Trump claims he'll 'save' Social Security a day after threatening cuts

A day after announcing he would push for entitlement cuts later this year, Donald Trump reversed course and claimed that he alone would save Social Security from the Democrats.

“Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!” Trump tweeted on Thursday.

One day earlier, Trump told CNBC the exact opposite. Asked if cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid were something he would consider, Trump said he would “toward the end of the year.”

“At the right time we will take a look at that,” he said. “You know that’s actually the easiest all things, if you look, because it’s such a low percentage.”

Reminded that such a move would contradict his repeated campaign promises not to cut any of those programs, Trump dismissed the concerns as irrelevant because the economy is hot.

“We also have assets that we never had. I mean we never had growth like that. We never had a consumer that was taking in through different means over $10,000 per family,” he argued. “African American, Asian American, Hispanics are doing so incredibly. Best they’ve ever done. Black, best they’ve ever done. African American, the numbers are incredible.”

As a 2016 candidate, Trump claimed that both the other Republican candidates and the Democratic opposition would destroy Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

“Every Republican wants to do a big number of Social Security. They want to do it on Medicare, they want to do it on Medicaid,” Trump said in April 2015 speech, shortly before launching his White House bid. “And we can’t do that. And it’s not fair to the people that have been paying in for years.”

Trump is currently facing down an impeachment trial and a tough reelection battle. Several key state polls have shown him trailing his Democratic rivals, and his approval numbers have hovered in the low to mid 40s.

The House of Representatives last month impeached Trump on two charges, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, for his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals and his attempts to withhold evidence from lawmakers and block witness testimony on the matter. Trump has maintained that the impeachment proceedings are a partisan hoax and blamed Democrats for wasting time rather than tackling issues that matter.

The House has in fact passed nearly 600 pieces of legislation and resolutions — some bipartisan — since taking control of the chamber last January.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.