From Obama’s JFK Library speech, the 8 most biting quotes about Trump and Republicans

Though he didn’t mention him by name, much of former President Barack Obama’s speech when he accepted a Profile in Courage Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on Sunday evening seemed aimed at President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress who are attempting to dismantle Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Here of some of his more biting quotes, most of which appear directed at Trump as well as in defense of Obamacare:

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About members of Congress who voted to pass the ACA during his presidency, only to lose their seat in later elections.

“They had a chance to insure millions. But this vote could also cost them their seats, perhaps end their political careers. … These men and women did the right thing. They did the hard thing. … Their desire to retain a reputation for integrity was stronger than a desire to remain in office.”

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About today’s members of Congress:

“It is my fervent hope and the hope of millions ... [that] such courage is still possible, that today’s members of Congress, regardless of party, are willing to look at the facts and speak the truth, even when it contradicts party positions.”

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Describing those in a Boston cancer ward (before the ACA), as told to him by Sen. Edward Kennedy, whose son Ted Jr. was being treated there:

“These parents lived in constant fear of what might happen if they could not afford the next treatment, some calculating in their own minds what they might have to sell or borrow just to make it for a few more months. Some bargaining with God for whatever they could get.”

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