Sen. Jeff Merkley, who is reportedly considering a 2020 run, responds to President Trump's denunciation of socialism at Tuesday's State of the Union by defending Social Security and Medicare. Pressed on whether he considers these programs to be "socialism," Merkley said: "It is a society coming together to increase the standard of living of our seniors. And that is pretty much the definition. And the president is attacking it."





ERIN BURNETT, CNN: Do you agree, Sen. Merkley, with the bottom line, America should never be a socialist country?



SEN. JEFF MERKLEY: You know the president started out by saying he was going to be bipartisan, wanted to bring people together, but he just couldn't restrain himself from going into campaign mode.







And certainly, we heard Paul Ryan say, when he was Speaker, now that we've won this big tax giveaway to the richest Americans, we have to dismantle these social programs. We have to dismantle Medicare or tone it down, we have to diminish Social Security, what they refer to as entitlements.



I call them programs earned and very smart programs for our seniors, and I support those. And the president wants to tear those apart? I think he is making a big mistake for the quality of life in America--



BURNETT: But you don't see that as socialism, right, in terms of the word? It is a word of significance.



MERKLEY: It is a society coming together to increase the standard of living of our seniors. And that is pretty much the definition. And the president is attacking it.