A Trump campaign aide on Wednesday said even though he disagreed with Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) “Medicare for all” proposal, he praised the Vermont senator for acknowledging that his plan would involve tax hikes on middle class Americans.
“At least he’ll be honest with the American people,” Marc Lotter director of strategic communications for the 2020 Trump campaign, told Hill.TV. “He’s going to raise your taxes, he’s going to raise your middle class taxes where Elizabeth Warren refused to admit that.”
But Lotter maintained that he doesn’t think any of the Democratic candidates would be ultimately able to beat President Trump.
“Ultimately, when we get into the race next year once we have a defined opponent it’ll get into the issues and it’ll be a choice for the American voters,” he said. “Do you want to keep the jobs, the paychecks growing, the things that have happened in our country under President Trump.”
Warren, who has emerged as the frontrunner in the crowded Democratic field, faced attacks during Tuesday night’s debate after largely avoided questions over how she specifically pay for Medicare for all, especially whether taxes would go up for the middle class.
The Massachusetts lawmaker stated that Medicare for all would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and lower costs for middle-class families.
However, when moderators once again put her on the spot over how she would specifically pay for the plan, Warren dodged the question and instead repeated the same talking point several times.
This drew sharp responses from some of the more centrist candidates, such as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
“Your signature, senator, is to have a plan for everything. Except this,” Buttigieg said.
Klobuchar also hit back at Warren over her proposal quipping, “The difference between a plan and a pipe dream is whether it can actually get done.”
Sanders, who first introduced the proposal, meanwhile reaffirmed during the Ohio debate that plan would raise taxes on the middle class.
“I do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up,” Sanders said. “They’re going to go up significantly for the wealthy. And for virtually everybody.”
President Trump has targeted Medicare for all as part of his reelection campaign, repeatedly characterizing as part of Democrats’ “socialist” agenda that harm senior citizens.
“Medicare is under threat like never before,” said at a campaign rally in Florida earlier this month. “I will never allow these politicians to steal your health care and give it away to illegal aliens.”
— Tess Bonn
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