Donald Trump Has No Idea What the Disastrous Health Plan He's Endorsed Actually Does

As the GOP scrambles to salvage its universally loathed plan to gut the American healthcare system, Donald Trump has, once again, emerged as a significant hindrance to his own party’s political efforts.

This week, The Daily Beast published the accounts of six Trump associates—who spoke with the publication under the condition of anonymity—which detailed just how wildly out of his league the self-proclaimed “deal maker” in-chief is when it comes to the labyrinthine politics of health care.

“There would be times when he would describe what was clearly Medicare…but say Medicaid,” one former campaign aide explained. “When we pointed that out, he would say, ‘That’s what I said, Medicare and Medicaid,’”

Medicare, as you may know, is the federal health care program that primarily serves senior citizens, as well as younger people with disabilities. Medicaid, meanwhile, is a federal-state partnership that provides health-care assistance to poor people. So, y’know, two pretty different things—not that Trump seems to understand, or even care about, the distinction.

“The president understands winning” one source told The Daily Beast.

With this kind of knowledge, it’s no wonder that Trump has been tweeting falsehoods about what the Senate bill actually does.

Nevertheless, by his own account, the president is actually a super-genius when it comes to the ins and outs of this hugely important legislation—legislation that breaks his campaign promise (shocker) not to detonate Medicaid.