“We passed VA Choice and VA Accountability to give our veterans the care that they deserve, and they have been trying to pass these things for 45 years.”
—Donald Trump at a May 2019 rally.
“I said, you know, ‘I have a great idea. I’ve been thinking about it a lot’. This was during the campaign and I came back to my people, I had experts, and I said, ‘I have a great idea. These lines for the veterans are too long. It takes them three, four weeks sometimes to see a doctor. I have a great idea — let’s let them go outside, go to a private doctor. We’ll pay the bill, they’ll be all fixed up all perfect, and they can do it immediately and we’ll pay the bill’.
“And I thought, I said, ‘Man am I smart. I am the smartest guy, to think of that’. So, I went before this panel of experts that were with me working on things, and I said, ‘How do you like that idea?’ And they said, ‘Sir, we’ve known about it for about 40 years, but we’ve never been able.’”
—Donald Trump, in an August 2019 Interview. [Except that The Veteran’s Choice Act, which allows Vets access to health care outside the VA system was the result of Senate Resolution S.2450, co-sponsored in the Senate by Bernie Sanders and John McCain, and House Resolution 3230, co-sponsored by Harold Rogers, Tom Latham and Jackie Walorski. After the House passed HR 3230, the Senate set aside S2450 which was basically the same bill, and Took up HR 3242 in its place.
It passed the House On Oct 3, 2013 by a vote of 265–160.
It passed the Senate on June 11 of 2014 by a vote of 93–3. The Three “Nays” were all Republicans.
It was signed into law by Barack Obama August 7, 2014.]
Oops.
Louisiana Voice 
Good job, Tom. However, the Trump apologists will find a way to spin it in his favor.
Tom, you, of all people, know it is unfair to interpret the President’s words literally. What he clearly meant was that in 1979 he came up with this plan. Once he was sure it would work, he encouraged Congress to pass it and let Obama take credit for it. He could have waited until he was President, but didn’ t want the veterans to have to wait another day for it. Shame on you, Tom.
My error. 😂
BTW, just so Trump knows what it looks and sounds like, Mr. Winham’s comment was a textbook example of sarcasm.
Stephen, you just successfully spinned it.
Stephen, thanks for clearing that up.
How dare you cite Obama for anything positive! You’re going to give Zoe a coronary. Have you no shame?
Please explain how any one can lie so effortlessly, knowing that the lie can be easily debunked by official records? I would say that one that does this shoots one’s self in one’s foot….but, alas, his followers do not believe anything but Trump lies…and, therein lies our problem, which has caused these Republican Congressmen to abandon our Constitution in fear of Trump’s control of his base by his lies….who would have thunk it was so easy to seriously cripple our democracy?
As a vet. with 10 years of service time very little was done to help us vet. until he took office and he has done a hell of a lot for us.
Jim could you give us some examples? I’d love to see/hear what he’s done for veterans.
Even better would be actual links to stuff you say Trump has done for veterans.
Sarcasm done right:
“Some totally non-sarcastic praise of Trump’s comic genius”
By
Dana Milbank
Columnist
April 27, 2020 at 4:55 p.m. CDT
I read this column in the Washington Post, hope you can find it online. I would post the link, but I don’t think it works.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/27/trump-is-very-subtle-comic-genius/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most
Fredster if you use the VA you would know how much care service waiting time the cost of drugs a lot better people take care of us..
Meanwhile, he calls his generals idiots while openly wanting to emulate France with a huge military parade on July 4 to assuage his bloated ego. His “idiot” generals finally convinced him of the costs and extent of problems in moving so much military hardware into Washington.
Just remember, Jim, that those benefits you mentioned were passed and signed into law by Obama, not Trump.
Jim, I’m a bit confused here, so help me out.
Why in the world would Trump repeatedly lie about being responsible for a law that was clearly and indisputably the work of Sens. John McCain and Bernie Sanders (that horrible commie) and Reps. Tom Latham, Harold Rogers and Jackie Walorski and signed into law by Obama (that wretched Muslim) when he could be taking credit for those wonderful things you say he did for veterans?
I just can’t make any sense of it all so please help me, Jim, to understand why.
I worked for the LDVA when this legislation was signed and I spent a good deal of time explaining it to my clients back then. Where and how it originated is clearly documented, so I can’t imagine how anyone could confuse its origin. You can still visit the USDVA website and download flyers that are dated years prior to this administration. But then again, it has been said that if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes truth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie
I still serve on the Retiree Council at Fort Polk, along with Rudy Bourg and you are accurate. Truth means nothing to Trumpites and Jindalites. In short, VA took a beating from the Republicans and it was all part of Jindal’s privatizing everything. They could give a shit about Vets and health benefits, and you can see the thread even today with Jindal on the health care boards. Works great for the rich. ron thompson