Ex-GOP strategist: Trump’s budget is 'going to hurt his voters'

With the United States' federal government partially shut down, GOP and Democratic lawmakers are having an intense battle over spending priorities. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) are warning that millions of Americans stand to lose their health insurance in 2026 if Obamacare subsidies are not funded, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is echoing President Donald Trump's false claim that Democrats are planning to fund health insurance for undocumented immigrants.

During a Thursday morning, October 2 appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Never Trump conservative and former GOP strategist Rick Wilson urged Democrats to "hold the line" on health care and subsidies for the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare.

Wilson, a key figure in the conservative anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, noted that the "lie about illegal immigrants getting free health care" thanks to Democrats was "vomited out of a focus group by (GOP pollster) Tony Fabrizio."

Wilson told "Morning Joe" host Mika Brzezinski and her colleague Jonathan Lemire, "I get why they're using it: It's perfect red meat. But the idea that Trump is the chaos agent, that Trump is the cause of the harm. Farmers in America are getting screwed right now. Manufacturers, construction workers — the harm is rippling out there. And I think as Democrats go through this shutdown fight, they've got to be out front and center saying, 'We're going to fix this — not just this shutdown, we're going to fix the rest of this if you give us power in the fall of '26.'"

Lemire asked Wilson if Trump's "punishment of political foes" is something that swing voters and independents who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024 "signed up for" — and the Never Trumper responded, "You know, a lot of them in the hardcore of the Republican base did sign up for that. But there's an odd coincidence here."

Wilson continued, "You know, while Steve Bannon is no fan of mine, he made a point that I have to tell you was pretty smart. He made a point about cutting health care benefits and Medicare and Medicaid benefits to red states: It's going to hurt Trump's voters. Cutting the ACA benefit is going to hurt Trump's voters. It is going to cause them a lot of pain. A lot of those people, about 60 percent of those people that are on the ACA, are in red states — this is going to cause them pain. So the Democrats, yes — pointing out the chaos, pointing out the insanity. Pointing out that this is all Trump's choice…. Democrats are right to fight this fight right now."