Seth Meyers thinks Trump is making it very, very clear that he knows nothing about health care
It's hard to defend something that you don't understand, Seth Meyers said on Thursday's Late Night, which is likely why President Trump is having such a hard time making a convincing case for the Republican health-care bill.
Meyers makes the case that Trump clearly knows nothing about health care; the president uses the vaguest terms to talk about it, never gives any details, and skims the surface of the issue. He probably shouldn't bring it up anyway — a USA Today poll that came out Wednesday said only 12 percent approve of the Senate Republicans' plan. "Twelve percent? His health-care bill is an iPhone in a horror movie," Meyers said. "It's going to hit zero and everyone is going to die."
When Trump does talk about health care, he liberally uses adjectives like "good," "great," and "fantastic," making him sound like "a high school student who didn't read the book, or have the book, or know how to read," Meyers said. Trump's fellow Republicans are willing to call him out for this, too; several senators have spoken to the media and said after talking with him about health care, he seems to have little understanding of the principles and usually isn't taken seriously. He's also making promises he has no way of keeping by convincing polar-opposite moderate and conservative Republicans that he's willing to make the changes they both want. "He's less like a CEO and more like a mall Santa," Meyers said. "A bike? Sure. Train set? No problem. I'm not real? You guessed it."
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So why does Trump still have support from Republicans, even though he doesn't understand health care and his Twitter rants have "gone from confusing to, 'Mommy, why is the man on the subway yelling so loud and where are his underpants?'" Watch the video below for Meyers' theory. Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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