Trump ducks AARP questions on plans for Social Security

On his HBO show Friday night, satirist Bill Maher unveiled a mock issue of Us Weekly revealing the "25 Things You Don't Know About" Donald J. Trump, the Republican Party's candidate in the November presidential election.

 

No. 4. "Mar-a-lago is Spanish for "House of Douche." See more below.

Editor's note: In writing this post, I confused Mike Pence and racing driver Mike Spence, who died in a practice crash leading up to the Indy 500 in the state where Pence is now governor. That doesn't augur well for the Republican Party, which is expected to crash and burn in the presidential election.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can kiss your Social Security goodbye, if wacko racist Donald J. Trump is elected the next president of the United States.

AARP, the leading advocacy group for Americans who are 50 and over, asked Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for their positions on Social Security, noting, "If our leaders don't act, future retirees could lose up to $10,000 a year."

Trump and Clinton were asked to answer two questions: 

"What will you do to make Social Security financially sound for future generations? What specific plans do you have to ensure that Social Security provide adequate benefits to meet the needs of future retirees?"

In a 600-word statement in the July-August issue of AARP Bulletin, Trump's campaign evaded both questions, and answered in generalities:

"The key to preserving Social Security ... is to have an economy that is robust and growing. For too long, Americans have had a great deal of uncertainty in their lives, and the reforms I will bring to D.C. will ... restore confidence in the American economy." 

Asked for specific plans, Trump repeated his first answer:

"As was stated above, I will work with Congress to ensure we have a pro-growth agenda in place."

Hillary Clinton

Clinton's campaign, on the other hand, didn't pull any punches on how she planned "to guarantee dignity in retirement for future generations"

"Hillary understands that there is no way to accomplish that goal without asking the highest-income Americans to pay more, including options to tax some of their income above the current Social Security cap, and taxing some of their income not currently taken into account by the ... system."

She also pledged to fight Republican attempts "to gamble seniors' retirement security on the stock market through privatization," to reduce annual-cost-of-living adjustments and to raise the retirement age."

Asked for specific plans, the campaign said:

"Hillary will expand Social Security for those who need it most -- including women who are widows and those who took significant time out of the paid workforce to take care of their children, aging parents or ailing family members."

No. 7. "I saved the box Melania arrived in so I can return her when she turns 50."

No. 8. "I never actually believed Obama was born in Kenya. Because I thought the name of the country was Kanye."

No. 22. "I cry at movies. Because they're integrated."

Today's paper

You'll search The Record in vain today for any discussion of the future of Social Security or any other issue at stake in the presidential election.

Thanks to Editor Deirdre Sykes, Columnist Charles Stile and other Trenton reporters, this Sunday edition is a journal of partisan politics, as has been the case so many times before.

Since Governor Christie took office in early 2010, Stile has transformed himself from a hard-nosed Trenton reporter into the GOP bully's personal groomer.

Who needs to read yet another Page 1 column on Christie's "decline" after he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Trump, but was denied the chance to be the racist's vice presidential running mate (A-1, A-6, A-8)?

Also on A-1 today is a dated story on Trump's selection of Gov. Mike Pence, a crackpot Christian conservative from Indiana, as his plus one in the November election.

Pence has waged war against the LBGT community and food-stamp recipients in his state.

"Exciting, huh?" satirist Bill Maher commented Friday night on HBO. "Nobody knows who this guy [Pence] is. Chris Christie is crushed. Today, his chair said, 'Now you know how I feel.'"

Failed coup

Even given the large number of Turks living in North Jersey, leading the paper with a failed coup in their native country is a huge waste of the front page in a local daily paper (A-1).

Of course, that doesn't mean readers of Local will find any real news of their towns today.

Teterboro Airport -- the source of so much annoying noise for residents of Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and other towns -- has its image burnished with photos of a 5K run to benefit the Bergen County United Way (L-1).

The larger photo shows runners "cooling down by standing in mist after the race," raising a question:

Is this one of the sprayers used to de-ice business jets in winter, and if so, was any chemical residue sprayed on runners?

Better Living

Don't bother looking for food news in Better Living today.

Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant reviewer, devotes her entire Corner Table column today to a bake shop in Hawthorne that is high on the "not recommended" list of the National Institute of Diabetes (B-1).

Don't complain

In a letter to the editor today, Moshe Schuldinger of Hackensack puts the battle over raising the gasoline tax in perspective (O-3).

Schuldinger says Bergen County residents have only themselves to blame for high taxes, because they resist the kind of consolidation of services found in Virginia and other states.

Residents of Fairfax County, Va., pay much lower property taxes than Bergen residents, because they have one countywide police department, one fire department, one sanitation department and a school system with one board of education.

"Compare that with Bergen County's roughly 70 town boards, police departments and multiple local boards of education and school districts."

"It's their choice," he says of apathetic voters and others who don't want to get involved. "They shouldn't complain."

On the front of the Opinion section, does Columnist Mike Kelly expose one of those do-nothing police chiefs or school superintendents in Bergen County?

No. Instead, he praises the police chief in Dallas (O-1).

9. "I can peel a banana with my feet."

18. "When I get bored around the office, I make Chris Christie dance around a diaper."

24. "The original name for Trump Tower was My Big Shiny Penis Building."