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At that point, two familiar patterns began. Trump tends to prefer to go along with the opinions provided by interviewers, especially on topics that are not central to his political identity. He also tends to ramble when interviewed over the phone, making it difficult for the host to interrupt. As a result, his response to Kernen was long, complex, and concurring.
“First of all, there’s a lot that can be done about rights, severance of rights, theft, mismanagement of rights. There was very poor management of rights,” he said. “There’s a huge amount of things that could and could be done. So I don’t necessarily agree with that statement. I know that because the country is weak, social security will end up being weak.” He also continued to speak out about inflation.
So what is his position? Well, he said there was a lot that could be done “in terms of cuts” and that it was poorly managed. But he also said he “disagrees with the statement,” although it’s not clear which one, and that “they” are trying to undermine Social Security. That’s… vague.
Of course, that wasn’t the case for the Trump campaign.
“If only the loser hadn’t cut his answers short,” campaign social media post says. Said“You know President Trump has talked about reducing waste.” The “loser” in the post referred to President Biden’s re-election campaign, but the Trump campaign responded to a Washington Post reporter asked about the interview. He also pointed out the same comment.
Given the results of the Social Security poll, it’s clear why the campaign is trying to categorize Trump’s responses this way, even if his actual response isn’t all that understandable. But even if the campaign provides clarity, it probably won’t save President Trump from his predicament.
Kernen called Medicare and Social Security reform the “third rail” of politics. This is an old abbreviation intended to capture the central political issue posed by the program. Both are very expensive and both are very popular.
In February, YouGov asked Americans to rate the importance of various policy issues. Social Security ranked near the top, with nearly all respondents saying it was a “very” or “somewhat” important issue. This is true across partisan groups, but more so for older Americans, who are more likely to receive Social Security benefits than younger people.
The pollster also asked how the government should approach Social Security, whether to increase available benefits or reform the program to reduce costs. This is exactly what the Trump campaign claims he is promoting.
Americans prefer increasing benefits to reforming programs 2-for-1. Among older Americans, the voters who form the core of President Trump’s political support, the difference is between 3-4 and 1-1.
The people who want increased benefits are also the same people who see Social Security as a very important issue. So not only are there groups that value it and groups that want increased profits, but they’re the same people. Americans support increasing Social Security benefits and think this issue is extremely important.
It’s a little strange that President Trump didn’t give a stronger answer to this, given that he has repeatedly expressed support for protecting these programs. With more Americans than ever before, President Biden has made it clear he sees political utility in campaigning as a champion of Social Security. (His campaign starts soon jumped on Trump’s new comments. ) However, Trump’s response appeared to be vague, generally expressing agreement with the interviewer’s concerns.
What’s particularly striking about President Trump’s response is that the days of Republicans focusing on cutting spending on Medicare and Social Security are largely over. It was the 2012 Republican presidential election, in which both the candidate (Mitt Romney) and vice presidential candidate (Paul D. Ryan) used spending to attack President Barack Obama. It was consistent with the Tea Party’s ostensible concerns that the government was spending too much and therefore taxing too much.
But Trump’s rise to power in 2015 and 2016 was rooted in tea partyers’ more visceral concerns, concerns focused on how America was changing culturally. . Ryan-era efforts to harness Tea Party energy to achieve long-standing Republican policy goals were set aside due to MAGAism and anti-liberal protests. On Fox News and Fox Business, talk of programming cuts or reforms has all but disappeared.
The federal debt has skyrocketed under the Trump administration, reflecting President Trump and his supporters’ general indifference to federal spending.
Trump and his team are expected to move very quickly to shore up strong support for preserving the program, a position consistent with his past statements. Especially now that the Republican primaries are over, there’s no benefit to being someone who wants cuts to a program that many of America’s most trusted voters rely on.
The real question is why President Trump gave such an awkward response to this question in the first place.
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