what President trump said

“You go and you look at countries where they essentially have single-payer tax care, single-payer health care. If you look at it, they’re a disaster.”

— in an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Thursday

“The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela. If Democrats win control of Congress this November, we will come dangerously closer to socialism in America. Government-run health care is just the beginning.”

— in an opinion piece published in USA Today on Wednesday

“If you do what he says, you're not going to have a country and you are going to have Venezuela and you're going to have to lift up your taxes by three times.”

— in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, referring to Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont and a leading proponent of “Medicare for all.”

the facts

This lacks evidence.

Mr. Trump’s warning that “Medicare for all” would lead the United States to experience a crumbling economy, political turmoil and food and medicine shortages as in Venezuela is without merit.

That country’s health care system “played a minimal role in Venezuela’s epic crisis,” said Javier Corrales, a professor of political science at Amherst College whose research focuses on Latin America.

Instead, Mr. Corrales said, the main culprits were the government’s mismanagement of the economy, soaring deficits, declining oil production, debts racked up by the state oil company, and price controls.