Jimmy Kimmel’s heart-rending revelation that his newborn child has a heart defect has done much to put the spotlight on the manifest defects of Trump’s signature healthcare bill, which despite all Trump’s promises does away with protections for preexisting conditions.
It is not only Kimmel’s child who is put at risk but many children, including my own, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder affecting his spleen and liver. Donald Trump perhaps doesn’t know and doesn’t care that many children will die without coverage for preexisting conditions.
Trump is desperate to get this bill passed, but not, because as he claims, it helps Americans, but because it represents a win for Donald Trump. CNN’s David Wright revealed this morning how busy POTUS is rounding up support:
Trump called about a dozen wavering GOP members throughout yesterday urging them to back healthcare bill, WH official says (via @jeffzeleny)
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— David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) May 3, 2017
However, as The Plum Line‘s Greg Sargent points out in response, the media has to make clear what this healthcare bill represents to Donald Trump:
Trump only wants "win." He does not know or care what's in bill or what impact it will have on millions.
Please convey this clearly. https://t.co/IH9MtawPii
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 3, 2017
And it is not just the attack on pre-existing conditions. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) explained yesterday in a speech on the floor of House that the bill Trump is supporting only gets worse with each iteration:
“Every time we hear about the new versions and new changes to this bill, it gets worse than the one before. Among a host of new problems, the newest version strips away protections on healthcare benefits like maternity care, substance abuse, and mental health services, while also expanding an already crippling age tax against our seniors…”
When Donald Trump tweets that “New healthcare plan is on its way. Will have much lower premiums & deductibles while at the same time taking care of pre-existing conditions!” he is lying. The sad truth is that he may not even know he is lying because he doesn’t care. He doesn’t know what’s in the executive orders he signs, let alone reads the legislation put in front of him.
Donald Trump is busy dialing Republican lawmakers to get a bill passed he is in complete ignorance of. He just wants a win, and like his proposed tax reforms, he wants it at our expense.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
