Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.
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The late Sen. John McCain gives thumbs down to Affordable Care Act repeal in July 2017
Donald Trump is once again living in the past, trying to resurrect a Republican political debacle that even the Freedom Caucus has abandoned: Obamacare repeal. “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives," he spewed on Truth Social on Saturday.
"We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it,” Trump whined. “It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”
Republicans absolutely gave up after the last gasp for “repeal and replace,” Trumpcare, failed to make it to the Senate floor in 2017. That’s after they spent seven years and at least 70 votes on trying to kill the Affordable Care Act, the program that has provided health insurance to more than 40 million Americans.
Health care was the top issue in the 2018 midterms, the election that won the House for Democrats. It’s no wonder that Republicans abandoned repeal as a campaign promise in 2022, and even the Freedom Caucus hasn’t tried to resurrect it with the GOP back in control. They don’t want to have to run on it again for good reason.
But Trump is either trying to make the nation’s first Black president his foe in 2024 because he’s a racist and wants to keep his racist base fired up, or he’s living in the past in his addled brain. Either way, the health care of more than 40 million people is on the line in the next election. Again.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Monday afternoon said he has spoken toRep. George Santos, suggesting the embattled and indicted New York Republican might resign rather than face an impending expulsion vote he’s likely to lose. But over the holiday weekend, Santos suggested he was not going to go without a fight, as he appeared to take a page out of another embattled Republican’s book: former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC).
Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman reports Speaker Johnson says he has spoken to Santos “at ‘length’ about his ‘options’ ahead of expulsion vote. Johnson seemed like the house may avoid a vote — which would mean resignation.” (See video below.)
House Republicans allowed Santos to be seated despite news that he had manufactured his resume and even his religion, news that continued after Republicans allowed him to be sworn in. They refused to expel him when he was indicted on 23 federal felonies including for alleged wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress.
But last week’s damning Ethics Committee report provides, in great detail, “overwhelming evidence” of alleged misconduct, and even more evidence of his alleged criminal acts – beyond what even federal prosecutors listed in their indictments. And it has led to public outcry, forcing some House Republicans to rethink their refusal to expel him.
That report alleges Santos used campaign donor cash for shopping trips, Botox, and even the not-safe-for work site OnlyFans.
Over the weekend, Santos spoke on an audio forum hosted at X, formerly Twitter, and indicated not only would he not resign, he appeared to suggest he might take down some Republicans along the way.
In March of 2022, Cawthorn, amid mounting scandals, lashed out on a podcast, denouncing what he claimed was the “sexual perversion that goes on in Washington,” and alleged some of his colleagues he grew up looking up to, had used cocaine at “orgies.”
In a similar vein, Rep. Santos on Friday in that audio forum, “said he does not want to continue working with ‘a bunch of hypocrites’ in Congress, whom he accused of committing infractions more severe than his, including being ‘more worried about getting drunk every night’ with lobbyists,”The Washington Postreported. “Santos, without providing evidence, also accused his colleagues of trying to ‘sell off the American people’ and of voting while hung over.”
“Within the ranks of United States Congress, there’s felons galore,” Santos alleged.
But he also declared, “I’m not leaving.” “Come hell or high water … it’s done when I say it’s done,” and yet, admitted he would likely be expelled.
“I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor,” he said. “I’ve done the math over and over, and it doesn’t look really good.”
Santos, also “described himself in the conversation as the Republican ‘It Girl’ as well as the ‘Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress.'”
If he does not resign, Congressman Santos could face an expulsion vote this week.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
