Source: Lior Mizrahi / Getty
When Donald Trump seemingly threatened anti-Trumpcare Republican Sen. Dean Heller last week, the president also blanketed his criticism of other GOP congresspeople and Democratic opposition who wouldn’t let the slight Senate majority’s plan go forward. “Any senator who votes against starting debate,” he said, “is really telling America that you’re fine with Obamacare.” Trump then issued a sweeping rhetorical challenge calling on all of Congress to stay put in Washington until a passable bill was put in place and sent his way. Unsurprisingly, he ranted on Twitter early Saturday morning and went golfing later in the day — thereby ignoring his own decree.
Come Monday afternoon, however, the president followed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Vice President Mike Pence during a health care-centric press conference. In the last of several sporadic tweets issued earlier that morning, Trump exclaimed, “Republicans have a last chance to do the right thing on Repeal & Replace after years of talking & campaigning on it.” True to form, he reiterated similar criticisms of his own governing party during his 10-minute speech, but he also said a lot of eyebrow-raising (or erasing) lines, too.
“17 years”
At the very beginning of his remarks, after thanking Price and Pence for their introductions, Trump instantaneously inflamed every journalist, politico and Twitter troll watching when he implied Obamacare had been around for much longer than it actually has. “For the past 17 years, Obamacare has wreaked havoc on the lives of innocent, hardworking Americans.” The president was evidently having trouble reading from his teleprompter, as he said “seven years” in subsequent remarks, but the damage was already done.
“Obamacare is death”
During a segment dedicated to the Democrats’ unwillingness to support any part or parcel of the House and Senate bills to repeal and replace Obamacare, Trump lampooned the “obstructionists” as mindless politicians who didn’t even know the bills’ contents. “The didn’t even know the bill,” he said. “They run out. They say, ‘Death death death!’ Well Obamacare is death. That’s the one that’s death. And besides that, it’s failing you so won’t have that anyway.” Whether or not the horrors caused by Obamacare professed here actually exist remains to be seen, but considering the CBO’s most recent scores for the Senate’s plans, “Trumpcare” could be much worse.
Watch Trump’s full speech below.
READ MORE: Uproxx.com
Article Courtesy of Uproxx
Picture Courtesy of Lior Mizrahi and Getty Images
Tweet and First Video Courtesy of Twitter and Uproxx
Second Video Courtesy of Facebook, The White House, and Uproxx
President Donald Trump: Obamacare Had Been a Disaster for 17 Years was originally published on wzakcleveland.com
