Back in the day, when the GOP was a club run by and for business interests, the leadership could attack the safety net without much concern for the voters. Today, the party’s support comes primarily from working people, so the leadership has to at least pretend to care about their welfare. The benefits of the BBB, however, will flow primarily to capitalists. How will the party explain this to the base?
The first gambit, of course, is to argue that deserving people will still have health insurance; the cuts to Medicaid and food aid only eliminate waste and fraud. That won’t go very far, however, because the victims of the cuts are unlikely to view themselves as waste and fraud. Then what?
There are two pages in the playbook. They are as follows:
- OK, you lost your health insurance. But look at all you’ve gained! Illegal immigrants are no longer coming for your job and driving up the cost of housing! Your daughter won’t be raped in the bathroom by a trans person! Your tax dollars won’t support lazy black people anymore! The government won’t shut down your church! The benefits of Republican rule far exceed the costs.
- You don’t really want a handout. What you want is your old job back–the one that was stolen from you by global elites and Democrat overregulation. We’re working on bring that job back. Just be patient, and things will be much better! You’ll have real health insurance again, not a government handout! Trust us!
In other words, culture wars and nostalgia. They worked before; why not now?