Despite his bluster, Trump realizes that his campaign is in deep trouble, and he will do anything to right the boat, including using your taxpayer dollars to buy votes. We have already seen evidence of that when he announced that his administration would spend billions of dollars to rebuild the infrastructure of hurricane and earthquake ravaged Puerto Rico. The people he is trying to bribe are not the residents of the island territory itself (they can’t vote in presidential elections), but the thousands of former Puerto Rican residents who have moved to Florida, a key battleground state.
Now Trump is using your money to try to buy the votes of senior citizens who are Medicare and Medicaid subscribers. He has long bragged that he has brought down the cost of prescription drugs with absolutely no evidence to back up that claim. Also a problem is that unlike in 2016, older voters are starting to shy away from Trump.
According to AARP, in the last presidential election, those 65 and older made up 15% of the voters. In that election, Trump won 53% of the 65 and older voters while Clinton won only 44%. This demographic victory, especially in battleground states, played a large part in putting Trump in the White House. However, older Americans have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and many hold Trump’s cavalier handling of the pandemic responsible for the deaths of friends and loved ones. A recent Quinnipiac University shows Biden leading Trump by 10 points among voters 65 and older.
Trump’s solution? He will now try to buy the votes of older Americans with money taken from the already underfunded Social Security fund. Trump has ordered that each of the 33 million Americans enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid will receive a $200 gift card from the federal government which can be used to pay for prescription drug co-pays. Originally Trump was negotiating with the big pharmaceutical companies to have them fund the card. However, that deal fell apart because the drug companies did not want to be seen as taking sides by funding what was clearly a political stunt immediately before the election.
Casting about in trying to find a way to fund the program, Trump’s minions decided to use an obscure feature of the Medicare law which allows the government to fund pilot programs that are designed to save money. Of course, since this is obviously a cash give away it won’t save any money, so it is yet another example of Trump abusing his powers until and unless someone or something stops him.
Of course, Trump wants the cards issued before the election. However, his administration is in a tizzy just trying to get letters out to the recipients over the next few weeks telling them they will receive the cards because it is almost impossible to get the cards themselves out before the election. Trump has ordered that the letters give him full credit for the handout. Just sending out those letters will cost the government $19 million.
The question is, will it work? Will the prescription cards buy any additional votes for Trump? I don’t see that happening Those of us over 65 didn’t just fall off of the turnip truck; we know a blatant bribe attempt when we see it. I fully expect that those of us who planned to vote for Biden will still take pride in doing so and then we will take particular pleasure in spending the money afforded by the cards because Trump was stupid enough to think he could buy our votes.
Cajun (Rick Guilbeau) 10/8/2020