The battle lines on health care among Republicans isn’t even between moderates and the conservatives of the House Freedom Caucus. The real problem is apathy, says Peter Spiliakos.
“Much more than the House Freedom Caucus, or the skittish moderates, or the wonks, it is this last (and largest) group that sets the tone for the GOP on health care. Like this largest, unideological group, Republicans spent seven years failing to agree on even the broad principles of an Obamacare replacement, spent a few weeks flailing around, and now want to use the failure of the AHCA as an excuse to move on to real issues like tax reform. The GOP was never more itself than when its response to failure borne of the refusal to think seriously about health care was to think about something (anything) other than health care. For the average Republican, health care is nails on the chalk board. Tax cuts are a warm bath.”