Pride is insidious. We all have it and no pride is more insidious than one that is tied to a fixed idea. I have a fixed idea which is that Trumpcare is going down the tube. I am supposed, to be honest, and report the news. The news is no one knows what the GOP Senate will do. When you cannot give up your fixed idea, you say you are playing devil's advocate.

Terrible legislation

But it's a thin disguise. It is a matter of personal honor with me that this terrible legislation goes down. I am willing to be humiliated if I am wrong. But I will not give up on believing that this legislation is so bad that not even all of the bulk wickedness that the GOP can muster in the Senate is capable of finding a way to pass the bill in any form.

What are we doing?

The question is whether there may be unintended consequences. Maybe it would be better to let the GOP repeal Obamacare and allow the nation to reach a boiling point. Maybe people would just passively accept repeal like they passively accept other Trumpian outrages.

The heart of our confusion may be that we are in a dice game where the dice are still in the air rotating and they never come down at all. That is the Donald Trump factor.

With this preamble here are some salient arguments to bolster my prideful conclusion.

Setting the table

I am saying we know perfectly well that this is a slow strip-tease.

It will end in failure for Trump and the GOP.

The problem is this. The legislation in any form will savage Medicare, deny insurance to tens of millions and make having a pre-existing condition a nightmare for untold more.

The smart answer has always been that Republicans and Democrats work with Obamacare to deal with its faults. There are venal elements throughout the healthcare business and fixing them is a matter of intense effort and compromise.

Just Libertarian

The current fiasco is not about fixing Obamacare. It is about going back to no healthcare. That is what repeal will do.

The promise to replace has always been impossible because the GOP is divided. Their cruelty meter diminishes among moderates and registers fire engine red in people like Ted Cruz. Then you have ideologues like Rand Paul who are not being cruel, just Libertarian.

The agonizing death of a very bad bill

If the bill limps through the Senate in some form it goes to Conference in the House. There it should die. It has never deserved life. It was careless Trump-Ryan repeal bait. It remains repeal, whether open or disguised. It solves nothing. Its legacy is already chaos.
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