Democrats delight in Trump reviving campaign against Obamacare
Emily Jacobs
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Democrats are jumping on the news that former President Donald Trump is “seriously looking at alternatives” to Obamacare, with many saying it will be a messaging win for the party going into the 2024 election.
Trump’s political foes quickly responded after the former president said on his Truth Social platform over the weekend that the GOP should “never give up” on repealing and replacing the 13-year-old Affordable Care Act, indicating that Democrats would be eager to make healthcare access an issue that drives voters to the polls.
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Much of the party’s 2018 messaging, which helped Democrats retake the House of Representatives, was centered on the GOP’s failed campaign to repeal Obamacare. Trump called the 2017 effort failing “a low point for the Republican Party,” which he blamed on “a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it.”
President Joe Biden condemned the renewed push on Monday, saying his predecessor had “called for cuts that could rip away health insurance for tens of millions Americans and Medicaid. They just don’t give up. But guess what? We won’t let these things happen.”
Biden’s 2024 campaign, meanwhile, has responded to the news by working to amplify Trump’s new message, with new TV ads set to air this coming week contrasting the president’s and his predecessor’s respective healthcare agendas.
The Democratic National Committee released a statement condemning Trump for opting to “double down on his dangerous plan that could kick middle class families off their health care coverage and subject as many as 135 million Americans with preexisting conditions to discrimination from insurance companies — all to line the pockets of greedy health care executives.”
“The GOP has made it clear that health care is on the line next November, and voters will once again turn out to reject the MAGA agenda and support President Biden’s promise to make coverage affordable and accessible for all Americans,” DNC national press secretary Sarafina Chitika said.
Political watchers have predicted that abortion access and the economy will be top concerns for voters in the 2024 election. Democrats would welcome healthcare access being added to that list given how successfully they’ve campaigned on the issue in the past.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will speak to reporters on behalf of Biden’s reelection campaign on Tuesday, when she plans to “highlight the devastating impact that a Trump and MAGA repeal of the Affordable Care Act would have on millions of Americans.”
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, told the Washington Examiner on Monday evening that Republicans are “going to continue to fail” if they were to press onward with another repeal effort.
“If [Trump] wants to talk about that, he’s going to fail,” Peters said of an Obamacare repeal. “It’s a winning issue for us. We’ll take it any day.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) burst out laughing when asked by the Washington Examiner about the comments in the Capitol on Monday.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Kaine, the Democrats’ 2016 vice presidential nominee, replied. “Next he’s gonna say it’s going to be infrastructure week every week he’s president.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) also chuckled at the notion of Trump rehashing the Obamacare fight, though he declined to share his thoughts beyond saying that the move came as “no surprise.”
“The ACA, across the country in state after state after state, they want it, they need it,” Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) told the Washington Examiner. “Donald Trump can say whatever he wants, but it ain’t going away and if anything we’ll make it better.”
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Asked if the development could hurt Republicans’ 2024 prospects, Carper replied, laughing, “I think it can work out in ways that he will not like.”
“If he’s talking about that, he’s gonna have some angry people,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) said, predicting what type of reaction Trump’s efforts would spark.