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Fearing Midterm Ruin, Trump Blinks On Obamacare --Yet Still Aims To Gut Program

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

President Trump’s health plan, promised by Thanksgiving, was leaked to the press over the weekend. With the frosty reception immediately given this trial balloon by Republicans on Capitol Hill, I doubt it will see the light of day before people gather for their holiday dinners with family and friends.

The leaked plan’s outline went something like this:

It offered a two-year extension for the expanded premium subsidies, which Democrats demanded be restored in full during the six-week government shutdown
It establishes a minimum monthly payment of $5 for any plan, no matter how poor you are.
It would raise premiums for millions of low-income plan purchasers by turning the current cost-sharing formula, which currently lowers premiums, into a reimbursable expense, which will raise premiums.
It will establish a new subsidy cliff (when all subsidies stop) at 700 percent of poverty income (about $110,000 for a single adult in 2025).
It will allow beneficiaries to shift their tax credits into a health savings account, but only if they buy a bronze or high-deductible plan.

Other press accounts suggested the Trump proposal would also make short-term, limited benefit plans a permanent option on the Obamacare exchanges, and turn their allowable duration (just three months under a Biden administration rule) into years. Trump also wants to ban any government-subsidized plan from providing gender-affirming care or providing care for undocumented immigrants.

If you want more insight into this plan, you can turn to Charles Gaba’s substack or Andrew Sprung’s XPostFactoid. No one knows more about how the exchanges work (or don’t) than those two.

The politics

The only thing new in this plan is its direct relevance to the next two spins of the political cycle. Limiting the subsidy extension to two years gets the Republicans beyond the mid-terms, where they are staring at the possibility of a major shellacking.

Also, if passed, it would guarantee another fight over “failing Obamacare” during the next presidential election. That slogan will ring true to millions of people if the other elements of the plan are enacted, since they will go a long way toward turning a relatively successful program into a failing one.

There’s no need for me to go on at great length about why these rehashed GOP talking points should be non-starters for anyone who cares about health care, or has empathy for the least well-off among us. In short:

Any co-premium paid out-of-pocket for the very poor — even $5 — will dissuade hundreds of thousands of not millions from purchasing plans.
Turning cost-sharing into a reimbursable expense for the sick will also raise premiums.
The new subsidy cliff for the better-off people will incentivized hundreds of thousands if not millions of younger, healthier workers to drop coverage. This raises the average cost of the sicker, poorer patients still in the risk pool, which in turn raises premiums, which in turn discourages even more people from purchasing plans.
And, if those younger, healthier workers still want insurance, they will be offered the opportunity to buy those longer-duration, limited benefit plans, which will leave them with huge bills should they actually need to use their insurance. Again, more healthier people out of the risk pool; higher premiums for everyone in the risk pool.

Can you see a pattern? Raise premiums (for 2026), raise premiums (for 2027), and raise premiums (for 2028). Give young, healthy people an out (who cares about those who get sick and can’t afford their high deductibles). Then, let’s have an election where the GOP can point to the “obvious” failures of Obamacare.

As for preventing transgender people and undocumented immigrants from receiving care (whoops, the undocumented are already ineligible), that’s just cruel. It’s especially cruel to the more than half million people brought here as children by undocumented parents, most of whom are now hard-working, taxpaying adults.

Trump has already denied them coverage, reversing an earlier rule. This would make it permanent.

Merrill Goozner, the former editor of Modern Healthcare, writes about health care and politics at GoozNews.substack.com, where this column first appeared. Please consider subscribing to support his work.

Reprinted with permission from Gooz News

In MAGA Media Hierarchy, Benny Johnson Is Trump's Top Turd Polisher

The top tier of the MAGA influencer ecosystem is a clownshow.

