Trump's fake news works: Nearly half of Republicans believe he repealed Obamacare

Despite Trump often crying "fake news," he's repeatedly asserted that Obamacare has met its fate — it hasn't

Published December 28, 2017 9:25AM (EST)

 (Getty/Mark Wilson)
(Getty/Mark Wilson)

It's become increasingly apparent that conservatives continue to divorce themselves from objective reality, as a new poll shows that a near majority of Republicans believe President Donald Trump successfully repealed the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

With all the recent talk of how fake news is generated, one formula continues to rein successful: The president repeatedly asserts something as the truth, even though it's not, and his followers quickly buy into it without any question. According to a new poll by The Economist and YouGov, 44 percent of registered Republicans believe Trump has fulfilled his promise to repeal Obamacare.

Trump has even misled the public and tried to market the tax plan as legislation that brings an end to Obamacare.

He also claimed last week that the tax plan "essentially" repeals the nation's health care law.

"When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is being repealed," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. "We have essentially repealed Obamacare, and we will come up with something much better."

But as much as Republicans would like to believe that the Obama-era achievement is no longer the law of the land, that simply isn't the truth.

The recently passed GOP tax plan did include a provision to repeal the individual mandate — which requires Americans to obtain health insurance or be subject to a tax fine — but core components of the law remain intact.

He added, "Obamacare has been repealed in this bill. We didn’t want to bring it up. I told people specifically, 'Be quiet with the fake news media,' because I don’t want them talking too much about it."

As the president continues to cry "fake news" regarding any dissenting viewpoints, the White House continues to be one of the most prominent promulgators of it, making its own base the victims.


By Charlie May

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