Over the holiday week, Donald Trump decided that his new campaign issue would be eliminating the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. As it turns out, Republicans aren't enthusiastic.
Trump explained that he's "seriously looking at alternatives" to the legislation, claiming the failure to repeal and replace it was "a low point for the Republican Party." The GOP held power in the House, Senate and White House at the time, but Trump still couldn't get it done.
Politico reporter Burgess Everett spoke to members of the Senate Monday afternoon, and it doesn't seem Trump's plan will go anywhere even if the Republicans win back the Senate.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD), “Boy, I haven’t thought about that one a while."
But Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was less polite.
“I don't see that as being the rallying cry," she said on Monday.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) also dismissed it, saying, “I don’t hear any Republicans talking about it."
Indeed, it isn't a campaign issue in the 2024 election because most Republicans have given up on the idea that they can repeal and replace it. Since its passage in 2010, nearly 15 years ago, candidates have campaigned with the "repeal and replace Obamacare," message. When given the opportunity to do so, however, the repeal failed because Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said they had nothing to replace it with.
“We’ve gotten so far down the road now that it’s almost technically impossible to do that," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC). "But there is a way to get rid of all the bad and hopefully put some good back in place."
Trump is among those who campaigned on the message in 2016, but in the seven years since then, he has yet to bring together anyone who could craft a replacement plan.
