Republican Independence From Trump Is an Illusion |
Last week there was a lot of excited talk about Republicans beginning to liberate themselves from the complete servitude to Donald Trump that they exhibited throughout 2025. This week? Not so much.
On January 8, 17 House Republicans voted with Democrats to extend Obamacare premium subsidies, not something that the president or his satraps in Congress wanted. But then efforts in the Senate to negotiate an Obamacare premium-subsidy extension died. Yesterday Trump crushed any hopes of a resurrection by pushing Congress in an entirely different direction on health care, with the surprise introduction of his “Great Healthcare Plan.” In retrospect, those 17 House “rebels” were just beneficiaries of a “free vote” on something that was never going to result in actual legislation.
On the same days as........