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…. “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.’ ”
I know; I was as SHOCKED as anyone at the news that Donald Trump had lied. Quelle surprise, non? The Donald, unbound by the conventional chains of honesty and integrity that bind mere mortals? Who could have seen this coming??
This is the sort of thing I wish I could rub every Trump supporter’s nose in- the blatant, bloodless dishonesty, the arrogant, cynical lack of integrity…and the fact he seems not at all troubled by his obvious, glaring duplicity. Those in the middle class who back Trump- and yes, they ARE legion- are preparing to figuratively bend America over a chair and rape it with a broom handle. Yes, that’s a graphic and disgusting description, but I don’t know how to otherwise reach people blinded by their own willing suspension of disbelief.
Once again, the American sheeple are being willingly duped into voting against their interests…because they can’t be bothered to pay attention and think for themselves. That the person leading them to slaughter has barely camouflaged his lack of integrity only seems to increase his appeal to the easily propagandized and manipulable.
“Trump says what he means.” “He can’t be bought.” “He’s not beholden to anybody.” “He’s not playing by the PC rule book.” “He doesn’t take shit from anyone.” Right; so spreading hatred, fear, and bigotry and calling it “Make America Great Again” is just what this country needs?
“It is really clear: Donald Trump would 100 percent go along with the Republican donor class position of cutting Social Security,” said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, a group that promotes benefits expansion. “He openly says he will lie to the people about it because he knows that the people are against it.”
“In his eyes the ‘moral’ thing to do is to steal people’s hard-earned benefits and not talk about it,” Lawson added.
The original Social Security Act was signed into law by FDR in 1935). It represented a promise America made to itself and future generations, that we have a responsibility to those who’ve come before us. No one should retire to a life of poverty, or before to work up until the day they die. Social Security meant that Americans could look forward to retiring and having at least a minimal guaranteed income during their golden years.
If Congress had left the Social Security (SSI) trust fund alone, there would be no “crisis” of the sort looming over the next 25-30 years. Unfortunately, successive generations of Congressmen and Presidents have acquiesced to raiding SSI’s kitty over the years because they lacked the political will to make the tough but necessary fiscal decisions. It was easier to use SSI as a “slush fund” to cover whatever financial holes may have needed to be filled.
Now Donald Trump is (not so very) secretly OK with killing off SSI; he’s just not going to tell America until after he’s in office and he can proceed with screwing the middle class. He knows that he can’t win in November if he says that outright…and so he continues lying to camouflage his intentions. Once he’s elected, of course, Trump will no longer need the votes of the middle class. This will free him to extend a figurative middle finger to those who supported him and he’ll revert to type- working to advance the interests of the 1%.
The real shock isn’t in the fact that Trump is dishonest and devoid of integrity; he lies as he breathes. It’s that his ardent, brain-dead base doesn’t much care that before all is said and done, he’ll toss them under the bus without so much as a second thought.
Welcome to our new idiocracy, in which millions of Americans eagerly and willingly participate in the dismantling of their own interests. In the end, they’ll have EXACTLY the quality of leadership they deserve.
