In response to Donald Trump laying out his extreme agenda for his second term, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump is telling the American people exactly what he’ll try in his second term: gut the Affordable Care Act, put hard-earned benefits like Social Security at risk, and hike costs for working families. Hardworking Americans deserve a leader who will look out for them – not Trump’s out-of-touch plans to make life worse. When Trump tries to put his extreme and dangerous plan into action, Democrats will fight back every step of the way.”

NEW: Donald Trump laid out his extreme Project 2025 agenda for his second term, sharing his “concepts of a plan” to repeal the Affordable Care Act, put Social Security at risk, and raise costs for hard working Americans. 

Kristen Welker: “Economists of all stripes say that ultimately, consumers pay the price of tariffs.”

Donald Trump: “Yeah, I don’t believe that.”

Welker: “Can you guarantee American families won’t pay more?”

Trump: “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”

[…]

Welker: “Sir, you said during the campaign, you have concepts of a plan. Do you have an actual plan at this point for health care?”

Trump: “Yes. We have concepts of a plan that would be better.”

Welker: “Still just concepts? Do you have a fully developed plan?”

Trump: “Let me explain. We have the biggest health care companies looking at it. We have doctors. We’re always looking because Obamacare stinks. It’s lousy. There are better answers. If we come up with a better answer, I would present that answer to Democrats and to everybody else, and I’d do something about it.” 

[…]

Welker: “You’ve tapped Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, to head up this department of government efficiency-”

Trump: “Correct.”

Welker: “-which proposes cuts to the federal government. I think a lot of people hear that and get concerned about Medicare and Social Security.”

Trump: “Not going to have anything to do–”

Welker: “-and defense spending. You won’t touch medicare, social security–”

Trump: “We are talking about- we are talking about theft, abuse, fraud.  I said, no, we’re not talking Social Security, other than we might make it more efficient, but the people will get what they get.”

Trump’s economic agenda includes a disastrous $100 billion national tax that would cost Americans an extra $1,000 a year, and raise costs drastically on energy, cars, and groceries. 

Ernie Tedeschi, The Budget Lab: “A broad 25% tariff on all goods imports from Canada and Mexico would, before substitution & other 2nd stage effects, put upward pressure on the level of consumer prices of +0.6%. That’s the equivalent of an average loss in after-tax income of about $980 per household in 2023.”

Ernie Tedeschi, The Budget Lab: “Adding in an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods imports, the price level pressure rises to 0.75%, which is the equivalent of -$1,180 per household in average 2023 after-tax income.”

Wall Street Journal: “A 25% Trump tariff on Canadian oil and gas could lead to lower production, in turn pushing up U.S. energy prices, warned an industry group. Canada, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, sends almost all of its exports to the U.S. The prospect of tariffs has alarmed Canadian oil companies. […]

“One industry representative said the tariff would push up car prices, an outcome Trump would likely want to avoid.”

Axios: “16 Nobel economists see a Trump inflation bomb”

“Sixteen Nobel prize-winning economists are jumping into the presidential campaign with a stark warning: Former President Trump’s plans would reignite inflation and cause lasting harm to the global economy if he wins in November.”

Axios: “Trump’s inflation bomb: How his second-term plans could make it worse”

The Hill: “Trump win, GOP sweep would fuel inflation: Moody’s Analytics”

Washington Post: “Companies ready price hikes to offset Trump’s global tariff plans”

Associated Press: “Trump’s economic plans would worsen inflation, experts say”

Newsweek: “Nobel Prize Winner Explains How Trump Could Cause ‘Economic Chaos’”

Trump led efforts to repeal the ACA as president and spent years trying to “terminate” the ACA, which would put critical protections and coverage for over 100 million Americans at risk. 

Donald Trump: “The problem with Obamacare, it’s not good. We’d like to terminate it…Look, look. We should be on the same side. I wanted very simple. I’m going to put it very simple. We would like to terminate it.”

NBC News: “Trump approved a surprise decision to push for the complete elimination of the Affordable Care Act in the courts. If it succeeds, millions of Americans will lose their private insurance or Medicaid coverage and the health care system would be thrown into chaos.”

NPR: “The very day President Trump was sworn in — Jan. 20, 2017 — he signed an executive order instructing administration officials ‘to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay’ implementing parts of the Affordable Care Act, while Congress got ready to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature health law.” 

Associated Press: “Trump says he will renew efforts to replace ‘Obamacare’ if he wins a second term”

Spectrum News: “The ACA protects more than 100 million people with preexisting conditions from being denied care, plus it requires insurance plans to cover things like preventive care and limit out-of-pocket costs.”

KFF Poll: “Majorities of Democrats [88%], Republicans [62%], and independents [73%] say it is ‘very important’ to continue each of [the Affordable Care Act’s] protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”

Trump has a record of trying to gut Social Security every year in office and pledging cuts in a second term. 

U.S. News: “Report: Trump’s Economic Proposals Would ‘Dramatically Worsen’ Social Security” 

Washington Post: “Trump proposals could drain Social Security in 6 years, budget group says”

Washington Post: “His avowed stance, however, is at odds with Trump’s own record as president: Each of his White House budget proposals included cuts to Social Security and Medicare programs.”

Vox: “Trump said he wouldn’t cut Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. His 2020 budget cuts all 3.”

Trump’s FY18, FY19, FY20, and FY21 budgets each proposed billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security programs.

2019 and 2020: Trump proposed budgets that included hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare.

National Review: “Speaking with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump was asked whether he would cut entitlements at some point. ‘Will entitlements ever be on your plate?’ asked interviewer Joe Kernen. ‘At some point they will be,’ Trump responded. ‘At the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, that’s the easiest of all things [to cut].’”

Mediaite: “During a Fox News town hall, President Donald Trump promised to cut entitlements like Medicare and Social Security if he were to win a second term. … ‘But if you don’t cut something in entitlements, you will never really deal with the debt,’ town hall co-moderator Martha MacCallum interjected, alluding to social safety programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. ‘Oh, we’ll be cutting,’ Trump rushed to confirm.”

CNN: “Trump previously backed policies on Social Security for which he’s now attacking DeSantis, calling the program a ‘Ponzi scheme’”

“Former President Donald Trump once backed raising the retirement age to 70 and called for privatizing Social Security which he called a ‘Ponzi scheme’”