Montini: Man wonders if President Trump will let his gravely-ill wife die

I spent part of the morning of President Donald Trump’s inauguration speaking with a man who wondered if Trump’s promises would kill his wife.

She has stage three lung cancer.

She is alive because of the Affordable Care Act, something that Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress promise to immediately repeal and replace – although, there have been no specifics as to what they will replace it with.

The man’s wife has insurance because under “Obamacare” she could not be denied coverage for a preexisting condition.

The man’s family has not gone bankrupt or lost his insurance because under the ACA there is no lifetime limit on insurance payouts.

“If they eliminate the program she dies,” the man told me.

It’s that simple.

Where's the details to know for sure?

Not too long ago House Speaker Paul Ryan was confronted at a town hall by a cancer-survivor from Arizona who told him, "I want to thank President Obama from the bottom of my heart because I would be dead if it weren't for him."

He added, “Why would you repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement?"

Ryan said, "Oh, we wouldn't do that. We want to replace it with something better."

Again, there were no details.

Details would have been good.

Details might have allayed the anxieties of so many Americans, like the man I spoke with Friday, who already has too much to worry about.

Way too much.

A while back Ryan said the fact that Trump fancies telling lies “doesn’t matter.”

If lies don't matter, can we trust them?

This came up after Trump said he would have won the popular vote, which he lost by a record amount of roughly 3 million, if it weren’t for the “millions” of illegal immigrants who voted. Ryan said, “I have no way of backing that up. I have no knowledge of such things. But it doesn’t matter to me. He won the election.”

Doesn't matter to him?

If lies don’t matter then how can we trust politicians who say they will repeal and replace Obamacare with something better?

Or who promise to make America great again?

You can see why the man whose spouse is battling a life-threatening disease might be a little uneasy.

Or a lot uneasy.

Lies don’t matter?

That – in fact – is a lie.

It must be a lie, or else we’re doomed.