All Is Not Lost

Considering what's happened over the past 10 days or so, optimism is pretty hard to come by.  It's undeniable that horrible things are happening, and will most likely continue to happen for years.  All good people will continue to fight against these terrible things, but the harsh reality is that the Trump administration will be able to do most of what he promised his followers he'd do.  The power of the presidency, Congress, and perhaps soon, the Supreme Court are going to be very difficult for the progressive Left to overcome.

So, where's the optimism?  Well, I started to feel a little bit of optimism after reading this.

The gist of article I linked to is that Kentucky is going to be replacing Obamacare with a state-run system which will be very much like Obamacare.  I can't read the minds of the members of the Kentucky state government, but I'm pretty sure the state government of Kentucky is taking this action because lot of potential voters would be upset with the government if they lost their healthcare.

So, ultimately a lot of people in Kentucky who gained health coverage through the ACA will still have health coverage in Kentucky's new system.  Sure, a lot of those people will no longer associate President Obama with that health coverage, but they'll still have that health coverage - coverage they never would have had if President Obama's administration had not worked so hard to get the ACA passed.

I could see this happening in states across the nation, and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Republican Congress created their own "Trumpcare" which included many of the positive features of the ACA.  I'm sure a Trumpcare" program wouldn't responsibly fund those positive features with taxes the way the ACA did, but at least a lot of people would still have health coverage as the Trump administration ran up the national debt.

I'm not a complete Pollyanna about this; I know a lot of people will still lose their healthcare, but in the end, a lot more people will have healthcare in 2020 than would have had healthcare if the ACA had never been passed.  Trump can take the "Obama" out Obamacare, but he'll never be able to take away most of the "care".

The phenomenon of Obama's good works living on even as Trump works to erase Obama's legacy is not limited to the ACA.  While it is clear the that Trump is hostile to the LGBTQ rights and will do nothing over the next four years to expand or protect LGCTQ rights, it's also extremely unlikely that his administration will make any real effort the overturn marriage equality.  Trump himself said that he believed marriage equality was settled law.

LESLEY STAHL: Do you support marriage equality?

TRUMP: It — it’s irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done.

STAHL: So even if you appoint a judge that —

TRUMP: It’s done. It — you have — these cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled. And, I’m fine with that.

Now, I'm the last person who is going to trust anything that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth, but it is worth noting the he made the statements above after the election.  He had no reason to lie to appeal to swing voters after the election was over, and as we've learned from the first 10 days of his administration, President Trump hasn't been shy about what his intentions are.  I for one, believe that he has no intention of overturning marriage equality.  He knows that a majority of Americans have grown comfortable with the concept of marriage equality, and that he would take a huge political hit if he made an effort to overturn it.  Barack Obama ( with a huge assist for Joe Biden, and the gay couples and lawyers who fought so hard in the courts ) is the reason why a lot of American are now comfortable with the idea of marriage equality.  Sure, Obama was real late to the party, and needed Biden's help to display the political courage we always hoped he would show, but having a U.S. president come out in favor of marriage equality was ( to steal a phrase from Biden ) a big fucking deal.  When Obama made it clear that he supported the right of all Americans to marry the person they loved, he normalized the idea of marriage equality.  He changed hearts and minds that will never be changed back.  Marriage equality is here to stay, and we have President Obama to thank for that.

Sure, Trump might try his best to erase Obama's name from the history books and even take credit many of Obama's accomplishments, but we should never forget what President Harry S. Truman had to say ...

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

Rich