Democratic presidential hopeful Tim Ryan on Tuesday said President Trump’s call for fixes to mental health laws after the weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio fly in the face of the Trump administration’s own position on Obamacare.
“Look, if the president was so concerned with mental illness, he would not have lawsuits trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act for 20 million people in the United States when they have access to mental health treatment,” Mr. Ryan, a congressman from Ohio, said on CNN’s “New Day.”
He said GOP-written bills to repeal Obamacare — an effort Mr. Trump supported — would have had the same result.
“It is so disingenuous for him to step up to that podium yesterday and talk about mental illness like he cares,” he said. “So don’t give me this baloney that all of a sudden you’re for mental health coverage and you’re for treating mental health in the United States. I don’t believe you, Donald Trump. I don’t believe you.”
Mr. Ryan has called for a mental health counselor in every public school.
“I want social and emotional learning in every school, I want art therapists, music therapists, play therapists because there is so much trauma happening to our kids in the United States and especially in K through 12,” he said.
On Monday, Mr. Trump called for a reform to mental health laws in the country to better identify potentially dangerous individuals to make sure they get treatment and, if necessary, “involuntary confinement.”
“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” the president said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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