done so far has destroyed them. Ruin the economy, start unnecessary wars, ignore warnings about the biggest terrorist act on American soil. (then cynically turn around and use it to justify said wars) I’m pretty sure that Trump could get caught having sex with the occupant of Grant’s Tomb without it affecting his approval ratings.

    The GOPranos did paint themselves into a corner with this one, though. If they don’t dismantle the ACA, they will be failing to follow through on their biggest promises about their second-biggest boogeyman. If they do dismantle it, they’ll take away 24 million people’s insurance just when they were getting used to it. They might have succeeded if they’d done it sooner, but it’s too late baby, now.

    But it won’t matter in the long run. While it will matter to those of us who can count to ten with our pants on, the GOP faithful will continue to vote a straight GOP ticket.

  • derlehrer
    March 17, 2017 1:04 PM

    “Since you never do [anything], that works out well.” 😀

  • michaelwme
    March 17, 2017 4:00 PM

    If you read the New York Times, you’d know that the polls were all wrong. Secretary Clinton won a comfortable plurality, and only lost because of the un-democratic College. Sanders would have lost by a larger margin than McGovern. Facts, proof, and evidence are all horrible excrescences with which no Democrat will have any truck. And if the Democrats don’t run Secretary Clinton in ’20, they’ll run someone far to the right of Secretary Clinton, knowing that’s the way to win.

  • Glenn
    March 17, 2017 8:49 PM

    Pissing off the people might be political suicide if what the electorate thought of the candidates proffered by the parties mattered, but it doesn’t.

    The two parties could run Godzilla versus King Kong and a third party would still lose because each party of the duopoly would find relative merit their party and fear the other party. And then they would argue again that a vote for a third party is a wasted vote.

    Please, America, please prove me wrong!

    But you can’t.

    A brief collective look in the mirror should suffice to demonstrate this reality as revealed by the 2016 election.

    We have not only a corrupt election system but also a corrupt electorate who believes that what is, is all that can ever be.

    “We’re going off the rails on a crazy train.
    …
    “One person conditioned to rule and control
    The media sells it and you live the role”

  • rougy
    March 19, 2017 7:24 AM

    “Then they floated a “repeal and replace” plan to get rid of Obamacare, apparently an act of political suicide. Healthcare is the new third rail in American politics.”

    *****

    Bless you for your optimism.

    Based on the conservatives I’ve come to know and loathe, this will make little or no impact on their support for the GOP and Trump.

    The GOP validates their bigotry, thus securing their loyalty through thick and thin.

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