Since the Affordable Care Act was instituted, also known as Obamacare, insurance companies have been prohibited from refusing coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions. Trump has railed against Obamacare since his campaign, and has tried to weaken its provisions since taking office. He repeatedly attacked John McCain for being the deciding vote in preventing the repeal of the ACA. Despite this, Trump tried to claim via tweet that he was the person who saved the pre-existing conditions provision, and promised to protect it.
….and, if Republicans win in court and take back the House of Represenatives, your healthcare, that I have now brought to the best place in many years, will become the best ever, by far. I will always protect your Pre-Existing Conditions, the Dems will not!
After a senior Iranian official was killed by drone strike, Congressional members balked at how the White House had failed to brief them on the attack. Trump said via tweet that no notice is required (in direct contradiction with the 1973 War Powers Act), but that his Twitter posts would serve as notice to Congress.
These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!
Amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran following the drone strike of a senior official, Trump threatened to destroy a variety of targets including “some at a very high level & important to Iran & Iranian culture.” The deliberate destruction of cultural sites constitutes a war crime. The Pentagon immediately contradicted Trump by ruling out any such targets.
….targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!
On January 3, 2020 Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and a senior political figure in the Iranian government, was killed by a drone strike, along with several others in his motorcade. The Quds Force was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 2007, as it supported militant proxy groups like Hezbollah. Iran claimed that Soleimani was in Iraq at time to meet with officials to deescalating regional tensions. However, officials believed that he was working to target US military forces in the region to instigate reprisals and galvanize public support for the government, which had been facing domestic protests.
Trump received criticism of the unilateral action for escalating tensions by assassinating a political figure. While Israel and Saudi Arabia were briefed ahead of the move, and Trump reportedly made mention to patrons at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago, no briefing was given to Congress. He had similarly briefed Russia on another airstrike before Congress. Instead, he asserted that his tweets constitute official notice. Tensions were further inflamed by his threat to target and destroy Iranian cultural sites, a war-crime, and a claim which the Pentagon ruled out.
While the White House had originally claimed that Soleimani posed an imminent threat, requiring the strike, little information was offered to Congress or the American people. His intelligence briefing was derided even by Republicans. Instead, Trump cited his “horrible past” as sufficient cause.
