was pointing out, these fault lines on immigration and on healthcare and also very strong performance from cory booker on guns. yeah, i think we re pointing to, there s a common thread between all of those. the tone. the tone that this reflects is markedly more liberal, even compar compared to where the democratic party was a couple years ago. i remember in the 2016 campaign we can all remember bernie sanders trying to campaign on the idea of medicare for all. and the response that came back from the clinton campaign that meant you would be gutting obamacare. his opposition his support for single payer was taken as an insult to the presidential legacy of barack obama. a couple years later here, the climate i think maybe has changed. we ve shown a lot of data about the democratic party and in particular white voters in the
tweeted out after the ruling, as i predicted all along obamacare has been struck down as an unconstitutional disaster. congress must pass a strong law that provide great health care and protects preexisting conditions. mitch and nancy, get it done. it s the visual of mcconnell and pelosi somehow rewriting the health care law with donald trump has president. what does that look like? i think that s a vision that nobody in this town can conjure right now. and donald trump may be the only republican cheering this decision, which is somewhat fascinating. looking at conservative legal scholars and conservatives at large, there s nobody who seems to be happy about this ruling. and to think its reasoning makes much sense which is really that you can t have a tax of zero dollars, which, yeah, republicans in the house, they did away with the individual mandate by just saying the tax on it is zero dollars. but, you know, before obamacare went into law you heard conservatives say once you pass
political negative he faced, the health care issue. in hindsight, politically, was this a mistake? he won his election pretty handily. whether it had an impact on voters, i don t know. i do know that the court case you don t seem enthusiastic about the lawsuit. you seem like take it or leave it. when you challenge something like the affordable care act, an attorney general in texas doesn t have the obligation to come up with faulty alternatives. josh hawley and i now have a different obligation than all those attorneys general had. we continue to look for more options, more choices, more access to insurance that really meets people s needs, things like the associated health plans that allow people in small businesses to band together. that s going to have a real impact on people that can get out of the individual market, which is always more expensive, and more difficult to navigate, than insurance at work.
it doesn t get overturned it would have to go to the fifth circuit and potentially the supreme court and which would mean there would be a decision according to experts who talk about the timeline of these things would be in 2020, which would make it a perfect political issue for democrats. so the idea that maybe this is not going to be a topic come 2020 in the next election is, i think, a bit of wishful thinking for republicans. democrats will use that. i m old enough to remember when the 2012 supreme court decision was going to just be the be all, end all of that presidential election. well, here comes john roberts again potentially on obamacare, part two, to potentially save the democrats again. so i think that will be interesting to watch. look, i also think it s an opportunity for a potential reset here. obamacare was passed on in terms of just a full partisan vote. we know this. here we are, let s say for example they do need to start from scratch if you will. it does give
let s say your prospects don t look as good in the courts as you might think that they do. do you try to work with them to bring a penalty back on the mandate if that s what it takes? do you work with them to figure out a plan that eliminates the mandate? where are you on this? well, legislation, when it comes to health care, as we have seen, is very difficult, and the president and a large number of republicans are actually for cutting back on health care. that s what they ve done for two years. we have a divided house and senate. i think the courts have to be the first and best way to go. let me ask you this about the cors, by the way. brian fallon, somebody who used to work for you, tweeted the juj who ruled in favor of gutting obamacare was confirmedfy voice vote. remember that the next time democrats cut a deal with mcconnell on judges and defend it by saying they were all noncontroversial nominees, this judge confirmed in 2007 when democrats were in control of the united st