During the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, Democrats ran a powerful and memorable political strategy known as the “Granny going over the cliff” ad. This ad was designed to convey the potential consequences of then-proposed changes to Medicare, a crucial government healthcare program for seniors.
In the ad, a young man resembling then-Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan pushed an elderly woman in a wheelchair along a serene, wooded path. Initially, the woman appeared content, enjoying the natural beauty around her. However, the tone shifted dramatically as the man increased pace, ignored warning signs, and rushed toward a cliff. The ad concluded with a striking tagline: “Is America beautiful without Medicare? Ask Paul Ryan and his friends in Congress.”
The campaign was dramatic, if untrue, and it gave Democrats a new talking point – Republicans want to destroy Medicare.
On Monday, Trump’s interview with CNBC Squawk Box Host Joe Kerran fueled the fire. He outlined his approach to a Medicare overhaul, insisting that inflation reduction was a key strategy to making the program affordable for seniors. By maintaining stable prices and encouraging economic growth, Trump said that the overall financial health of the country would improve, positively impacting entitlement programs.
Trump took the interview as an opportunity to criticize Biden’s policies, suggesting they could weaken Social Security. He specifically alluded to the record-high inflation observed during Biden’s presidency, which he believed could strain the program.
Acknowledging the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump said that his administration would have addressed the national debt issue and worked toward a more balanced budget if not for the pandemic. A balanced budget would allow entitlement programs like Social Security to operate effectively.
“So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements, tremendous bad management of entitlements,” Trump told Kerran.
Team Biden immediately edited the interview to sound like Trump advocated for Medicare cuts and courageously posted “Not on my watch” on the official Biden account.
Not on my watch. https://t.co/RAHjjUlGDa
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 11, 2024
Never one to let the truth stand in the way of a perfect narrative, Biden doubled down on the edited message in New Hampshire, claiming that Trump’s “words” indicated that he wanted to put Medicare “back on the chopping block.”
The Trump campaign fired back immediately, with national campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt reminding voters that President Trump fulfilled his promise to safeguard Social Security and Medicare during his first term and assurances that he would continue to do so in his second term.
If you losers didn’t cut his answer short, you would know President Trump was talking about cutting waste. https://t.co/q4Ng9U3iTP pic.twitter.com/yEZxuV2U5q
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 11, 2024
Leavitt asserted that the only candidate who poses a threat to Social Security and Medicare is Biden, whose stance on immigration and the resulting influx of illegal aliens will collapse the programs.
It’s a rehashing of a tired and disproven talking point, first revealed in 2012 with the “Granny over the cliff” strategy. Of course, Ryan’s plan wasn’t to abolish Medicare. It was to put affordable health insurance, in the form of Medicare alternatives, into seniors’ hands.
First, Ryan advocated for a premium support system. Under this system, seniors would receive premium-support payments to purchase private health insurance instead of the current Medicare structure. If the selected insurance plan were more expensive than the government payment, the consumer would cover the difference out of pocket. Conversely, if the plan were cheaper, the consumer would receive a rebate check for the remaining amount. The idea was that competition among insurers in the free market would drive down insurance prices while reducing costs to the federal government.
Secondly, Ryan’s plan involved a transition to a Medicare exchange system. Existing Medicare beneficiaries would remain in the current system. However, starting in 2023, individuals over 65 would choose an insurance plan from a newly established Medicare exchange. In this exchange, Medicare would compete with other private insurers for seniors’ business.
Thirdly, Ryan’s plan included cost control measures, including a premium payment to consumers set at the cost of the second-least expensive government-approved plan.
Sound familiar? Ryan’s plan was basically Obamacare’s health insurance exchange programs for seniors. In other words, the Democrats’ hard-won insurance plan touted as a fantastic idea for Americans was flagged as not appropriate for seniors when suggested by a Republican.
Fast-forward twelve years and the Biden campaign is still clinging to the narrative, even if they must edit a rival’s words to prove it.
Team Biden, masters of selective editing, wield their campaign scalpel with precision. They slice through reality, serving only the morsels that suit their narrative. If truth were a buffet, American diners would be starving.