Democrats have denounced a “deceitful” opinion article by Donald Trump, which claims that the party has embraced Venezuela-style socialism.

The president wrote in USA Today, one of the country’s most widely read newspapers, on Wednesday: “The truth is that the centrist Democratic party is dead. The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela.”

A fact check of the op-ed by the Washington Post found that “almost every sentence contained a misleading statement or a falsehood”. It noted drily: “We are unaware of any Democratic leader that has pointed to Venezuela as an economic model.”

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The article was apparently intended as a rallying cry for Trump’s Republican party ahead of next month’s midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress. Opinion polls suggest Democrats are on course to win the House of Representatives, partly fueled by the president’s personal unpopularity.

Trump warned: “Every single citizen will be harmed by such a radical shift in American culture and life. Virtually everywhere it has been tried, socialism has brought suffering, misery and decay.”

Turning to immigration, he wrote, without evidence: “Today’s Democratic party is for open-borders socialism. This radical agenda would destroy American prosperity.”

But Trump’s main line of attack was Democrats’ plans for Medicare, a government health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. He claimed that a proposal called Medicare for All “would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives”.

He went on: “The Democrats’ plan means that after a life of hard work and sacrifice, seniors would no longer be able to depend on the benefits they were promised. By eliminating Medicare as a program for seniors, and outlawing the ability of Americans to enroll in private and employer-based plans, the Democratic plan would inevitably lead to the massive rationing of health care.”

A plan pushed by Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who challenged Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, would expand Medicare to cover almost everyone in the country, and current Medicare recipients would get improved benefits. Other Democratic plans would allow people to buy into a new government system modeled on Medicare, moving toward the goal of coverage for all – while leaving private insurance in place.

Trump attacks Democrats as 'radical socialists' and scorns universal healthcare plan Read more

Sanders reportedly dismissed Trump’s article as “blatant lies”. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, released images of the article with multiple crossings out and corrections scrawled in red ink.

Schumer said: “All of the false and misleading words in the world can’t cover up the truth: President Trump and Republicans in Congress are forcing millions of Americans to pay more for health insurance and trying to rip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

“President Trump’s USA Today op-ed is just the latest in a long and blatant disinformation campaign designed to mislead the public while his administration engages in a purposeful sabotage of our nation’s healthcare system. The American people deserve better than smears and sabotage.”

Democrats contend that Republicans’ attacks on Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, often nicknamed Obamacare, is hurting millions of Americans. They note a Republican lawsuit that aims to strike down protections for 130 million people with pre-existing conditions, and budget proposals that called for nearly $500bn in cuts to Medicare over 10 years.

Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House, said: “President Trump’s USA Today op-ed is the latest pronouncement of dishonesty from Republicans desperate to hide the truth about the past two years of GOP attacks on Medicare, on protections for pre-existing conditions, and on affordable healthcare.”

Democrats are seeking a “blue wave” of support from voters this November, hoping that anti-Trump enthusiasm can inspire enough voters to win control of one or even both houses of the US Congress.

Trump’s article had echoes of Trump’s shocking 2017 inauguration speech, which employed dystopian language and a bleak appraisal of the country as blighted in a state of “American carnage”.

Among Trump’s wilder claims was: “If Democrats win control of Congress this November, we will come dangerously closer to socialism in America. Government-run healthcare is just the beginning. Democrats are also pushing massive government control of education, private-sector businesses and other major sectors of the US economy.”

Democrats have no such plans. Topher Spiro, a senior fellow and healthcare expert at the Center of American Progress, a progressive thinktank in Washington, said: “I don’t even know what he’s talking about there.”

The Trump administration is in fact suing to eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions, Spiro said, while the various Democratic plans would mark a positive step. “Far from harming beneficiaries, these types of proposals would represent the greatest advance in care for seniors since Medicare was enacted in 1965.”

He added: “When I submit an op-ed, if something I submitted were factually false, the editor would push back on such a statement. Whether there’s a different standard for the president of the United States, I don’t know. Clearly there are false statements in this and maybe they should have run an opposing op-ed. Some of the statements are laughably untrue.”

Republicans, such as Congressman Steve Scalise, showed support with a post on Twitter without challenging the content. But many members of the public tweeted in anger at USA Today, asking for a retraction or a counter opinion piece.