(In Secret) Trump Supports Cutting Social Security From A ‘Moral Standpoint:’ Report

[cali]

Donald Trump supposedly told House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) he supports cutting Social Security but will not admit it publicly because it would hurt his election chances, according to a report in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee reportedly made the comments during a May 12 meeting with Ryan aimed at mending ties between the two top Republican leaders, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source who was in the room. (Ryan has yet to endorse Trump.)

“From a moral standpoint, I believe in it,” Trump said of cutting Social Security. “But you also have to get elected. And there’s no way a Republican is going to beat a Democrat when the Republican is saying, ‘We’re going to cut your Social Security’ and the Democrat is saying, ‘We’re going to keep it and give you more.’?”

Trump’s professed opposition to cutting Social Security and Medicare has been both a hallmark of his campaign and one of his greatest departures from traditional conservative ideology. And Ryan, who repeatedly criticized Trump before the mogul effectively secured the GOP nomination, has made proposing dramatic reductions in the popular social insurance programs a defining feature of his congressional career.
Many conservative House Republicans told The Huffington Post shortly after the May 12 meeting that that they were unconcerned about Trump’s public posture on the programs. Several members interpreted him as wanting to extend the solvency of Social Security and Medicare solvency through some combination of the benefit cuts and other reforms that conservatives favor.

Trump policy advisor Sam Clovis had already appeared to reverse course on May 11, indicating that Trump would be willing to consider cuts as president.

Of course, what Trump reportedly said to Ryan is consistent with what he told Fox News host Sean Hannity back in 2011.

<snip>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-supports-cutting-social-security-report-says_us_5749db63e4b0dacf7ad515e4

[bemildred]

2. That is one of the most annoying things about the rich in this country.

They aren't grateful, they are resentful. They want everybody to envy them, but they get pissed off if you want some of the money too. Like they got it fair and square by their own efforts and how could anybody question that the money was born in their pockets and was always theirs and their families from the beginning of time ...

[cali]

4. That is a depressing truth

My father built a successful business manufacturing computer peripherals and he always explained, when somehow the topic came up that in large part, his success was due to the infrastructure and stability. He was a terrible snob, of the intellectual kind and he had a good deal of contempt for wealthy contemporaries who complained about taxes, etc. As far back as the seventies he railed against the gap between rich and poor. He would have enjoyed the Donald Trump phenomena as proof that he was right about his assessment of American culture. He was a historian and anthropologist by training, with a near obsession with how societies destroy themselves.

[Katashi_itto]

9. Societies are subject to Darwinism. We been seeing it in motion since the advent of Reganism.

This is just the logical progression the end stages.

[Scarsdale]

6. Despicable

Without lots of $$$ tRump would not be able to buy the younger wives that he does. I doubt he is anywhere NEAR as rich as he claims Phony to the core. Show the tax returns if he has nothing to hide. Ryan is so phony, Social Security helped his family so much when his father dies. He forgets where he came from.

[merrily]

3. So who got this "secret" into the press, Trump or Ryan?

[cali]

7. Hi merrily, it's my understanding from the article that there were assorted other

republican congress critters present and that some of them leaked this.

[merrily]

10. dunno. What would be the advantage to GOP congress members to leaking this?

Are they trying to make sure their standard bearer loses?

Are they hoping to ride the coattails of a Dem in November?

[cali]

12. Beats me. But people do like to talk to prove they're in the loop

And maybe they're excited about him expressing the pov they hold.

[merrily]

13. IMO, showing they're in the loop does not trump economic self interest.

[joshcryer]

15. Oh, this leak has nothing to do with excitement.

This leak is due to GOPers who are appalled at the prospect of losing their constituencies.

[cali]

17. That actually sounds more plausible

[joshcryer]

14. Even GOP wouldn't cut SS under Obama's Simpson-Bowles commission.

This isn't controversial.

Yes, Barack "everything on the table" Obama suggested cuts to SS. It never made it out of committee. Under GOP control.

How's about them apples?

[Fritz Walter]

5. Can't wait to see the attack ads

Drumpf is about to land squarely on the electoral third rail.
Let's watch, shall we?

I like to sprinkle a little Tabasco sauce on my

[cali]

8. He'll just deny it.

[Fritz Walter]

11. Deny. Obfuscate. Pivot.

But it will still be fun to watch.

[lame54]

16. he's just telling Ryan what he wants to hear...

Even Trump doesn't know what he thinks about any given subject

[napkinz]

18. kick

[jwirr]

19. A moral standpoint? So seniors should just work until they

die? There are not enough jobs now for everyone who wants one. Imagine if everyone has to continue working until they die.

And he has totally forgotten or does not know about disabled people - including infants who are disabled due to some toxin or other - who cannot survive alone.

I don't know about the rest of you but we have always thought of a moral standpoint being concern for the well being of others not just yourself.

[spanone]

20. an admitted liar...and the republican nominee....synergy