Jindal: ‘TrumpCare’ could make GOP ‘irrelevant’

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) said on Thursday that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s healthcare plan rejects everything Republicans stand for.

“Putting aside the implications of ‘TrumpCare’ for our taxes, economic growth and the national debt, the implications for conservatism are deadly,” Jindal wrote in a Fox News op-ed.

{mosads}“The Republican presidential primary is being dominated by someone who agrees with [President] Barack Obama and [Democratic presidential front-runner] Hillary Clinton about the defining domestic policy issue of our time,” he said.

“The danger is, if he persuades Americans that government-controlled health care is acceptable, he will have opened the door for a nanny state and made the Republican Party irrelevant,” the 2016 GOP presidential candidate added.

Jindal argued on Thursday that Trump’s repeated calls for a single-payer healthcare system like ObamaCare is at odds with the rest of their party’s ideology.

“It would hand the left a rationale for interference for every aspect of our lives,” he said.

“If government pays for your healthcare, they will claim it should have a say in your lifestyle: whether you smoke or drink, your salt and sugar intake, how you exercise and even whether you own a firearm,” Jindal wrote.

Jindal also charged that Trump’s support for a costly, universal healthcare structure is unsurprising given his background.

“The problem is this: Donald Trump is not a conservative,” he said. “If he has a political philosophy at all, it is plutocratic hypocrisy.

“He inherited a fortune, used American capitalism to turn that into mega-wealth and now lectures everyone else that we need the government to take care of us,” the Louisiana governor added.

Jindal then blamed his fellow Republicans for letting Trump’s ideas catch on with mainstream audiences.

“Now the establishment is enabling Donald Trump with their silence and making him think his position is acceptable,” he said.

“Even conservative senators like Ted Cruz are complicit,” Jindal added of his competition for next year’s GOP presidential nomination.

“He has distinguished himself by praising Trump’s positions and clinging to his events, in the hope of picking up his votes when he eventually fades.”

Jindal’s remarks come as his 2016 Oval Office bid struggles for traction with potential voters.

He currently receives less than 1 percent support across multiple national polls.