Rand Paul, the president's happy puppy
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
On TV, Rand Paul looked like a happy puppy wagging his tail because he'd pleased his master.
He had.
Kentucky's social Darwinist senator opposed Trumpcare because it didn't repeal the Affordable Care Act in one fell swoop.
But Paul was all in for Trump's Thursday executive order that's apparently the president's first shot in a war of attrition to destroy the Affordable Care Act. The senator claimed he'd been partnering with the president on the plan for the past nine months, wrote the Louisville Courier-Journal's Thomas Novelly and Darcy Costello.
"Some Obamacare supporters worry the changes made in the executive order will make alternatives to the ACA more available and attractive, possibly encouraging young, healthy consumers to pull out of state exchanges, where they currently help to subsidize older, sicker patients," the C-J scribes wrote.
Such withdrawals could lead to even higher premiums for the ACA plans, the reporters added, citing USA TODAY.
Novelly and Costello quoted Eliot Fishman, senior director of health policy at Families USA, which supports the ACA. He told USA TODAY, "You'll have one part of the market that's offering garbage insurance at cut-rate prices and another part of the market that's very vulnerable to a death spiral."
Trump invited Paul to the White House for the signing ceremony. Kentucky's junior senator stood right behind the president who sat and inked the order at his desk. (Right on cue, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blessed the executive order. Trump has humiliated McConnell in public and private and sent him to the dog house. But like the president, McConnell hates all things Obama and he's scared of Trump, so he yips and wags his tail for his master, too.)
“Today’s a big day, Trump is doing what I believe is the biggest free-market reform of health care in a generation,” the reporters quoted the senator. “I’m very glad to be a part of this and I really want to commend the president for having the boldness and the leadership and the foresight to get this done.”
Trump gave Paul a signing pen. Paul flashed a thumbs up.
Even so, some video that didn't make all the news programs showed Paul seeming to be a tad queasy when Trump strode into the room. His truculence on Trumpcare decidedly displeased his mercurial master. Too, the duo had trash talked each other on the campaign trail last year.
"Truly weird Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky reminds me of a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain," Trump tweeted in August, 2015.
At the signing ceremony, Trump tossed Paul a puppy biscuit. "When you got Rand Paul on your side, it has to be positive," Novelly and Costello quoted the president as he shook Paul's paw, er hand.
Paul transitioned from tail-between-legs to tail-wagging.
Paul, 54, is still a disciple of Ayn Rand; teenage libertarians worship her as their high priestess. (Contrary to popular belief, the senator is not named for his heroine. "Rand" is short for "Randal.")
Rand preached a selfishness-is-a-virtue, greed-is-good gospel that dovetails with old-time social Darwinism. Loved by the Robber Barons--and the Trump-Paul GOP-- social Darwinism is a philosophy that holds if you're poor it's your own fault and that government has no business lending anybody a helping hand.
Social Darwinists demonized unions. Trump prefers "right to work" states. Paul introduced a national "right to work" bill, though it's evidently going nowhere. Nonetheless, he cheered on the Republican-majority Kentucky legislature when it quickly passed, and GOP Gov. Matt Bevin eagerly signed, a RTW law last January.
Novelly and Costello also quoted a statement from Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville, Kentucky's sole Democratic lawmaker in Washington. The statement warned that the executive order will raise the cost of health insurance; Yarmuth also criticized Trump's judgment:
"With one signature, President Trump is now jeopardizing the health security of millions of Americans. The end result will be that costs for everyone else will soar, and ultimately, insurance markets that provide real coverage with real protections will collapse. Welcome to Trumpcare."
In addition, the Kentucky Democratic Party fired off an email blasting Trump.
"It honestly defies understanding how much human suffering the Republican Party is willing to inflict just to score petty political points," the message began. "Yesterday, Donald Trump announced that he planned to stop paying the subsidies that ensure millions of Americans have health insurance. After we’ve beaten back repeated attempts by Mitch McConnell and the GOP to destroy the Affordable Care Act, they’ve decided that if they can’t win, they’ll just cheat."
The email, which urged recipients to donate to a Democratic Midterm Victory Fund, called the executive order "nothing short of deadly sabotage. According to the Congressional Budget Office, ending these subsidies will raise the federal deficit by six BILLION dollars next year and premiums by over 20%. Even more tragically, it will cause insurers to pull out of the marketplaces leaving millions of people, including thousands of Kentuckians without insurance.
"There’s only one way to stop this: we have to elect Democrats in 2018. From the top of the ticket all the way down, the only way to counteract these assaults is by lifting up our Democratic values and voices."
Rand Paul heard his master's voice. He's an obedient, thoroughly White House-trained and happy puppy now.