CNN Twists Bill Clinton’s Obamacare Comments In Desperate Bid To Help Trump

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:17 pm

CNN twisted a Bill Clinton quote about the health care system and turned into an attack on Obamacare to help Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

CNN reported that former President Clinton told a crowd in Flint, Michigan, “So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It’s the craziest thing in the world.”

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The quote was technically accurate, but CNN decided to leave some vital information out, like what Bill Clinton said before their quote:

The current system works fine if you’re eligible for Medicaid if you’re a lower-income working person, if you’re already on Medicare, or if you get enough subsidies on a modest income that you can afford your health care.

But the people that are getting killed in this deal are small businesspeople and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies.

So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden, 25 million more people have health care and then the people that are out there busting it ― sometimes 60 hours a week ― wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It’s the craziest thing in the world.

So here’s the simplest thing….Here’s the simplest thing. Figure out an affordable rate, and let people use that . Something that won’t undermine with your quality of life, won’t interfere with you ability to make expenses, won’t interfere with your ability to save money for kids’ education, and let people buy into Medicare or Medicaid.

Clinton wasn’t saying that Obamacare is crazy, or bad. He was arguing for an expansion of the ACA and allowing people to buy into Medicare and Medicaid. Clinton was talking about expanding the system in a way that would not harm the ACA.

CNN simply took a quote, left out all of the context, and ran with it. With Donald Trump sinking fast, and Hillary Clinton reestablishing her lead, CNN appears to be getting desperate. There are segments of the media who are intentionally attempting to split the Democratic coalition, because a Democratic divide is Donald Trump’s only chance of winning.

By keeping Trump strategist Corey Lewandowski on the payroll, CNN has made their leanings obvious in this election, but inventing stories to help Trump is the kind of journalistic malpractice explains why the trust in the media is at an all-time low.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association