Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan Tuesday said President Donald Trump's expressions of concern about mental illness after the weekend shootings in El Paso and Dayton are "baloney" considering push he'd made to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the access it allows for mental health treatments.
"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," Ryan, a Democratic presidential candidate, told CNN's "New Day."
"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," he continued. "I don't believe you, Donald Trump...both of the bills that you were proposing from the House and the Senate on repealing health care would get rid of mental health treatment for people in the United States. So don't give me this baloney that somehow you're the biggest advocate."
Ryan said he'd call for art therapists, play therapists and more for children in grades K-12, as "there's so much trauma" happening tho them.
Further, Ryan said he doesn't represent Dayton, but he would not want Trump visiting his hometown, given his "polarizing" actions.
"He's got to move away from dividing the country," said Ryan. "He finds a million different ways to divide us, who's black, who's white, who's gay, who's straight, who's a man, who's a woman. He's the divider in chief, and he's got to get beyond that...he's created a toxic environment, and there you have it, he's putting his own campaign money behind creating an environment of division in the United States and blatant attacks against people of color."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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