Donald Trump traveled to Arizona this week, where he delivered a strange speech that touched on a key national issue.
“We will always protect people with pre-existing conditions. And you have Martha’s pledge that she is going to do that also. So, we’re going to do that. And the Democrats can’t make that pledge….”
The whole point was a mess. Trump, who’s repeatedly lied about his position on protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, is currently asking the Supreme Court to destroy the Affordable Care Act in its entirety — and if the justices were to agree, it would necessarily end those protections. For that matter, the idea that “Democrats can’t make that pledge” is bizarre, since Democrats are the ones who created the existing protections in the first place.
But I was also struck by the reference to “Martha” and her “pledge.”
The president was, of course, referring to appointed Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), who’s facing a tough race in Arizona this year, just two years after losing a different tough Senate race in her state. Hoping to avoid the same fate, the Republican seems eager to present herself to voters as if she were a moderate — almost center-left — on health care.
A few months ago, for example, McSally’s campaign unveiled an ad featuring a cancer survivor who said the GOP senator is “fighting for what’s right when it comes to pre-existing conditions and making sure everybody has access to health care.” What viewers weren’t told was that the woman giving the testimonial was one of McSally’s own former aides.
This week, the Republican lawmaker unveiled another ad in which she again says she’s committed to “protecting those with pre-existing conditions.”
I don’t doubt that McSally’s team has polling data that shows how important this issue is to voters, which is very likely why she keeps repeating the line. The trouble is, McSally’s record is getting in the way.
In 2017, at Trump’s behest, House Republicans pushed a far-right “repeal-and-replace” plan, intended to scrap the Affordable Care Act and impose a regressive alternative. As regular readers may recall, it was controversial and wildly unpopular for a reason: the GOP plan, among other things, was designed to allow private insurers to punish Americans with pre-existing conditions, charging them much higher premiums.









