Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who will replace Harry Reid as Senate Minority Leader in January, is planning to stand athwart the nomination of Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) as the Secretary of HHS and make him answerable for his plans to privatize Medicare and repeal Obamacare.

“Between this nomination, an avowed Medicare opponent, and Republicans here in Washington threatening to privatize Medicare, it’s clear that Washington Republicans are plotting a war on seniors next year,” Schumer said at a press conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “Every senior in America should hear this loudly and clearly: Democrats will not let them win that fight.”

The ironic thing is, as Steve M notes, is that if Mr. Price is successful, the people who will suffer the most — those who will either be without insurance or can no longer afford it — will not blame their situation on Trump or the Republicans.  Just as the housing and foreclosure crisis of 2008 was not the fault of the banks who conned the unqualified buyers into junk mortgages but the buyers themselves, the Republicans who get the frantic calls from their constituents will blame it on either the Democrats or, more likely, on President Obama for making them think that healthcare was somehow a right and that everyone should have it regardless of their medical situation.  And they will believe it.

Good luck with that fight, Sen. Schumer.