'Political suicide': Trump's former top economic adviser stunned by Social Security cuts in president's budget

Former top Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn said on Wednesday that he was stunned to see President Donald Trump's proposed 2020 budget recommending $26 billion in cuts to Social Security, including $10 billion in cuts to the Social Security Disability Insurance program.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Cohn called the proposed cuts to Social Security in the president's budget "political suicide" and predicted they would be used against him in 2020.

"Democrats won't allow that to happen, and I don't even know if the Republicans will allow that to happen," he said.

Cohn also said that selling such cuts would be "pretty difficult" politically "even in a bunch of red states" where many older white voters rely on Social Security.

Cohn also said any attempt to cut Social Security would be a political disaster for the Republican Party, just as the GOP's attempt to undermine protections for Americans with preexisting conditions completely blew up in their faces the 2018 midterm elections.