Trump once promised to back Medicare negotiating drug prices. Now he’s the one blocking it

AlterNet logoDonald Trump is a liar. Shocking, I know. But I’m not talking about the thousands of lies—actually it’s now well over 10,000—he has told in the course of his time occupying the Oval Office. Today I’m going to focus on one very specific lie: the lie of a broken promise, on a matter of great importance to the pocketbooks and wallets of tens of millions of Americans. This lie, this repudiation of a campaign promise he made in 2016, clearly contrasts The Man Who Lost The Popular Vote’s policies with those of Democrats. This contrast is one that our party must make central to the 2020 campaign.

First, let’s take a look at the promise, made Jan. 25, 2016:

Donald Trump said tonight he could save Medicare billions of dollars by allowing it to negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies — embracing a position Democrats have championed and Republicans have opposed for years.

The Associated Press quotes Trump as telling a crowd in Farmington, N.H., that Medicare, a huge buyer of prescription drugs, could “save $300 billion” a year if it negotiated discounts.

“We don’t do it,” he said. “Why? Because of the drug companies.”

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CNN won’t run two Trump campaign ads, citing ‘demonstrably false’ claims

Washington Post logoCNN said Thursday that it will not run two Trump campaign ads because they disparage the network’s journalists and make “demonstrably false” claims while discussing impeachment and pushing unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against former vice president Joe Biden.

The network’s decisions come as the Trump administration escalates its attacks on congressional Democrats’ impeachment efforts and continues to lash out at media organizations it tries to discredit as “fake news.” CNN’s move brought renewed ire from Trump’s reelection campaign, as Communications Director Tim Murtaugh called the news network a “Democrat public relations firm” that “spends all day protecting Joe Biden.”

The first rejected ad, posted last week to YouTube, suggests the president is being unfairly scrutinized for pressing Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter. The ad accuses Trump’s potential 2020 opponent of corruption, continuing a favorite talking point of the president and his supporters amid an impeachment inquiry and concerns Trump used his office to create trouble for a political rival.

View the complete October 3 article by Hannah Knowles on The Washington Post website here.