The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the course of countless American lives, as well as the nation’s history.

Now it threatens the future — of the Republican Party.

The issue, as the New York Times put it this week, is the GOP’s “decade-long push to repeal the Affordable Care Act” — that is, Obamacare.

“This is, to put mildly, not an opportune time for a party to be arguing for tossing 20 million or so people off their health coverage, eliminating protections for preexisting conditions, and throwing the entire health-care system into chaos,” opinion writer Paul Waldman says in the Washington Post.

Our #healthcare is at stake. ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ vowed to repeal, ⁦@SenateGOP⁩ ⁦⁦@HouseGOP⁩ have tried for 10 yrs to repeal w/o a replacement and soon #SCOTUS will hear ⁦@GOP⁩ states’ case to kill the #ACA .#Biden2020 #voteblue https://t.co/2hD6sHSVNY

— Rich Collins (@rich55collins) June 24, 2020

Waldman notes that lately, most Americans have been too focused on the coronavirus and the economic downturn to think much about the prospect of losing the current health care system. But that won’t last for much longer.

“Two things will put it back on the agenda,” Waldman writes. “First, as we approach November, Democrats all over the country will be airing ads and sending out mailers about health care, most of which will focus not on the nuances of reform but on the villainy of the GOP.

“And second, the issue could come back to the Supreme Court just before the election, casting a new light on the destruction Republicans are trying to bring down on the American health-care system.”

This has thoughtful Republicans deeply worried about how it could affect the coming election.

But not Donald Trump.

The White House is due to file legal briefs with the Supreme Court this week, probably on Thursday, in support of a lawsuit seeking to end Obamacare.

Last month, Attorney General Bill Barr advised the president that he might want to tone down the administration’s backing of the suit, “brought by a group of Republican states, that seeks to have the ACA torn out root and branch,” Waldman writes.

Trump said no, insisting that the administration’s position must be for full repeal.

So there’s a a sharp contrast between the parties in the run-up to November: the GOP wants to take away people’s existing health care during a pandemic; Democrats don’t.

And now, Waldman concludes, Republicans are going to pay the price.