Political ads often take what can generously be called interpretive liberties that bear only partial relation to factual accuracy. Even so, even campaign commercials rarely feature demonstrable, flat-out lies. That, though, is exactly what a new ad for former President Donald Trump does to Trump’s former U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley.
Haley, alone among the serious Republican contenders for the presidency, has had the guts to tell the truth that the Social Security system faces insolvency within nine years and that, as a simple arithmetical fact, changes must be made to extend the system’s life span. Again, this isn’t opinion, it’s just math, as reported by the Social Security trustees themselves.
And as the trustees note, the absolutely guaranteed way to force massive benefit cuts is to do nothing to tweak the system. If lawmakers “don’t touch” Social Security, which is what Trump advocates, then when the system hits insolvency in about 2033, beneficiaries will automatically start receiving only 77% of their previously scheduled benefits. Trump’s refusal to make any changes, in sum, will reduce benefits across the board.
It then takes real gall for Trump and his campaign team to ape Democratic attacks saying that Haley advocates “gutting Social Security.” (This is far from the only way Trump mimics liberal Democrats, but that’s another story.) By straightforward logic, Haley’s position that it will take action to save Social Security is one that would ensure more benefits for more people than Trump’s “do nothing” approach.
Still, if Team Trump wants to take issues with Haley’s proposals, that’s its prerogative. What should not be Trump’s right, though, is to tell a straight-up whopper of a lie about her position. Yet that’s what his ad does.
Haley so far has proposed two tweaks, which in themselves will do only a little — but at least something — to mitigate the system’s insolvency. One is to adjust benefits for a small subset of high-income earners. The other is to slowly raise the age at which the full level of benefits kick in. She has been clear, in statement after statement, that the higher “retirement age” would apply only to people now in their 20s, who would thus have at least 37 years to plan accordingly.
Yet here’s what the Trump commercial says: “Haley’s plan cuts Social Security benefits for 82% of Americans.” Again, that is indisputably a lie, and indefensible.
To affect 82% of Americans, Haley’s plans would need to affect everyone under the age of 67 immediately. Again, that’s false by nearly 40 years. To apply the higher retirement age only to those now under age 30 would mean the changes would accrue for well under half of Americans (about 45%), not 80%. Even then, there are plenty of ways in the intervening 37 years to ensure that most of today’s young workers see no total benefit cuts even if they wait to start taking their benefits at a slightly later age.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Now this is no place for a detailed analysis of Social Security reforms. Nor is it to say that Haley’s modest suggestions alone would solve the looming problem. It is to say, though, that the Trump commercial is not a mere stretch of interpretive logic. It is outright, entirely mendacious demagoguery. It’s sleazy, it is garbage, and it is perhaps a sign of political panic.
Panic, that is, from the man whose “do nothing” approach could hurt 100% of Americans still lucky enough to be alive in 2033.