Posted on 01/22/2020 7:58:57 PM PST by rintintin
Washington – President Donald Trump appeared to suggest in a television interview Wednesday that he’s willing to consider entitlement cuts in the future, a move that would mark a tectonic shift from his stance during his 2016 run for the White House.
Trump suggested he was open to a cut in social safety net benefits, such as Medicare and Social Security, in comments during a CNBC interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
While Trump has repeatedly talked up strong economic growth, the federal budget deficit has swollen as his administration has pressed for tax cuts and increased government spending.
Asked if entitlement cuts would ever be on his agenda, Trump responded, “At some point they will be.”
As a candidate for the White House, Trump stood apart from much of the GOP primary field as he vowed to oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, while also ensuring every American had health coverage.
In the CNBC interview, Trump called tackling entitlement spending “the easiest of all things” and suggested higher economic growth would make it easier to reduce spending on the programs.
“Well, we’re going – we’re going to look,” Trump said. “We also have assets that we’ve never had. I mean we’ve never had growth like this.”
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
“nice pile of weasel words you dredged up here”
the words are on tape. Trump said those words on a CNBC interview. I realize he often speaks in a rambling way. I hope he’s being misinterpreted. I hope he didn’t mean that he’s reversing himself, and going along with the standard Bush-Republican platform of cutting Social Security. I wish he would make that clear when asked questions about it. He sure didn’t make it clear today.
“A DC Democrat”
Fine. Are you going to send your Social Security checks back to the federal government?
“And medicare?”
I used to favor cuts in social programs, including Medicare. But then I was told it was ok to spend unlimited taxpayers dollars on wars and nation-building — including health care and social benefits — in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle East counties. In total, we’ve spent $12 trillion over there since Bush first launched our invasions and nation-buildings.
I no longer have a problem with spending money on American seniors and struggling middle and lower class Americans, since we are forced to pay health care, education, infrastructure and security in so many foreign countries.
$265B went to support illegal aliens. Want to cut spending? Start there. Let them self-deport back to their home countries to make an honest living there.
“$265B went to support illegal aliens. Want to cut spending? Start there.”
Can’t argue with that. Also, put a tax on money that people send to foreign countries.
I think the government can darn well think of better place to start cuts. Your suggestions are a good start.
then post the CNBC source and not the AP hard-left propaganda spin
our country can spend approx $600 BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR on illegals and all the costs they incur- but we can’t find money for our legal senior citizens and must cut?
Build the $25 billion dollar wall- kick out illegals, and save hundreds of billions of dollars EVERY single year- That’s the cuts we need- Cut ILLEGALS off our our gov welfare
Here’s the CNBC interview clip:
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1220055994149089283
“our country can spend approx $600 BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR on illegals and all the costs they incur- but we can’t find money for our legal senior citizens and must cut?”
PREACH
Trap for Trump. We need entitlement reform, but Trump should not take the lead before the election. Both parties must be committed to reform.
This is horseshit propaganda. Trump would never suggest such a thing this is a made-up story to piss off people.
“We need entitlement reform,”
Paul Ryan says so. I don’t agree. We need to cut money to illegals and to foreign countries - including invasions, occupations and nation-building. Paul Ryan never called for cuts in any of that - only cuts for American seniors by paring back their Medicare and Social Security. Trump talked differently in 2016, and won. If he goes back to Ryan-Romney Republicanism, look for the Dems to do well in November.
“This is horseshit propaganda.”
Watch the video of his interview today.
Strange how the critical context as supplied in brackets by the hard-left political activist pretending to journalism does not actually appear in the video.
Does that not also seem strange to you?
“Does that not also seem strange to you?”
What seems strange to me is that Trump can’t be as clear and unequivocal today as he was when he ran 4 years ago. 4 years ago he said again and again, explicitly, he would never cut Social Security and Medicare. He was even booed at the GOP debate in South Carolina when he said this, because it was diametrically opposed to the standard GOP position, and the audience was full of GOP bigwigs.
He had a chance today to be just as clear and unequivocal. But he wasn’t. Instead, when asked about entitlements, he said “we’re going to take a look at that”. An open-ended response that was nowhere near the clear and unequivocal words he voiced four years ago.
Look, I voted for Trump and supported MAGA to the hilt. If he’s pulling back from it - maybe because he’s being pressured by the GOP Senate, which has leverage over him, with impeachment - he is going to have challenges getting reelected. He was voted in by blue collar Democrats. If he starts pushing Ryan-Romney-Bush-McConnell policies on entitlements, a lot of those voters will stay home.
...appeared to suggest he may...
Spin by the media, why not just report and let people decide?
We don’t need to cut entitlements. Just get rid of the fraud. If you have 3 65” t.v.’s and a late model Cadillac Escalade, you shouldn’t be getting free government cheese.
I saw the interview. He gave his usual non-specific, non-committal answer to a reporter's question about "entitlements" — "Yeah, we could look at that at some point."
Then he talked about growth and tax cuts.
It was a nothingburger, and he said absolutely not a single word about "programs for senior Americans."
But hysterics gonna hysteria.
If the A:P couldn’t lie... then what would they sell?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.