One might compare it to, oh I don’t know, a Senator raising his fist triumphantly toward a rioting crowd and then running for his life away from it mere moments later. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced a bill on Tuesday that mimics the frightened retreat, following his high-fisted “yes” vote on the exact opposite just two weeks ago.
“President Trump has always said we have to protect Medicaid for working people,” he said in a press release. “Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect.” Now is the time, you see; two weeks ago was not. His bill would directly repeal some of the Medicaid provisions in the Big Bill of Death passed with great fanfare recently, in theory protecting many of the people he just voted to hurt. It would also double a fund for rural hospitals from $50 billion to $100 billion, perhaps helping keep some open that would otherwise be forced to close by the original legislation.
One could see this as relatively basic politics, in that the huge 940-page bill he voted for earlier contains many provisions and he is now simply trying to fend off a couple of them he disagreed with. Or, without even squinting very hard, one could see it as the maneuvering of a relatively high-profile Republican who knows the Trump era does have to end at some point, and the cult leader’s successor is far from determined at this point. He was already answering questions from the press about running for president the last time around, though he decided against it; the blatantly unconstitutional murmurings about a third Trump term notwithstanding, the GOP will need a new figurehead for 2028. Hawley might already be plotting the rhetorical tightrope walk he might attempt about legislation that, again, will kick millions off of insurance and shutter rural hospitals.
His new bill probably won’t pass, of course; but now he can offer whichever version an audience needs, the fist or the flight, as it suits him.
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