When Tomi Lahren, a right-wing commentator and Obamacare opponent, admitted she benefits from a key provision of the Affordable Care Act in a recent debate with comedian Chelsea Handler, Twitter users sent out a barrage of tweets ridiculing her for taking up such a hypocritical stance.
Lahren has a long history of railing against the Affordable Care Act and has passionately urged congress to repeal it.
But in her heated debate with Handler, which took place on Saturday at the Politicon convention in Pasadena, California, Lahren explained that she was still on her parent’s health care plan—a luxury provided to her by virtue of the very law she has vehemently criticized.
One of the more popular components of Obamacare grants young adults the right to remain on their parents’ insurance plan until the age of 26. Lahren, who is currently 24, admitted that she is now taking advantage of this perk.
The audience at the debate immediately booed Lahren when she confessed as much, and users on Twitter were quick to verbalize that same response in a torrent of angry tweets.
These users expressed frustration over what they perceive as Lahren’s hypocrisy regarding Obamacare, and have kept up a steady stream of abuse and outrage ever since Lahren’s comment came to light.
ObamaCare opponent Tomi Lahren inadvertently admits she benefits from ObamaCare: I’m still on my parents’ insurance https://t.co/6WqyQ04Vmk
— P A T • L E E (@pat_lee) July 31, 2017
Tomi Lahren herself would not have insurance without Obamacare. I guess she is not such a fan of liberty after all. https://t.co/ilAOR4vV6V
— Nunca Trumpismo (@NeverTrumpTexan) July 30, 2017
Of course Tomi Lahren benefits from Obamacare. How many times is this Republican bootlicker gonna embarrass herself? https://t.co/59uuOYcULb
— Dave Spak (@davespak) July 31, 2017
Twitter’s backlash against Lahren has been consistent and overwhelming. Yet despite her youth, Lahren is no stranger to controversy and has weathered even worse storms than this in the short time she’s spent in the public eye.
Her most contentious battle has been with Glenn Beck, her former employer, who fired her from her conservative hosting role at The Blaze when she came out as pro-choice. Lahren sued Beck and The Blaze for wrongful termination and landed another role soon after with the non-profit group Great America Alliance.
She will need to demonstrate her resilience once again in the wake of this latest public outcry and Twitter storm.
Yet at the debate itself, when Lahren made her controversial remark and provoked a chorus of boos from the audience, an unlikely champion quickly came to her defense.
Handler told the crowd, “Stop, stop, stop. She’s being honest.”
Handler’s comment was enough to quiet the crowd at the Politicon convention, but Lahren hasn’t been as lucky outside of those walls. The Twitter posts keep rushing in, and there’s no sign that they will be abating any time soon.
[Featured Image by Colin Young-Wolff/AP Images]