Dems charge Trump to defund Social Security; GOP says Biden embracing socialism

Antonio Fins @PBPoliticsFins

Saturday Aug 8, 2020 at 9:58 PM

The 2020 campaign was in full swing in Florida on Saturday.

The Democratic and Republican conventions are still more than a week away, but the 2020 presidential election campaign was in full swing in South Florida on Saturday.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch accused President Trump of seeking to defund Social Security while the president’s campaign rolled out a slate of Florida Latinos who decried Joe Biden’s embrace of socialism.

Deutch’s statement followed President Trump’s executive order suspending payroll taxes through the end of the year. During a press conference Saturday, the president added that, if he is re-elected, he would terminate the payroll taxes.

Problem is, Deutch and Democrats immediately charged, payroll taxes fund Social Security and other key programs. Deutch said eliminating the tax would deprive Social Security of key revenue its recipients, including 4.7 million Floridians.

In a statement, Deutch said Trump is “using the pandemic to gut Social Security’s funding.”

He added: “Make no mistake: Donald Trump just unilaterally decided to cut Social Security’s funding source and, if he gets a second term, vowed to defund Social Security once and for all.”

Earlier Saturday, Florida Trump Victory, the president’s re-election campaign, hosted a virtual “Anti-Socialism MAGA Meet-Up.”

It featured Cuban-American leaders Feliìx Rodriìguez, Rosa Maria Payá as well as Venezuelan-American activist Ernesto Ackerman. They pounded a theme the campaign began last week with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio — that Biden’s consideration of California Congresswoman Karen Bass signals Biden’s potential embrace of Cuba’s government and Latin American leftists.

In a statement, Rodriguez said Biden’s and Democrats’ support for “free education and free healthcare” concerned him “because that is exactly what Castro did.” Ackerman said the choice U.S. voters face is whether Americans “stay in capitalism, or do we turn this country to socialism, where we’ll see the worst coming for this country.”