President Donald Trump is getting heat on social media for making a claim on Tuesday about cutting drug prices that’s essentially mathematically impossible.
Trump began promisingly enough with a complaint shared by Democrats and Republicans alike: the high cost of medication, and how much more Americans pay for some medications than patients in other countries.
He promised to reduce those costs ― but to a very unlikely degree.
“We’re gonna get the drug prices down. Not 30% or 40%, which would be great. Not 50% or 60%. No, we’re gonna get them down 1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%,” Trump said at a Republican dinner. “Numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.”
Critics quickly pointed out the reason those numbers are not thought to be achievable: reducing the price by 100% would make the drugs free. Reducing it by “1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%,” as Trump said, would make the cost negative dollars ― with the drug company essentially paying people to take the medication.
In a private group chat in June, dozens of Democratic political influencers discussed whether to take...
