Lifestyle

Tomi Lahren Admits She Benefits From The Obamacare She Trashes Constantly

by Meredith Bland
Image via Joshua Blanchard/Stringer/Getty Images

Tomi Lahren reveals that she’s still on her parents’ health insurance plan

If you don’t know who Tomi Lahren is, just think of Ann Coulter and imagine her 30 years younger. Aside from their long blond hair and mutual dislike of commercial airlines, the two also share a love of being provocative and offensive for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

But on Saturday, during an interview with comedian Chelsea Handler at Politicon, Lahren exemplified the hypocrisy of those hard-line Republicans who are against everything liberals stand for until it impacts them personally when she admitted that she benefits from Obamacare despite saying it’s in a “death spiral” and arguing that it “fails the very people it’s intending to help.”

Handler and Lahren were scheduled for an event that was initially hyped as a “debate” — something that got bloodthirsty partisans excited but frustrated Handler who, according to The Daily Beast, had planned for the event to be a “conversation” and not some kind of split-screen insult-laden Wrestlemania match. And to Handler’s credit, that was exactly how she presented it, saying, after introducing Lahren, that she was interested in speaking with her because, “you’re very opinionated and I like any woman who’s very opinionated, especially if you believe what you’re saying.”

That’s not to say that there weren’t a lot of issues that the two disagreed about, such as Trump’s recent Twitter statement that transgender people should not be allowed to serve in the military. Lahren referred to being transgender as “gender dysmorphia” and compared the ban to not allowing people with asthma to join the military, while Handler argued that transgender soldiers are people who are “volunteering to serve our country” and their inclusion could be paid for “if Donald Trump just stayed home for two weekends.”

But the biggest response from the crowd during the interview came when the two women discussed health care. Lahren spouted the usual anti-Obamacare lines, saying, “I believe it’s my right to purchase health care, I don’t believe it’s my right to pay for it for other people.” Then Handler asked her if she had health care, to which Lahren replied, “Well luckily, I’m 24, so I am still on my parents’.”

Say what, now?

The crowd started laughing and applauding, but Handler defended Lahren by saying, “Stop, stop, stop, she’s being honest.” And that’s true. But while we appreciate her honesty, her words are infuriating because it’s another example of a Republican who slams Obama and all Democrats until they come across an issue that benefits them personally, which is when they say, “Well, except for that. That doesn’t count.”

For all Lahren’s bashing of the Affordable Care Act, she likes the fact that children can stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26 under the plan: “To say there are things from Obamacare that are not positive,” she said, “that’s not true.” That’s right — just as all gay people are evil until your son comes out to you, or how women should never be allowed to have abortions until your daughter needs one. Obamacare is the worst until it’s the only way you can get health insurance. Then, everything’s cool.

Do we applaud Lahren, (who has also stated that she is pro-choice) for going against the grain and being honest about where she disagrees with some of the other balls-to-the-wall Republicans? Well, it’s hard to applaud anyone who calls being transgender “gender dysmorphia” and compares Black Lives Matter to the KKK, and it doesn’t take much courage to stand up for something that benefits you personally.

We do appreciate it anytime someone says what they truly believe, and we admire the way Handler handled this interview, but we hope that the takeaway here isn’t “Tomi Lahren is brave” or “Tomi Lahren is a fool,” but that “Tomi Lahren’s view on health care is an example of what happens when political ideology meets real people’s lives.”