Trump Says He Never Vowed To Replace Obamacare Quickly. He’s Lying
President Trump met with reporters in the Oval Office today shortly after the failure of Trumpcare to win passage in the House of Representatives. He blamed the Democrats and tried to justify his embarrassing defeat.
He saved his biggest lie for the end of his press briefing: “I never said I was going to repeal and replace (Obamacare) in the first 61 days.”
That is completely at odds with everything he has been saying for the past year and a half:
Slate came up with a list of some of the many occasions when he said exactly that:
On Feb. 9, 2016, Trump tweeted: “We will immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare – and nobody can do that like me. We will save $’s and have much better healthcare!”
On March 3, 2016, on his campaign website, Trump announced: “On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.”
On October 22, 2016, during a rally in Toledo, Ohio: “On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.”
On Nov. 1, 2016 at a rally in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania: “I will ask Congress to convene a special session so we can repeal and replace. And it will be such an honor for me, for you and for everybody in this country because Obamacare has to be replaced. And we will do it, and we will do it very, very quickly. It is a catastrophe.”
Jan. 10, 2017, the New York Times reported: “We have to get to business,” Mr. Trump told The New York Times in a telephone interview. “Obamacare has been a catastrophic event.” Mr. Trump appeared to be unclear both about the timing of already scheduled votes in Congress and about the difficulty of his demand — a repeal vote “probably some-time next week” and a replacement “very quickly or simultaneously, very shortly thereafter.”
On Jan. 22, 2017, after a press conference, reported by Politico: “It will be repeal and replace, It will be essentially simultaneously. It will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week, but probably the same day. Could be the same hour.”
Once again, Trump has presented his own alternate version of the reality. As always, he refuses to apologize for his mistakes while telling a HUGE lie to justify his failure to craft a bill that would do all he promised and his incompetence in dealing with Congress, especially his own party.
