Social Security Advocacy Group Issues Warning About Trump Presidency

A Social Security advocacy group has said that Donald Trump is just as likely as his opponents Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis to cut Social Security if he is elected in November.

Social Security Works, a left-leaning group that pushes to expand benefits, has said that all three GOP 2024 presidential candidates have made promises that it deems detrimental to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and its recipients. Its comments have been made against the backdrop of Trump, Haley and DeSantis attacking one another over their proposed plans for the nationwide welfare program. Newsweek contacted Donald Trump for comment via email on Monday.

Conservative Republicans have previously spoken out about the cost of Social Security, also known as the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, which pays out pensions, disability benefits and benefits for survivors of a deceased claimant.

Last week, Trump released a political advertisement pointing out that Haley has previously said she would "change the retirement age to reflect life expectancy," advocating for the age to be set higher than its current level of 65 for future generations. "Americans were promised a secure retirement," the advert says. "Nikki Haley's plan ends that."

Elsewhere, Trump attacked DeSantis on Social Security before the Florida governor even announced he would run to be the Republican nominee. A Trump super PAC last year aired similar adverts accusing DeSantis of cutting Social Security during his time in the House. DeSantis has previously voted in favor of budget resolutions that would see Americans reach 70 years of age before being able to collect retirement benefits.

However, the former president himself doesn't have a record of wanting to protect Social Security, according to Social Security Works. In an infographic posted to X, formerly Twitter, the group said that, during his term as U.S. president, Trump "proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare every year he was president" and that he "tried to defund social security."

The group also quotes Trump as saying "we are going to look" at cutting Social Security and Medicare if he gets a second term in the White House. Newsweek contacted Social Security Works for comment via email on Monday.

"On Social Security, just as he does on so many other topics," Social Security Works President Nancy Altman told progressive news website Common Dreams, "Donald Trump is projecting his own desires onto his opponents. In this case, his accusations against Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis happen to be true, but they are equally true about Trump himself."

"Trump proposed serious cuts to Social Security as part of his budget every single year he was in office," Altman added. "He surrounded himself with men like Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pence, who have long histories of trying to cut and privatize Social Security.

"Trump himself has supported privatization and raising the retirement age, along with slandering the program as a 'Ponzi scheme,'" Altman said. "He can't be trusted to protect our earned benefits any more than DeSantis or Haley."

The infographic makes similar claims about DeSantis and Haley, saying DeSantis "wants to cut Social Security benefits for millennials and Gen-Z" and that Haley "supports slashing middle-class Social Security benefits."

DeSantis and Haley have also been facing off between each other about their welfare plans. During the January 10 Republican debate, DeSantis said to Haley regarding her proposal to raise the retirement age: "I don't see how you can raise the retirement age when our life expectancy is collapsing in this country."

In response, Haley raised DeSantis's former support for increasing at what age benefits should be given to older Americans.