“Donald Trump is lying about Medicare and Social Security. Trump is pushing to slash Medicare benefits.” – Voice-over in new Joe Biden campaign ad, released Oct. 9, 2020
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We were a little surprised when we first saw this ad, as we were unaware of any Trump proposal or policy effort to cut Medicare benefits. There is no citation or explanation given for this claim in the ad, which further puzzled us. Normally, attack ads try to offer verisimilitude by citing news articles or reports.
The explanation from the Biden campaign was also surprising, So let’s explore this claim in detail. It’s an interesting and complex story.
(Note: The ad further makes a Social Security claim that we have previously fact-checked as false. We will keep this fact check focused on the Medicare portion of the ad.)
The Biden campaign explained that this line hinged on the fact