On Monday’s New Day, CNN guest host Erica Hill played senior political analyst John Avlon’s “reality check” segment to attack President Trump for wanting to dismantle ObamaCare. Ignoring Democratic lies that sold the law and the general failure of the policy, Avlon had the gall to accuse President Trump of lying about health care and trying to repeal ObamaCare for political gain, “no matter how many people might get hurt.”
Avlon began the segment by furiously attacking Trump:
But in fairness to the President, he has managed to get something done, dismantling key provisions of ObamaCare in the courts, namely the individual mandate. Now he's marshaling his Justice Department to try to kill the whole thing, just as America is suffering through a pandemic that's killed more than 150,000 of our fellow Americans and infected millions more, all while the second quarter GDP number was the worst on record, nearly 33% in the red if it were extended to the whole year.
The Democratic hack then accused Trump of lying about health care while ignoring Obama's blatant lies about ObamaCare:
Okay, that claim received the coveted bottomless Pinocchio award from The Washington Post, because covering pre-existing conditions is something only Obamacare does right now. A provision that polls really well strong, even among Republicans because it turns out that having a pre-existing health condition occurs across partisan line. Not to mention, President Trump has no answer for the fact that since the Affordable Care Act was passed, upwards of 20 million Americans who weren't insured before now are. So this is the old arsonist as a firefighter routine, with possibly your life on the line.
In the realm of health care, there has been no bigger “Pinocchio” than Barack Obama’s statement that “We will keep this promise to the American people, if you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.” That was such a whopper that it was Politifact’s “lie of the year” in 2009. Obama also infamously lied when he stated that “If you’ve got health insurance, you keep your own insurance, you keep your own doctor.” The chief designer of the plan, Jonathan Gruber, actually bragged that they had lied about the policy being affordable and even attacked Americans in the process: “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, you know, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.”
As for defending ObamaCare, Avlon must have forgotten some key facts about the policy, or just would rather defend Obama and assault Trump. The policy caused premiums to skyrocket and will leave 31 million Americans uninsured by 2023. In fact, in the first four years of the act, premiums doubled for individuals and quadrupled for families. The plan was also much more costly than originally projected and forced many companies to reduce their employees to part time because they could not afford to pay for their health insurance.
Avlon then suggested that people “might get hurt” by Trump and Republicans repealing the act:
But we can't ignore the fact that a decade after Obamacare's passage and endless demonization by the GOP, there still isn't a serious Republican plan for replacement. It's all repeal, all the time, even in a pandemic. No matter how many people might get hurt, all for short-term political gain, all bolstered by apparent ignorance.
Avlon does not care about people receiving health care. He just wants to defend Democrats and Obama and bash Republicans and Trump.
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Read the full August 3rd transcript here:
CNN's New Day
08/03/20
7:40 AM ETERICA HILL: All right, John, in the middle of this historic pandemic, President Trump promised to release a new health care plan. He said, we would see it in two weeks. Well, that deadline has now come and gone. Here's John Avlon with a reality check.
[Cuts to video]
JOHN AVLON (CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST): Remember this?
[Cuts to video]
UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Universal healthcare?
DONALD TRUMP: I am going to take care of everybody.
TRUMP: Far less expensive and far better.
TRUMP: We are going to be submitting in a couple of weeks a great health care plan that is going to take the place of the disaster.
[Cuts to Avlon}
AVLON: That was candidate and freshly minted President Trump, vowing to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with a miracle health care plan, it is magical.
[Cuts to video]
TRUMP: In a couple weeks.
[Cuts to Avlon]
AVLON: Well, here we are more than three years into the Trump presidency, six months into a pandemic, and here's the plan (crickets sound). But in fairness to the President, he has managed to get something done, dismantling key provisions of ObamaCare in the courts, namely the individual mandate. Now he's marshaling his Justice Department to try to kill the whole thing, just as America is suffering through a pandemic that's killed more than 150,000 of our fellow Americans and infected millions more, all while the second quarter GDP number was the worst on record, nearly 33% in the red if it were extended to the whole year. So no wonder the President keeps promising that his mission to kill the Affordable Care Act won't actually remove one of the things that people really like about it.
[Cuts to video]
TRUMP: Pre-existing conditions will be totally protected. Pre-existing conditions.
[Cuts to Avlon]
AVLON: Okay, so that claim received the coveted bottomless Pinocchio award from The Washington Post, because covering pre-existing conditions is something only Obamacare does right now. A provision that polls really well strong, even among Republicans because it turns out that having a pre-existing health condition occurs across partisan line. Not to mention, President Trump has no answer for the fact that since the Affordable Care Act was passed, upwards of 20 million Americans who weren't insured before now are. So this is the old arsonist as a firefighter routine, with possibly your life on the line. But wait, now we're in an election year, so you might have heard something like this.
[Cuts to video]
KELLYANNE CONWAY: What we are trying to do is show that this health care president is the one that is governing. This health care president started out with transparency. And that's what we're focused on, that the health care president continues to deliver for America.
[Cuts to Avlon]
AVLON: But remember that Kellyanne Conway is the person who famously said, you don't take an oath to tell the truth before you go on TV. But where's the plan that this alleged health care president told Chris Wallace would be released again within those magical --
[Cuts to video]
TRUMP: Two weeks, a full and complete health care plan.[Cuts to live]
AVLON: We've heard all this before, and even if there were a plan, there's virtually no chance it would get put into place before Election Day. Look, good people can disagree over the details of health care. It's complicated. Whether it's the ACA, the public option, Medicare for all, or a more free market plan that has some evidence that it might lower costs. But we can't ignore the fact that a decade after ObamaCare's passage and endless demonization by the GOP, there still isn't a serious Republican plan for replacement. It's all repeal, all the time, even in a pandemic. No matter how many people might get hurt, all for short-term political gain, all bolstered by apparent ignorance.
[Cuts to video]
TRUMP: Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.
[Cuts to Avlon]
AVLON: Yes, Mr. President, we pretty much all did. But in a time when so many people are suffering, it would be nice if you remembered the Hippocratic Oath. First, do no harm. And that's your reality check.
