Trump Broke Important Rule of Politics?

White House [Public Domain]

President Trump’s executive order affecting the payroll tax and Social Security might have broken a rule.

It has been a rule of politics not to touch the “third-rail” or the topic of Social Security close to an election

According to The Hill:

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President Trump’s pledge to “terminate” the payroll tax that funds Social Security defies the conventional wisdom of staying away from what’s known as the “third rail” of politics.

Proposing a major reform to Social Security shortly before an election traditionally has been seen as the political equivalent of touching the highly electrified rail that powers subway cars.

The last president to try, George W. Bush, made a similar move shortly after winning a convincing reelection in 2004, and he was stopped dead in his tracks. Bush’s ill-fated effort to reform Social Security energized dispirited Democrats and sapped political momentum from the start of his second term.

Yet the danger of overhauling the funding stream for a program that in turn provides payments to seniors has not deterred Trump from risking support in key battleground states like Florida.

Seniors for decades want politicians to keep their hands off of Social Security and if this move affects it, it could backfire on Trump

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Dan Winright
Dan Winright
3 years ago

Dumbocraps have broken every rule in the book!

snert
snert
3 years ago

thank God trump isn’t a politician!!!

April Williams
April Williams
3 years ago

Oh please how many rules did Obama break????????????

Lori
Lori
3 years ago

Supreme Court okayed Obama executive order so it must be legal for a president to enact certain orders as law. Supreme Court allowing Hussein DACA executive order to stand was unconstitutional and set the precedent.

purpleonion
purpleonion
3 years ago

If you want to talk about breaking rules, lets talk about the demon democrats breaking all the rules.

Rich
Rich
3 years ago

I have my doubt if it affects President Trump. The Democrats, oops, I mean the Marxist-Maoist/Socialist have been stealing money out of Soc. Sec. for years. He has no choice because the opposition refuses to work with him. As far as I’m concerned they can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine, which is where their heads are anyway.

DawnieR
DawnieR
3 years ago

#1…..’Payroll’ taxes are ILLEGAL to begin with…. #2 as are SS tax! REMEMBER when SS tax first started? It was VOLUNTARY!!!

SDOFAZ
SDOFAZ
3 years ago
Reply to  DawnieR

It was also sold as a retirement savings plan but now it is an entitlement that the dim wits and congress raid and spend since they changed the rules on it. Illegal aliens and imports now have it paid to them, some without contributing. Slush fund for congress is what it is now.

John Skoufis
John Skoufis
3 years ago

If you are not well informed then think before assuming. Right now this is deferral during the crisis an can be considered a 5 month no interest loan to be repaid when the crisis ends. It may be forgiven to the employee but not the employer. But let’s get serious about SS. It is now on death’s doorstep and not having a payroll tax will not save it. We are now doling out more SS benefits than money coming in. By the way, all monies come from the general funds when SS submits their IOUs to the Treasury to cover the year since every tax goes to the IRS. At our current expenditure, SS will be flat broke as will for Survivors, and Disability benefit, and also Medicare. Even without regard to the effects of the pandemic, the Social Security Trust Fund would be at 0 by 2024 or 2025. It is not expected to change for current retirees but future ones will need to get reduced amounts UNLESS Congress does its job and and overhauls it, which seems impossible for them as they simply kick it down the road and retire.

Thomas J Coyne, jr.
Thomas J Coyne, jr.
3 years ago

The Social Security program, started by President Roosevelt. The program originally included almost all social benefits to be funded by a separate social security deductions of employees to care for retired and handicapped employees and other such programs and was intended that the funds deducted from payroll would only be used for those purposes, more or less controlled by and for those purposes and could not be used for any other gov’t activity, to protect the benefits to the aged and needy. this fund grew from deductions of employee’s payroll until President Johnson and Congress became aware of the vast amount of available funds and passed laws that changed the control of the funds into the general funds of the gov’t and could be used by the gov’t for whatever purposes it saw fit. From that day onward the available reserve in SS was slowly depleted such that over time the gov’t has estimated the SS will run out.
As an example the original deducted amount was estimated at a gross amount of payroll. At the present the gov’t has increased the deduction from that figure to over 13% , but the increased funds taken by the go’t due to excessive spending on frivolous programs and foreign aid and foreign conflicts amongst other wasted spending since the Johnson administration and mainly from democrat welfare programs. During that time Johnson and Congress passed laws to allow the funds to be put in general funds and spent by the gov’t, a typical measure of increased measures towards socialism.
President Trump’s measure of stopping all payroll tax to fund social security benefits means that potentially the gov’t can also eliminate the social security programs at their whim and put all needy on the streets with no retirement whatsoever, no medicare, no medicaid, no handicapped benefits, no medicines. it seems to me that this would be a total collapse of small gov’t, citizens control of gov’t,
Does this also mean the end of our Constitutional Republic, our freedoms and our God given rights? Is it the intent of gov’t to require the employees, citizens to save their own funds for retirement? There are about 65 million citizens collected SS funds that were taxed from their payroll for perhaps 60 years. Since the program started in 1936, and paid into the fun by all the citizens over this time, with interest, the gov’t owes the citizens SS fund an amount in the trillions and should keep on growing for the citizens comfortable retirement for years to come, the original intent. It seems the gov’t greed and capacity to enjoy power needs the gov’t to be reviewed and slowed down a bit, eh? If this is the intent of the COS to curb gov’t, to modify the Constitution to the benefit of the citizens and longevity of the U.S., then we should review the development of the COS.

Jonathan Brooks
Jonathan Brooks
3 years ago

Actually the payroll tax only would be affected. Social Security is a separate tax and TRUMP will not negate it.

Gerry
Gerry
3 years ago

All the rules were broken with 8 years of the lying muslim dirtbag obama — President Trump is doing the RIGHT thing !!!!!!

Maria Delia
Maria Delia
3 years ago
Reply to  Gerry

Trust President Trump, he loves Americans want the best for them, plus he know about economy!

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