Convicted felon Trump and, in practice, his co-president Elon Musk are engaging in efforts to radically transform the federal government, with the support of billionaires, the Republican Party, and his increasingly shaky “base” of millions of right-wing citizens. The Supreme Court gave him “immunity” while he is president. He thus has been given a judicial “mandate” to say and do just about anything while in office without any fear of punishment. So, he stretches the truth and lies.
The Lies
For example, here’s what Linda Qui reported for the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/us/politics/trump-election-lies-fact-check.html).
“Before the 2020 election had even concluded, President Donald J. Trump laid the groundwork for an alternate reality in which he was declared the victor, falsely assailing the integrity of the race at nearly every turn.
“Those lies are now central to two criminal indictments brought against him by the Justice Department and in Georgia, and formed what prosecutors have described as the bedrock of his attempts to overturn the election.
“In public, he made more than 800 inaccurate claims about the election from the time the polls began closing on Nov. 3, 2020, to the end of his presidency, according to a database compiled by The Washington Post. Dozens of times, he simply characterized the election as ‘rigged,’ ‘stolen or ‘a hoax,’ and flatly and falsely declared he had won — even as a mountain of evidence proved otherwise. Other falsehoods were more specific about the voting and ballot-counting process, contained unproven allegations and promoted conspiracy theories.’”
“Draining the swamp”
As Trump has long proclaimed, he wants to “drain the swamp,” that is, re-focus, diminish, or end the parts of government that provide benefits and security for everyday people. And unelected Wald, anointed by Trump arbitrarily as a special adviser, has his team busily and arbitrarily firing tens of thousands of federal government workers. Wald’s team, dubbed DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) includes a handful of inexperienced and young subordinates who are identifying those in government jobs who are being fired. Thus, federal government workers are being fired for made-up reasons, regardless of how well they have performed in their jobs or how important the services they provide.
Trump views himself as “great”
There is another aspect of the anti-democratic and socially and politically destructive shenanigans. These efforts reflect Trump’s self-aggrandizing conceptions of himself. He sees himself as the best or second-best president of all time, even as God’s choice, a messiah, a king, deserving, he sometimes crows, a third presidential term or even one lasting until his death. He rarely if ever acknowledges mistakes.
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Gutting Social Security
The focus of this post is on delving into one example, that is, of how he and Musk are laying the groundwork for the privatization of Social Security. If they have their way, the program will end up favoring upper-income groups, with the reduction if not elimination of benefits for millions of Americans. Bear in mind that this is only one example of how Trump/Wald are taking America toward what Ralph Nader calls “corporate fascism” (https://counterpunch.org/2025/03/03/trumps-autocratic-moves-toward-corporate-fascism),
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The benefits for people from Social Security
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington State provides an overview of Social Security in a “fact sheet” she put on her Senate website on Feb. 28, 2025. She is Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Murray warns “of the Trump administration’s plans to gut the Social Security Administration (SSA)–and to make it harder for Americans who’ve paid into Social Security to get the benefits they have earned.” She informs readers of why it is an important government program, dating back to its creation in 1935 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. SSA has not missed a payment to beneficiaries in all the time since the first recipient received benefits in 1940. (See evidence in the book, Social Security Works! by Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson.)
Why the SSA has been so important in the lives of untold millions of Americans
Murray writes: “People need help getting Social Security at some of the most vulnerable points in their lives—whether that’s the death of a spouse, the onset of a disability, or the loss of income that comes with retirement. Americans pay into Social Security their entire lives–it’s a promise they should be able to count on.
How they have served citizens
She continues: “Each year, SSA:
Receives 80 million calls to its 1-800 number.
Receives 57 million calls to its 1,200 field offices nationwide.
Receives 30 million visitors to its 1,200 field offices.
Processes 9 million applications for benefits.
“Without adequate customer service provided by SSA,” Murray points out, “Americans will be cheated out of receiving the benefits they have earned.”
“90% of SSA staff work across the country outside of the agency’s headquarters. SSA staff who are not providing direct service support perform critical work that keeps the agency and Social Security system operational, including supporting SSA’s IT infrastructure.
“SSA staff ensure 73 million Americans get their Social Security benefits each month–which is more beneficiaries than ever before. They do so even though SSA’s 57,000 staff level is already at the lowest level in 50 years.”
As noted, SSA has 1,200 field offices in communities all across the country that help Americans:
Apply to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Apply to receive Supplemental Security Income and SNAP.
Get or replace a Social Security card.
Get assistance and address problems with benefits.
In 2023, SSA field offices had nearly 120,000 Americans visit per day.
Elon Musk and his DOGE crew are eager to close SSA field offices across the country that Americans count on.
“Closing field offices will force people to drive hours farther to get the basic services they are entitled to. For many–particularly beneficiaries who are disabled or who live in rural areas–the closures could mean losing out on assistance from SSA–and even benefits altogether.”
Americans want the benefits from Social Security
Kelly Kenneally and Tyler Bond of the National Institute on Retirement Security provide documentation on the American views of Social Security (https://nirsonline.org/report/socialsecurity2024). Here’s some of what they write.
“Social Security has evolved to become backbone of the U.S. retirement savings system, particularly for middle-class Americans, and often is referred to as one of the nation’s most popular government programs. Nearly all workers participate in Social Security, which means nearly all retirees receive at least some income from Social Security each month. Despite the popularity of Social Security, federal policymakers have yet to craft a long-term Social Security funding fix to address the impending depletion of the trust fund. In the coming decade, the funding challenges will force the nation into a debate and decisions about the future of Social Security.
“In anticipation of this coming debate, the National Institute on Retirement Security surveyed Americans on their views regarding the Social Security program. The survey asked Americans what they think of the program generally and what are their views about specific ideas on how to reform the program and shore up its financing. Stay tuned to learn the results!
