Where does Trump say that?
The National Review has PTSD (Present Traumatic Stress Disorder). This debilitating condition has reduced this publication and its writers to Paralyzing Incoherence Syndrome (PIS). It has been brought on by the effects of the anti-establishment attacks…primarily those by Donald Trump’s pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination
PTSD manifests itself in various ways. Sometimes it is by snarky commentaries by people like George Will and Jonah Goldberg. Other times the online mag hauls out large numbers of “conservatives” (mainly of the nominal establishment type) to ‘carpet bomb’ Mr. Trump. And then there are ploys like this one (see column below). Some writer by the name of Tom S. Elliott has written a little thing with a headline claiming Trump has announced that, if elected, he will “enact Universal Health Coverage”.
First of all, there is nothing in his short little piece which quotes Trump as doing or saying any such thing.
Secondly, it isn’t clear what Mr. Elliott means by the term, “Universal Health Coverage”. It seems obvious what the writer wants us to conclude: Mr. Trump means by the term…”Single Payer, Government-run healthcare”.
But nowhere in his “reporting” does Trump say any such thing. In fact, if one wants too criticize the remarks Trump is quoted as saying, one might note that in America, we’ve had the version of “universal health coverage” he proposes, for a long time.
When anyone is “lying in the middle of the street and they’re dying”, the US health care system will always “take care of that person”. And that is whether they have health insurance or not!
For that scenario Mr. Trump describes it doesn’t require further ‘working with our hospitals…or doctors”.
Finally, Mr. Elliott in his piece even quotes Trump, “We’ll work something out. THAT DOESN’T MEAN SINGLE PAYER (THE WELL KNOWN TERM FOR ‘UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE’).”
A cheap shot, Mr. Elliott. But we forgive you. You are, after all, a victim of “PTSD”.
Trump: Unlike Cruz, ‘I Have a Heart,’ I’ll Enact Universal Health Coverage
by Tom S. Elliott
In an interview this morning on This Week, Donald Trump cited his desire to “help people” as the reason he favors government-funded universal health coverage. Unlike Ted Cruz, Trump said, “I have a heart.” “If somebody has no money and they’re lying in the middle of the street and they’re dying, I’m going to take care of that person,” Trump said. Host George Stephanopoulos asked Trump “how do you do it?” And Trump explained his plan thusly: We’re going to work with our hospitals. We’re going to work with our doctors. We’ve got to do something. You can’t have a — a small percentage of our economy, because they’re down and out, have absolutely no protection so they end up dying from, you know, what you could have a simple procedure or even a pill. You can’t do that. We’ll work something out. That doesn’t mean single payer. And I mean, maybe he’s got no heart. And if this means I lose an election, that’s fine, because, frankly, we have to take care of the people in our country. We can’t let them die on the sidewalks of New York or the sidewalks of Iowa or anywhere else.
Clearly Trump says no such thing, whatever his plan entails NRO should not put words in his mouth about single payer. Trump should have the grace to stipulate that neither Cruz or any of the others support policies that would “let someone die in the streets.”