Congress Stops ACA Healthcare Relief While Judiciary Targets Jack Smith

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On this WTF Wednesday episode of A World Gone Mad, I take a hard look at a decision in Congress that is about to hit millions of people where it hurts most. This is not an accident and it is not bad timing. 

Washington knew this healthcare deadline was coming and leadership chose to let it happen anyway. When premiums rise and coverage becomes harder to afford, that outcome will be the result of a deliberate choice.

I walk through a House fight over ACA healthcare relief that should have been straightforward and was anything but. 

This is not about party slogans or cable news noise. It is about who controls the process and what happens when leadership refuses to let the system do what it is supposed to do. A vote matters, and when votes are blocked, accountability disappears with them.

What makes this moment impossible to ignore is who pushed back and how far things escalated. Quiet negotiations happened. Warnings were issued. Even unlikely voices inside Congress said this was going too far. 

When those efforts failed, lines were crossed that almost never get crossed, and that tells you everything about how boxed in some lawmakers have become.

This episode is really about power and how it is being used. This is not gridlock and it is not confusion. It is leadership deciding that protecting control matters more than protecting people. 

When the process itself is shut down, regular Americans are the ones left absorbing the consequences while Washington pretends it is all normal.

In the second half of the show, I turn to a closed door Judiciary confrontation involving Jack Smith. This is not about transparency or routine oversight. It is about pressure, intimidation, and the signal being sent to anyone who might consider enforcing the law against powerful figures. 

I explain why this moment matters far beyond one hearing room and why it should concern anyone who still believes the rule of law is supposed to apply evenly.

What ties both stories together is the same sickness running through the system. Accountability is treated like a threat and loyalty is treated like a requirement. 

When enforcing the law becomes dangerous and preventing harm becomes optional, something fundamental is broken.

This is A World Gone Mad. I say the things others will not because the truth does not need permission, and the consequences of silence are already landing on the people who can least afford them.

The holidays are rapidly approaching.

And, if you’d like to help support this podcast with a small donation before the holiday’s…

here’s the link: 

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
This is a world on that.
This is a worldbone.

SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe.
Welcome to A World Gone Mad.
It's WTF Wednesday, and Iquestion what the fuck is Donald
the delusional one and his MAGAsupporters doing now?
And more importantly, how is anyof this crap going to hurt us?
The ones who actually care aboutour country and democracy.

(00:31):
Okay, reluctantly, let's getinto all of this madness.
Here we go.
A couple of things right off thebat.
I want to state something that Ineed to state to everyone here.
Repetitive, but that's okay.
It's been a long day.
I've got my third yearanniversary coming up for this

(00:52):
podcast, The World Gone Mad, incase anybody's interested.
Come January.
It'll be three years doing thisshow.
Secondly, there's a lot of newsstories out there today.
Can't cover them all.
Yes, I know Donald Trump had hisaddress tonight.
Yes, I know he said a lot ofstupid things and lies.

(01:14):
I really don't want to get intothat right now.
It's all garbage.
Someone wrote me, oh my God,someone wrote me.
I almost had a heart attack.
Someone wrote me an email andasked, How many people do you do
the show to?
And I said, it really doesn'tmatter because I have over 500
plus people, listeners.
Whether I do the show for onelistener or a thousand, I'm

(01:37):
still going to do the show.
Okay, so let's get into the newsI'd like to share with you
tonight.
Here we go.
Let's talk about how Congress isabout to jack up your health
insurance premiums on purpose.
Not by accident, not because themoney ran out, not because
nobody warned them, but becauseleadership chose to let it

(02:01):
happen.
And yes, the Republicansnarrowly pushed through their
version of health care bill.
It's a bunch of garbage.
It doesn't do much for us.
The enhanced ACA subsidies arestill going to expire.
These are the subsidies thatkeep health insurance affordable
for tens of millions ofAmericans.

(02:24):
Republicans don't care.
These are the tax creditsexpanded during the pandemic.
The ones that stop premiums fromexploding.
When they expire, premiums don'tgently rise.
They jump hard.
Families pay hundreds more permonth, or they drop their
coverage altogether.

(02:44):
Washington Republican leadershipknows this.
Everyone knows this.
This deadline didn't sneak up onthem like a surprise birthday
party.
They forgot to plan.
Now here's where it gets absurd.
A handful of Republicans in thelast 24 hours looked at this
cliff and said, we can't dothis.