Tucker Carlson is warring with Ben Shapiro over just how much antisemitism right-wing audiences should be willing to tolerate. Candace Owens is being sued (and, she claims without evidence, targeted for death) over her debunked conspiracy theory that the first lady of France is secretly a transgender woman. Laura Loomer, a self-described “proud Islamophobe” who once handcuffed herself to the doors of Twitter HQ to protest her banning by the service, is now a credentialed member of the Pentagon press corps and keeps getting Trump officials fired for insufficient loyalty. And Megyn Kelly has gone in just a few short years from anchoring a newsmagazine show for NBC to debating whether Jeffrey Epstein’s victims were young enough for him to be described as a pedophile.

But Benny Johnson stands out, even among this collection of cranks, grifters, propagandists, and sycophants. He is the Jesse Watters of the streaming set, someone who has parlayed having absolutely nothing to add to any conversation into a lucrative career as a shill for President Donald Trump.

Johnson has had perhaps the best 2025 of any streamer on the right. His YouTube videos have amassed more than 1 billion views in total this year — only Kelly compares among right-wing news and politics hosts, while Joe Rogan garnered 890 million views over the same period. Johnson's YouTube subscriber base grew by nearly 120%, with his 3.3 million new subscribers representing the largest total increase among the 400+ channels we track that are affiliated with right-leaning and left-leaning online shows. (Analysis of new YouTube subscribers and total channel views is based on data collected from Social Blade.)

All the while he hobnobbed with Trump administration power players and GOP elites, flying with Vice President JD Vance, broadcasting from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) office during a joint session of Congress, and boasting of his contacts with White House officials.

Johnson’s rise demonstrates that what drives influence within the MAGAsphere is not diligent reporting or willingness to speak truth to power, but a willingness to loudly say whatever will make the president happy.

The streamer’s backstory is a testament to the complete lack of ethical standards within right-wing media. After getting his start at The Blaze, the right-wing outlet founded by Glenn Beck, Johnson made a foray into mainstream media in 2012 when he joined Buzzfeed News. Though he built a reputation there for viral content, he was fired after two years for serial plagiarism. That journalistic crime is often career-ending in mainstream outlets — but Johnson was swiftly welcomed back to the right-wing ecosystem, with subsequent jobs at National Review, Independent Journal Review (where he again faced plagiarism allegations), The Daily Caller, Turning Point USA, and Newsmax.

Johnson went independent in 2023, focusing on his personal podcast, streaming, and social media platforms. The following year, the Justice Department charged two individuals with covertly channeling $8.7 million from a Russian state-controlled propaganda outlet to the production companies of three U.S.-based right-wing YouTube stars in return for videos prosecutors said supported the Russian government’s goals. One of those beneficiaries of the Kremlin propaganda plot was Johnson, who described himself as an unwitting “victim” of the scheme. He was not charged with wrongdoing.

If Johnson’s conduct was not criminal, it does suggest that he was either stupid or venal enough to take millions of dollars without wondering where it came from. But a year later, it turns out no one on the right cares: He retains a fast-growing viewership and what appears to be a voice at the highest levels of Trump’s regime.

On The Benny Show, no Trump turd goes unpolished

Trump’s right-wing media coalition, united by his cult of personality and their shared hatred of the left, powered his return to the White House. But fissures soon emerged, as commentators split with the president — and each other — over his handling of issues like the Russia-Ukraine war, tariffs, U.S. strikes on Iran, immigration enforcement and reforms, and, most of all, the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Johnson tends to stay out of such squabbles. While he has some policy preferences — he hates food stamps, claims that “every single thing you hate about your life right now” could be “fixed by mass deportations,” and wants to “destroy” Social Security, for example — Trump is his top priority.

Any time Trump needs someone to move his bullshit, he can count on Johnson to show up with a shovel, a wheelbarrow, and a smile. There’s no lie too absurd for him to parrot, no corruption he won’t defend, if it will help the president achieve his aims.

Want a rationale to send troops into cities like Portland or Washington? Benny will declare to his audience that the former “has been conquered by antifa” and the latter has “entire neighborhoods” that “need to be bulldozed.”

