A conservative group is running a prime-time television advertisement during the Democratic convention, warning voters President Trump is on the verge of socializing healthcare in the United States.
Americans for Limited Government is usually allied with Trump. But it opposes the president’s plan to reduce the cost of prescription drugs through the force of government regulation and is contending in a new television spot, backed by more than $2 million, that the move would lead to socialized medicine.
In a sharply scripted advertisement designed to catch Trump’s attention, Americans for Limited Government claims the president is on track to put the government in charge of American health before Joe Biden ever gets the chance to do it himself. “Democrats won’t need to socialize medicine because Trump is doing it for them,” the ad’s voice-over declares.
The advertisement opens with a clip of Trump from a State of the Union address, in which he vows that “we will never let socialism destroy American healthcare.” The voice-over contradicts the assertion, pointing to the president’s plan to corral drug pricing: “Really? President Trump’s executive order is every socialist’s dream come true.”
Americans for Limited Government is a broad supporter of most Trump policies and regularly criticizes Biden and other liberals.
But the group takes exception on the issue of prescription drugs, and in the process, is undercutting Trump’s key campaign message in his race against Biden that he is all that stands between the voters and the U.S. turning into a failed, South American-style socialist state. Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government, said the advertisement could run beyond this week’s Democratic convention, depending on whether Trump sticks with his current plan.
“It’s designed to get the president’s attention — there’s an audience of one, here, because he’s making a mistake,” Manning said Wednesday in an interview. “When you put the final building blocks in place for socialism in this country, and in a way that you can’t effectively oppose it, legislatively or otherwise, it’s a real problem.”
Manning acknowledged that disagreement could cost him carefully cultivated relationships on the Right. But he said the issue is too important to put aside for the sake of an election, although he argued that the advertisement would not do anything to boost Biden.
“Friends don’t stand idly by and let friends make mistakes,” he said.
