Trump: Australia has better health care than U.S. (they have universal health care)
Watch the reaction from @BernieSanders to @chrislhayes pic.twitter.com/zYF8NsGKF0
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 5, 2017
There’s a lot to dislike about the healthcare bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday, from what’s actually in it to the shady way it was passed by the very same people who complained the very lengthy and open process for the Affordable Care Act wasn’t even more lengthy and open. On top of that, while everyone’s mocking it, Donald Trump managed to praise universal healthcare.
It was a weird day. Trump’s praise for universal healthcare came while meeting the Australian prime minister in New York, where he let loose one of his trademark ill-advised off-the-cuff remarks: “I shouldn’t say this to our great gentlemen and my friend from Australia … cause you have better healthcare than we do.” I honestly can’t say whether Trump knew Australia has government-run universal healthcare or not, because he’d likely say anything is better than the “Obamacare” he hates so much, but it had Bernie Sanders rolling with laughter either way, as you can see in the video above.
Sanders promised to quote Trump on the floor of the Senate, where it appears that the “American Health Care Act” will at the very least be torn to shreds, if not entirely replaced by a Senate version, based on comments from Republican and Democratic Senators alike. Then, if that goes anywhere, it’s just as likely to not then pass the House, where the extreme Conservatives who thwarted the GOP’s first ACA repeal attempt probably won’t support any form of reasonable, moderate compromise, let alone anything approaching a good healthcare reform.
That didn’t stop anyone from celebrating—including, in a rather unsavory fashion, Democrats who are sure they can still avoid this hurting anyone while spelling doom for their Republican colleagues in the next election. No, the House GOP seems convinced this is a victory for them, even though it barely managed to pass and couldn’t even garner the full support of their own party. They had a celebration involving mostly white dudes who have money laughing about taking from the poor and the sick to give to the rich, featuring Paul Ryan’s own version of the end of The Graduate:
The moment he realized. pic.twitter.com/NgNnQbeYfR
— Stevenson Waltien (@waltien) May 4, 2017
As well as Noted Feminist Ivanka Trump celebrating a bill that has the potential to return people to a time when being a woman was considered a preexisting condition, among other bad things for women:
Oh also, Look, Ivanka takes a selfie at the Obamacare Repeal celebration! It was a great time!!! https://t.co/jXXfYqCosC pic.twitter.com/c3PbdFeuu5
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 5, 2017
Republicans: “Why didn’t she report her assault?”
Also Republicans: “Sexual assault is a pre-existing condition you can be denied care for.”— Zach Heltzel (@zachheltzel) May 4, 2017
And here’s an annotated look at the revelers vs. how many of their constituents they just screwed over (as well as where those numbers come from):
Our Pictorial Coverage fo the Trumpcare Celebration, Annotated with # of people Who Lose Coverage in Each District https://t.co/jXXfYqCosC pic.twitter.com/DR1KonWUZE
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 5, 2017
Meanwhile, late night show hosts did their thing to make sure the rest of us got to have at least a little laugh despite how awful all of this is, with Seth Meyers taking a look at how Paul Ryan’s position has shifted on the proper way to do healthcare reform:
Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah weighed in with their own bad reviews, while one-week-ago Tony Atamanuik presciently predicted Trump’s extremely odd proclamation in the middle of talking about the GOP House “victory”:
Here’s @TonyAtamanuik a week ago on @PresidentShow and Trump at 3:30 today pic.twitter.com/LA1iO5Xsqe
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) May 4, 2017
By the way, it appears that many Republicans who voted on the bill didn’t even read it, as they were asked on their way in yesterday morning:
NBC reporter just asked a bunch of Republican Congressmen if they’ve READ the health care bill. Hilarity ensues. pic.twitter.com/iPAQSlGPkG
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) May 4, 2017
And even if they read it, there’s no guarantee they’re capable of understanding its implications:
in which a congressman needs a reporter to inform him that thousands in his district may lose health care coverage under a law he supports pic.twitter.com/X3Ph8FAQKD
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) May 5, 2017
But seriously, they probably didn’t bother to read it:
GOP Rep Struggles to Explain Health Care Vote: ‘I Attempted to Read the Entire Bill’ https://t.co/qy9beB779r pic.twitter.com/kkPIl5eiV3
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 5, 2017
The bill did manage to bring some people together in unity, though, even if Republicans couldn’t all agree on it. Doctors, hospitals, and insurance providers, who aren’t exactly known for getting along, all hate the bill. … Yeah, it was a weird day.
(image: screengrab)
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