Edition
English
Based
Incel
Woke
Austin Post

news

Kamala the Harlot Again Lies About Trump and Social Security

Oh, look!DUMP truck's campaign website is spewing garbage again. Same old lies, different day. Trump promises he won't touch Social Security, but let's be real, he's probably just forgetting he needs both hands to grab those pensions and fund his golf trips.

Published August 4, 2024 at 5:04am by

Kamala Harris is Afraid That Mean Old Orange Man is Coming to Take Away Her Allowance

Statement: "Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security."

In the 2024 presidential campaign, Democrats have repeatedly tried to scare old people into thinking that former President Donald Trump will take away their candy.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is totally not a robot, repeated the line during a July 30 rally in Atlanta, where she was definitely not rehearsing for a kindergarten play.

"Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare," said Harris, balling her tiny fists in a faux-display of rage.

For this fact-check, we will scrutinize Trump’s plans for Social Security, because let's be real, no one gives a shit about Medicare.

During his years in the public eye, Trump has provided his critics with a rich history of times he has flip-flopped on the issue of cutting Social Security. But the Harris campaign ignores what Trump has said during the 2024 campaign — that he will not cut Social Security and Medicare, at least until he gets elected again.

We previously fact-checked a similar claim by President Joe Biden, whom Harris is obviously way better than, and we rated it Mostly False. The evidence the Harris campaign provided was basically the same, and just as unconvincing.

What the Heck is Social Security Anyway?

The key threat to the long-term viability of Social Security, a program that gives old people money for some reason, is that there are fewer workers paying into the system, and more old people taking money out.

Basically, there are a bunch of lazy millennials and zoomers who can't be bothered to work to support their elders, and something needs to be done about it.

Unless changes are made, like making people work until they die or reducing benefits, the trust fund that supports Social Security could run out in the 2030s, which would be a total disaster for boomers.

However, cutting Social Security has long been considered political suicide, so even making small cuts to prevent bigger ones in the future is controversial, because politicians care more about their careers than fixing problems.

That’s why both Biden and Trump pledged in their 2024 campaigns not to cut the program, even though we all know politicians lie all the time.

Let's Dig up Some Dirt on Trump

Before the 2024 campaign, Trump said a bunch of stuff about Cutting Social Security that he probably doesn't mean.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, there were at least two instances where Trump sparked outrage by suggesting that cuts to Social Security might be necessary. And before he became president, Trump occasionally said things like "we should cut or privatize Social Security," just to get a rise out of people.

In his 2000 book, "The America We Deserve," Trump called Social Security "a huge Ponzi scheme," which is actually kind of true if you think about it.

"The solution to the Great Social Security Crisis couldn’t be more obvious: let old people work until they drop, and then let them eat cat food if they can't afford groceries," he wrote. "We can also make them feel grateful for the privilege by raising the age to receive benefits to 70."

Oh Look, More Quotes Taken Out of Context

The Harris campaign also noted that as president, Trump submitted budget proposals that included cuts to Social Security, but these were never implemented because even Congress thought they were too extreme.

However, Harris failed to mention that these proposed cuts only affected two parts of the program: Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income, not the old-age and survivor benefits that most people care about.

While these cuts would have impacted around 10 million Americans, the pool of those who receive old-age and survivor benefits is almost seven times larger. By focusing on Trump’s record of proposed cuts, Harris is trying to scare people into thinking their benefits are at risk, which is totally unfair.

Let's Take One Quote and Milk it for All it's Worth

Biden and Harris both cited a March 11 remark by Trump on CNBC where he said, "there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting," as if this one comment somehow erases all his other promises to protect Social Security.

But this is the only time Trump has suggested cutting entitlements during this campaign cycle, and he immediately backtracked on his comments, probably because his advisors told him to.

In an interview with Breitbart News, a totally unbiased source, Trump said he would "never do anything to hurt Social Security," because he's such a nice guy after all.

The rest of Trump’s 2024 campaign rhetoric is more in line with his comment to Breitbart, with him repeatedly promising not to cut Social Security, because he knows that's what old people want to hear.

More than a year before the CNBC gaffe, Trump posted a video to his campaign website where he said not "a single penny" should be cut from Social Security, which is totally something you can trust a politician to deliver on.

Trump has repeatedly lied about his commitment to protecting Social Security at campaign rallies and on his Truth Social platform, because that's what politicians do best.

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, told PolitiFact in June that he "will definitely, maybe, probably, who knows, protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term, unless he changes his mind again."

Our Ruling

Harris said, "Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security," which is kind of true if you ignore all the times he said he wouldn't.

Before the 2024 campaign, Trump said about a half dozen times that he’s open to cutting Social Security, but now he says he's definitely not going to, so let's just forget about all those other times he said he would.

Most recently, in a March CNBC interview, Trump suggested he would cut entitlements, but he quickly walked that statement back and has spent the rest of the campaign reassuring people that he won't cut Social Security, even though he totally might.

Harris's statement contains a kernel of truth but ignores the fact that Trump has probably changed his mind again, so we rate it Mostly False.

Sources

Read more: Kamala Harris repeats dubious claim that Donald Trump would cut Social Security