BY MATT BERG
& CROOKED MEDIA |
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The Tooth Fairy doesn’t pay ‘em.”
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Could the U.S. fumble a Social Security payment for the first time ever? It might, thanks to Elon Musk, a former top official just warned.
- Social Security is often called the “third rail” of U.S. politics: Touch it, and watch your political future get sizzled on the subway tracks. That explains why President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to protect the program that sends monthly checks that 72.5 million retired and disabled Americans, and which 87 percent of Americans support. Gazillionaire Elon Musk, however, has a much dimmer view of the program. It’s really “one big pyramid scheme,” Musk told Joe Rogan during a podcast appearance last week.
- Musk has a long history of attacking Social Security. He recently falsely claimed that tens of millions of dead Americans are still receiving benefits. But his new comments are especially chilling, because his so-called Department of Government Efficiency is preparing to fire thousands of employees in the agency and closing field offices in its supposed effort to root out fraud and waste.
- “What a fucking idiot,” a long-time Social Security Administration employee told What A Day, referencing Musk’s comments. “I don’t think he fully understands that SSA is not an investment firm but a social safety net.”
The consequences of DOGE’s action could be devastating, according to current and former officials.
- Social Security benefits could soon be interrupted because of Musk’s efforts, former SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley told CNBC. The collapse could happen within the next 30 to 90 days, he added. “People should start saving now.” (Yikes!)
- That’s a huge deal, because the SSA hasn’t missed a payment to beneficiaries since its creation in 1935. “Sometimes people don't get checks because of certain things that happen on an individual record, but not a mass outage,” the employee said. “My fear is that we are headed toward that … because they want to privatize it.”
- Musk’s claim that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme is absurd, the employee added, because the U.S. isn’t making money off the program. It’s designed to help poor people and vulnerable people more than the rich and powerful, which is probably why Musk, the richest man in the world, hates the idea of it. For example, one beneficiary might receive a $2,000 check every month, but only pay $132,000 in taxes over the course of his life, the employee said. His disabled child would also receive $1,700 for the rest of his life in Social Security.
- “I have had people on the phone being like, ‘I'm terrified that you guys are going to go away,’” the employee said. “They're starting to get really freaked out.”
It’s unclear how impactful DOGE’s cuts to Social Security will be. Maybe we shouldn’t leave that to someone who’s on track to be the world’s first trillionaire? |
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The fallout keeps coming from Donald Trump's disastrous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last Friday, and Russia is loving it.
American foreign policy now “largely aligns” with Russia’s, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters over the weekend. His chilling analysis is a direct result of Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s public takedown of Zelenskyy on Friday, during which they harassed him for not thanking the U.S. enough for its support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
The new Washington-Moscow friendship is already bearing cursed fruit: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspended all cyberattacks against Russia, a major shift in U.S. policy. Awesome!
Adding fuel to the fire, Trump blasted Zelenskyy today for saying that the end of the war is “very, very far away.”
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning. Elon Musk, of course, felt the need to chime in too: “Zelensky wants a forever war, a never-ending graft meat grinder. This is evil,” he wrote on X. Neither of them mentioned that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin started the war.
The U.S. is becoming more aligned with Russia, causing European countries to consider ways to protect themselves without relying on Washington — showing major cracks in an iron-clad alliance that’s existed since World War II. |
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