What we’re hoping for with the Obamacare repeal vote: that the rage of the GOP will overwhelm its reason
I totally understand—I especially understand—the desire not to be over-confident that the GOP will fail to repeal Obamacare tomorrow. (Although the Unfreedom Caucus did announce about an hour ago that 25 of its members directly told Trump today that they would not vote to repeal; that right there, if they stick to their position, is enough to sink the bill.) And I genuinely have no idea how this is going to go down tomorrow: the bill could pass, it could fail, it could be postponed a few days, though Ryan has said he won’t do that. So no predictions from me. But we all should be clear about whence whatever hope we might have for tomorrow’s outcome comes: not from a sense that the GOP won’t do a terrible thing but from a sense that a sizable portion of the GOP wants to do a more terrible thing. That’s what we’re banking on here: not that the GOP is too good or too moderate but that its rage will overwhelm its reason.