“Americans’ Views of Social Security finds Americans want action now on a long-term funding solution for Social Security. When asked about the timing for Congress to act on addressing Social Security’s funding shortfall, Americans don’t want leaders to kick the can down the road. Eighty-seven percent say Congress should act now rather than waiting another ten years to find a solution. This sentiment holds strong across gender, age, and party affiliation.
“This nationwide survey also finds that 87 percent of Americans agree that Social Security should remain a priority for the nation no matter the state of budget deficits, and this support holds strong across party affiliation. Ninety percent of Democrats, 86 percent of Republicans and 88 percent of Independents support keeping Social Security a priority. Americans also support increasing employer and employee contributions to ensure the long-term sustainability of Social Security.”
The Trump/Wald plan for undermining Social Security
Murray’s Fact Sheet emphasizes that “Trump and Musk plan to demolish SSA and make it much harder for Americans to get answers about their benefits, file for benefits, get a new Social Security card, and much more.”
Making it harder to get service
Murray continues: “Trump and Musk will cause wait times to soar for seniors calling in to sort out issues with their benefits. They will force Americans in rural communities to drive hours to get the help they are owed, and their reckless plans will cheat Americans out of the benefits they have earned.
“Americans need to be able to talk to real people, often in person, to make sure they get their Social Security check—but Elon wants to shutter field offices people count on to apply for benefits, get a new Social Security card, and talk to someone who can help.”
Cutting an already under-staffed system
Murray: “Trump and Musk are working to erode customer service provided by SSA–service that Americans have earned–despite the fact that SSA’s administrative expenses already represent less than 1% of total benefits paid.”
Murray: “Reports indicate SSA may eliminate up to 50% of its workforce in what the agency calls ‘massive reorganizations,’ and SSA has now offered all employees incentives to leave the agency.”
Murray: “SSA is already very short-staffed, with 57,000 employees nationwide. There is simply no way to significantly reduce staff further without seriously jeopardizing customer service for tens of millions of Americans.”
Ashley Lopez and Jenna McLaughlin report on how Trump plans to cut some 7,000 jobs at the Social Security Administration (https://npr.org/2025/02/28/nx-s1-5296986/trump-worker-cuts-social-security-administration).
The effects of what Trump/Wald plan will have. Murray provides the following list.
- Wait times to get help on the phone will inevitably increase.
- Processing times for retirement and disability benefits will significantly worsen.
- Customer service at SSA has long suffered from historically low staffing levels and inadequate discretionary funding, which Democrats have pushed to increase each year while congressional Republicans push to cut non-defense funding.
- Currently, fewer than 40% of people who call SSA seeking to speak to a Social Security agent are able to get through to talk to someone.
- The average time someone waits to talk to someone on SSA’s 1-800 number is 30 minutes, but that excludes people who hang up because the wait is too long.
- This wait will increase under Trump and Musk’s plans.
- It now takes on average 240 days to process a disability claim–up from the recent historical average of approximately 110 days.
- Last year, an estimated 30,000 Americans died while waiting on a decision for their disability benefits.
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Trump is mistaken about the real problem besetting Social Security
John Nichols reflects on Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress in an article published on March 4, 2025 and how the president inanely justifies his threats to Social Security (https://thenation.com/articles/politics/trump-social-security-threat).
“Glossing over issues such as resurgent inflation, stalling job grown and the fact that trade-war jitters had just caused the Dow to drop 1,300 points in two days, Trump instead devoted inordinate amounts of his speech to fawning remarks about billionaire Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn assault on federal agencies, objections to transgender athletes, and gripes that Democrats didn’t want to clap for him. As a USA Today headline announced, ‘Trump’s Speech Was All About Dodging Responsibility for the Economy He’s Crashing.’ Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett complained that, in a 99-minute-long address, ‘Trump spent 1 minute and 25 seconds on inflation and prices—and used the entire section to blame [former President] Biden. Zero solutions, zero policy announcements,’ while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said, ‘I did not hear one word from Trump tonight about the economic reality facing 60 percent of our people [who live paycheck to paycheck], or the enormous stress that they are living under.’”
“But Trump did find time to speak,” at considerable length,” Nichols points out, “about how he thinks the nation’s Social Security Administration is a chaotic mess of waste, fraud and abuse. Claiming to have uncovered ‘shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program,’ the president repeated disproven assertions and outright lies in a speech that suggested that millions of Americans must be gaming the system. “Believe it or not,” Trump said, “government databases list 4.7 million Social Security numbers for people aged 100 to 109 years old,” Trump claimed. [Trump also said erroneously and absurdly claimed that there are tens of thousands of 160-years old getting Social Security benefits.] CNN fact checkers immediately explained, “The vast majority of these people do not have dates of death listed in Social Security’s database. But that doesn’t mean they are actually receiving monthly benefits. Public data from the Social Security Administration shows that about 89,000 people age 99 or over were receiving Social Security benefits in December 2024, not even close to the millions Trump invoked.”
Concluding thoughts
The Social Security program was one of the great achievements of FDR’s New Deal. Passed into law in 1935, it has since 1940 provided important benefits to people up to the present, without once missing a payment despite a limited staff in recent decades.
It is a “public good.” Trump/Wald want to reduce or eliminate public goods, while advancing a huge tax break for billionaires and other rich folks as one part of an anti-democratic agenda. They wrongly insist that the program is wasteful and full of fraud and ignore potential reforms. Given the present political advantages of the Republican Party, there is not much yet that Democrats can do to protect and reform Social Security. One hope is that in the mid-term elections in 2027 a majority of voters will switch sides to the Democrats and Congress will be able to reverse course on Social Security. Meanwhile, protests against what Trump/Wald are doing proliferate.