Let’s all remember that time when Donald Trump sounded like Bernie Sanders on healthcare

The Donald made it official yesterday, announcing his campaign for president in a thriller of a kick-off speech complete with the obligatory China, Mexico and ISIS boogeyman references.

For those itching for more details on the real-estate mogul’s political positions, Buzzfeed sat down and had a read of Trump’s 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” to scratch beneath the surface of “The Celebrity Apprentice” boss. The book, sold as “virtually a platform on the major political issues facing our country,” was meant to set the table for Trump presidential run (yes, Trump’s been playing this game for that long).

Some of the best nuggets suggest a couple of Trump flip-flops, shocker, but perhaps must surprising is Trump’s, who claims $9 billion in assets, remarkable commitment to programs like Social Security.

Healthcare

Trump wrote 15 years ago that he supported universal healthcare because “we should not hear so many stories of families ruined by healthcare expenses,” writing that “I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one.”

Trump argued that “we need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan” — a key plank in democratic socialist Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign platform, Pointing to Canada’s government-run healthcare service, Trump said the U.S. will “have to improve on the prototype.”

in full: http://www.salon.com/2015/06/17/lets_all_remember_that_time_when_donald_trump_sounded_like_bernie_sanders_on_healthcare/