Wednesday, July 19, 2017

And the Oscar goes to...Donald Trump!

After the failure of Trumpcare in the Senate, Donald Trump tweeted:
“The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!
Talk about crazy...! Everyone knows that fewer than 50 Republican senators supported his bill. Either Donald Trump does not understand what happened or he is trying to fool the ignorant.

Some evidence backs the latter theory. Trump has often snarled that not one Democrat supported the bill -- a complaint he voiced at a time when only a small group of Republicans could see the legislation. Even most GOP senators were left in the dark. Did he expect Dems to support the thing sight unseen?

Trump still blames the Democrats, even though the bill failed because it was so unpopular, so toxic, that it repulsed many within his own party. The desk in the oval office needs a new sign: "The buck stops anywhere but here."

Those of a truly conspiratorial turn of mind may suspect that Trump secretly wanted the GOP bill to fail. His daughter's family benefits from the continuation of Obamacare:
Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, a vow that could threaten Oscar Insurance, a $2.7 billion technology startup co-founded by Ivanka Trump’s brother-in-law, Joshua Kushner. Oscar has also received funding from Trump adviser Peter Thiel, who could face a loss on his investment if Oscar folds under a Trump-led overhaul of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
That was from November. HuffPo published the following in March:
Kushner’s brother, Josh, co-founded Oscar, an insurance company that is valued at $2.7 billion. That would be an obvious appearance of a conflict of interest, at the very least, and the potential for a conflict is even greater because Oscar was started for the express purpose of making money on the state exchanges for individual insurance that were created as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Oscar, a website and app, sells insurance directly to individuals who aren’t already eligible for insurance through their employer or a government program. Under the ACA, individuals who aren’t already covered are required to buy insurance or pay a penalty under what is called the individual mandate. And the federal government may partially subsidize the plans that the Oscar app sells and manages. Precisely how big that subsidy is depends on the type of plan and the buyer’s income and, eventually, on the health care law that the Trump administration passes ― or fails to pass.
You could argue that Donald Trump's "repeat and replace" act was a performance worthy of an Oscar.

1 comment:

nemdam said...

Sorry for OT, but did you see Bernie admit last night that he knew about Russian interference in his campaign at the time? Things are getting really fishy with this guy lately. I don't think he would've admitted this unless he knew there was something coming out implicating him. Like Trump, everytime I think I can't hate this guy more, he finds a lower level to sink down to. It's to the point where I can barely take anyone seriously that takes Bernie seriously.

https://twitter.com/SarahLerner/status/887512456095948800