The stiff tariffs you unilaterally implemented causing chaos in the markets? Benny will explain to his viewers that the economic “pain” is the result of “demonic possession,” and assure them that “losing money costs you absolutely nothing.”

Got a problem with a journalist getting accidentally added to the administration group chat in which your underqualified defense secretary is sharing attack plans? Benny will shift the blame to “a backdoor splinter cell group inside the CIA” and the reporter, who should be arrested.

Taking heat because the Qatari government gave you a jet described as a “flying palace” to replace Air Force One? Fret not — Benny says that is “totally permissible” and “normal.”

Need someone to carry water for your administration’s comically inept claim that President Barack Obama directed a “treasonous conspiracy”? Benny will host a discussion about whether Obama should face a “military tribunal.”

On the rare occasions when Johnson strays, he is quick to return to the MAGA fold. When the Justice Department and FBI triggered a right-wing media meltdown in July by debunking some of its cherished Epstein claims, Johnson initially joined in. But even then, he made clear that his complaint was not with Trump, claiming that his “love” for the president was “without question.”

And when Trump needed someone to clean up after new reporting detailed his own close relationship with the convicted sex offender later that month, Benny reverted to form, claiming that the reporting was “a hoax” and “the scandal is in who wrote the story.”

Johnson’s mutually beneficial relationship with the Trump GOP

Sometimes Republicans who might actually have principles consider acting on them and defying Trump in some way. All year long, when that has happened, Johnson has stepped in to keep them in line. And the Trump administration has rewarded him with access.

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine extremism jeopardized his Senate confirmation in January, for example, Johnson warned recalcitrant Republicans that they were courting annihilation. “Senators must confirm RFK or face the absolute whirlwind of some very, very powerful forces of MAHA and MAGA that will absolutely torch them and will destroy their careers because you've proven to us what you actually believe and who you actually are,” he said.

When Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she would oppose Fox News host Pete Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Pentagon, citing in part the “allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking” that had dogged his nomination, Johnson said that he would make an example of the “vengeful witch.” Declaring a “jihad” against the senator, he said he would “physically travel to Alaska. Expect a massive, well-funded primary challenge for Lisa Murkowski.”

Johnson credited his own work with helping to keep Republicans from abandoning Hegseth amid the Signalgate scandal.

“Well, just like the — just like at the Pentagon, and you saw the same op run against Hegseth — and we think that RFK is going to obviously survive the same way that Hegseth did, and we're going to help him do it, obviously,” he explained in September. “We're going to make sure that we stiffen the backbone of anybody who would come against him.”

The Trump administration and GOP appreciate the existence of a toady with Johnson’s reach.

In late October, Johnson accompanied JD Vance for the vice president’s appearance at a TPUSA event in Mississippi, flying with him on Air Force Two and getting “one on one time” to “sit and chill” with the vice president.
In October, Johnson went on a ride-along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they raided a Walmart and visited a detention facility. He also toured Portland ICE facilities with Noem.
Brendan Carr, the Trumpy chair of the Federal Communications Committee, issued his threat to ABC and its affiliates over Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes during a September appearance on Johnson’s show.
Benny kicked off an August White House press briefing from the “new media” seat, at one point asking Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: “Will the president consider giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to ‘Big Balls?’’
He received an invitation to stream about Trump’s March congressional address from Mike Johnson’s office, where he interviewed the speaker to celebrate passage of Trump’s signature economic bill.

Johnson also frequently mentions what his “little birdies” in the Trump administration — including the president himself — are telling him about events.

No one has lashed themselves to Trump and his administration more than Johnson. But as the president’s poll numbers circle the drain and his allies launch proxy fights over who will be the GOP’s standard-bearer in 2028, where does that leave Benny?

New Pew Poll Shows Latino Voters Turning Heavily Against Trump

A new Pew Research Center poll shows that 70 percent of Latinos disapprove of President Donald Trump's job performance, sending a loud warning to Trump and Republicans ahead of next year's much-anticipated midterm elections, The Daily Beast reports.

