Because this is political theater but there’s also a lot of nuances that go into this type of thing. Should they have done something like this in the past, 100%…but this is also a result of the collective California population being so fed up with insurance companies that it forces politicians to do something. He’s a martyr no doubt but the health care situation continues to get worse so pushing something so “liberal” wasn’t going to happen previously.
Food service people are not MAGA for the most part. The owner of the restaurant is probably MAGA and all the servers probably hate him.
Also, American culture, especially in the South is to be kind to people at face value