I'd say Brian Tyler Cohen has a pretty reasonable take on Mike Johnson's healthcare endgame.

[Miles Archer]

"The reality here is actually quite simple," Cohen said. "Mike Johnson does not want to protect the [Affordable Care Act], which 24 million Americans rely on. He and his party hate this law that enabled millions of Americans to get coverage. They do not believe in healthcare as a right. This is their way of destroying it from within, allowing it to become so ineffective, so expensive that it becomes less popular, and therefore easier to destroy and replace with their own plan that, by the way, they've had 15 years to uncover."

"But when that plan magically does materialize, I can assure you that a lot of middlemen will get very rich from it because that is how Republicans view healthcare," Cohen continued. "But he knows that if he relents here and extends those subsidies, he will undermine that plan. And so instead, he pretends that he and his party are the victims at the hands of the big bad Democrats and that all those Democrats need to do is hand over what little leverage they have and then just totally trust the GOP when the Republicans say that they'll work with the Democrats on healthcare."

https://www.rawstory.com/government-shutdown-2674238128/

[yorkster]

1. Many thanks for the printed except.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. But the GOP isn't winning on this issue.

[markodochartaigh]

5. Issues which are popular with the rich get passed, not those popular with the rest of us.

https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2015/05/disturbing-data-rich-and-powerful-get-their-policies-adopted-even-if-opposed/

[multigraincracker]

3. Single Payer.

The only way to go.

[Silent Type]

8. It definitely is, but no chance in foreseeable future, sadly.

[markodochartaigh]

4. Also they would get rid of EMTALA.

We would go back to unfunded people dying in hospital parking lots.

[pat_k]

6. That may all be true, but they are also desperate to make Democrats accomplices in the most hated budget...

"blueprint" in decades.

"Clean CR" is bullshit. What they want is to implement that horrific piece of legislation. But they don't actually want to "own" it.

CNN’s resident number cruncher Harry Enten reckons Donald Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill” is the most hated piece of legislation Congress has passed in decades.

“I went back into the archives and looked at every piece of major legislation passed since 1990,” Enten told Erin Burnett on OutFront Tuesday night. “The most unpopular bill that was passed? Guess what it is… It’s the Big Beautiful Bill.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-data-guru-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-is-the-most-unpopular-legislation-in-decades/

Seriously. They are actually looking for cover. They want to be able to say "If it was that bad, the Democrats could have stopped it."

That's why they won't go nuclear and own this 100%.

I am banking that Trump will cave the week before Thanksgiving. Keeping House members out of D.C. so they can't talk to each other may be the best way to implement the regime's will to maintain the stalemate, but having them back home, being hammered by constituents, may prove to be a "fatal" mistake.

In any case, it will last into early November because the regime is terrified of the BLS numbers for October. Remember, the 150,000 Federal workers who took the "it's not a buyout" buyout were technically employed through 9/30. Those numbers would hit the October report that would be released in early November if the government shutdown ended quickly. Along with the other job losses that are mounting, they are looking at a bloodbath -- and if the government shutdown were to end, that news would come right before people are getting together with their families for Thanksgiving.

So, they will time things to keep the jobs report out of the news before Thanksgiving, but have the government reopened to send people to their Thanksgivings with some good news.

[Miles Archer]

7. That's the point of the whole thing...

...they want Democrats' fingerprints to be on the gun.

It pains me that we can talk about this here, and connect the dots, and make every move the Republicans are making 100% transparent and predictable, but I have friends outside of DU who are neither politically aware nor politically active and they either don't get it at all, or because it hasn't happened to them personally yet, they're apathetic.

[pat_k]

9. It is painful.

I've been involved with a womens solo business owners group.

I'm one of just a couple of oldsters in the group. Most are in their 30's and 40's -- struggling millennials -- with a couple in their 20's. The level of cynicism and hopelessness about their own power to shape their government is profound. I found it hard to fathom at first. Generally, they are overwhelmed by student loan debt and the obscene rents here in Seattle. These are not passive women. They are out there, taking a shot at creating their own businesses. Impressive, smart women. But it feels like the belief that they have the power to change the ""rigged system" has been kicked out of them.

There are some who are engaged, but the level of cynicism that anything anyone does will actually make a difference to their lives is deeply, deeply disturbing. I've done my bit to inspire hope in people-power, but politics is not the focus of the mutual support provided in the meetings. There is a positive note though. I am feeling a hopeful shift. The horrors of our current crisis do seem to be moving some to get more engaged.

[littlemissmartypants]

11. Does anyone believe that the...

BLS numbers are going to ever be accurately reported again without being manipulated?

I don't know if I will ever trust any numbers coming from anywhere out of the regime from any department and especially not BLS.

What do you think? Should we trust the numbers? Even after the updates? ❤️

[pat_k]

12. 47 hasn't been able to install a minion.

You may of course be correct, that nothing that comes out of BLS can be trusted, but so far, trump hasn't been able to install a minion. Here's what a NY Times article back in August had so say:

Experts on government statistics say data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other agencies is unlikely to deteriorate dramatically overnight. The acting commissioner named to replace Dr. McEntarfer on a temporary basis, William J. Wiatrowski, is a longtime employee of the agency who is widely respected by experts inside and outside government. The career employees who collect and analyze the data remain in place, using the same methods and procedures they used before Dr. McEntarfer was pushed out.

Since that time, it appears that BLS has not been subjected to any further reductions in force beyond the DOGE global cuts, so career analysts remain in place. My guess is that the report on Sept which was ready to release before the shutdown, was accurate, which is why 47 suppressed it. I could be wrong, but with the agency not yet taken over by corrupt 47 leadership, i would expect reports to remain reliable until such time as 47 manages to push through a minion to utterly corrupt things.

BTW: The number of nominees who have recently been withdrawn is as sign of the cracks that are starting. As trump's numbers keep dropping on everything he is doing, Republicans in congress are getting nervous. He may not be as successful going forward in utterly corrupting agency's he has not already corrupted.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/business/trump-bls-firing-economic-reports.html?unlocked_article_code=1.w08.u3ZI.S7aXzgdjDV0l&smid=url-share

[bmichaelh]

10. Johnson and Thune both voted for repeal of ACA in 2017

Both Mike Johnson and John Thune voted for repeal of ACA in 2017.

Time is of the essence in fixing these subsidies.

There are some people who are currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments.,

For chemotherapy to be effective, you should not miss treatments.

When will some voters learn you can not put your trust in Republicans for healthcare.