MSNBC took apart Trump’s false statements about the late Sen. John McCain and the Obamacare repeal vote in devastating fashion.
Trump said of McCain, “Very unhappy that he didn’t repeal and replace Obamacare, as you know. He campaigned on repealing and replacing for years, and he got to a vote and said thumbs down. Our country would have saved a trillion dollars and had great health care. For some reason, I understand the reason. He ended up going thumbs up. Had we known that, we could have gotten somebody else. I think that’s disgraceful and there are other things. I was never a fan of John McCain and never will be.”
NBC News’s Geoff Bennett responded with a fact check, “It was a quick fact check. The white house had plenty of notice that John McCain was going to vote against that repeal bill and since the late senator can’t speak for himself, it’s worth noting what his daughter said about all of this. She said the president lives a pathetic life obsessing over John McCain and other political rivals.”
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MSNBC took apart Trump's smear of John McCain with a crushing fact check. https://t.co/pstJY2SW3i pic.twitter.com/BZH6YMVBm7
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) March 19, 2019
Trump Is Falsely Rewriting History
As Geoff Bennett pointed out, Republicans knew in advance that McCain was not a yes vote, but McCain wasn’t the only Republican to vote against the bill Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins also voted no. Trump himself has admitted that they didn’t have the votes to repeal Obamacare.
Trump is trying to blame his failing presidency on John McCain. Trump always needs someone else to blame, and he has decided that if gets voted out of office in 2020, it will be John McCain’s fault. MSNBC has gained a large and loyal viewership by calling out these lies from Trump in real time. Trump didn’t get to attack McCain without having his lies corrected.
Journalism is about facts and truth, which is why it is vital for democracy that Trump’s lies get called out in real time and are never allowed to go unchallenged.
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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
