They Are Coming for Your Healthcare Again — Because Chaos is the GOP Brand

Originally written 5/28/2025

Eight years after failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Donold †®*mp and the GOP are back at it. This time, with a sneak attack buried in bureaucratic jargon and dressed up as fiscal policy. Their “Big Beautiful Bill” in the House is not just a budget proposal. It is a cold, calculated blow to the working people of this country.The media has rightly focused on the historic cuts to Medicaid. But there is another insidious layer here: a gutting of the Affordable Care Act that could strip coverage from millions. Quietly, in the fine print, the bill claws back hundreds of billions in ACA funding. It re-engineers rules, shortens deadlines, adds paperwork hurdles, and essentially dares everyday Americans, those recovering from layoffs, divorce, or the death of a spouse, to navigate an even more hostile insurance system.This is not policy. It is cruelty camouflaged in red tape.

The GOP's War on the Sick and Struggling

Let us call it what it is: a war on the vulnerable, driven by a party that has long abandoned any moral compass. The bill ends the 90-day grace period for people applying for coverage after major life events. That means someone who just lost a spouse or got laid off will not get health insurance unless they can immediately furnish the right paperwork, at a time when their lives are already in upheaval. If they miss a document? Full premiums up front, no coverage.It shortens open enrollment. Ends automatic re-enrollment. Piles on verification requirements. And, to make things worse, it guts the funding for navigators and case workers — the very people who help Americans find their way through the labyrinth of health insurance in the first place. In other words, the GOP is erecting bureaucratic walls to block access to care, then blaming the people who cannot climb them. And it is no accident. These changes are not about stopping fraud. They are about stopping enrollment, making it harder, more confusing, and more expensive to get covered.

†®*mpism in Action

†®*mpism is not just about angry tweets and authoritarian fantasies. It is about tearing down systems that serve people and replacing them with chaos, cruelty, and consolidation of power.This is the same 'man' who:

• Pardoned war criminals and political allies in an abuse of executive power

• Weaponized disinformation to divide the nation

• Lied about election results to incite insurrection

• Gutted public institutions and stripped protections for the vulnerable

And now, with help from congressional Republicans, †®*mp’s legacy continues: sabotaging healthcare, targeting the poor, and destabilizing markets for political gain.The ACA marketplaces had finally stabilized. A record 24 million people signed up this year. But †®*mp and the GOP seem nostalgic for the early days of the ACA, when fewer were insured and premiums were unpredictable because they made it that way.They want a broken system. Because in their politics, dysfunction fuels resentment, and resentment is what they sell.

We are Past Warnings. It is Time for Reckoning.

There is no more pretending that this is a party operating in good faith. These are deliberate acts, not missteps and not policy disagreements. Deliberate choices to harm.The Republican Party under †®*mp is an active threat to the foundations of democratic governance and human dignity. They must be exposed, resisted, and — yes — held accountable under the law. That includes prosecuting †®*mp for his abuses and holding every enabler to the same standard. Because this is not just about healthcare. It is about whether the rule of law still means something, whether public policy should serve people or punish them. Whether we will allow a movement built on lies, fear, and greed to keep tearing down our democracy, one cruel bill at a time. We see what they are doing. And we are not backing down.  

Courtesy of Jonathan Cohn with The Bulwark