Repeal and replace the GOP

By Lynn Clayton, Las Vegas

Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Eight years ago, when Barack Obama became president of the United States, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader at the time, stated that the Republican Party’s main agenda was to ensure that Obama’s presidency failed and that Obama would be a one-term president. Fast forward eight years. Although Obama has stated numerous times that Donald Trump is unqualified and unfit to hold the presidency, in his post election speech to the nation, Obama urged the country to unite and reminded us that we are all one team. He also immediately invited Trump to the White House.

When faced with sagging poll numbers in the campaign’s last weeks, Trump stated that he believed the election was rigged. When asked if he would concede the election should he lose, he responded that he would keep the country guessing. Contrast that behavior with Hillary Clinton’s gracious concession speech in which she urged her supporters to keep an open mind and give Trump a chance to lead.

On Day One of his presidency, Trump has vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act that insures 20 million Americans, provides coverage for dependent children under age 26 on their parents’ health insurance, provides preventive care at no cost to patients and stops exclusions for treatment of pre-existing conditions. However, Trump and the Republican Party have no agreement on what to replace the Affordable Care Act with; all they agree on is the repeal. Maybe it’s time to repeal and replace the Republican Party.