One night after making his last-ditch argument against the GOP’s Zombie Trumpcare bill, Seth Meyers was at it again on Thursday. Only this time, the House had actually managed to pass the legislation.
President Donald Trump’s claims about what his party’s health care plan will do for the American people are much like his supposed plan to bring peace to the Middle East, the Late Night host said: “Naive, overconfident and detached from reality.” As for how Trump plans to “square” the discrepancies between his promises and that reality, Meyers said we now know he will just “lie.”
“If the American Health Care Act becomes law, Trump and the GOP will not be able to escape the negative consequences,” Meyers added. “They will own them.” That includes the “disastrous ramifications” like 24 million people losing their health insurance, cutting Medicaid and giving the wealthiest Americans a giant tax cut.
“The bill literally takes from the poor and gives to the rich,” Meyers said, before slamming Republicans for adding new provisions to the bill that “made it even worse” in an attempt to get hardline conservatives on board. “They basically took an oatmeal raisin cookie and added cilantro,” he said.
“Despite all that, Republicans hastily arranged a victory celebration at the White House today, and they were absolutely giddy,” Meyers added, before playing the clip of Trump literally saying, “I’m president, can you believe it?”
“No!” Meyers answered. “No, I can’t.”
“Also, look how happy those old, white guys are,” he continued. “I guess they’re just happy they finally passed something that wasn’t a kidney stone. No longer covered, by the way.”
One of the most “galling” aspects of this whole story, Meyers said, is the fact that the same Republicans celebrating today “complained constantly” when Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act that the process was too “rushed.”
“I just wish someone would have the courage to come out against such a secretive process,” Meyers said. “I wish someone would just tell Paul Ryan that we shouldn’t pass bills we haven’t read and don’t know what they cost.”
As expected, Meyers cut to a young Congressman Ryan saying just that on MSNBC in 2009. “You’ll never guess how much of what Ryan claimed to hate back then he’s totally cool with today,” the host said. “No wonder he doesn’t care about health care. His resting heart rate is he doesn’t have one.”
“Everything Paul Ryan claimed to hate about the Obamacare process in 2009 he’s doing now. Republicans are lying through their teeth,” Meyers went on, adding that “Americans are being conned and there will be consequences for the people doing the conning.”