Trump torches Obamacare during '60 Minutes' interview: ‘It’s terrible, it’s bad healthcare'

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: President Donald Trump slammed Obamacare as "terrible" and “bad healthcare” during his '60 Minutes' sit-down with Norah O’Donnell, which aired on Sunday, November 2.

O’Donnell pressed Trump on his plan to replace Obamacare. “But where is that plan? But where is that plan?” she asked.

Trump said that fixing healthcare would’ve been a walk in the park if he hadn’t inherited a mess from former President Joe Biden.

“I’m willing to work with the Democrats on it,” Trump insisted. “The problem is, they want to give money to prisoners, to drug dealers, to all these millions of people that were allowed to come in with an open border from Biden, and nobody can do that.”

This comes amid an ongoing government shutdown that is now dragging deep into its second month.

Trump says he's unable to fix healthcare because of Democrats 

Trump had already taken a swing at Democrats for stalling efforts to reopen the government. “The Democrats keep voting against ending [the shutdown]… all we’re saying is give us an extension, we’ll work it out,” he said. “They’ve lost their way. They’ve become crazed lunatics.”

He then blasted Obamacare. “It's terrible. It’s bad healthcare at far too high a price,” Trump remarked. He said he’d “fix” it if Democrats would just vote to open the government.

O’Donnell asked, “So you’re saying your plan is to tell the Democrats to vote to end the shutdown and that you will put forward a healthcare plan?”

“No,” Trump replied. “I would simply work with Democrats on the issue.”

O’Donnell didn’t let him off the hook. “But Mr President, with all due respect, you’ve been talking about fixing [healthcare] since 2015,” she reminded him.

Trump didn’t deny it. “That’s true,” he said, “but I can’t because of the Democrats.”

Still, he doubled down on his vision of better care for less cash. “We can make it much less expensive for people and give them much better healthcare,” he added.

But the situation is tense with the shutdown dragging on and no bipartisan handshake in sight. About 20 million Americans who depend on Obamacare subsidies are left hanging.

Democrats fire back at Republicans over shutdown blame

Democrats, meanwhile, are blaming the other side. Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told Fox News that Republicans are the ones refusing to play ball. “We have to ask a Republican, because the Republicans have agreed to exactly zero negotiations,” Warren said.

“Donald Trump is out flying around the world, the Republicans here in the Senate won't do a damn thing without Donald Trump telling them to, and the House Republicans are now on their sixth week of paid vacation,” she continued. “So, you know, we'd like to sit down and negotiate, but we've got no Republicans on the other side.”

She was referring to Trump's diplomatic tour of Asia this week, when he met with leaders from South Korea, Japan, and China.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are still in recess. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declared they won’t be coming back until the Senate passes the House’s budget continuing resolution bill, the GOP’s plan to reopen the government.

Sen Tim Kaine (D-VA) echoed Warren, saying the problem starts and ends with Trump. “He's got to agree to live by the deal we come up with; thus far we've not been able to get him to agree,” Kaine argued.

He added that what matters most to him is ensuring Trump doesn’t turn around and torch any deal the moment the ink dries.

“The issue that matters the most to me in opening government is getting the president to guarantee that if we open it, he won't then tear up the deal,” Kaine explained. “We have to do a budget deal for 30 days or 45 days, whatever is done, but he has to agree that if you do that, he won’t then the next day start firing more people, canceling projects.”

Still, Kaine gave Trump credit for ensuring military paychecks continued during the shutdown chaos. “I think that's important,” he said, noting that Trump found funds to pay US troops "when the House refused to come back to take up a military pay bill.”