In response to Donald Trump and 2024 Republicans fighting over their extreme plans to gut Social Security and Medicare, DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump’s not used to telling the truth but American seniors have a right to know: If he gets the chance, he’ll gut Social Security and Medicare. Trump can’t hide the facts, because he proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare in every single one of his budgets as president and has promised to pursue cuts to these essential programs for America’s seniors if he gets back in office. Trump, Haley, and DeSantis are all the same – they insist on threatening the pocketbooks and the well-being of our seniors, and then they insist on lying about it.” 

Trump owns his extreme record of proposing cuts to Medicare and Social Security programs in EVERY SINGLE ONE of his budgets – gutting essential programs America’s seniors rely on. 

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.

Trump admitted that he would pursue cuts to Medicare and Social Security programs if he were to have a second term in office. 

New York Times: “Trump Opens Door to Cuts to Medicare and Other Entitlement Programs”

Mediaite: “During a Fox News town hall, President Donald Trump promised to cut entitlements like Medicare and Social Security if 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.”

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].’”

Let’s not forget: Trump also promised to try to permanently eliminate the taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare during his 2020 campaign, which would pose a significant risk to the programs’ financial standing.

Washington Post: “President Trump pledged on Saturday to pursue a permanent cut to the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare if he wins reelection in November, a hard-to-accomplish political gambit that some experts see as a major headache for the future of the country’s entitlement programs.”

Trump: “If we win … the payroll tax will be rescinded.”

CNN: “Eliminating the payroll tax could deplete the Social Security trust fund within three years if there’s no alternative source of revenue, according to the agency’s chief actuary.”

Associated Press: “Trump, in effect, has proposed a dramatic restructuring of how Social Security is financed by not relying on the payroll tax as a dedicated source, but instead by tapping the general fund. … The risk is that the loss of a dedicated funding source could destabilize an anti-poverty program that provides payments to roughly 65 million Americans. It also could force people to cut back on the spending that drives growth so they can save for their own retirement and health care needs if they believe the government backstop is in jeopardy. … It is highly unlikely that economic growth would be enough to offset the loss of the payroll tax. Indeed, Trump suggested that his 2017 income tax cuts would propel economic growth as high as 6% annually. That never happened.”

Trump has long made calls to privatize Social Security and even praised Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as they pushed plans to end Medicare as we know it.

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’ – two positions he has hammered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for supporting as a former member of Congress and congressional candidate. … but a CNN KFile review found Trump himself also once praised Ryan on Medicare, along with the 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, without praising their specific policy proposal, which called for similar changes to Ryan’s plan.”

Nikki Haley is campaigning on ending Social Security and Medicare as we know them. 

CNN: “Haley has called for several changes to the nation’s safety net programs, including increasing the age at which today’s younger workers would become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits and limiting the growth of benefits the wealthy receive.”

Haley: “What they need to be doing is looking at entitlements. Look at Social Security. Look at Medicaid. Look at Medicare. Look at these things, and let’s actually go to the heart of what is causing government to grow, and tackle that.”

Haley: “Any candidate that says they’re not going to touch entitlements, means that they’re basically going to go into office and leave America bankrupt. … We change retirement age to reflect life expectancy.”

Andrew Ross Sorkin: “Are you on board with cutting entitlements in a big and meaningful way?”

Haley: “Social security goes bankrupt in 10 years, Medicare goes bankrupt in eight. Anyone that says they’re not going to take on entitlement reform means they’re going to go in and be president and leave the country bankrupt. You can’t do that.”

Associated Press: “Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is proposing changes to entitlement programs for younger generations, opening the door to potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare if elected.”

Washington Post: “Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U. N. ambassador who is planning to announce her own presidential bid this month, also praised Ryan’s Medicare proposal at the time and said lawmakers should examine Medicare and Social Security spending to address federal debt.”

Semafor: “As governor of South Carolina at the time, Nikki Haley praised the [Paul Ryan] fiscal blueprint for ‘trying to bring common sense to this world of insanity.’”

Ron DeSantis also has a yearslong record of trying to gut Social Security and Medicare. 

Semafor: “During his time in Congress, meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis voted for a series of budget resolutions crafted by the conservative Republican Study Committee that would have voucherized Medicare for new beneficiaries, slowed Social Security cost of living increases, and raised the retirement age for both programs.”

CNN: “A CNN KFile review of comments from DeSantis’ 2012 congressional campaign found he repeatedly said he supported plans to replace Medicare with a system in which the government paid for partial costs of private plans or a traditional Medicare plan. In one interview with a local newspaper, DeSantis said he supported ‘the same thing’ for Social Security, citing the need for ‘market forces’ to restructure the program.”

Washington Post: “‘I support what Ryan is trying to do in terms of reforming entitlements,’ DeSantis said in a 2012 newspaper questionnaire. ‘It’s not a voucher, it’s premium support.’ 

“As a member of Congress, DeSantis voted for three nonbinding budget resolutions calling for raising the retirement age and slowing future spending growth for Social Security. 

“He received a 0 percent rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. During a previous showdown over the debt limit in 2013, DeSantis said he supported including Social Security and Medicare in the negotiations.

“‘I think we need to restructure some of these entitlements,’ he said in a 2013 CNN interview. ‘I think we should try to look at entitlements, look at restructuring Medicare so it’s delivering services at a lower cost to the taxpayer.’”

Insider: “‘Talking about making changes for people in their 30s or their 40s so that [Social Security] is viable, that’s a much different thing, and that’s something that I think there’s going to need to be discussions on,’ DeSantis told Fox News.”

MAGA Republicans’ plan to gut Social Security and Medicare is highly unpopular with Americans. 

Fox News: “Fox News Poll: 71% choose funding Social Security, Medicare over budget cuts”

Sahil Kapur, NBC News: “Digging deeper into this @FoxNews finding. Support for funding entitlements like Social Security & Medicare over reducing deficits is overwhelming with the GOP base:

Republicans 59-38%

Trump voters 59-37%

Conservatives 60-36%

Rural voters 70-26%

White non-college voters 73%-24%”

CNN: “Nearly 67 million Americans have received monthly Social Security benefits this year, and more than 66 million people are enrolled in Medicare. Polling shows little support for major changes to the programs themselves to help shore up their finances.

“A March CNN/SSRS poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, for instance, found that 59% said it was ‘essential’ that the GOP nominee for president ‘pledges to maintain Social Security and Medicare as they are.’”

Associated Press: “Most oppose Social Security, Medicare cuts: AP-NORC poll”

Axios: “Nearly 9 in 10 Americans say they oppose reducing spending on Social Security or Medicare, according to new polling from our Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.”