"The Pew poll is a damning indicator of how voters could turn on Trump in his turbulent second term as immigration raids and inflation play out across the country," The Daily Beast notes.

Mark Lopez, director of Pew’s Race and Ethnicity Research, says this poll portends major red flags for Republicans.

“There’s no doubt that if people draw the connections to a particular administration or political party, this could have some political implications in coming elections,” Lopez tells Reuters.

Latinos comprise roughly one in five Americans — approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population, and their disapproval, The Daily Beast notes, "may signal problems ahead for the GOP."

In the 2024 election, Trump received approximately 46 percent to 48 percent of the Latino vote, which was a significant increase from his 2020 performance.

"But the new poll, of 4,923 Latino adults, shows that even among Trump-voting Latinos, his approval dropped from 93 percent in February to 81 percent," The Daily Beast explains. "A total of 61 percent believe Trump’s economic policies have made conditions worse for Latinos, and 68 percent of Latinos say their situation in the U.S. has gotten worse since last year."

This is a devastating development for Trump, The Daily Beast notes.

"It is the first time in nearly two decades of Pew’s Hispanic surveys that a majority say their situation has deteriorated," they explain.

The poll also shows that "more than three-quarters, 78 percent, also believe the Trump administration’s policies — including mass deportation plans — harm Hispanics, with 55 percent expressing grave concern about their place in the U.S. because of the president’s agenda."

With the GOP's razor-thin majority, these numbers could haunt them next November.

The poll also found that 52 percent of respondents worry “a lot” or “some” that the Trump administration could deport them, a family member, or a close friend. This is up from 42 percent in March, The Daily Beast explains.

"Whatever Donald Trump is doing in office in the minds of Latinos, it is not working. They have turned against him in massive, massive numbers," CNN's data analyst Harry Enten said last week.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Amid Their Redistricting Wreckage, Trump And Johnson Reject Obvious Solution

Republicans across the country, spurred by President Donald Trump and encouraged by House Speaker Mike Johnson, are pushing hard to redraw as many congressional districts as possible in order to maintain their House majority after next year’s midterm elections.

They know that losing the majority would cost them everything they’ve built their power around. They could no longer steer investigations designed to protect Trump, bottle up Democratic legislation, or jam extremist messaging bills onto the floor. They’d lose the committee gavels they’ve used to hound political enemies, the messaging platform they rely on to launder right-wing conspiracies, and the institutional leverage to slow-walk or sabotage even the most basic functions of government.

So far, Trump’s efforts have been a bust, despite the terrible political damage he has done to the tradition of once-a-decade redistricting.That process, carried out shortly after the 2020 census, was supposed to create a stable map voters could rely on for 10 years, providing them a predictable landscape they could use to understand who represents them. The process had long acted as guardrail against nonstop map-shopping every time a party felt insecure about the next election.

Instead, Trump’s meddling has turned redistricting into a perpetual power-grab, eroding public trust and encouraging every state to treat its map as a live grenade rather than a settled civic obligation.

Not only have Democrats engaged in retaliatory efforts that will likely leave things roughly where they began, but also a recent legal decision means Republicans’ attempt to gain an extra five seats in Texas may end up reversed, leaving Republicans further behind than where they started.

Trump and Johnson have never hidden the motive behind their effort. One recalcitrant Republican state legislator in Indiana, where the state GOP is warring over whether to redraw the state’s map, said he heard from Johnson, who “just talked about the importance of the House majority.”

Of course, the majority is important to Johnson and Trump. But it’s striking that neither man shows interest in the one thing that would help protect their party’s majority: doing popular stuff.

They could try governing in a way that aligns with what most Americans want, but that would require them abandoning their culture-war extremism, anti-democratic impulses, and Trump-first loyalty—all of which define the modern GOP. Johnson could have his chamber show up to work instead of adjourning for weeks to protect Trump from the release of the government’s files on accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

But rather than change their message, their agenda, or their behavior that is repelling voters, they’ve chosen to change the maps. And even that doesn’t seem to be working out the way they hoped.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

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