John Cassidy parses what Mitch McConnell is up to with his run-it-up-see-who-salutes approach to remaking the health insurance industry in America. Most the time, of course, a majority of senators don't salute (57 here, 55 there), but McConnell may be able to pass a “skinny repeal” bill that would remove the individual and employer mandates of Obamacare, and those are the things that help control costs.

Then there's this:

The other, even bigger, problem with the “skinny repeal” bill is that it likely won't be designed to be the final version of the Republican legislation. Practically everybody on Capitol Hill believes that McConnell is putting it forward as a ruse to toss the ball to a House-Senate conference, which could then come back with a much broader bill that would torpedo the insurance exchanges, roll back the Medicaid expansion, and get rid of the taxes on the rich.

I can't imagine what the soul of Mitch McConnell is like. Or the souls of the Republicans who keep voting for these abominations. That's the astonishing thing: the number of Republicans willing, wanting, chomping-at-the-bit to cut Medicaid in order to fund a tax break for the super-wealthy. This doesn't get enough attention. It deserves more. Drag it into the light. Drag them into the light.