WSJ:
The new poll marks the first time since June 2009 that the share of respondents saying the law is a good idea has outweighed the share who said it was a “bad idea.” The “bad idea” number peaked at 50% in December 2013, when the main provisions of the law had just been launched and problems plaguing the HealthCare.gov website dominated the debate.
The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted from Jan. 12 to Jan. 15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Some 50% of respondents said they had “very little confidence” or “no confidence at all” that Republicans could propose a new law that would make things better. That was greater than the 26% of people who said they had “quite a bit” or “a great deal of confidence” in that idea, and the 23% who said they had “just some” confidence.
NY Times:
Health Law’s Repeal Could Raise Costs and Number of Uninsured, New Report Says
Repealing major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, while leaving other parts in place, would cost 18 million people their insurance in the first year, a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday. A repeal could increase the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million in 10 years, the report said, while causing individual insurance premiums to double over that time.
The budget office analyzed the probable effects of a Republican bill repealing the law like the one approved in Congress, but vetoed early last year by President Obama.
The C.B.O. report, released after a weekend of protests against repeal, will only add to the headaches that President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans face in their rush to gut President Obama’s signature domestic achievement as they try to replace it with a health insurance law more to their liking.
They have no idea what they are doing. Only way to read it. Don’t need to go too much deeper.
I am glad we had this ongoing political science experiment done to answer the question how the US functions for four years without a competent president. Might want a word with the experimental designer, though.
On Betsy DeVos:
Most Trump cabinet nominees will be confirmed.
Two USA Today articles on personal effects of ACA repeal. Headlines say it all.:
I voted for Trump, not against Planned Parenthood: Column
My sister died without Obamacare: Column
Amanda Hess/NY Times:
But the place suits Mr. Trump’s purposes fine. For the guy who’s all about appearances, Twitter provides the veneer of populist connection without the hassle of accountability. Sean Spicer, Mr. Trump’s incoming press secretary, has suggested that Twitter town halls and Reddit forums may replace some typical presidential press interactions, where he can easily make himself available to anonymous fans instead of the scrutiny of the press. The social media platforms that were once heralded as democratic tools could also be used to undermine democratic norms.
All of this works because one group is as intoxicated by Twitter as Mr. Trump is: journalists. It’s hard to explain to a normal person — one of the 79 percent of American adults who don’t use Twitter — why the platform mesmerizes the news media. Its all-powerful search function means you can conjure material on any kind of news topic — or just spend your time searching for your own name. Reporters still crave the ego rush of a published byline, but that pales in comparison to the animated feedback loop that Twitter offers. The more time you spend, and the more tweets you send, the bigger your following becomes. But Twitter provides little actual reach — compared with Facebook or Google, it hardly drives any traffic to articles. It’s like a video game for professional validation.
Great piece, and true. But also misses the community built by people who curate and tend to their feeds. if you comment here, you’ll know what I am talking about.
Michael Gerson/WaPo:
Trump’s attack on John Lewis is the essence of narcissism
It must be said that the whole business of questioning a president’s right to hold office is pernicious. It puts a hard stop on all civility and cooperation. The worst instance, of course, was the claim that Barack Obama was Kenyan-born and disqualified to be president — an argument based on partisan, conspiratorial and quasi-racist lies enthusiastically spread by Trump. When the president-elect calls out Lewis on this topic, it is a display of hypocrisy so large that it is visible from space.
Jonathan Chait/New York magazine:
Here Are the 4 Different Ways Democrats Can Save Obamacare
The Republican campaign to discredit the Affordable Care Act is a catastrophic success. Republicans have denounced the law for shortcomings that their own plans would all exacerbate, and have taken advantage of widespread confusion about what the law does and whom it benefits — a posture that works only as long as Republicans can avoid responsibility for the status quo. Democrats have the chance to defend and safeguard Obamacare’s successes if they leverage this Republican vulnerability. In fact, they have four chances.
The next phase of the fight over American health care will be confusing. It will unfold over numerous votes and many months (or, more likely, years). But every strategy involves using the GOP’s political weakness against it with the goal of getting the best possible outcome for the people helped by Obamacare.