Donald Trump says he’d never cut Social Security and would protect “the three exceptions” for abortion were he to get into the White House again, according to an interview released this week at Breitbart.com.
Trump predictably used the interview to attack Republican foes and failed candidates, but he struck a moderate tone – channeling his liberal-ish persona on Howard Stern decades ago – in lecturing the Right on the need to change its electoral strategy. Trump blamed fellow Republicans for “falling into Democrat traps” in the midterm elections.
“We’re not cutting Social Security,” Trump told Breitbart. “It’s very simple. It’s a simple answer. We’re not cutting Social Security.”
Trump criticized Republicans for promising to tackle “entitlement reform” after the midterms as it gave President Joe Biden an issue to exploit in the runup to the election, Breitbart reported.
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“They fell into the Democrat trap,” Trump said. “I heard that. A couple guys were talking about it, and I said, ‘that’s the end of his career.’ But it isn’t a question of the career."
“It’s a contract with the people. They go in. They work and they do. They put their blood, sweat, and tears into Social Security and then you have a guy like a Paul Ryan or others that want to destroy it. We have a contract.”
Noting that Ryan was now a board member of Fox News’ parent company, the Breitbart piece attacked Ryan for again promoting cuts to Social Security, which it said had “caused irreparable harm to the Republican Party.” Trump agreed.
“Paul’s a loser,” Trump told Breitbart News in response. “Paul has always been a loser.”
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Trump also criticized Republicans who made unwavering opposition to all abortions a part of their campaign. Here’s Breitbart’s reporting on that:
“Trump argued that Republicans must support what he called “the three exceptions”—for rape, incest, and the life of the mother—to any measures banning abortion, or else they face electoral elimination in most of America. Trump specifically singled out Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon and Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, both of whom lost their respective races this year after taking hardline positions without such exceptions.
“Now, I think a lot of Republicans didn’t handle the abortion question properly,” Trump told Breitbart News. “I think if you don’t have the three exceptions, it’s almost impossible in most parts of the country to win. If you don’t have three exceptions—I said to a very nice man running for governor of Pennsylvania, ‘If you don’t have the three exceptions, you can’t win.’ Same thing with Tudor. She didn’t have the three exceptions. I say this to the Republican Party: If you don’t have the three exceptions, because you know the Democrats are radical and they’ll kill the baby at nine months or they’ll kill the baby after the baby is born. Okay? That’s more radical. But you know a 15- or 16-week period of time, but you have to have the three exceptions. If you don’t have the three exceptions, you’re destined to doom.”