(03:05):
Not Democrats, Republicans.
For Republicans, the boringcentrist Republicans who
normally stay glued to theirleadership.
Mike Lawler of New York, BrianFitzpatrick of Pennsylvania,
Ryan McKenzie of Pennsylvania,Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania.

(03:25):
These aren't radicals.
These are spreadsheet people.
They tried to do this the politewashing way.
They negotiated.
They proposed temporaryextensions to the Affordable
Care Act.
They talked about income caps.
So the help goes to working andmiddle class families.
They even worked out on how topay for it.

(03:47):
Democrats were on board, dozensof them, more waiting if it came
to a vote.
All they needed was a vote.
And Speaker Mike Johnson saidno.
Not no because it lackedsupport.
Not no because it was reckless,not because leadership didn't
want the vote to exist.
So the House Rules Committeeshut it down.

(04:08):
No amendments, no floor vote, nodebate, with only a few
legislative days left before theACA expires and everyone leaves
town for Christmas.
This wasn't a scheduling issue.
That was a decision.
Let the subsidies expire.
That's what Republicanleadership said.

(04:30):
And at that point, thecentrists, Republican centrists,
realized something important.
They were boxed out by their ownleadership.
So they did something almostunthinkable in Congress.
They went nuclear.
They signed on to a Democraticdischarge petition.
That's the procedural escapehatch meant for the minority

(04:52):
party when leadership blocks avote.
Four Republicans crossed theline to join the Democrats.
That was enough.
Democrats now have the requiredsignature, the force of floor
vote on their proposedthree-year extension of Enhanced
Affordable Care Act tax credits.

(05:12):
House Minority Leader HakeemJeffries now has the 218
signatures needed to guarantee avote under discharge petition
rules.
Now think about how insane thatis.
Republican members overridingtheir own speaker, Mike Johnson,
just to let the House vote onwhether people can afford health

(05:33):
insurance.
And here's the cruel twistlisteners.
The vote can't happen untilJanuary, which means the
subsidies to the Affordable CareAct expire first, premiums spike
first, damage first, debatelater.
People feel it before Congressfixes it.

(05:54):
Behind closed doors, thisexploded.
Raised voices, heated arguments,members yelling loud enough that
reporters could hear through thewalls.
Republicans openly furious thatleadership is ignoring a real
health care crisis and apolitical disaster.
One Republican said the quietpart out loud.

(06:16):
A clear extension withoutreforms isn't ideal.
But letting the reforms, orrather the extensions, expire,
is worse.
That's the choice Republicanleadership made.
Not in perfect help versusperfect policy.
In perfect help versusguaranteed harm.

(06:38):
A Republican leadership choseharm.
This isn't gridlock, this isn'tconfusion, this isn't both
sides.
This is Republican leadershiprefusing to allow a vote because
a vote creates accountability.
Premiums are about to spike fora lot of you.
Families will notice, insurancecompanies will cash in, and

(07:01):
Washington will act shocked whenvoters are furious.
They were warned, they hadoptions, they chose this.
This is a world gone mad.
And once again, regular peopleget stuck paying for it.
Let's be clear about somethingbefore anyone tries to spin
this.

(07:22):
This isn't leadership, this isarrogance.
Republican leadership is actinglike they're in charge of us
instead of the other way around.
Like this is their system, theirchessboard, their little
procedural game.
They're not kings, they'reemployees.
We hired them to do a job,protect people, keep the system

(07:45):
functioning, stop obvious harmwhen you see it coming.
Instead, they're playing gameswith healthcare like it's a
talking point instead ofpeople's lives.
Premiums going up, coveragedisappearing, family scrambling,
and leadership, Republicanleadership's response is
basically deal with it.

(08:07):
They don't feel it, they don'tworry about it, they don't miss
a doctor's appointment because abill suddenly doubled.
So they stall.
They posture, they pretendcontrol is more important than
competence.
This is what contempt for voterslook like.
We didn't elect them to sit ontheir hands.

