So President Trump goes to the Rose Garden and lets his new GOP House pals run around outside the White House and soak in a victory of Trumpcare health bill passage. Wow. What a pathetic victory. They remind me of a baseball team soaking themselves in champagne after a 162-game season and then go on to lose a one-game playoff.  Coming up next is the Senate. Hopefully, the voices of pained patients and facts will have the upper-hand in the upper house.  Comm’n, moderate Republicans in the Senate, there are still a few of you left.  Just think of all the people with pre-existing conditions, whose lives could be damaged by Trump and his cronies. All for a teeny victory that can be held in a little hand.

Ok, America lost in the House, which voted to take away healthcare from the aging and the poor. The Republicans slapped high-fives in the White House backyard. Even the losing Democrats were childish.  They are singing “Na na hey hey Goodbye.”  They referred to predictions that Republicans would lose elections after yesterday’s vote.

Gee, Congress this is serious. And it’s not about you.

A hex on the House, I say the heck with you.  Send In the Clowns Oh, yeah, they are there, in Congress.

And then there’s Trump, like his hero Andrew Jackson, running a victory lap, but meaningful?  Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans weeks after the War of 1812 was over. Great for symbolism at the time. That’s what Trump is all about. Symbolism. Show.

For Trump, though, the reality war is just beginning in healthcare reform. People are going to face up to his nonsense and despicable one-liners, or statements that have no thoughts behind them. And the lies. Oh yeah. The pre-existing conditions, coverage for everyone. Sure, Donald, sure.

And this is a 70-year-old man who didn’t show us his, er, clean-bill-of-health,  or the taxes either.

Of course, the Republicans rushed through the legislation to get that little “victory.” And it is little, despite the headlines today. Isn’t Ryan supposed to be the wonk who loves counting pennies and spreadsheets?  Sure. But why wait for the fiscal experts at the Congressional Budget Office to review it? Nah. Remember the first time the Republicans tried: The CBO put a big F grade on that one: 24 million more Americans would lose health insurance, adding to those millions already who don’t have it.  I guess the GOP didn’t want to hear the bad news again.

Lots of people detested this bill that passed the House.  Check out Twitter and see all those comments from people who say #IAmAPreexistingCondition. But what do Trump and the gang care?  Polls were already showing people wanted changes to Obamacare and don’t throw it in the trash.  The Republicans said they were waiting seven long years to see Obamacare in the Dumpster. So what if many untruths are attached?

When you live by the lie, what difference does it make?

“Mr. Trump, in particular, has been spreading misinformation and lies about health care, arguing that the legislation would lower costs while guaranteeing that people with pre-existing health conditions could get affordable health insurance,” the New York Times said in an editorial.

As the bill goes to the Senate, many are  watching, chomping at the bit,

The AARP is one.  It represents 38 million people.

AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond said the organization is “deeply disappointed” that the House passed a “deeply flawed bill.”

She said the bill puts at risk 25 million “older adults with pre-existing conditions, such as cancer and diabetes, who would likely find health care  unaffordable or unavailable to them.”  LeaMond also pointed to the “age tax on us as we age, harming millions of American families with health insurance, forcing many to lose coverage or pay thousands of dollars more for health care.”

“We promised to hold members of Congress accountable for their vote on this bill,” she said.

— Joe Cantlupe