Washington (CNN) Over the past 24 hours, President Donald Trump has taken two actions aimed at mortally wounding the Affordable Care Act.

The first tasks his administration with increasing competition among health care insurers, a move very likely to drive younger people out of the insurance marketplace entirely and driving up costs across the board. The second, announced late Thursday night, stops the federal subsidies being paid to insurance companies to incentivize them to cover lower-income Americans

The key to understanding Trump's motivations here are entirely contained in the ACA's shorthand nickname: Obamacare. It's named after the man -- former President Barack Obama (duh) -- who shepherded it into existence. And that's exactly why Trump wants to get rid of it.

Trump's entire political life -- dating all the way back to his adoption of birtherism earlier this decade -- is positioned against all things Obama. Why? Because for many Trump supporters in this country, Obama -- and his beliefs about society and government -- were the antithesis of what they believed. (Yes, Obama's race -- and multicultural vision of the country and the world -- were part of that mix as well.)

The best way to distinguish yourself in Republican politics during Obama's time in office was to position yourself against, literally, everything about Obama -- up to and including his legitimacy to be president due to fact-free claims about where he was born.

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