Every presidential administration reaches a pivot point. Many observers thought Trump’s came when Anthony Scaramucci walked in the White House door. Others thought it came 10 days later when Scaramucci walked out the door.
For me the Scaramucci saga was just part of the excitement when the circus comes to town.
The pivot point I’m looking for is when President Trump finally learns he has only enemies and bystanders among the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill.
Mitch McConnell, Curator of the Senate, is happy to keep polishing Senate rules, while aging whiz kid Speaker Paul Ryan is proud of slightly reducing the velocity of the socialism–bound train that is the House of Representatives.
Ryan and McConnell have no respect for Trump. He doesn’t have their years of political experience or expertise in the arcane working of the legislative process. The fact the voters know this and elected Trump anyway escapes them.
Neither of these hacks is going to expend a dime of political capital to advance the Trump agenda. Their primary goal is protecting the GOP majority in both houses and maintaining their comfortable offices and the perks that come with leadership. They are both corporate incumbents, not conservatives, and their pitiful legislative records prove it.
Both of these swamp creatures expect to be in Washington, building their federal pensions, long after Trump has returned to Trump Tower for good.
There is no legislative outreach that can bridge the gap between the White House and Capitol Hill. Reince Priebus couldn’t do it and new chief of staff Gen. John Kelly won’t either. The only thing the invertebrates that make up the GOP will understand is negative consequences for their failure to support the Trump agenda.
Fortunately, Trump has just the weapon.
After Congress failed to keep their promise to repeal Obamacare, Trump threatened to make it live under the same rules, regulations and premiums the rest of us must endure.
It’s a little–known fact that Congress exempted itself from Obamacare in violation of the law.
During the frenzy to pass it Sen. Chuck Grassley (R–IA) slipped in an amendment that required Congress to buy its insurance on the exchanges just like the rest of us. Once the bill passed and members learned, to their horror, what was in it, they wanted no part of this leftist moral crusade.
So they created an Obamacare sanctuary where the law didn’t apply to the people who passed it.
In a demonstration of the utter moral corruption that characterizes our political ruling class, Congress persuaded the Office of Personnel Management to issue a ruling that the 16,000 people employed by both houses qualified as a “small business.”
This allowed members and staff to buy their insurance on the D.C. Small Business Exchange, UNLESS the officeholder used another sleazy loophole. If staff is designated “non–official” it grandfathers them into the federal Employee Health Benefits program where they continue to receive premium subsidies and access to policies with coverage denied to the rest of us.
Regardless of which dodge the members chooses everyone gets a $10,000 to $12,000 subsidy to pay for their health insurance that is not income based. Meaning while you are selling the bass boat to make your premium, a rank–and–file member of Congress making $174,000 a year gets a $12,000 subsidy for his or her insurance.
These sound bite patriots don’t feel pressure to repeal Obamacare for two reasons. One, base conservative voters aren’t their health insurance constituency; hospitals and insurance companies are and that’s who is calling the shots. And two, since they’re immune to the punishing Obamacare premiums and deductibles, they feel no personal motivation to keep their word.
Trump can end their lies and duplicity with the stroke of a pen. He can cancel the OPM ruling and throw every last swamp creature into the clutches of the D.C. Obamacare exchange. No more subsidies and no more special treatment.
Even better, these hypocrites can’t do anything about it. Trump controls, in a manner of speaking, the executive branch and if politicians went to court to try and keep their Obamacare exemption it would be a PR disaster on the scale of Anthony Scaramucci.
Trump should ignore the accommodationists and Congressional appeasers in his office.
A principled revocation of Congress’ special privileges would be a home run with the public; prove to the RINOs that Trump plays for keeps and it could force McConnell and Ryan to honor their promise to repeal Obamacare.
Trump could take a lesson from North Korea’s Kim Jong–un. No one likes him either, but the world worries about what he’s going to do next.
Trump doesn’t need love or respect from Congressional RINOs. Fear of consequences will do nicely instead. Trump should end Congress’ Obamacare Sanctuary now!
Michael Shannon is a commentator and public relations consultant, and is the author of “A Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times.” He can be reached at mandate.mmpr@gmail.com.
