Hakeem Jeffries Says He Doesn't Support Medicare For All

The dog here today for Tuesday, August 18th, goes to one of the most confusing people in American politics, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. Well, actually he's not confusing. If you follow the corporate PAC money, then you know exactly why Hakeem moves the way he moves, okay? It's the reason they call him AIPAC Shakur. It's the reason they call him AIPAC Rocky. But today, we aren't here to talk about AIPAC. We are here to discuss Medicare for All. See, Hakeem was on Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, and the House Minority Leader indicated that he does not currently support Medicare for All. Just to be very clear though, as a Democratic leader in the House, would you vote for or against Medicare for All? I think as you indicated in your question to me, it's not legislation that I currently am co-sponsoring or that I support. But we do support the notion that we've got to find a path forward to fix our broken healthcare system and make healthcare affordable for every single American. Pathetic. Some Democrats don't want to win, and it's about time folks stop pretending that they do, okay? Now listen, I want to be clear. Hakeem Jeffries is not getting donkier today because he doesn't support Medicare for All. You are allowed to not support Medicare for All. You can believe in a public option. You can believe in strengthening Obamacare. You can believe in expanding Medicare and Medicaid. You can believe there's another way to get every American affordable healthcare. That's called having a policy position, but what Hakeem did on Meet the Press illustrates one of the biggest problems Democrats have right now, and it's one of the things that pisses me off the most about the Democratic Party. They will tell people what they're against without giving them something equally clear that they're for, okay? We will come back to that, but I have a question for Hakeem Jeffries in regards to Medicare for All. Simply, what changed, okay? Right? Hakeem, in September of 2019, you became a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act. Then in 2021, Hakeem, you know, you wasn't just somebody who eventually jumped onto Medicare for All. No, you was an original co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act of 2021, meaning when that bill was introduced, your name was already on it, okay? Now fast forward to 2026, Hakeem Jeffries, as you just heard, goes on Meet the Press and says Medicare for All is not legislation that he currently co-sponsors or supports. Once again, what changed? What did you learn between 2021 and now that changed your mind? Did the economics change? Did you discover something about Medicare for All that you didn't, you know, know when you co-sponsored it? Did America's healthcare system suddenly get better? We know the answer to that. Did premiums get so cheap that I missed the announcement? Did deductibles disappear? Did prescription drugs become free? Did medical debt go away? Did insurance companies stop denying claims? Because if any of that happened, we all missed it, okay? And by the way, politicians are absolutely allowed to change their minds, okay? We should actually encourage people, people to change their minds when they get new information. Growth requires changing your mind sometimes. Wisdom requires changing your mind sometimes. But when you're an elected official and you change your position on something this significant, the people deserve to know why. Especially when the thing that changed most dramatically during that time appears to be your position, okay? Not your policy position, your actual position. Because once again, in 2021, Hakeem, you was a congressman from Brooklyn. Remember that? Remember when you was a congressman from Brooklyn and you was quoting Biggie and Jay, appearing to be down with the people? Today, you're the leader of the House Democrats, okay? The House Democratic Caucus, and could potentially become Speaker of the House, but you appear to be down with corporate America, not the people. So I have to ask, did your beliefs change when your title changed? Because that's what people hate about politics, okay? It's not disagreement, all right? It's the feeling that politicians believe one thing when they're trying to move up, and another thing once they moved up, okay? And Hakeem Jeffries has repeatedly said healthcare is a right, all right? If healthcare is a right, how are you going to guarantee that right? That's all we want to know, okay? Because if Medicare for all isn't the answer anymore, what's the answer? Don't just tell me what you don't support, tell me what you do support. How are Democrats going to make sure every American has healthcare? How are you going to lower premiums? How are you going to lower deductibles? How are you going to lower prescription drug prices? How are you going to stop families from being financially destroyed because somebody simply got sick? What happens to the millions of Americans who are uninsured or underinsured? What's the plan, my guy, okay? Because this is another problem Democrats have. You cannot spend all day telling America what Republicans are doing wrong and never clearly articulate what you're going to do right. Opposition is not an agenda. Resistance is not an agenda. We're not them is not an agenda. And saying we need to fix our broken healthcare system isn't a plan until you tell people how you're going to fix the broken healthcare system. Regular people don't wake up debating the finer points of single-payer healthcare. Okay, they wake up asking, why am I paying hundreds of dollars a month for insurance and still have a deductible that's thousands of dollars? Okay, why did my insurance company deny the procedure my doctor said I need? Why does this prescription cost hundreds of dollars that I don't have? Why am I afraid to go to the ER because I don't know what the bill is going to look like? That's what people are dealing with in real life, Hakeem. So once again, Hakeem, I don't need you to support Medicare for All, but I need you to explain why you supported Medicare for All when you weren't the Democratic leader, but Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries doesn't, okay? What changed, all right? Was it the policy, was it the country, or your position? And I'm asking because leadership shouldn't make your convictions harder to find. Leadership should make your convictions clearer, okay? If you believe Medicare for All was the solution in 2019 and believed it enough to become an original co-sponsor in 2021, but you don't believe it's the solution in 2026, you have to tell us why. And more importantly, probably the most important, tell us what replaced it because you can't tell Americans healthcare is a right and then get vague when they ask you how you're going to guarantee that right. Rights require mechanisms, rights require policy, rights require somebody actually fighting to make those rights real. And maybe that's the lesson in all of this, all right? The easiest thing for a politician to change is their position when their position changes. When you're trying to climb the ladder, bold ideas sound great, okay? Then you become responsible for protecting states and raising money and maintaining coalitions and potentially becoming speaker, not to mention taking corporate PAC money. And suddenly, those bold ideas get a whole lot quieter on the creek, okay? I understand the politics of that, but the American people deserve more than politics. They deserve an explanation. So, Congressman Jeffries, you don't owe anyone your support for Medicare for All. What you owe the American people is an explanation for why something worthy of your signature in 2021 isn't worthy of your support in 2026. And until you explain that, people have every right to wonder whether the thing that changed was the policy or the politician. Donkey of the Day is sponsored by renowned personal injury attorney, Michael DeBull Lamisoft. Don't be a donkey when you need a fighter on your side. If you're ever injured, go to MichaelDeBull.com. That's MichaelDeBull.com. And when you mess with DeBull, you get the horns.