“Never trust a chef who won’t eat his own food”, Tweeted Mike Birbiglia, in reference to the fact that Congressional Republicans won’t themselves be impacted by the newest version of Trumpcare coming up for a vote in Congress today.
They have their own special, luxury health care, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Of course, Birbiglia’s observation is spot-on and, yes, the Trumpcare bill could be compared to food (or maybe the lack of it) ; but what Congressional Republicans will do today is something else altogether.
Consider it an act of ultimate contempt, even for much of their own voter base.
Given that they will not personally suffer the stinking mass of health care degradation-cum tax cut for the rich they’ve cooked up for the rest of the American people, today’s Republican votes for Trumpcare, whether the bill squeaks by or narrowly fails, will amount to an ideologically driven expression of contempt like a giant explosive bowel movement upon the American people, including upon millions of Trump voters covered under the Affordable Care Act who took The Donald at his word, that he’d provide better quality health care.
It’s hard to know where to start.
Rape victims can be denied health care coverage due to their “preexisting condition” (of being a victim of violent sexual assault.) A pregnant 40-year old mother-to-be will get socked with over $17,000 in health care insurance surcharges. Cancer victims will be, in effect, forced into bankruptcy.
Quite compassionate.
“The Republican Health Plan Is a Lethal Moral Obscenity”, argues Brian Beutler, writing for the New Republic, and I wouldn’t disagree.
“The #AHCA makes every measure of US health and health care worse by shifting ~$1 trillion from bottom 40% to top 2%”, tweets Dr. Atul Gawande.
And a new academic study suggests that most poor Americans who now have Obamacare will opt out of Trumpcare and go back to emergency room visits. Their baseline health will suffer greatly (no more preventative care) and their emergency room care will cost the nation how much more ? Tens of billions ? Hundreds of billions ?
As Snopes.com details, during the summer of 1998 a story in the Weekly World News titled “Elephant Defecates on Man” claimed that a zookeeper in Germany was killed by an elephant’s giant bowel movement.
Today, the Weekly World News fake story image proves to have been eerily prophetic.
A political party represented, symbolically, by an elephant takes a giant legislative bowel movement upon America that may kill how many ? Tens of thousands ? Hundreds of thousands ? More ?
The bill is, of course, a “moral obscenity”. But, how should we characterize the support of Republicans who back it ?
A picture is worth a thousand words.
