Dear John,

Incoming President Trump has vowed not to touch Social Security and Medicare, as he instructs Ramaswamy and Musk to cut 2 trillion dollars from the budget.

Trump cannot be believed even for a second.

According to Project 2025, about which Trump also claimed to know nothing, Social Security and Medicare are at the top of the list for privatization, or even complete abolishment, by the Republicans who will be in charge.  

Republican Congressmembers already in office, already have budgeted to bring about Project 2025’s plans. The Republican Study Committee has already released a 2025 budget that will force Americans to work longer for less, cutting Social Security benefits for over 250 million people, which is 3 in 4 Americans.

But this is not the worst of it. According to the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Brendan Boyle, this Republican budget will also bring an end to what we know as Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and food assistance for children, simply to give the ultra rich the luxury of huge new tax cuts.

Finally, bring into this scenario Dr Oz, Trump’s pick to head up Medicare Services. When he was pushing hydroxychloroquine as an untested treatment for Covid, he and his wife held over $615,000 in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific, which sold the anti-malarial drug. Now, he is equally excited about privatizing Medicare through the “Medicare Advantage for All” plans which he frequently sold on his TV show.

To understand why Oz is such a fan of privatized Medicare, consider his 2022 Senate campaign disclosures: Of the $8.5 million Oz reported in healthcare stocks, $600,000 was in privatized Medicare companies. These plans won’t cut government waste. They will just make health care less accessible for the less well off, while lining the pockets of those like Dr Oz who sell them.

Make no mistake: The Trump team is coming after your Social Security and your Medicare. Tell the incoming Trump administration and Congress: Keep your hands off Social Security, the ACA, Medicare, and Medicaid!

There was certainly no mandate in 2024 for cutting Social Security; in fact, 92% of Americans oppose it. And there was no mandate for cutting Medicare, or for increasing drug prices, which the Biden administration had just started to negotiate down, already saving Americans billions of dollars.

But in his first term, Trump tried to cut billions from Americans’ earned benefits every year he was in office. Now that he is no longer facing re-election, Trump has even less of an impetus to restrain himself from his worst destructive impulses.

And now Vice President-elect JD Vance tells us that Musk and Ramaswamy’s plans to cut that $2 trillion in government “waste” are already focusing on Social Security.

We will not surrender our health and security just to make billionaires more wealthy! Tell the Trump administration and Congress: Don’t touch our Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid!

Thank you for standing up for the real well being of our fellow Americans!

- DFA AF Team