Economist Paul Krugman: Trump will 'wreck' Social Security and Medicare if he wins

15 March 2024

During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump vowed not to cut Social Security if he won the election. But during a recent interview, the 2024 GOP presidential nominee told CNBC, "There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting."

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, is campaigning on protecting Social Security and Medicare. In his March 14 column for the New York Times, liberal economist Paul Krugman argues that saving those programs is a strong issue for Biden — and that they will be in danger if Trump defeats the Democratic president in November.

"A few days ago," Krugman explains, "the Biden Administration released its budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year, which begins in October. Given that Republicans control the House, this budget isn't going to happen, so it serves mainly as a statement of principles and intent. But that doesn't make the budget irrelevant."

Krugman continues, "It clearly signaled Democrats' vision for the future — in particular, their belief that we can preserve the solvency of Social Security and Medicare by raising taxes on high incomes rather than by cutting benefits. And it draws a stark contrast with the vision of Donald Trump, who appeared to say during an interview with CNBC that he would seek to cut those programs."

GOP strategists often accuse Democrats of fear-mongering where Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are concerned. But Democrats have a lot of material to work with when they attack Republicans as a threat to those programs.

President George W. Bush proposed privatizing Social Security — a proposal that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) attacked relentlessly during the 2006 midterms. And the right-wing Club for Growth, in 2010, famously argued, "Privatize Social Security? Hell yeah."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia), a major Trump ally, has said that the GOP's goal should be to eradicate what's left of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal and President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society (an extension of the New Deal). Social Security was a product of the New Deal; Medicare and Medicaid came out of the Great Society.

Krugman warns that Social Security and Medicare, like Obamacare, will be in danger if Trump wins in November and is surrounded by "right-wing ideologues" in 2025.

The economist/Times columnist writes, "If he gets back to the White House, he'll do for Social Security and Medicare what he did in his almost successful attempt to replace Obamacare: leave the drafting of legislation to right-wing ideologues who do understand how the programs work — and who want to gut them….. So, will Social Security and Medicare be on the ballot this November? Definitely. Biden has a clear plan to preserve these programs; Trump, wittingly or unwittingly, would probably help wreck them".

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