On Day 101, Trump finds plenty to talk and tweet about
President ‘ loves’ the job, has big health care plans
President Trump shifted the blame for inaction on key issues such as health care to Democrats in a wide- ranging CBS interview that aired Sunday.
Trump told Face the Nation anchor John Dickerson that the job is “something that I really love, and I think I’ve done a very good job at it.”
Trump maintained there is yet another version of the American Health Care Act, House Republicans’ plan to replace Obamacare, and blamed obstruction by Democrats for Congress’ failure to pass the legislation before his 100th day in Congress.
Trump also said that “pre- existing conditions are in the bill. I mandated it.” Coverage with people with existing medical conditions has to be included, he continued, because “Obamacare is dead,” an apparent reference to the struggles the Affordable Care Act has had in states, including Oklahoma and Tennessee, that have had mass exoduses from the plan’s health exchanges.
To Dickerson’s suggestion that Trump’s supporters would be hurt by the GOP plan, Trump noted: “It’s much different than it was a little while ago. This has evolved over a period of days.”
Beyond his comments to Dickerson, Trump tweeted Sunday that Democrats wanted to bail out insurance companies and large donors. A new Trump plan, he tweeted, also would feature lower premiums and deductibles. Also in the CBS interview:
North Korea. Trump continued to say he doesn’t intend to telegraph his thinking on military force. Hours after North Korea had another missile test fail, Trump told Dickerson “I will not be happy” if the country tests a nuclear weapon. He also said that “I really have no comment” about North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, then proceeded to make a series of comments, including that “obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie.”
Politics. Trump said the biggest lesson learned in his presidency is what he calls the dishonesty of the media. Pressed further, he said he learned about Democrats’ obstructionism and “unbelievably archaic and slow- moving” congressional rules.