President Trump’s spokesman on Wednesday dismissed protesters at Republican town hall meetings as an effort to get “media attention” by a “manufactured base.”
“I think some people are clearly upset, but there is a bit of professional protester, manufactured base in there,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Wednesday. “It is a loud, small group of people disrupting something in many cases for media attention, no offense. Just because they’re loud doesn’t necessarily mean there are many, and I think, in a lot of cases, that’s what you’re seeing.”
Anxiety about health insurance is motivating many protesters, Spicer conceded, but those audiences also reflected “a false narrative” about Obamacare as well as confusion about how they would be affected by Trump’s intended Obamacare repeal.
“I’ve seen some folks that were protesting saying, ‘I’m on Obamacare, I’m going to lose my [coverage]’ and when they were asked how old they were they were, ‘oh, I’m 71, 72,'” he said. “Well, they’re not on Obamacare. They’re on Medicaid.”
Spicer emphasized that much of the disruption to Obamacare would take place whether Trump and congressional Republicans tried to repeal the law or not.
“In other cases, people aren’t being told that the plan that they’re on is unsustainable,” he told reporters. “The reality is that they are losing their healthcare. But they’re losing it under Obamacare because the exchanges are collapsing on themselves, carriers are pulling out, premiums are going up, and access is going down. So the president’s plan is actually going to do exactly what they were promised 8 years ago didn’t get. So for those who are worried, the answer is: Help is on the way.”
