In a preview clip of his 60 Minutes interview, President-Elect Donald Trump confirms his change of heart on Obamacare and described the concession phone call between him and Hillary Clinton. Trump told CBS’s Lesley Stahl that he will indeed be keeping parts of the controversial ACA act intact, as he hinted at in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. This includes the provision requiring insurance companies to accept people despite pre-existing conditions and another allowing children to stay on their parent’s insurance plans until the age of 26. He also reiterated that his replacement plan will be better and cheaper than Obama’s plan and hinted the law won’t be repealed until a replacement is found.
As for his phone call with Mrs. Clinton, the president-elect told Stahl that it was a “lovely” conversation and that he still respects Clinton.
The battle between Trump and Clinton during the election cycle was a heated one, with the two throwing accusation after accusation at one another. And that is not even counting the debates, which saw the inflammatory rhetoric turned up to 11. But it appears The Donald is starting to play nice with Clinton, as the reality of becoming president is starting to seep in. Trump told Stahl the concession phone call Clinton made was a nice one and he told her she was a worthy adversary:
“It was a tough call for her. I mean, I can imagine. Tougher for her than it would have been for me, and for me it would have been very, very difficult. She couldn’t have been nicer. She just said, ‘Congratulations, Donald. Well done.’ and I said, ‘I want to thank you very much. You were a great competitor.’ She’s very strong and very smart.”
It’s a bit of a reversal for Trump, who went out of his way to call out Clinton’s faults on the campaign trail and even promised to throw her in jail. The president-elect also went on to say he received a call from Bill Clinton as well saying, “he couldn’t have been more gracious. He said it was an amazing run, one of the most amazing he’s ever seen.”
Trump and his team are already preparing for their transition to Washington and the country is getting a preview of the policies he is going to enact. He’s already made waves by saying he will not entirely repeal Obamacare, which was one of the staples of his campaign and something he discusses on 60 Minutes. The country may be in for more surprises like this when he heads to the White House.
(Via CBS Evening News & CNN)