Donald Trump Sounds the Alarm on Social Security 'Threat'

Donald Trump is going after Republican opponent Nikki Haley for her views on retirement benefits and increasing the eligibility age for Social Security.

Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor who is surging in the polls, has made headlines in recent months for her proposed Social Security policy reforms that would include lifting the retirement age for people now in their 20s to sustain a program that presently benefits more than 70 million Americans. Under current law, claimants born in 1960 or later must wait until they turn 67 to collect full retirement benefits.

Haley doubled down on her intentions during Wednesday's GOP presidential debate with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, saying that people currently in their 20s should expect to work longer to better reflect life expectancy—even though it has dropped from 78.8 years in 2019 to 76.1 in 2022. Women in the U.S. are living on average six years longer than men.

"Americans were promised a secure retirement," says a narrator in Trump's new ad released on Thursday. "Nikki Haley's plan ends that."

The ad, which calls Haley's policy a "threat from within" the Republican Party, includes clips of Haley saying that "the rules have changed" and repeating how her polices are tied to life expectancy. Haley has also said in previous interviews that "[age] 65 is way too low" and should be increased.

Newsweek reached out to both campaigns via email for comment.

Trump has frowned on Social Security positions touted by his opponents, telling Fox News' Sean Hannity in December that the U.S. can take advantage of national oil reserves and being the world's largest oil producer instead of harming seniors who paid into the program.

"You don't have to touch Social Security," Trump told Hannity. "We have money laying in the ground far greater than anything we can do by hurting senior citizens with their Social Security."

Trump's campaign website states: "President Trump will always protect Medicare, Social Security, and patients with pre-existing conditions."

Some Republicans, like Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, have chastised Trump and President Joe Biden for not being honest about cracks in the system. Cassidy previously said that both candidates "seem willing to allow it to collapse."

Haley's donors, in addition to other wealthy individuals who are considering backing her for the GOP nomination, find her views refreshing and cite a Social Security system in disarray. Politicians have notoriously been hesitant to engage with the "third rail of American politics."

Emily Seidel, a top official in billionaire Charles Koch's political network, praised Haley's "courage" for advocating changes to "an entitlement system that makes promises it can't keep," according to CNN.

Ken Langone, the co-founder of Home Depot who has a $7 billion net worth and has weighed backing Haley, also expressed an affinity to change a system he feels no longer works as originally intended.

"What the hell is a guy like me [doing] getting $3,500 a month from the government?" he told CNN. "That's outrageous. I shouldn't get a nickel."

While most Americans are in favor of Social Security, many also believe the system needs some changes if it is expected to be sustained. The current $2.8 trillion trust fund faces the possibility of being depleted around 2033, according to Steve Goss, the Social Security Administration's chief actuary.

A poll conducted for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on December 8 of 1,500 eligible American voters found that 40 percent of those surveyed answered "True" to the statement: "The Social Security Program currently pays out more to retirees than it is receiving in social security tax payments." Twenty-six percent said "False" and 34 percent responded with "Don't know."

On whether they agreed with the statement that "the Social Security system needs to be reformed," more than 60 percent said either they "strongly agree" and "agree."

The current age at which Americans can begin to access their Social Security benefits is 62.