I suggest everyone read this Washington Post article.
Republican Congressman James Comer faced his constituents in Kentucky and he got an earful. This is what happens when you vote to harm the lives of Americans.
What makes this piece amazing is Comer’s district in Kentucky is 90% white, 1 in 5 live in poverty, 1 in 6 are disabled and 72% voted for Donald Trump. There was plenty of anger at his town halls over health care, Trump/Russia, tax returns etc, etc.
James Comer should have thought about this before voting for Trumpcare, eh?
This is exactly what Republicans will face in 2018, from Americans like Randy Gray.
www.washingtonpost.com/…
Another hand. A man named Randy Gray.
“I’d like to come up there,” he said.
“Yes sir, yes sir,” Comer said, a little uncertainly.
Gray grabbed a canvas bag from under his seat and put it on a table next to Comer.
“I just want to use this as a demonstration,” he said.
As Comer watched, he reached into the back, pulled out two vials, and placed them on the table. He said he had an immune disease. He was “not quite the boy in the plastic bubble, but close.” Then he lifted his shirt to show Comer four needles in his stomach.
Comer leaned in to take a closer look.
“Now these two bottles right here represent $13,000 a week worth of my medicine,” Gray said.
Some people in the room began whispering — “$13,000?” — as Gray kept talking. “This is really an emotional issue for me,” he said. He said he was terrified because Obamacare had removed caps on lifetime spending limits for health care, and now Donald Trump’s health-care bill was threatening to bring those limits back. “I feel like I can’t sleep at night,” he said, because those vials were the one thing that kept him alive, and everything he was reading about the bill only mentioned “tax breaks for the rich.”
People clapped.
Gray showed Comer the medical pump he used for injections. “I know four people in western Kentucky that have to use this pump,” he said. “And it’s a struggle.”
“I can imagine,” Comer said, before correcting himself. “I can’t imagine.”
Gray took a half step toward Comer, squaring him up, and leaned in until they were almost face-to-face.
“I want you to think about people like me,” Gray said. He jabbed his pump at Comer. “I didn’t ask for this. Believe you me, I’d rather be like you and be perfectly healthy.”
While this article concludes that the congressman thinks it’s sustainable to hang his hat with Trump in his ruby red district, I believe the important takeaways here are: Comer actually said this and Mr. Gray’s statement about his health care needs.
Stories like Mr. Gray’s will be playing in other districts that will be a lot less red.