This’ll be short, but I don’t have anything left in me tonight. Other than this: a vision of the not-too-distant future. One where Republicans have made good on their promise to repeal Obamacare. But they know they can’t just take health insurance away from 20 million—mostly white—people. And everyone likes eliminating the discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. The answer for them is so easy: Republican-skewing older voters love their Medicare. So Republicans will repeal Obamacare and replace it with Medicare for all. Hell, for one last poke in the eye, they’ll call it Trumpcare.
AND IT WILL BE AN ENORMOUS FUCKING SUCCESS.
And that’s it. Democrats done. People will only remember the warts of the ACA, the tax penalties, the website crashes, the changing plans, the rate increases, the “government forcing me to buy something from the insurance industry.” The new system will be so much better, the Republicans will get all the credit, the Democrats will be hated for the unavoidable flaws of their signature legislation, and the party is done for fucking who knows how long.
Tonight has been a shitfest. But this is not the nadir, this is the zenith.