Source: Trump Secretly Supports Cutting Social Security
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has allegedly said that he supports cutting Social Security “from a moral standpoint.”
According to an unnamed source cited by Bloomberg, Trump has stated he believes that the failing program should be cut, “But you also have to get elected. And there’s no way a Republican is going to beat a Democrat when the Republican is saying, ‘We’re going to cut your Social Security’ and the Democrat is saying, ‘We’re going to keep it and give you more.’”
Trump purportedly made the comments during his meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan on May 12. The meeting was arranged after Ryan announced that he was “just not ready” to support the presumptive nominee.
Since the meeting, both parties have softened their tones, with Ryan saying, “Donald Trump and I have had our differences — we talked about those differences today. I do believe that we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified.”
Trump’s recent comments, if true, would mark a reversal from what he has been saying publicly. At the Miami GOP debate back in March, Trump said, “I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is; to make this country rich again.” Continuing, 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.”
Trump’s view on Social Security has been one of his biggest differences with traditional conservative ideology. Many Republicans support cutting the failing program, which is projected to be insolvent by 2034 — after that point, significant tax increases or benefit cuts will be required to keep the program afloat.