Biden wants to expand Obamacare, Trump wants to replace him 1:51
(CNN) -
Shortly after President Donald Trump abruptly ended an interview with Lesley Stahl, host of "60 Minutes," White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared with a huge book in tow.
"Lesley, the president wanted me to hand over his health care plan," McEnany said.
"It's a bit heavy," he added.
Except it wasn't Trump's health plan.
Because that, well, it doesn't exist.
Instead, according to the Twitter account of "60 Minutes", the book was "full of decrees and initiatives of Congress, but without a comprehensive health plan."
Which, yes.
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The oversized book that doesn't deliver on promised content so drastically is actually a pretty fitting metaphor for the entire Trump presidency.
You can be sure McEnany (and Trump) knew that after he left the set, the cameras were still shooting.
And so they opted for theatricality: a huge book pretending to be the president's (non-existent) health care plan.
They liked the image of McEnany handing Stahl a huge, heavy book in front of the camera.
It didn't matter that the book didn't actually contain any kind of plan to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
People wouldn't mind that!
They would remember that huge book!
Unfortunately, Trump is right, at least about some people, like his most ardent followers:
Look how big that book is!
Man, McEnany (and Trump) really put Stahl in his place!
Fake news!
But as with so much with Trump, the show and the pomp belies the emptiness of the actual vessel.
A big book full of decrees is not a comprehensive health care plan.
Because there is no plan.
This exchange with Stahl from '60 Minutes', before Trump walked out of the interview, is illuminating on that point:
Stahl: Well, I'll ask you another health question, okay? I told. Good. He promised that there was going to be a new health package, a health care plan.
Trump: Yes.
Stahl: He said it was going to "be cool." He said "it's ready," "it's going to be ready."
Trump: It will be.
Stahl: "He'll be here in two weeks." It's not going to be like anything you've seen before. And of course we haven't seen it. So why didn't you develop a health plan?
Trump: It is developed, it is fully developed. To be announced very soon ...
Stahl: When?
Trump: When we see what happens with Obamacare.
Man!
That plan will be here soon then!
(The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the ACA's constitutionality the week after the November 3 elections.)
Except Trump insisted that the replacement plan for Obamacare was around the corner for a long time.
Here's a tweet from April 29, 2019 (bold mine):
“I never planned a vote before the 2020 election on the wonderful health care package that some very talented people are developing for me and the Republican Party.
It will be visible to all during the elections
as a much better and less expensive alternative than Obamacare… ».
On July 19, Trump told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace: "We will sign a health care plan
in two weeks
, a comprehensive and comprehensive health care plan that the Supreme Court decision on DACA gave me. right to do ».
On August 3, Trump said, “We are going to present a tremendous health care plan sometime sooner, hopefully
before the end of the month
.
It is just completed now.
Then there was this from McEnany on September 22:
“In the next week or so the president will present his vision on health care. Some of that has already spread: telemedicine and lowering the cost of drugs, and protecting pre-existing conditions. But the president will introduce some additional health care steps
in the next, I would say, two weeks
.
The best that could be said is that Trump's "plan" is actually a series of crazy decrees and legislative notions.
What is not a comprehensive health care plan that could replace the ACA.
READ: ANALYSIS |
The * real * reason Trump left the '60 Minutes' interview
Every time Republicans in Congress have been asked about this alleged plan, they have expressed varying levels of puzzlement.
Here's the thing: Getting a healthcare bill passed in Congress is very, very difficult.
That's why so many presidents before Barack Obama failed in their attempts to do so, and why passing the law cost Democrats in Congress dearly at the polls in the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections. The details are what cause the problems always.
And so Trump has avoided all of that by offering no details or plans at all.
But he does have that oversized book that he turned over to '60 Minutes'!
Full of, well, not much.
