One day, when this is all behind us, and Canada has done us the supreme sacrifice of friendship by annexing us for a spell until we've regained our sanity, I predict that the primary delivery device for the virus that drove us mad in 2017 will not be reckoned to have been Donald Trump but, rather, Mitch McConnell, a carrier of the creeping death. It was McConnell who best saw the opportunity inherent in the process of installing an arrogant dingbat at the head of the executive branch, and it is McConnell whose personal politics were as cruel and venal as they had to be to take advantage of it.

What he's trying to do to the healthcare of millions of Americans should be enough to send him to hell on a bus ticket. And, as we see from The Hill on Monday, it's actually getting worse.

The proposal would start out the growth rate for a new cap on Medicaid spending at the same levels as the House bill, but then drop to a lower growth rate that would cut spending more, known as CPI-U, starting in 2025, the sources said. That proposal has been sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for analysis, a Senate GOP aide said…The aide said that plan has been described as a "consensus option that has been sent to CBO," though no final decision has been made yet. Another aide said there are still other options in the mix. Democrats and some more moderate Republicans were already warning about Medicaid cuts in the House-passed bill, which reduces Medicaid spending by more than $800 billion over 10 years.

Almost as bad as McConnell are these so-called moderate Republicans who are so terribly troubled about it all, but who can't seem to do anything but wring their hands. Doesn't one of them have the guts to leak the secret plan to fight good health? Three of them could stop the whole train, especially now that Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has called the majority's bluff.

Almost surely, McConnell—and his Freedom Caucus gunsels—don't care about the damage they're preparing to do, in secret, and are full of the confidence of knowing that there isn't a big enough vestige of a conscience left anywhere in their party to stop them short of doing as much damage as they can. The real barbarians—not the gold-plated ones—are at the gate.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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