“From the moment he
took office, President Trump has used all aspects of his executive
power to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. He has issued executive
orders, directed agencies to come up with new rules and used the
public platform of the presidency in a blatant attempt to undermine
the law. Indeed, he has repeatedly bragged about doing so, making
statements like, 'Essentially, we are getting rid of Obamacare”.
In an
opinion piece published by The New York Times, University of
Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley and Abbe R. Gluck, professor
of law at Yale, detail the efforts by Disgustus to blatantly “attempt
to undermine the law”. (1)
The
president takes an oath prescribed in Article II of the Constitution
to faithfully execute the laws of the land.
“Faithfully executing
the laws requires the president to act in good faith. It does not
countenance the deliberate sabotage of an act of congress. Put
bluntly:” Bagley and Gluck
assert, “Mr. Trump's assault on Obamacare is illegal. (2)
The
assault on Obamacare by Disgustus and his minions has received some
public profile, foremost the elimination of the requirement to have
insurance or pay a penalty. This move threatens Affordable Care
because it, on balance, frees the young and the healthy from having
to participate leaving an older and less healthy pool of people in
the system which, consequently, drives up health care insurance
premiums. But he has done much more than that. In fact the actions
by Disgustus have been nothing less that a repeated, persistent
'full-court press' to beat down the legacy of Obama by
circumventing the law using whatever means at hand.
“Among Mr. Trump's
first acts in office was to issue an executive order instructing his
agencies 'to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the
implementation of' any part of the Affordable Care Act that they
could. That order has prompted a series of administrative actions
aimed at undermining the law.
“To make it harder
for people to enroll in Obamacare plans, for example, the
administration shortened the enrollment period on the health care
exchanges from three months to six weeks; cut 90 percent of the
funding that the exchanges had used to advertise open enrollment; and
slashed the funding available to groups that help people navigate the
complex enrollment process.
“To sow chaos in the
insurance markets, Mr. Trump toyed for nine months with the idea of
eliminating a crucial funding stream for Obamacare known as
cost-sharing payments. After he cut off those funds, he boasted that
Obamacare was 'being dismantled'.
“When Congress
declined to repeal the Affordable Care Act, as Mr. Trump had
requested, he said he was taking on that job himself: 'So we're going
a little different route.'
“This month, the
Trump administration dealt what may be its biggest blow yet to the
insurance markets. In a new rule, it announced that insurers will
have more latitude to sell 'short-term' health plans that are exempt
from the Affordable Care Act's rules. These plans were designed to
provide people insurance for small gaps in coverage, like those
created when switching jobs. They had previously been limited to
three months.
“Under Mr. Trump's
new rule, however, such plans can last for 364 days and can be
renewed for up to three years. That rule joins an earlier one that
allowed businesses to join together to create 'association health
plans' that also evade the Affordable Care Act's strictures. In
effect, these rules are creating a cheap form of 'junk' coverage that
does not have to meet the higher standards of Obamacare. This sort
of splintering of the insurance markets is not allowed under the
Affordable Care Act as Congress drafted it
“The Trump
administration's goal is not only to weaken the Affordable Care Act
but to also trick the public into thinking, as opponents of the law
like to say, that Obamacare is 'collapsing under its own weight.'
Let's be clear: If the Affordable Care Act collapses, it is because
the president demolished it.”(3)
This
is not only a violation of his oath of office constituting a
“derogation of constitutional duties”, but, as Bagley and
Gluck also point out, it is an “unconstitutional usurpation of
power” (4).
Oh, if
only we had sent Nixon off in chains to the fate he so richly
deserved. If only we had strung Reagan up by his thumbs as he openly
worried the people might do if they discovered to what they conspired
in the Oval Office—trading arms for hostages and, in the process
but taking monies paid for weapons and funding the Nicaraguan
'Contras”, thus violating the Bolen Amendment which made such
support at the time illegal. Not only that but by so funding the
“Contras” the Reagan Administration was guilty of circumventing
the Congressional prerogative regarding funding. All appropriations
are to originate in the House of Representatives. Funding a
clandestine terrorist operation without congressional approval or
oversight is a violation of the constitution, a violation for which
Reagan should have had hell to pay. The fact that both of these
scoundrels were let off lightly—Nixon with a pardon and Reagan with
an unwillingness of the Democrats to press the issue—have led to
some rather ugly consequences.
I'll
say it again: If Nixon would have been led off in chains, Ollie
North and Iran Contra would very likely not have happened. If Nixon
had been tried for treason because of his sabotage of the Paris Peace
Conference in 1968, Reagan's treason regarding the hostages in 1980
and Disgustus' treason with the Russians in 2016 would likely not
have happened.
And,
indeed, this total lack of good faith, these blatant acts to
circumvent and sabotage an act of Congress which, in a republic, is
the expressed will of the people— would also not likely have
come to pass. But now we are presented with not only violations of
his oath of office but an unconstitutional usurpation's of power.
This time we cannot let them stand.
“An'
Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”
Impeach and Imprison
_______________
- Bagley, Nicholas and Gluck, Abbe R. “Trump's Illegal Sabotage of Obamacare” The New York Times. Wednesday, August 15, 2018. Page A21
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
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