Entitlements According To Trump:Sources on Donald Trump and Social Security

1. ENTITLEMENTS ACCORDING TO TRUMP

The Donald said again this week that he would not cut Social Security. That’s what they all (of both parties) say, keeping in mind that President Obama wanted his unsuccessful Grand Bargain with the GOP to include future reductions. 

 “A Trump presidency would threaten programs like Social Security (.http://tinyurl.com/z3wghjq) Here’s how we know,” by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times (May 16): “Donald Trump’s supposed commitment to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is one of the positions said to set him apart from Republican orthodoxy, which has the knives out for all such programs. During his campaign launch last June, Trump pledged to ”save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts.” During a Republican debate in March, he said, “It’s my absolute intention to leave Social Security the way it is. Not increase the age and to leave it as is.”

Hiltzik continues, “But as Zaid Jilani of the Intercept points out, the staff appointments of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee point in exactly the opposite direction. Among Trump’s top advisors are two men who have campaigned for years in favor of privatizing or otherwise cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and disability benefits.”

 “House Republicans Don’t Like Trump,[http://tinyurl.com/hyg5ond] But That Won’t Stop Them From Voting For Him,” by Matt Fuller, Huffington Post (May 13): “Republicans are learning that squaring their positions on issues like debt, Social Security and Medicare with those of the presumptive GOP nominee requires some contortions more complicated than Trump’s combover.”

“Centrist Democrats:[http://tinyurl.com/gw75gad] We can work with President Trump,” by Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim, Politico (May 16): “Some centrist Democrats say they’re ready and willing to work with the business mogul should he defeat their party’s nominee.”

 “Trump adviser now says Medicare and Medicaid changes are on the table,”[http://tinyurl.com/zlgvxqj] by Harris Meyer, Modern Healthcare (May 12): “From the start of his race for the Republican presidential primary run last year, Donald Trump repeatedly has promised that unlike other Republican candidates, he would not touch Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. It’s been one of his core appeals to older working- and middle-class voters. But as the presumptive GOP nominee has shown over and over again, he’s very flexible in his rhetoric and policy positions.”

“… ‘Trump needs a very large portion of the over-60 vote, and he’s not going to go near any change in Social Security or Medicare,’ Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health, said last week.  ‘Trump is a dealmaker,’ Chris Edwards, an economist and budget expert at the libertarian Cato Institute.”

But — “’Before you know it, (Trump) will be back saying he will protect these programs,’ Blendon said Thursday. ‘He is courting conservatives . . . But he will be back on message by the general campaign. He has taken a very strong stand on this issue and cannot afford to have anti-Medicare cuts ads in the general election.’”
(e-mail: jed472@bellsouth.net)