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We → share → paywall
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we → believe → subscriber
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you → ’re → donation
Voters delivered a thorough repudiation of Donald Trump in last week’s midterms, with Americans making clear they are desperate for financial help.
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are → deliver → help
After Democrats picked up (at least) seven red Senate seats and their biggest House majority in decades, the party believes it has a mandate for its “affordability” agenda.
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it → pick → agenda
So far, the party’s pitch seems to be attempting a return to the pre-Trump economic status quo that saw him get elected for a second time – and don’t you dare demand structural changes.
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you → seem → changes
Who knows what will be said, of course, at the “What’s Next 2026” conference put on later this week by Majority Democrats – part of the billionaire-funded network that backed some of the moderates who won Democrats’ most consequential midterm victories.
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who → know → victories
But the Majority Democrats who went on TV on Sunday made clear the moderates are eager and ready to punch left, and don’t have big policies in mind.
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are → go → mind
Americans certainly delivered a message about affordability last Tuesday.
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Americans → deliver → affordability
In NBC exit polls, 75% of voters gave the economy a negative rating, with 59% saying they’re very concerned about the costs of gas and groceries and healthcare.
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they → give → gas
Voters delivered a message about affordability when they elected Trump again, too – they were mad about the brutal economy before Trump’s disastrous Iran war, tariffs, and healthcare cuts.
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they → deliver → war
It’s been less than a week since Democrats won the midterms so it is perhaps unfair to expect Democrats to have offered a full-fledged policy agenda by now – though they could have easily campaigned on one.
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they → win → one
There is obviously a large, Trump-sized impediment to what Democrats can expect to accomplish once they take full control of Congress next year.
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they → be → Congress
The president will surely attempt to set the agenda and steer the discourse each day, even if Americans despise him.
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Americans → attempt → him
What we’re seeing already from liberal influencers and Democrats, well before they’re sworn in, feels sadly familiar: a half-hearted pledge to solve some problems part-way, buttressed with assertions that this is exactly what Americans voted for – indeed, the only politically responsible way.
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Americans → see → what
As Neera Tanden, a former Joe Biden adviser who leads the Center for American Progress, put it in a speech on Monday, “The next two years should not be an opportunity for every organization or group in DC to dust off their wish list for the last decade…
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organization → lead → decade
It is time to ensure, and relentlessly ensure, we deliver for the voters who just trusted us.
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who → ensure → us
The big question for Democrats – particularly those in its moderate flank – remains what it has been: What’s their plan to actually make life in America more affordable?
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life → remain → America
And then how would they pass it?
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they → pass → it
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the likely Democratic speaker come January, has spoken of prioritizing reversing several Trump administration policies: ending Trump’s gas-price-spiking war with Iran; ending his arbitrary tariffs and trade wars; eliminating his Medicaid cuts, which are about to make millions of people uninsured; reauthorizing the health insurance subsidies that Trump let expire, cutting off insurance for millions on Obamacare while spiking premiums for many more.
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Trump → come → many
Enacting all of these changes is absolutely necessary.
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Enacting → enact → changes
But if Democrats manage to force those changes through now with Trump as president, they ultimately would be delivering a return to the Biden-era economy that voters rejected.
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voters → manage → that
What’s the plan to make life more affordable than it was under Joe Biden?
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it → make → Biden
“The agenda that I’ve seen so far presented is not going to cut it,” progressive Colorado Rep.-elect Melat Kiros told Politico on Monday.
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Kiros → see → Monday
Nearly six-in-ten voters said in midterm exit polls that they’re very concerned about the cost of healthcare when it comes to their own financial situation; 61% said the government should play a bigger role in helping Americans get healthcare; and 55% said the Trump administration’s policies have made their healthcare costs worse.
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costs → say → healthcare
The U.S. was already spending far more than other wealthy countries on healthcare, only for Americans to see worse access, worse outcomes, and greater administrative inefficiency.
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Americans → spend → access
Senator-elect and pastor Adam Hamilton ran one of the more satisfying Democratic campaigns this year in Kansas, flipping a seat Dems haven’t won since 1932.
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Dems → run → 1932
Anger with Trump played a big role, to be sure, and Hamilton is an outstanding speaker, but he also righteously dismantled GOP Senator Roger Marshall, an OBGYN, for suing hundreds of patients over medical debts.
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he → play → debts
“We’ve got to figure out a better way so that every person in America has access to basic levels of healthcare,” Hamilton said during a debate with Marshall, “so that they can afford to pay for their treatment – and they aren’t being sued by their doctors when they don’t get paid.”
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they → get → doctors
Hamilton’s campaign platform includes several important healthcare proposals outside of reversing Trump’s healthcare cuts, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices on more drugs (including for private plans), and ending the scam that has the government provide massive overpayments each year to private Medicare Advantage insurers.
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government → include → insurers
He wants to “reform prior authorization so insurance paperwork cannot delay or deny care.”
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paperwork → want → care
Speaking on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday, Hamilton said again he wants to ensure “affordable healthcare for everyone,” while reiterating his opposition to Medicare for All – arguing that insurance-industry jobs are too important, and that the idea might sound frighteningly European to voters in Kansas.
“I think there are people who worry, what does that look like?” he said.
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he → speak → what
“They have a sense of Europe and other places, where they’re not certain this is – I mean, there are places in Europe people love their healthcare, but there are other places where people complain about the length of time it takes to be able to get treatment.
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it → have → treatment
Who’s approving treatment, I think people are a bit antsy about that.”
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people → approve → that
Per exit polls, 60% of voters in Kansas are very concerned about healthcare costs, and 56% believe the government should do more to help Americans get care.
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Americans → believe → care
‘We Cannot Make the Same Mistake’
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We → make → Mistake
So what reforms do other moderate Democrats propose to meaningfully lower costs and ensure every American has healthcare coverage?
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American → propose → coverage
When I tweeted something similar Sunday, Rohan Patel, executive director of Majority Democrats, replied with a video his organization released last month pitching a plan called “Medicare for Americans.”
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organization → tweet → Americans
This is their derivative name for their version of a public health insurance option – something Democrats have been advocating for since at least 2008.
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Democrats → advocate → 2008
You may remember Barack Obama pushed for a public option during the Affordable Care Act debate, before dropping it.
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Obama → remember → it
…and 33 more, not listed.
The Aporia
