Politics - News Analysis
Trump Just Admitted He’s Looking to Cut Medicare and Social Security if He’s Re-Elected
Donald Trump left the door open to overhauling Social Security and Medicare in a CNBC interview on Wednesday, calling any attempt to rein in entitlement spending as “the easiest of all things.”
Trump made the remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he’s touted a message of economic resurgence at the elite gathering of wealthy investors, business titans and academics.
In the interview, the president said entitlement reform could happen at the “right” moment and appeared to credit the strength of the US economy for providing momentum to shrink spending on two of the nation’s biggest government programs.
“At the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, that’s actually the easiest of all things, if you look,” he told CNBC’s Joe Kernen. “Well, we’re going — we’re going look. We also have — assets that we’ve never had. I mean we’ve never had growth like this.”
The CNBC interview, however, provided few details and little clarity on what shape entitlement reforms could take. Though it’s proved resilient, the US economy is far from the best it’s ever been compared to his predecessors.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Trump, though, recently showed disdain for attempts to rein in the swelling federal deficit, telling donors at a Florida fundraiser, “Who the hell cares about the budget? We’re going to have a country.”
Any initiative to cut spending on Social Security and Medicare would mark a break from his 2016 campaign pledge to protect funding for those programs. In his formal campaign announcement, Trump said: “Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it.”
Well, unsurprisingly, that didn’t sit well with his Democratic opponents, who quickly pounced on the comment.
OOPS. Trump just told on himself.
He said he's looking to cut your Medicare and Social Security because it's "the easiest of all things" to cut. pic.twitter.com/ef2cDXUJUu
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) January 22, 2020
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is one of the leading candidates in the Democratic presidential primary, used Trump’s words to call for an expansion of such programs, while the House Ways and Means Committee called the suggestion “unacceptable.” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) thinks it’s a warning from Trump that people should take seriously.
Trump is in court trying to destroy the ACA and steal your health care.
That's not all.
He's openly admitting that if he's re-elected he'll go after Social Security and Medicare next. Believe him.https://t.co/5kLX4TOosy
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) January 22, 2020
WATCH:
CNBC: Will entitlements ever be on your plate [for cutting]?
TRUMP: "At some point they will be"
CNBC: But you said you wouldn't do that in the past
TRUMP: "We also have assets that we never had" pic.twitter.com/FgZnzYz33l
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 22, 2020
Comments
Comments are currently closed.