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Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed went on CNN this week, looked straight into the camera, and made Donald Trump an offer:
"Donald, if you're watching, we can put your name on it. I know you like to put your name on stuff. You can finally meet the unmet promise in America to guarantee everybody health care."
Kaitlan Collins asked if he was serious. He didn't blink. "I'm absolutely serious. I don't care what it's called. I want people to have health care in this country." And if Trump wants to call it Trumpcare? "I'm game."
I laughed when I first saw the clip. Then I stopped laughing — because think about what El-Sayed is actually doing here. This might be the smartest chess move we've seen in the healthcare fight in a long time.
We all know two things about Donald Trump. First, he loves putting his name on things — buildings, steaks, a gold card; if it shines, his name goes on it in big letters. Second, there is nothing he wants more than to outdo Barack Obama. He's been chasing Obamacare for a decade, trying to tear it down and replace it with something with his name on it instead.
So here's the play: stop fighting the ego and start using it. El-Sayed isn't asking Trump to become a progressive. He's handing him the one thing he craves. You want your name on the biggest deal in American healthcare history? You want to be the president who "beat" Obamacare for good? Fine. Sign this. Medicare for All — cradle-to-grave coverage, no copays, no premiums, no deductibles — with your name in gold letters on top. On Thursday, El-Sayed even posted a mock gold "TrumpCare" card, "Great health care for every American," stamped Medicare for All, and it drew millions of views. The man is selling Trump the branding deal of his life.
And let's be clear about something: this isn't just Obamacare with new paint. Obamacare expanded coverage, but it left the bills, the deductibles, and the medical debt in place — El-Sayed points to $225 billion in medical debt Americans are carrying right now. Medicare for All goes a step further: everybody covered, nobody choosing between the rent and the doctor. If it takes Trump's name on the door to get us through it, then hold the door.
Now, I'll be honest with you, because that's what we do here. The skeptics have a point worth hearing: Trump may never sign it. He may take the compliment, enjoy the headline, and move on. El-Sayed's camp has an answer for that too — pass it anyway and make him veto it. Make the man explain, on camera, why he turned down healthcare with his own name on it. That's not a loss. That's the argument, made in public, where everybody can see it.
But here's why I keep coming back to this: politics runs on incentives, whether we like it or not. For years we've argued about what to call this — single-payer, universal care, Medicare for All — while folks back home kept getting the same bills. El-Sayed is saying the quiet part out loud: the name is secondary. What matters is whether your mama can see a doctor without a payment plan.
So yes, it's funny. The image of "Trumpcare" cards in every American wallet is funny. But underneath the joke is a serious idea — that sometimes the way you win isn't by defeating a man's ego, but by pointing it at something worth doing. Checkmate isn't always about the move you make. Sometimes it's about the move you make him want to make.
If that's what gets everybody covered, then let him have the naming rights. We'll take the healthcare.
What do you think — genius move, or too clever by half? Tell me in the comments.