President Trump and Protection of People with Pre-Existing Conditions

President Trump and Protection of People with Pre-Existing Conditions

Blog Chosen: https://www.newsweek.com/trump-state-union-obamacare-exisitng-conditions-1485804

#1:  Trump Accused by People with Pre-Existing Conditions of Lying About Protecting Them during State of the Union Address

Statement with fallacy: “I’ve also made an ironclad pledge to American families: We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions,”

Fallacy: Equivocation (ambiguity)

I believe that the fallacy used in this statement was equivocation (ambiguity). It is clear that President Trump was lying when he noted during the state of the union address that he cared about Americans with pre-existing conditions. Besides, there is no evidence that he has tried ever to help this group of American people. Remarkably, Trump has been on the forefront to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obama care” since the time arrived in the White House (Palmer, 2020). Besides, the two bills in the Senate and failed that Trump supported did not include protection for children with pre-existing conditions. In this regard, this statement is meant to appeal to this group of people for support of his candidacy for president in the upcoming elections.

Reference:

Palmer, E. (2020, February 5). Trump accused by people with pre-existing conditions of lying about protecting them during state of the union address.  Newsweek. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/trump-state-union-obamacare-exisitng-conditions-1485804.

Blog Chosen: https://khn.org/news/trumps-claim-that-he-saved-preex-conditions-part-fantasy-part-delusion/

#2:  Trump’s Claim He ‘Saved’ Preexisting Conditions ‘Part Fantasy, Part Delusion’

Statement with fallacy: “I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your healthcare,”

Fallacy: Bandwagon fallacy

I believe that the fallacy used in this statement was bandwagon fallacy. As a candidate and President, Trump vowed to repeal and replace ACA because it was not working. In particular, he was to eliminate the sections that offered protection to people with pre-existing conditions. In 2018, however, Trump witnessed the Democrats when rallied behind the issue of protecting people with pre-existing conditions and won the House of Representatives (Luthra, 2020). As such, he has repeatedly tried to align himself with the issue in the hope that this group of people and other proponents of pre-existing conditions will vote for him come 2020 general elections.  In other words, because Democrats succeeded in luring people to vote for them through their support of protecting people with pre-existing conditions, President Trump thinks that he can do the same in 2020.

Reference:

Luthra, S. (2020, January 15). Trump’s Claim He ‘Saved’ Preexisting Conditions ‘Part Fantasy, Part Delusion.’ Kaiser Health News (KHN). Retrieved from https://khn.org/news/trumps-claim-that-he-saved-preex-conditions-part-fantasy-part-delusion/.