Welcome to primaries in the age of Trump. We saw a running theme last night—the eagerness of the GOP to embrace Trumpian politics, and the consequences for those who don’t.
In Virginia, a white supremacist Trump supporter won the Republican Senate primary. Corey Stewart, a proud bearer of the Confederate flag and defender of Civil War monuments, is Donald Trump in miniature: nativist, racist, and disturbingly aligned with white supremacist rhetoric.
Trump singled out Stewart for public congratulations on his victory.
Also yesterday, sitting Congressman Mark Sanford—an occasional opponent of Trump’s rhetoric and policies and a member of the Freedom Caucus—lost his primary race.
Trump had singled out Sanford for public condemnation earlier that day.
The message is clear: any Member of Congress who dares show loyalty to his constituents over Trump’s corruption and nativism will be exiled.
Back in Congress, the message is being heard and the Republicans are falling in line. Even amidst grotesque images of children being torn from their parents at the border as punishment, and even with support for Dreamer protections near 90%, House Republicans again sided with Trump to eschew bipartisan efforts, and instead push forward next week on two partisan, politically-motivated anti-immigrant bills.
COSTS OF CORRUPTION: SKYROCKETING PREMIUMS
When the Republican Congress repealed the individual mandate to help pay for the tax cuts for their donors, they did so knowing that the result would mean more expensive health care for everyone. Now, the results are coming in:
- Maryland: proposed rate hikes for 2019 average 30.2%. The upper range is as high as 91.4%.
- New York: average 24% rate hike.
- Washington: average 19% rate hike.
The reality of skyrocketing premiums swamping any meager gains from the tax cuts is sinking in across the country, and Republicans in Congress will pay an even heavier political price as rate hikes continue to come in.
For more analysis and state-by-state numbers for premium increases, see the new report from CAP’s Health Policy Team here.
P.S. – Live in Michigan? Call Governor Snyder now to tell him to veto a bill that could take away Medicaid from as many as 350,000 of his constituents, just because they don’t get enough hours at work or can’t find a job.
THINKING CAP
Have questions about the North Korea Summit? Who got the better end of the deal? Wondering why Trump seems to have forgotten Kim Jong-un is an oppressive dictator keeping hundreds of thousands of people in gulags?
Thinking CAP has you covered. Two resident national security experts from the Center for American Progress weigh in on the aftermath of the Trump-Kim summit and what it all means.
Listen to the new episode here.