Amid confusion and fear over the Chinese Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Democrat Rep. Ben Ray Luján (NM-03) is stoking fear into New Mexico’s seniors to raise campaign cash for his U.S. Senate campaign ahead of the November 2020 election.
On Friday, Luján sent out an email claiming President Trump’s budget “SLASHES MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY.” He continues to falsely assert that the budget “slashes Medicare from seniors who’ve spent their entire lives paying into it,” that it “guts Social Security from seniors who are relying on it to make ends meet,” and it “threatens our vulnerable seniors’ health care at a time when they need it most.”
But Trump’s budget will not do any of these things, and even left-wing PolitiFact concedes that it would leave Medicare alone. Also, seniors will not have their Social Security Checks slashed or benefits rescinded.
The panicky email claims to need 10,000 signatures on the linked survey by midnight to “protect Social Security and Medicare from [Trump’s] heartless budget cuts.” But in order to take the survey—which makes blatantly false accusations—the respondent must donate to Luján’s campaign.
Luján appears to be blatantly preying on seniors, who may be misled by his dishonest campaign messaging, fear-mongering them into thinking President Trump is ripping away the benefits they paid into when he is not.
The email ploy is just the latest in a slew of dishonest email campaigns, one of them using the Chinese Coronavirus to raise funds for his campaign.
