Dear Friends,
It is reasonable to assume that most Americans do not pay as close attention to our nation’s politicians as we all do. We all tend to watch the actions of politicians, before and after they are elected, then share our findings using the power of this powerful network of social media influencers.
Between now and the 2024 elections, we need to shine a blinking red light warning everyone what MAGA Republicans intend to do to our healthcare and other social safety nets if they were to win the White House, and a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives. They have told us the evil they hope to do, and we should believe them.
These are just the threats to healthcare that MAGA Republicans have said out loud. Be certain, there will be more:
- If re-elected, Donald Trump has vowed that as a “Dictator for One Day”, on his first day in office, he wants to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), which currently covers more than 40 million Americans, a law that allows ordinary people to see a doctor before they get too sick to recover. Before passage of the ACA, people without health insurance died because it was too late by the time they went to the emergency room.
- Social Security and Medicare, a woman’s right to choose, and the cost of medications are all on the line. Republicans have abandoned working people and are hell-bent on ripping Social Security and Medicare apart, all while giving millions of dollars in tax breaks to enrich themselves and their wealthy donors.
- Republicans have no plan to lower inflation or the cost of living for families and want to take away the social safety nets on which our society depends. Florida Senator Rick Scott’s “11-point plan to rescue America” intends to sunset all federal legislation in 5 years, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He got so much angry pushback from both Democrats and Republicans in his own party that he “paused” his plan…for now.
- Americans are forced to pay by far the highest prices on the planet for prescriptions while three pharmaceutical giants have increased their profits by 90%! Insulin prices in the United States have tripled in the past decades. After years of strenuous resistance from Republicans, Democrats were finally able to pass a bill capping the cost of insulin to Medicare recipients to $35/month. Republicans are so dependent on Big Pharma donations to their campaigns, that no Republicans voted to cap the up to $400/month that non-Medicare patients pay for this life-saving medication. Only Democrats have the guts to take on the pharmaceutical companies.
- Homelessness is a mental and physical health issue. The pandemic exacerbated the affordable housing crisis and continues to leave far too many people on the edge of eviction and homelessness. Democrats want to support local nonprofit organizations in our local communities, to find solutions to the challenges our neighbors are facing. MAGA Republicans have not just taken a cruel “let them eat cake” and “let them pull themselves up by their bootstraps” approach, they have buried their heads in the sand regarding this worsening societal problem, hoping America will not notice. They should remember that it’s impossible to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you can’t even afford boots!
- In an instance of “the dog that caught the car,” after the Supreme Court stripped away the human rights protections of Roe v. Wade, Republicans have been tripping over themselves, trying not to admit that if they gain enough power, they are committed to passing a national abortion ban. They pretend that they would support abortion being legal up to 15 weeks from inception, but in fact, they are okay with taking away a woman’s right to make decisions with her doctor regarding her own body, without interference from ANY government entity.
Access our healthcare social media kit
Last year under Democratic leadership, the national deficit was reduced by $350 billion. In 2023, the deficit reduction is $1.4 trillion! And, because Democrats are working to make corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and have been able to give Medicare the power to start negotiating lower prices, the national deficit will be reduced by another $250 billion over the next decade. Spread the word. We cannot trust the MAGA cult to protect our access to affordable healthcare.
Let’s call loudly and repeatedly for “Medicare For All” (eliminating co-pays and premiums) and a public option (healthcare provided via optional government health insurance instead of mostly by for-profit health insurance companies). These alternatives now have more mainstream support than they did in the past, and actually are more cost-effective and reliable than the current, chaotic U.S. healthcare system.
Medicare also should be able to negotiate prices for a broad range of medications, just as governments do in other industrialized countries, no one should be forced into bankruptcy because of medical costs, and no one should have to undermedicate because they can’t afford their prescribed medications. Democrats need to go on the offense, pushing to expand the ACA, not solely focusing on protecting the ACA.
Please use this toolkit and your social media leadership to inform and educate the public. Do not let MAGA Republicans control our healthcare!
You may know the name Rachel Bitecofer, nationally recognized political analyst and election forecaster who accurately predicted the Blue Wave in the 2018 midterms. When Rachel speaks, it behooves us to perk up and listen. She is warning Democrats of the “basic flaw” in their strategy — an uninformed, un-engaged electorate. She concludes that “If we want voters to know that we face an existential crisis from Republican extremism, we have to tell them!”
To get Democrats ready for the messaging that is needed to win the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, Rachel has written a book entitled: Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game, described as a radical, urgent plan for how the Democratic Party and its supporters can win elections at one of the most pivotal moments in the history of our nation’s democracy.
Hit ‘Em Where it Hurts is available for preorder now. Available in hard copy, Kindle, and audiobook.
“The way for Democrats to wage—and win—electoral war”, Bitecofer writes: “is to present themselves as “brand ambassadors for freedom, health, wealth, safety, and common sense,” the very opposite of the extremist, freedom-fearing Right. This is a last-ditch effort to armor democracy while there is still time to save and strengthen it against hijacking by a small minority of ideologues.”
If we are to prevail over the threat of Trumpism and Project 2025, we must turn MAGA extremists’ culture wars back onto themselves. This book will be a valuable tool to help Democrats prevail and save democracy and our freedoms.
Rachel featured Freedom Writers Collaborative on her November 2023 podcast to discuss the group’s grassroots work and to contrast Democrats with the MAGA extremist Republican Party. Click this link to listen!
