tl,dr: Yesterday was a huge victory for high quality, affordable health care in election after election. In exit polls nationwide, voters confirmed that health care was their top priority—and they punished those officials at every level of government who had sought to take it away. Even in races where health care proponents ultimately lost, the margin of victory was often significantly closer than anyone would have predicted two years ago in states won handily by Donald Trump—thanks to the power of health care voters. And, of course, a number of the Affordable Care Act’s harshest foes were forced to lie about their opposition to the law in a sweeping reversal of health care politics from previous election cycles. With Democrats taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the door has been firmly closed on further legislative attempts next year to repeal the ACA, gut Medicaid, block low-income patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood, or cut Medicare to pay for t
With Donald Trump remaking the Republican Party in his image, a number of prominent conservatives, Republicans, and former Republicans have argued that the only way to save the GOP from racism, corruption, conspiracies, and alternative facts is to hand the party a big defeat at the polls by voting a straight Democratic ticket. For conservatives like Max Boot and Tom Nichols, the issue is straightforward . The common rejoinder from their Republican-voting friends is always the same: abortion . Often on this blog I'm repurposing writing and research that I've done in a professional capacity for other entities, adding some personal color or making it much more partisan. This time I'm not aligned with any organization. In fact, I'm about to go off-message. But when I see Republicans using abortion as a reason to give a blank check to an administration that threatens our democracy itself, I think... Can we... can we be honest with each other for just a second? I