In Latest Briefing, Trump Doubles Down On ACA Repeal

At his press briefing today, and one day ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Trump doubled down on his lawsuit to repeal the entire law, despite the fact that the law has become one of the most critical tools in the fight against coronavirus.

FALSE CLAIMS:

Trump doubled down on his lawsuit to overturn the ACA and lied that he is putting great health care in its place — he has no plan. 

CNN’s Daniel Dale: “Noted that his administration supports a lawsuit to eradicate the Affordable Care Act, and asked if he’d reconsider given that people are losing jobs/need health care, Trump says what they’re doing is working to ‘get rid of the bad health care and put in a great health care.’”

Trump touted potential coronavirus treatments as being safe and effective, despite health experts warning that hasn’t been proven.

CNN’s Daniel Dale: “Trump on medications approved for other uses and now being tested for the coronavirus: ‘They’re not killing people. We’re not going to have that.’ Doctors warn that there CAN BE serious side effects to these drugs; they haven’t been proven safe and effective here; be careful.”

CNN’s Daniel Dale: “Trump calls the evidence for chloroquine’s effectiveness here ‘very strong evidence.’ Fauci says it’s ‘anecdotal.’ (Trump notes trials are starting in New York.)”

While talking about veterans suffering from coronavirus, Trump lied about getting the Veterans Choice program passed.

CNN’s Daniel Dale: “Superb: Trump repeats his usual lie about having gotten the Veterans Choice program passed after others failed for ‘many, many decades.’”

FAILED TO LEAD: 

Trump continued to falsely try to pass blame for his failed response on to President Obama.

Washington Post’s James Hohmann: “We’ve now entered the stage of Trump’s daily coronavirus briefing where he blames Obama for his own sluggish response to the crisis. ‘We inherited a broken, obsolete system,’ the president claims.”

Instead of focusing on the concerns of Americans, Trump took time to lament at length about how much the 2016 election cost him.

Washington Post’s Philip Rucker: “Trump is riffing at length during the coronavirus news conference about how much money it has cost him to be president and how difficult and unfair it is for rich people to run for office.”

Washington Post’s Robert Costa: “As the nation faces economic carnage and futures crater, President Trump is lamenting the money he believes he lost by being elected president of the United States.”