At a time when so much of American politics seems radical, unprecedented, and uncomfortably weird, it was oddly refreshing to see something normal and familiar happen yesterday: A leading Republican talked about cutting Social Security and Medicare, and the leading Democrat pushed back.
It’s the sort of thing that could’ve happened a few years ago, a few decades ago, or even a few generations ago, but it instead happened roughly 24 hours ago. NBC News reported:
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump opened the door Monday to “cutting” spending under Social Security and Medicare, drawing swift pushback from President Joe Biden and elevating a key policy battle in the 2024 election.
During a telephone interview with CNBC, host Joe Kernen presented the former president with a rather straightforward question: To address long-term debt concerns, how would he “handle entitlements” such as Social Security and Medicare?
Trump delivered a long, meandering, and largely incoherent answer, though it was the first sentence that stood out: “So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” He went on to reference “tremendous bad management of entitlements,” though it wasn’t at all clear what in the world he was getting at.
Trump on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning: "There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting." pic.twitter.com/VkHXK9p4Er
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 11, 2024
Biden, White House officials, the incumbent president’s campaign team, and their allies could hardly believe their good fortune. It was just last week when Biden positioned himself as a champion of social-insurance programs during his State of the Union address, vowing to stop Republicans who “want to put Social Security on the chopping block.”
Four days later, as Trump told a national television audience that “cutting” entitlements is on the table, Democrats wasted no time in presenting the public with a stark contrast. NBC News’ report added, Biden’s campaign tweeted out the video of the Republican’s comments and the president responded quickly: “Not on my watch.”
“If anyone tries to cut Social Security or Medicare, or raise the retirement age again, I will stop them,” Biden said during a speech in New Hampshire. “This morning, Donald Trump said cuts to Social Security and Medicare are on the table again.”
President Biden: Trump said this morning cuts to Social Security and Medicare are on the table again. I will never allow that to happen. If Republicans try to cut Social Security or Medicare, I will stop them pic.twitter.com/6QGhH3qvuJ The former president’s political operation tried to clean up the mess, clarify the candidate’s position, and claim Trump was being taken out of context, but by that point, he’d already provided his opponents with the gift they were hoping for. Stepping back, if it seems as if Trump’s position has evolved more than once, it’s not your imagination. As a candidate in 2016, he distanced himself from his party’s orthodoxy and ruled out cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Once in office, Trump abandoned his promise. After leaving the White House, Trump went back to pretending to support the programs and criticized his party’s 2024 rivals who backed entitlement cuts. Now that he’s the GOP’s presumptive nominee again, the Republican is back to talking about cuts again. It’s a safe bet this will a popular topic of conversation between now and Election Day.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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