GOP lawmaker melts down when confronted with his own words on health care

Republicans lie freely and frequently on television, but as Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks recently learned, those lies are harder to escape when face-to-face with constituents.

At a town hall meeting in Scottsboro, Alabama, on Tuesday, a voter confronted Brooks with his own callous remarks about health care. Brooks responded with a bizarre rant in which he denied making the remarks at all, and compared buying health insurance to buying milk.

In May 2017 during the Obamacare repeal debate, Brooks told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “people who lead good lives” and who have “done things to keep their bodies healthy” should not have to help offset costs for people who have pre-existing conditions.

At the town hall, Brooks’ constituent Jenny Carver called Brooks out for his hypocritical ignorance.

“I assume you’re free and clear of your prostate cancer?” Carver asked, and when Brooks indicated he was, added, “What did you do wrong to develop prostate cancer?”

After telling Carver to “sit down,” which she refused to do, Brooks tried to dismiss her by saying, “What you are saying is what I call fake news, and is distorting it, and is not truthful.”

“These words came out of your mouth,” Carver replied.

Brooks went on to explain his remarks by again claiming that “people who lead good lives” tend to be healthier. And then he began his odd grocery metaphor.

“Who pays more for milk? People who go to Walmart and buy milk, or people who don’t go to Walmart, and don’t buy milk? Who pays more for milk? The people who buy it.”

Brooks is just the latest example of a Republican using the “fake news” mantra to deny something that is 100 percent true, a tactic that has been adopted by dictators around the world.

But in America, people like Brooks and Trump will always have to face the voters, and they’ll eventually have to face the truth.