Trump blames media for resistance to ObamaCare repeal

President Trump on Monday blamed the news media for making it more difficult for Republicans to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

During a meeting with Americans who say they’ve been hurt by former President Obama’s signature healthcare law, Trump tweaked the press for making ObamaCare “look so good.”

“So the press is making it look so wonderful that if we end it, everyone’s going to say, ‘Oh, remember how great ObamaCare used to be? Remember how wonderful it used to be? It used to be so great?’” the president told reporters in the Roosevelt Room.

Republicans are trying to replace the Affordable Care Act with a more conservative plan centered around tax credits that help people purchase insurance.

{mosads}But the plan has been met with resistance on the left and right. Some GOP senators are pushing back on the plan, which would roll back an expansion of Medicaid in their states.

Trump said he knew that getting rid of the law would be a tough political lift, but added that waiting would be “the wrong thing to do for our country.”

“The Republicans, frankly, are putting themselves in a very bad position … by repealing ObamaCare,” he said. “They’re not going to see the devastation in ’17, or ’18 or ’19. It will be gone by then, whether we do it or not, it will be imploded off the map.”

Obama’s healthcare law has long been divisive politically, but its popularity has risen since Trump’s election.

A January NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed 45 percent of Americans think ObamaCare is a good idea, while 41 percent thought it is a bad one.

“It’s a little bit like President Obama,” Trump said on Monday. “When he left, people liked him. When he was here, people didn’t like him so much. That’s the way life goes. That’s human nature.”