Joshua Green, Columnist

Trump Finds an Opening Against DeSantis

By playing up his consistent vow not to cut Social Security and Medicare, the former president hopes to put his chief 2024 GOP rival, who repeatedly voted in Congress to slash both programs, on the back foot.

January 27, 2023 at 11:30 AM UTC

By Joshua Green

Joshua Green is a national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek and the author of "The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Struggle for a New American Politics"

About those votes on Social Security and Medicare, Ron...
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has had a better few months than just about anybody in Republican politics, and Donald Trump the worst. Trump is hoping to reverse his fortunes and revive his moribund presidential campaign with a big event in South Carolina this weekend. A short video message his campaign released a few days ago was a positive sign — and one that should make DeSantis wary.

Trump’s typical mode of public discourse is propounding conspiracy theories and complaints about his election loss to President Joe Biden. But in his new message, he looks straight to camera and declares, “Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.”