Former President Trump’s remarks about “cutting” Social Security has given a major opening to President Biden while underscoring how the entitlement program has become a third rail in politics.

Trump in a CNBC interview said there was “a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.”

His campaign quickly clarified that the former president only wants to cut waste, but his initial remarks created soundbites Biden will use against him from now until November and that Democratic congressional candidates will also seize upon.

Barrett Marson, a GOP strategist in Arizona, said the ambiguity of Trump’s latest comments might blunt their impact.

“But in some ways, that doesn't matter because … it's on tape, and the Biden campaign will almost assuredly use that tape a lot, and the Trump campaign will have to spend time and money to refute that,” he said.

Democrats have repeatedly attacked Republicans for suggesting cuts to Social Security. As recently as 2022, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) hit his GOP opponent, Blake Masters, with a barrage of negative ads for proposals to reform Social Security, Marson noted.

Arizona has the highest retiree population among 2024 swing states in a Biden-Trump rematch, underscoring its importance. But it could also be a big factor in a number of other places, said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and partner at Firehouse Strategies.

“Most of the voters are going to be older, and either currently on these programs are set to get these programs in the next decade or so,” he said. “So I would say they're going to be important everywhere.”

Conant said Trump, who often speaks off the cuff in interviews and at rallies, has to be “very careful........

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