Twice this week Trump vowed to end Social Security for “millions”—believe him.

Democrats need to fight this LOUDLY!

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are not hiding their goal of gutting Social Security. In fact, this week they went public with their campaign to lay the groundwork for massive cuts.

On Tuesday, Trump stated that we need to remove “millions” of Americans from Social Security, telling reporters, “We have millions and millions of people over 100 years old receiving Social Security benefits.” He then added point blank, “If you take all of those millions of people off Social Security, all of a sudden we have a very powerful Social Security.”

On Wednesday, Trump—who is a convicted felon for cheating in the 2016 election--doubled down on this false claim. While speaking in Florida, Trump escalated his lies to falsely claim there are nearly 20 million people–out of the 70 million who receive Social Security benefits—illegally in the system. Trump even went into detail stating that, “Listen to this – 3.6 million people are on Social Security rolls from the age of 110 years old to 119,” he said. “Do you think there are really that many? Those people are seriously old.”

Trump later added there are “3.5 million people from the age 140 to 149 years old” on Social Security. And to big cheers of the audience, he added this whopper, “There is one person on Social Security who is 360 years old--which is approximately 110 years older than our country.”

Elon Musk parroted those very lies telling his millions of followers on Twitter: “Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem.” The unelected billionaire Musk added, “Obviously. Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country.”

In response to Trump and Musk’s comments, we’ve seen a tsunami of fact checks making it clear that they are both lying. For example, as ABC News detailed, Trump and Musk are “falsely claiming that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments.” ABC News as well as other fact checkers have explained that the “millions” who are noted as being 150 years old in the system are there because that is how the computer system refers to people who don’t have a complete date of birth or other info.

And no, neither Trump nor Musk deserve credit for flagging this issue. It was raised by past Inspector General reports including after a 2023 audit which highlighted that there was 18.9 million people listed as 100 or older in the system. But—and this is a big but--the report concluded, “almost none” of the 18.9 million were receiving Social Security payments. Instead, only 44,000 people over 100 were getting benefits — closer to the actual centenarian population.

Trump and Musk are intentionally lying to make people believe that nearly 20 million dead people are receiving Social Security. Why? So they can justify cutting in the area of 25% of the program. The problem is too many people dismiss this as bluster. You do so at you and your family’s peril because I can 100% guarantee Trump and Musk are coming for Social Security.

That’s not just my opinion. But also that of Social Security Works—a non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting Social Security and Medicare. They noted in response to Trump’s lies this week: “Trump is intentionally undermining confidence in our Social Security system.” They added, Trump is “laying the groundwork to ILLEGALLY DENY EARNED BENEFITS to anyone he wants to punish or deems unworthy.”

Trump won’t need Congress to act in order to toss thousands if not millions of people off the Social Security rolls. He will just claim—through his hand picked head of the Social Security Administration—that there is fraud and they are simply cleaning up the system.

Let me explain as a lawyer what happens if Trump/Musk suddenly throw you or a family member off Social Security claiming fraud or that you are actually dead. The burden falls on you to contact Social Security offices to make your case—and good luck getting someone to answer the phone with the massive Trump/Musk layoffs.

If you are lucky enough to get a person to respond at the SSA but can’t convince them to resume benefits, then what? You will be compelled to hire a lawyer at your own cost to potentially sue the government—which could take a long time. Trump and Musk hope you will instead simply accept not having benefits or die before your benefits resume. Sorry to be so harsh but that is their plan—and you need to know it.

Trump and Musk ran this very lie filled playbook to successfully build support to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development--known as USAID. For example, both falsely claimed that there was $50 million in US dollars being spent on condoms for the people of Gaza—when it was actually to prevent sexually transmitted diseases in the African country of Mozambique, which has a province called Gaza. That was a lie. Yet on Wednesday, there was Trump continuing to peddle this lie telling the crowd—in between his Social Security lies—that $50 million was being sent to Hamas for condoms, which Trump upped to $100 million saying, “condoms or Hamas. Hundred million dollars.”

The difference though between USAID—which provides aid to foreign countries—is that Social Security is a lifeline for nearly 70 million Americans. There is no way that Americans will stand for this--and Democrats need to lean into this issue loudly and now!

Republicans seeking to gut Social Security is not new. They hated it from the day it was first proposed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934. There was Roosevelt declaring, “Old age is at once the most certain, and for many people the most tragic of all hazards,” adding, “There is no tragedy in growing old, but there is tragedy in growing old without means of support.”

What did Republicans say in response? Well GOP Rep. John Taber of New York slammed he concept of Social Security it was “designed to prevent business recovery, to enslave workers, and to prevent any possibility of the employers providing work for the people.” But thankfully Democrats controlled Congress and created the FDR championed program.

In 2005, GOP President George W. Bush sought to end Social Security as we know it with “reforms” that would privatize it. But thankfully Democrats united and vocally opposed the idea. Same for groups like AARP that ran ads featuring a middle-aged couple saying, “If we feel like gambling, we’ll play the slots.” Bush finally abandoned the idea as Congressional Republicans ran for cover.

Trump will tell you he won’t cut Social Security--but he is a convicted liar. In fact, on Tuesday, he was on Fox News declaring he would never cut Medicaid—but come literally the next day, he vocally embraced the House GOP’s proposal to cut billions from that very program that is a lifeline for more than 72 million people.

Democrats should be hitting Trump and Musk on this issue daily. We owe it to the millions and millions of Americans who have contributed to the program to not allow a convicted felon and the richest person in the world screw them out of what they have earned!

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