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Trump targets older voters with an ad focusing on Social Security and Medicare.

It is an endless debate in modern politics: Which party will better protect Social Security? A Trump campaign ad airing in Arizona and other states this week uses selective editing to make the case that Joseph R. Biden Jr. “tried to cut Social Security and Medicare for decades.”

The ad shows a clip of Mr. Biden when he was a senator giving a speech in favor of freezing Social Security.

Then, in a message that hews closely to Mr. Trump’s nationalist campaign themes, the ad falsely suggests that, as president, Mr. Biden would take away Social Security from Americans and provide it to undocumented immigrants, as the screen shows grainy footage of men emerging from a hole in the ground beneath a wall.

Unlike many of Mr. Trump’s earlier ads that were purely attacks against Mr. Biden, this ad spends its final third proclaiming that Mr. Trump “is protecting Social Security and Medicare” while headlines from Trump-friendly publications like The New York Post flash across the screen.

During his 36-year Senate career, Mr. Biden supported some actions that would slow or reduce spending on Social Security but also supported others that would protect benefits.

In 1984, he co-sponsored an amendment with two Republican senators that froze for one year nearly all military and domestic spending, including cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security benefits. In 1996, he supported raising the retirement age.

But Mr. Biden’s current plan calls for putting more resources behind both programs while increasing benefits, paid for by higher taxes on the wealthy.

Mr. Biden has also not called for taking away Social Security or Medicare from American citizens to provide it for undocumented immigrants.

Regarding the claim that Mr. Trump is “protecting Social Security,” the financial outlook for both trusts has largely worsened under his watch, partly because of Mr. Trump’s tax law, which is collecting less money from Americans and, in turn, investing less money into each program.

Arizona — where it is part of the campaign’s $926,000 ad buy this week — as well as Michigan, Georgia and Florida.

The Trump campaign has struggled to maintain the president’s support among older voters nationwide, and this ad is a clear attempt to win them back.

Nick Corasaniti covers national politics. He was one of the lead reporters covering Donald Trump's campaign for president in 2016 and has been writing about presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and mayoral campaigns for The Times since 2011. More about Nick Corasaniti

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