Mike Bloomberg-backed ad calls on Florida seniors to ditch Donald Trump

A new ad from the Mike Bloomberg-backed Independence USA PAC is targeting Florida’s seniors, urging them to back Joe Biden over President Donald Trump.

The ad claims Trump could be a threat to major federal programs seniors rely on such as Social Security and Medicare. It comes just one day after Biden, the Democratic nominee, spoke in South Florida about the upcoming election and its impact on seniors.

The 30-second spot will run in the Fort Myers and West Palm Beach TV markets.

“They call Social Security and Medicare ‘entitlements’ and after a lifetime of hard work, you’ve earned them. But President Trump won’t protect them,” the ad’s narrator begins.

The commercial then cuts to a prior interview where Trump was asked whether entitlements would ever be subject to cuts during his presidency.

“At some point, they will be,” Trump responded.

The ad’s narrator continues, “Trump has proposed $500 billion in Medicare cuts, a $4,000 a year age tax for health care and a tax scheme that raids the Social Security trust fund. President Trump is failing Florida’s seniors.”

The claim on Medicare cuts come from Trump’s proposed budget. The administration argued those slashes would result from a reduction in Medicare fraud. That proposed budget was not adopted by Congress.

The warning about an “age tax for health care” comes from a GOP health care plan that failed in 2017. It would have undone cost controls established under the Affordable Care Act, which limited how much seniors can be forced to pay for their health care plans. The GOP law was never passed.

As for the threat to the Social Security trust fund, the ad is referencing Trump’s repeated efforts to cut payroll taxes. The payroll tax helps pay for Social Security. Experts warn a cut could deplete the program’s funds.

“Florida’s seniors deserve a President who will strengthen social security and medicare, not propose cuts and policies that would make them more costly and less effective,” Bloomberg said Wednesday in a press release alongside the ad.

“As seniors across Florida cast their votes, we will work hard to ensure it’s clear: Joe Biden will be the best President for seniors and for all Americans.”

Biden is outperforming 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton among seniors. If Trump were to lose with that voting block, it would put a huge dent in his path to victory this cycle.