Donald Trump stumbled into another mess of his own making on Wednesday night, declaring at a campaign rally that he intends to “protect” women “whether the women like it or not.” Not surprisingly, Kamala Harris wasted no time in seizing on the former president’s comments, but the Democratic vice president did so in an interesting way.

Trump’s rhetoric, Harris explained, was “very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right, and their ability to make decisions about their own lives including their own bodies.” But as part of the same pushback, she tied the GOP candidate’s comments to a larger argument about health care.

“I’ve been saying throughout this campaign, being very clear that among the stakes of this election are whether we continue with the Affordable Care Act, or not,” Harris told reporters. “It has been a part of Donald Trump’s agenda for a very long time. He has made dozens of attempts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.”

Evidently, the former president was watching the Democrat’s press conference and felt the need to respond. Trump wrote via his social media platform:

“[Harris] is giving a News Conference now, saying that I want to end the Affordable Care Act. I never mentioned doing that, never even thought about such a thing.”

Gaslighting at this level isn’t just annoying, it’s insulting. Trump’s approach to the debate is rooted in the idea that American voters have no memories, no access to search engines, and no critical thinking skills.

If the GOP nominee wanted to argue that he intends to protect the integrity of the ACA during a possible second term, fine. I’d find such a boast very difficult to take seriously, but it’s difficult to say with certainty exactly what he might do if he’s returned to power.

But the idea that he “never mentioned” ending the Affordable Care Act, and “never even thought about such a thing” is so utterly bonkers that one can only assume that Trump sees voters as suckers.

The record isn’t exactly ambiguous. As a candidate in 2016, the then-candidate repeatedly vowed to repeal and replace the law he called “Obamacare.” His campaign website was explicit about his goal: Trump wanted “a full repeal” of the ACA.

On literally the first day of his presidency, the Republican signed an executive order that read in part, “It is the policy of my Administration to seek the prompt repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

In the weeks and months that followed, the then-president pushed GOP majorities on Capitol Hill to end the ACA. After House Republicans passed a bill to do exactly that, Trump held a celebratory event in the White House Rose Garden, where he told the public that “Obamacare” was “dead.”

Months later, the repeal effort failed in the Senate, and Trump soon after launched a yearslong crusade against the late Sen. John McCain because the Arizona Republican helped scuttle the party’s anti-ACA crusade.

Trump nevertheless spent the remainder of his term undermining and sabotaging the effective health care reform law.

After leaving the White House, Trump continued to rail against the Affordable Care Act. As recently as late last year, for example, the Republican whined that some GOP senators had failed to help him “terminate” the ACA in 2017. “It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!” Trump added.

A month later, the Republican posted a video to his social media platform vowing to “replace” the existing health care system.

More recently, Trump touted his “concepts of a plan” that would replace the ACA, and at his latest rally in Nevada, held hours after his denial about his intentions, the former president said the Affordable Care Act “still stinks.”

Trump “never even thought about” ending the ACA? Please.

The result are some important questions for voters in the race’s final days: Are American families willing to vote for a presidential candidate who’s eager to tear down the nation’s health care system and replace it with an alternative he doesn’t want to talk about?

If you’re concerned about your family’s health security, would you really want to take a dramatic risk based on vague assurances and obvious lies?

This post updates our related earlier coverage.