TPM / Josh Marshall: Let's Call It: Trump 2.0 Is Lining Up for Massive Social Security Cuts

[Dennis Donovan]

TPM / Josh Marshall - Let’s Call It: Trump 2.0 Is Lining Up for Massive Social Security Cuts

December 6, 2024 2:45 p.m.

One of the central features of Trumpism is that Trump never wants to deal in pain. Not for people who might vote for him. Or at least no pain to anyone who might vote for him … that they would blame on him. That’s why, at least in concept, he’s always said he’d never support cuts to Social Security or Medicare. That’s in concept of course. What happens down in the fine print of administrative decisions or omnibus tax bills is another matter. But the position in concept is still important and fairly consistent. But over the last couple weeks things have gone sideways in a pretty big way. And key players in his administration-in-the-making are now proposing massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Let’s go to Trump and Musk’s DOGE clown show. As you know, Trump has in some post-politics, performative sense authorized this government streamlining panel, run by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, which will radically cut the size of the federal government and reduce its spending by at least 1/3, two trillion dollars annually. Completely insane numbers. But for the moment Doge is the great performative political shiny object of the Trump 2.0 Era. Republicans and the part of modern conservatism that blends into right wing influencer culture is giddy about the possibilities. Democrats are terrified that Musk is essentially taking over the federal government. What everyone agrees – for better or worse – is that it’s a huge, huge deal.

I’m normally not the biggest fan of the Punchbowl newsletter. But this from yesterday is actually good run-down of what Doge remains, just an advisory thing that will propose things to Trump and the Republican Congress. It’s as powerful as whatever Trump feels he can do by executive action or Congress can do with legislation. For now every Republican and even a few Democrats wants to group around Doge and get some of the magical fairy dust, kind of a post-reality rave and dance party for bad people. But the appropriators, the people in Congress who decide how money is spent are mostly saying nice things and “we’ll get back to you but sounds lovely” and moon-walking away from the conversation.

Of course, there’s the additional matter that Musk can use his mix of media platform dominance and paid media to push his ideas. But for my present purposes that’s a different issue. My hunch is also that Trump and Musk are on an inevitable collision course and destined for a break-up that will be intense, ugly and possibly hilarious. But again, another story for another day.

Starting a few days ago Musk commented approvingly on a long thread by a longtime Social Security abolitionist, Senator Mike Lee making the case for abolishing Social Security and replacing it with private accounts. This was followed by a series of remarks by both either saying Social Security is a scam or alternatively that you can cut billions or hundreds of billions and no one will notice. Just Wednesday Ramaswamy went on CNBC and in addition to discussing various other ideas about innovation and efficiency noting that there are “hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract just from basic program integrity measures” out of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The rest of the quote suggests he thinks he can claw back these savings by cutting off benefits to people who don’t really deserve them or are legally entitled to them.

Whatever!!!

/snip

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

[Wicked Blue]

2. Social Security is OUR money, not the government's

Repukes and Maggats can't understand this concept.

[Kaleva]

12. The Social Security Act of 1935 says otherwise

"Section 1104 of the 1935 Act, entitled "RESERVATION OF POWER," specifically said: "The right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision of this Act is hereby reserved to the Congress."
https://www.ssa.gov/history/nestor.html#:~:text=Section%201104%20of%20the%201935,was%20in%20some%20way%20unconstitutional.

[Rebl2]

14. Well

thanks a lot for that piece of info. You really made my day.

[Kaleva]

15. It's never been our money

[Demsrule86]

21. It won't happen...they have a one vote majority in the House.

And the midterms would be a blood bath for them.

[Henry203]

3. Poor houses

Are a republican wet dream. They think old people should have no healthcare and poor homes is your punishment for not making enough money.

[lame54]

10. Houses?...

That's unusually generous for these guys
The new term is poor streets/alleys

[La Coliniere]

16. How long before we hear

“bring out your dead!” shouted in our streets? Who knew Monty Python and the Holy Grail was actually predictive of life in the United States, the 2025 edition?

[Passages]

4. You have to have a great deal of contempt for human beings to even consider such a thing.

[Kingofalldems]

5. You can see it in their eyes.

[viva la]

6. "Fraud" .... they never find much of that in these programs.

The rest of the quote suggests he thinks he can claw back these savings by cutting off benefits to people who don’t really deserve them or are legally entitled to them.

There's not a lot of leeway in who gets these benefits. You're over 65, you get Medicare. It's hard to fake being over 65. Same with SS (soon will have to be 67 for that). Getting disability often means going through a year or so of applying, proving, getting rejected, re-applying, hiring an attorney.... Medicaid is means-tested, and you do have to prove your financial need. There just isn't a lot of room in the recipient side.

Of course, as Senator Rick Scott knows very well, there's a lot of fraud in the provider-side. But somehow I doubt Trump is going to go after the big hospital companies and insurers.
Nope-- they're going to cut our monthly payments and raise the Medicare age to match the SS age first, then start cutting what Medicare and Medicaid cover.

[JCMach1]

7. DOGE is a dog and pony show largely so that someone

Can serve as patsies when the proposals go pear shaped.

The goals are very different. Yes, they would love to go after Social Security, but they will be just as happy if they get away with the other 3/4 of the horrific cuts they want to make while the volume gets raised on Social Security and Medicare.

If the heat gets too much, you throw the douchenozzle edgelords under the bus. Everyone already hates those dipshits anyway.

Feel free to bookmark this post.

[roscoeroscoe]

11. Good take

I would be surprised if the House of Reps has the stomach to touch Social Security or the VA.

[JCMach1]

13. Yeah, it will 'largely' be noise to cover the very real damage

They will be pushing.

The absolutely funny part is these two are so politically naive they are going to fall for it.


Like I said, totally there for it.

[Deuxcents]

8. This is not the time to be selling a house in Florida, but maybe I should start trying now.

I will not be able to live here anymore if they take my SS and Medicare. I live independently but my fear is I won’t be able to afford to..I keep thinking, just what will become of people like me? They have more money than they could ever spend but want to take the funds that we’ve paid into all our working years and break the promises we believed and participated in.

[Passages]

9. We're going to need to build coalitions for protests especially for those who

will not be able to be present for such events. Looking out for each other more than ever before.

[allegorical oracle]

18. Right there with ya. nt

[allegorical oracle]

17. Junk Social Security at the same time they're cutting jobs (unemployment jumped up

a bit in the latest jobs report), people are losing homes due to disasters, laws are being enforced to prevent homeless people from sleeping in public places (at least in Fla.). So what's to do? Guess it's Soylent Green time.

[Deuxcents]

19. Maybe we'll have to do like in the 60's..pool our funds together and have our own little family

Of survivors

[Rebl2]

20. Wonder what

all those maga voters who say don’t touch my SS and Medicare will think about this plan.