Interesting how the wisdom of a Republican president long dead so succinctly addresses what is going on in America in 2025. Social Security checks are no longer safe and we haven’t had a serious conversation (minus Paul Ryan’s Granny Starver fantasties) since the 1950’s about Social Security being eliminated. At that time a group of right-wing Republicans wanted to quash the program and then-President Dwight Eisenhower said that that was a “stupid” idea and political suicide. We’re sure he’s right. We’re also sure that we’re seeing Social Security as a sure thing being challenged as we speak.
I find it interesting that Musk “found” Social Security recipients who have been alive since 1875. Are they?
- Vampires?
- Immortals?
- They’ve got to be crooked immigrants, brown people with their hands out, right?
- A fantasy of Musk’s?
- O’Donnell’s explanation, yes, but has Musk seen fit to cobble up his own fantasy beyond that?
Karoline Leavitt was on Fox News assuring that people who had “lawfully” paid into Social Security would see no interruption in their checks. Um…what is a “lawful” payment into Social Security? You get the deduction taken from your paycheck every pay period. That’s that. So what is the term “lawful” to mean here? Remember, we heard Trump rationalize his actions on January 6, 2021 due to his belief that “unlawful” votes had been cast. So it seems that nowadays the Trump gang of thugs is deciding who and what is “lawful” and “unlawful.” That is not reassuring.
It’s also not reassuring that Musk is diddling with the Internal Revenue Service but one crisis at a time here. Would Musk actually start dropping people from Social Security?
The answer to that and who he would drop, would be very telling. Also, how many people would he drop? Because one thing is certain, if Social Security is mucked with en masse, you can depend upon the people taking to the streets. I truly believe that there would be riots.
The reality of life in America is that a great many people cannot make it without their Social Security checks. Yes, some people had good, middle class lives to begin with and they own their homes and they saved and it wouldn’t destroy them to lose Social Security. But loss of Social Security would literally be a death blow for many other people.
So what does Musk propose to do here, play God? Decide who gets their check and who doesn’t?
This is territory that Musk should not even be treading on, but you know what they say about angels and fools. The best case scenario is that Musk will realize that he needs to back off of this, that it’s too hot a political potato. Or, maybe Susie Wiles or somebody who thinks straight in the Trump administration could convince Trump to order Musk to stand down.
Trump’s popularity stood at 52% disapproval rating on February 12, in a Marquette University poll. If he allows Musk to go crazy with Social Security, watch that plummet to levels never before seen. And watch the Republican party go apeshit. Because Trump is theoretically done in politics in 2028 but the rest of the party needs to keep getting votes and try explaining to constituents how Trump wreaking social havoc with Social Security checks is some kind of a good thing. There is no social outcome that is going to be perceived as worth taking workers’ pensions away from them. Maybe in Musk’s fantasies but not in reality.
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They already knew Project 2025 was desperately unpopular, like so many of their policies. That’s why Dimwit Donny disavowed and distanced himself from it.
What makes them think they can bring any of these policies into effect and remain electable?
Are they THAT confident their gerrymandering and vote suppression will work so well?
If they abolish elections, electability won’t matter.
There are those of us who used to be homeowners etc. until Obama/Holder allowed the richest of us to crash the economy in 2008-09, WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES. Now my social security pays the rent. On the street, put there by the man born into never having to worry about money land? Well… I better start putting something away for that special gift to repay these nazis when the revolution occurs. There’s no one as dangerous as a desperate person with little to lose. Unintended consequences.
There will be no more real elections, that’s why. (see Putin’s Russia).
Republican Supreme Scam Court gave Trump total immunity. They are not hindered in any way by existing rules nor laws and don’t give a damn about the American people’s lives.. This is about turning democracy into dictatorship for their benefit… period.
God, I wish Dwight D. was still with us. I remember him as a child and how highly respected he was, both in the US and abroad. He would clean out the trash at the White House in a New York second, including and particularly musk.
There must be people of his character and leadership ability out there today. America needs to identify them and elevate them to power.
I will be dead if they abolish Social.Security. We own a house but his military pension pays the mortgage. Without SS, we’ve either let them.foreclose and live in our car…
FROM PIECE: So it seems that nowadays the Trump gang of thugs is deciding who and what is “lawful” and “unlawful.” That is not reassuring.
YES in fact he just issued an Executive Order to all AMERICANS telling them that
WHAT TRUMP says is LAW is Law…. none of the other gobbledygook in the Constitution or Court case history is Law.