CNN needs to quit giving credence to liars like Vance and Trump when you see these sort of head swinging supposed reversals on policy that we all know full well are nothing but pandering.
During an interview with NBC this Thursday, Trump claimed he wants IVF paid for by insurance companies or the government if he’s elected:
Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Thursday that if he is elected, his administration would not only protect access to in-vitro fertilization but would also have either the government or insurance companies cover the cost of the expensive service for American women who need it.
“We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” Trump said before adding, “We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”
Asked to clarify whether the government would pay for IVF services or whether insurance companies would do so, Trump reiterated that one option would be to have insurance companies pay “under a mandate, yes.”
Which we all know is nonsense, and which was rightfully called out by the Harris campaign:
But sadly, as Parker Molloy discussed at her blog, the media has become “a mouthpiece for Trump’s empty IVF promise”:
Yesterday, in a desperate attempt to distance himself from his own policies, former President Donald Trump announced that if given another term in office, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments would be free. […]
Given Donald Trump’s long history of contradictory statements, misleading promises, and policy positions that directly undermine his public declarations, it’s important to approach his latest announcement with a healthy dose of skepticism. His promise to make IVF treatments free for all Americans may sound appealing, but there’s no reason to actually trust that he means it.
Let’s not forget that the very reason access to IVF and other reproductive services is in question today is because of Trump himself. Under his administration, the Supreme Court was filled with justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that has severely limited reproductive rights across the country. This has created an environment where IVF and other fertility treatments could potentially be restricted or even outlawed in states that seek to define life as beginning at conception. Trump’s actions directly contributed to this precarious situation, so his sudden advocacy for free IVF treatments seems more like a desperate attempt to win back voters than a genuine policy shift.
Molloy went onto explain the additional reasons no one should ever believe anything that comes out of Trump’s mouth, and, sadly, the endless stream of headlines and articles which, rather than scrutinizing Trump’s promise, “simply repeated his promise word for word.”
During an appearance on CNN this Friday, Trump’s running-mate JD Vance was asked about Trump’s statement on IVF, and even though host John Berman did push Vance over and over again on how they plan to pay for a mandate, or what would happen if an individual state outlawed IVF, he still never really pinned Vance down.
And, like the rest of the media, they were working from a starting point that we can take Trump at his word about any issue, including this one.
Here’s Vance flailing around trying to explain the flip-flop:
BERMAN: The president, former president, announced yesterday that he wants insurers or the government to pay for IVF. How?
VANCE: Well, he’s been consistent again in this, John, that he wants the — he wants people to be able to afford to have families. And it’s one of the reasons why we supported an expanded child tax credit that Donald Trump actually got done. He didn’t just talk about it. He got it done.
He supported a whole host of policies to make it easier for women to choose life, to bring new life into the world. And this is just part and parcel of his broader view that if we want to have more families in this country, and I think all of us do, we have to empower young women and young families to make those choices and to have access to what they need.
You know, this, John, I’m sure everybody who’s watching has dealt with somebody, a friend or a family member who’s struggling with infertility. It’s a terrible, terrible problem that a lot of young families suffer in silence.
I think all Donald Trump is saying is we want to help those families —
BERMAN: How?
VANCE: — make it easier for them to bring new families into the world.
BERMAN: How is he going to pay for it? Is — is this an expansion of Obamacare? Is this a mandate?
VANCE: Well, look, I think you have insurance companies that obviously are forced to cover a whole host of services. The president explicitly said that he wants insurers to cover additional fertility treatments.
After allowing Vance to ramble on more and attack Harris, Berman again came back to his first question.
BERMAN: How would this work if a state — and you believe that states should have the right to make this decision — if a state bans IVF, but Donald Trump says he wants to guarantee and/or pay for IVF for everyone who wants it, how would that work if a state banned it?
VANCE: Well, John, I think it’s such a ridiculous hypothetical because Alabama, which is maybe the most conservative state in the entire Union, has actively protected fertility access and fertility treatments. There’s no state in the Union, whether a right-wing state or left-wing state, that I think is trying to ban access to fertility treatments. And if Alabama’s protecting this stuff, I think it’s safe to say the whole country is as well.
So, look, I think that what Donald Trump wants to do is protect access.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Who’s to say there’s not another court — who’s to say there’s not another court in another state that could decide that IVF should be banned? It happened in Alabama for a minute.
You also voted against a measure in the Senate that would have guaranteed access to IVF around the country. So it’s possible, right?
Vance defended his vote by saying it was because of “religious liberty” and he didn’t “want Christian hospitals or Christian charities to be forced to do something that they don’t want to do.” After more weasel words trying to defend his own flip-flopping, Berman again came back to his original question.
BERMAN: Is it fair to say the details on IVF haven’t been worked out yet, how either the government insurers would be forced to pay it — for it (ph)?
VANCE: Well, well, John, of course, all details get worked out in the legislative process and we’re not in the legislative process because we haven’t won yet.
But I think that President Trump again just believes that we want women to have access to these fertility treatments. He wants to make it more accessible, more affordable for more families because we believe in the Republican Party and Donald Trump believes American families are the foundation of our country. They’re the best thing about living in this great country.
You have a lot of young women today who say they’d like to have more children but for some reason health or financial, they’re not able to. We want to try to solve that problem because we want young women and young families to have the family life that they want and that they choose.
And with that Berman finally let it go and moved onto the next topic, which is what always happens with these interviews. Berman knows full well there’s no consistency here, but refuses to actually pin him down on it.
Trump and Vance know their policies are a trainwreck and are killing them with women. All the backtracking in the world on IVF isn’t going to save them after what’s happened with the Dobbs decision, and it may just backfire and piss off some of his base.
