Trump campaign targets DeSantis’s votes in Congress on Medicare, Social Security

The Trump 2024 campaign took aim Sunday at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for his votes on Medicare and Social Security when he was in Congress.

“DeSantis is colluding with his globalist handlers to go full Never Trump in order to gaslight the people into thinking that Medicare and Social Security should be ripped away from hard-working Americans,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement on Sunday.

“President Trump has made it clear that he will always stand on the side of Americans, and protect benefits seniors worked for and paid for their entire lives,” he continued.

The email campaign said that DeSantis voted to raise the retirement age to 70 years old in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and that he voted to change the formula for cost-of-living raises for those three years. The email also pointed to DeSantis’s votes on Medicare, saying that he voted in 2015 and in 2017 to cut the program’s benefits.

The email also included a poll from earlier this month that found that 79 percent of Americans say they oppose reducing Social Security benefits and 67 percent are against raising premiums for Medicare. The AP-NORC poll also found that about 75 percent said they oppose raising the required age to 70 for Social Security benefits and about 70 percent said they oppose raising the age to 70 for Medicare benefits.

“Ron DeSantis has long embraced plans to cut Social Security and Medicare, as well as raising the eligibility age of both programs, yet the majority of Americans remain united in their opposition to these positions,” the email read.

The fight over Social Security and Medicare benefits has been an embattled topic among lawmakers, with Democrats accusing Republicans of wanting to cut the programs. Republican leaders have maintained that cutting those programs is off the table, but have offered some solutions, including raising the retirement age.

Funding for Medicare is expected to hit a shortfall in 2028 with Social Security also hitting a shortfall in 2032.

–Updated on April 17 at 5:51 a.m.