Donald Trump Is A Preexisting Condition And Should Not Be Covered

And yet here we are.

Oh look, Donald Trump is lying about healthcare again. In tweets posted yesterday, Trump insisted -- falsely, and repeatedly -- that he had "saved preexisting Conditions in your Healthcare," which is of course completely false. His administration is right now supporting a dumb lawsuit that would eliminate the entire Affordable Care Act. The Washington Post  notes that as of early December, Trump had made almost 70 false assertions that he has protected patients from being punished by insurers for prior medical conditions, when of course his attempts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act would do the exact opposite. But yesterday's tweets were pretty damned brazen, even for the liar in chief. In the morning, he griped about some ads from Michael Bloomberg, and even made up a very funny name for the billionaire who's trying to buy himself credibility in the Democratic primary.

....and, if Republicans win in court and take back the House of Represenatives, your healthcare, that I have now br… https: //t.co/zzdutnajQm

— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1578922760.0 

Apparently Trump was set off by this Bloomberg ad that accurately accuses Trump of repeatedly trying to "undermine coverage for 134 million Americans who have preexisting conditions." Which is what will happen if Trump gets his wish and Obamacare is declared unconstitutional in a federal lawsuit the administration supports. That's what would happen "if Republicans win in court."

To be extremely clear: No, the lawsuit does not say "pretty please throw out every part of the ACA except the protections for people with preexisting conditions."

Mind you, it's not only the lawsuit.

Republicans have been pushing any number of bills that would weaken coverage for preexisting conditions (while calling them "protections," because Republicans). They haven't passed, so maybe that counts as "keeping" those protections.

And even without eliminating Obamacare, the administration has given the go-ahead for states to allow the sale of junk insurance plans that do indeed charge more for people with preexisting conditions.

Does Trump know he's lying? Does it even fucking matter? As Vox's Aaron Rupar points out, Donald Trump is not a detail guy, and

when Trump has been asked basic questions about health care — such as "what is your health care plan, sir?" — he's typically responded with lengthy, incoherent word salads. The possibility Trump knows so little about health care policy that he actually believes he saved protections for preexisting conditions can't be ruled out.

Rupar's probably too generous there. Sure Trump's incredibly ignorant, but the truth is what Donald Trump says on any given day. And yesterday was a day when Trump felt compelled to lie about preexisting conditions -- or preexisting Conditions -- twice. He was back at it in the evening with a new set of random capitalizations:

I stand stronger than anyone in protecting your Healthcare with Pre-Existing Conditions. I am honored to have termi… https: //t.co/w63r7auD1W

— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1578959884.0 

Trivia Fun: The Republicans' elimination of the individual mandate, in the 2017 Big Fat Tax Cut For Rich Fuckwads, is actually a key part of the Republican lawsuit aimed at overturning Obamacare. If you want to get technical, the mandate still exists, but the tax cut law set the penalty for not buying insurance at zero. The lawsuit claims -- absurdly -- that since the ACA was only found to be legal under Congress's authority to levy taxes, the removal of the penalty means there's no longer a tax, so there's no longer a law.

So yeah, Trump's bragging there about the very thing at the center of the attempt to overturn Obamacare. Which would eliminate protections for preexisting conditions. Which Trump says he's protecting. It's like a Moebius strip of a lie eating its own tail in a Klein bottle in a black hole, is what it is.

[ WaPo / Vox ]

Yr Wonkette is supported entirely by reader donations. Please send us money to keep the lights on and pay for the writers' very good insurance.