Trump Takes Credit For Repealing Obamacare With Tax Bill

In a moment of honesty, which he had been told to avoid, Donald Trump could not resist the temptation to brag.  During his victory speech he said that the tax bill also repealed Obamacare.  That was not one of his lies.  The tax bill repealed the individual mandate which is the glue that held Obamacare together.  Insurance premiums will increase dramatically and analysts estimate that 13 million Americans will not be able to afford to purchase health insurance on the exchanges.  Republicans accomplished with the tax bill what they could not get done with their failed attempt pass a healthcare bill that would have ended Obamacare and also disrupted our entire healthcare industry which accounts for 17% of the US economy.  Republicans stripped the individual mandate out of the tax bill because it also eliminated government subsidies to low income citizens which allowed them to purchase insurance.  Eliminating the subsidies helped to fund the corporate tax cuts which were the primary focus of the tax bill.  Trump, in another moment of honesty in his victory speech, also declared that the tax bill was not primarily designed to benefit the middle class.  He boasted that the primary purpose of the tax bill was to cut corporate taxes.  Republicans sold bill as a middle class bill under the assumption, which most economists do not accept, that corporate tax cuts will end up benefiting the middle class by stimulating economic growth which would increase jobs and wages for the middle class.

Trump's inability to resist boasting about his achievement will give Democrats lots of ammunition to use against Republicans in the 2018 elections. The huckster could not resist bragging about the product that he was really selling to his base.  The tax bill is all about cutting taxes for Republican donors and repealing Obamacare.  Trump made it available on video for Democrats to package into their campaigns.