A couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump’s controversial commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, appeared on a conservative podcast and reflected on Social Security beneficiaries. As he quickly discovered, that wasn’t a good idea.
“Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month,” the billionaire said. “My mother-in-law who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She’d think something got messed up, and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”
It was offensive and wrong for a variety of reasons, and common sense suggested that members of the White House team would exercise far more caution on the subject going forward.
If that was the idea, however, it didn’t last. A week later, the president’s top campaign donor, Elon Musk, declared at a campaign event: “One interesting statistic was that 40% of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent, meaning that it was someone trying to get a Social Security payment that was going to a senior instead to go to a fraud ring.”
This week, JD Vance made his latest Fox News appearance, and the vice president echoed the line.
Referring to Musk and the Department of Government Operation, the Ohio Republican said: “You look at all of the fraudulent grants they found, you look at people who are 150 years old fraudulently collecting Social Security payments, you see our Social Security system, 40% of the people who are calling in are actually...
After nearly a week of protests in Los Angeles against recent federal immigration enforcement sweeps in the city, President Trump doubled down on his administration’s efforts to detain and deport ...