Horror-movie legislation

ACA repeal has been declared dead and then revived so many times, it's starting to resemble the stereotypical slasher-movie fiend who keeps coming back every time you think the good guys have finally killed him off.  In fact, it's worse than that.  Congressional Republicans look like Herbert West, endlessly dragging some pathetic mangled corpse back from oblivion to a stumbling, agonized, pointless parody of life, long after everyone else can see that he's gone crazy and should just leave the poor thing to rot in peace.

The latest revenant version went down 43-to-57 -- not even close -- while it increasingly looks like future efforts may be filibuster-prone.  Trump, desperate for a win on something even if he doesn't really know what it is, is taking time out from his busy schedule of trashing his loyal Attorney General to insult one of his party's own Senators for showing independence.  It's like watching Jason Voorhees floundering in a tar pit, unable to escape but unable to die.

In fact, just as slasher films tend to do, this whole spectacle has become rather monotonous, even while the monster remains scary -- which is part of the reason I haven't posted much about it. "Return of the Revenge of Son of ACA Repeal Part 2: Trump Strikes Back" is obviously going to keep appearing in some form for as long as the Republicans control Congress (if "control" is even the right word for whatever the hell they're doing).  Plenty of blogs and news sites are covering the fight on a blow-by-blow basis, and I'll be damned if I can think of anything original or different to add.

But don't count on the Trumpanzees to stop buying tickets.  Many of them are too dim to realize the monster has turned on them.  This person actually seems to think that the ACA increased the number of uninsured and that repeal will reverse that.  How do you reason with someone like this?  And he's not unique.  These are the people who would survive a zombie apocalypse -- they wouldn't even qualify as snacks.

I do want to call attention to some other, more encouraging news.  New sanctions on Russia, including a provision that prevents Trump from unilaterally lifting them, have now passed the House 419-to-3 and the Senate 98-to-2.  This shows that even most Republicans can stand up to Trump where Russia is concerned -- which implies he'll face real consequences if he makes a serious effort to destroy Mueller's investigation, our best hope of ultimately bringing him down.

But ACA repeal will probably stagger on and on, more battered and shrunken every time it shows itself, until Democrats finally take back Congress, release the asphyx, and let it rest in peace at last.