So yesterday, I got home from work late. I had heard that the GOP had decided not to vote on their AHCA bill. I turned on CNN to get some details: there was DJT speaking with reporters in the Oval Office. And this is what I heard (full text of DJT’s comments here: time.com/... ):
“I've been saying for the last year and a half that the best thing we can do politically speaking is let Obamacare explode. It is exploding right now. It's -- many states have big problems, almost all states have big problems. I was in Tennessee the other day and they've lost half of their state in terms of an insurer. They have no insurer. And that's happening to many other places. I was in Kentucky the other day and similar things are happening.
So, Obamacare is exploding.”
“But we're very, very close and, again, I think what will happen is Obamacare, unfortunately, will explode. It's going to have a very bad year. Last year you had over 100 percent increases in various places.
In Arizona I understand it's going up very rapidly again, like it did last year. Last year was 116 percent. Many places 50, 60, 70 percent. I guess it averaged whatever the average was, very, very high. And this year should be much worse for Obamacare.”
“But, again, I think you know I was very clear because I think there wasn't a speech I made, or very few where I didn't mention that perhaps the best thing that could happen is exactly what happened today, because we'll end up with a truly great health care bill in the future after this mess known as Obamacare explodes.”
“QUESTION: Sir, it is fair to (inaudible) to let Obamacare explode?
TRUMP: Well, it's going to happen. There's not much you can do about it. It's going to -- bad things are going to happen to Obamacare. There's not much you can do to help it. I've been saying that for a year and a half. I said, look, eventually it's not sustainable. The insurance companies are leaving. You know that. They're leaving one by one as quick as you can leave. And you have states in some cases soon will not be covered. So, there's no way out of that.
But the one thing that was happening as we got closer and closer, everybody was talking about how wonderful it was, and now it will go back to real life. People will see how bad it is, and it's getting much worse.
You know, I said the other day when president Obama left, '17, he knew he wasn't going to be here. '17 is going to be a very, very bad year for Obamacare, very, very bad. You're going to have explosive premium increases, and your deductibles are so high people don't even get to use it.”
“QUESTION: Will you talk with Democrats now?
TRUMP: No, I think we have to let Obamacare go its way for a little while. And we'll see how things go. I would love to see it do well, but it can't. I mean, it can't. I mean, it's not a question of, gee, I hope it does well, I would love it to do well. I want great health care for the people of this nation. But it can't do well.
It's imploding and soon will explode and it's not going to be pretty.”
Full text of DJT’s comments here: time.com/…
I found his remarks chilling. It seemed to me that DJT was promising pain and hardship for Americans. His language was dark and ominous: describing “big problems”, a “very bad year”, “bad things are going to happen”, and he wasn’t talking about ISIS, or Iranians, or “bad hombres”. He was talking about America and Americans. I counted eight times DJT used the word “explode” or “exploding” to describe American healthcare in the years ahead: he might as well have been talking about ISIS.
I think I just heard DJT promising retribution on the people of America for the failure of congress to pass his bill.
This is not presidential. I can’t but help feel the leader of the country views we the people as the enemy.
(Here we should point out that the president of this country gets free healthcare for himself and his family for life paid for by American tax-payers: what the president and conservatives call “socialized medicine”, and describe as a horrible ineffective way to provide healthcare for Americans.)