(08:27):
We didn't elect them to blockvotes.
We didn't elect these idiots forthem to punish people to prove a
point.
They work for us.
They don't understand that.
And right now they're treatingthe American people like
garbage.
This is neglect, a totaldisregard for the people of
America.
And when voters finally sayenough, Republican leadership is

(08:51):
going to act shocked again.
They shouldn't, because this isexactly what happens in a world
gone mad.
Okay, moving to Jack Smith.
Jack Smith walks into aclosed-door house judiciary
deposition, and the first thingyou should know is what this is
not.
This is not about transparency.

(09:13):
This is not about oversight.
This is a pressure test.
It's act of retribution fromDonald Trump.
And it's a message to anyone ingovernment thinking about doing
their damn job next time.
Smith shows up quietly, nostatements, no spectacle, just a
career prosecutor walking into aroom where Republicans have

(09:35):
already decided the verdict andare now shopping for the excuse.
Meanwhile, Trump's out thereopenly calling for Smith to be
prosecuted.
That's the environment, that'sthe backdrop, and yet Jack Smith
still shows up.
His lawyer basically says thequiet part out loud.
This guy followed the facts andthe law to, you know, to go

(09:58):
against Donald Trump, period.
That should be the most boringsentence in America.
Instead, it's treated like anact of war.
Since when did doing your jobbecome grounds for retaliation?
Republicans are pretending thisis about process.
They say the investigation waspartisan.
They say it was abusive.

(10:18):
They say lawmakers were unfairlysurveilled.
But here's the problem for them.
Most of the investigative stepsthat Jack Smith took, they're
angry about happened beforeSmith was even in charge.
Different offices, differentpeople, same facts, that little
detail keeps running theirnarrative.

(10:39):
Smith's actual cases werestraightforward.
Classified documents kept wherethey didn't belong, a pressure
campaign to overturn an electionthat failed.
January 6th happened.
So courts reviewed it, judgesruled on it, Trump pleaded not
guilty and never went to trial.
Not because he was cleared, aswe know, because the system

(11:01):
stalled and then the politicalwinds shifted.
One judge wiped out thedocuments case.
A Supreme Court rulingkneecapped the election case.
Then Trump gets re-elected anddrops the rest.
And now here we are pretendingthe real scandal is the guy who
brought the charges, Jack Smith,instead of the guy who generated

(11:25):
them, Donald the delusionalTrump.
Republicans want to talk aboutphone records like it's some
sinister plot.
Toll records, not call content,numbers and durations, the most
basic investigative tool thereis.
Used in drug cases, used incorruption cases, used all the

(11:46):
time.
But slap a Trump label on it,and suddenly it's framed as
political weaponization.
Jack Smith is expected tocorrect the record without
crossing legal lines.
He can't talk about grand jurymaterial.
He can't discuss sealed portionsof his report.
And Republicans know that.

(12:07):
That's the trap.
If Smith refuses to answer,they'll scream obstruction.
If Smith answers too much,they'll accuse him of violating
secrecy.
Heads I win, tails, you go tojail.
And that's the point.
This isn't about learninganything new.
It's about sending a warning.

(12:28):
Investigate the powerful, andthis is what waits for you.
Subpoenas, smears, threats,retaliation dressed up as
oversight.
Jack Smith isn't on trial here.
The rule of law is, and watchingthis unfold, you can't miss the

(12:49):
message being broadcast loud andclear.
In this system, accountability'soptional, loyalty's mandatory.
And if you dare confuse the two,you better be ready to sit in
that chair next.
And if you think this stops withJack Smith, you're kidding
yourself.
What you're watching isn'tstrength, it's insecurity on

(13:13):
full display.
A system that was confident inthe truth wouldn't need
spectacle, subpoenas, or revengehearings to feel whole.
It would move on.
Instead, it keeps circling thesame grievance louder every
time, because it has nothing newto say and no clean way out.

(13:36):
That's not power holding theline.
That's power losing control.
And that's your WTF Wednesday.
This is a world gone mad.
I'm Jeff Allen Wolf.
I'll be back Friday.
I say this shit that no one elsewill because I really don't care

(13:57):
who I piss off.
I'm not mainstream media.
No BS, no talking points, nofake headlines.
The truth has to be told.
Until then, Wolfpack listeners,remain skeptical, remain
focused, but most of all, stayhopeful.

SPEAKER_01 (14:18):
There is chaos in the world.
And we need to stand up andfreezer our democracy.
This is a world time.

(14:39):
This is a world time.