Donald Trump proved he knows nothing about Obamacare and cares nothing about the millions of Americans who have benefitted from it. And Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade gave him a pass.
During a softball interview on Fox News Radio this morning (before a bipartisan deal was announced by two leading senators), host Brian Kilmeade asked Trump about his “tearing up the Iran deal.” Trump responded by attacking Hillary Clinton and Obamacare.
From the FoxNews.com transcript:
KILMEADE: David Axelrod said last night that you're pulling this back and (inaudible) tearing up the Iran deal is your attempt to obliterate the Obama legacy. Is it?
TRUMP: No, it's just that I disagree with Obama on so many things. I mean, I heard - as an example, let's say, Hilary Clinton said it was OK for the NFL players to kneel during the anthem. Well, I disagree. Maybe that's why she lost, because that's bad. That's real bad. We have to respect our flag, our country, our anthem. Obama, I disagree with what he does. Look, when you look at this - nobody knows this. I just got these numbers. Nobody knows this about the insurance companies. The only beneficiary from Obamacare are the insurance companies. They made a fortune. And that's not - you've never heard that, you've never seen these numbers before.
FACT CHECK: The reason we’ve probably never heard that is because it’s so blatantly untrue. Millions of Americans have gotten health insurance under Obamacare. A large majority of Americans want Obamacare fixed, not repealed. Trump should try telling them only insurance companies benefitted.
Yet, Kilmeade covered up Trump's lie by suggesting he had backed up his allegation. Then he quickly changed the subject.
KILMEADE: I haven't. And that's why you handed it to me ahead of time, gave me a little bit of time to study. So some other news that broke today and you tweeted out, Congressman Marino was pulled back as drug czar. What went into that?
Was Trump lying or astoundingly ignorant? Does it matter?
You can listen to the full interview, from the October 17, 2017 The Brian Kilmeade Show below.
(Trump image by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license)
1. Trump was asked about the Alexander/Murray idea today and said he thought it was a temporary thing the Senate could do before he got them to completely get rid of the ACA, an idea he isn’t letting go of at all. He reiterated that the ACA is horrible, dead, a failure and “an idea that was never gonna work”. The Pence White House’s intention here is to keep the insurers uncertain that this system will be around very long, which will of course accelerate the collapse of any exchange they can destabilize. There is no thought at all toward working with the Dems, who Trump referred to in the most vicious manner possible. So I wouldn’t put too much stock in Mike Pence endorsing anything that keeps the ACA around.
2. Tom Cotton and Pat Toomey have presented an alternate plan to Alexander/Murray today, which is designed to kill the ACA from within by removing the individual mandate as “cruel and pointless”. Cotton’s version of the attack is to exempt anyone from this mandate who either makes less than 59K per year, has less than 2 insurers in the local exchange or whose state’s premiums have increased over the past year by at least 10%. It’s not hard to see that the intention is to completely gut the mandate, as anyone with a higher income likely has a plan they’re on anyway, and it’s the actions of the Right Wing that have resulted in various states having only one insurer in the exchange and in the premiums skyrocketing. It’s nearly comic that the Right Wing wants to blame the ACA for problems created by the Right Wing in their attempts to sabotage the program.
The point of these updates is that it does not appear that the Pence White House is truly interested in a bipartisan solution, and it is not a done deal that the Alexander/Murray idea can even get to a vote on the Senate Floor, much less get through a completely hostile GOP House of Reps.
1. There is a simple answer that Trump essentially gave in the interview, and it’s the one everyone already knows: Yes, he is doing everything he can to erase the work of President Obama, who he openly hates. He can spout whatever lies he wishes about his motivation for hating President Obama, and he can spout false statistics and false premises all day long. But in the end, all he’s doing is acting like a six year old stomping his foot. It’s petty and vindictive, and that will be the Trump legacy. Once he’s out of office with this motley bunch, we’ll be able to assess how much damage they’ve done and hopefully correct some of it.
2. The Alexander/Murray attempt to do some fixes for the Affordable Care Act is a welcome effort, and the discussion today indicates that those two Senators continued their work in spite of the Pence White House’s attempt to destroy it. The kinds of compromises discussed in that attempt are exactly what President Obama repeatedly asked the GOP in Congress to help enact over 6 years of his presidency, but they refused to do so out of their hatred for him. It is my hope that this effort today will gain some traction, but we should be extremely cautious before celebrating that anything will actually happen. Keep in mind that most GOP Senators are sworn to destroy the ACA and they will never vote for anything like this. It’s always come down to two or three who were willing to have a discussion. There are also some Dems who will not want to go with the hostage-taking that’s happened with some of the rules. We could easily see a scenario come down to a 50 vote situation, which would mean that Mike Pence would decide the situation – and given his and Trump’s hatred for both Obama and the ACA, it’s not hard to see which way that would go. This could also get bogged down in committee if a Senator like Cruz or Lee or Paul decides to pull parliamentary tricks to quash it. So let’s see if this actually gets anywhere or if it bogs down in committee and dies there.