Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is debuting an ad on Iowa television on Thursday contrasting his longstanding support for Social Security benefits with President Donald Trumps comments suggesting openness to cutting them.
The 30-second spot features footage from a CNBC interview last week in which anchor Joe Kernen asked Trump whether entitlements a Washington term for universal social insurance programs would ever be on his plate.
At some point they will be, the ad shows Trump responding. (A White House spokesman subsequently denied that Trump was signaling openness to benefit cuts.)
The ad then argues that Sanders, who led opposition to possible Social Security cuts during the Obama administration, is the candidate in the Democratic primary best equipped to draw a clear contrast with Trump on an issue like Social Security.
To defeat Trump, we need a nominee who has always fought to protect Social Security, the narrator says, as newspaper clips and campaign literature attesting to Sanders stances appear onscreen.
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The video ends with audio of Sanders himself inveighing against Social Security cuts as photos showing him speaking with seniors appear.
We are not going to cut the program that millions of seniors and people with disabilities depend upon, Sanders says in the spot. If they vote to cut Social Security, they may well not be returning to Washington.
The video spot goes live in New Hampshire on Saturday as well. The Sanders campaign did not provide details about the scale of the ad buy.
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