Summary

Elon Musk suggested cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in a Fox News interview, citing debunked claims about fraud and linking benefits to illegal immigration.

He falsely claimed millions of deceased individuals remain in the Social Security system, a statement previously refuted by officials.

While Trump has promised not to cut entitlement programs, Musk’s remarks indicate they are under threat, potentially impacting millions of Americans.

His rhetoric echoes far-right conspiracy theories, raising concerns about his influence on policy discussions regarding social safety nets.

  • SabinStargem@lemmings.world
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    1 day ago

    We should use the chopping block on him, and repurpose his wealth to fund government programs. Especially for repaying federal employees for this shitshow.

  • Jimius@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    Reminder: you paid taxes in order to receive social security when you need it. If they negate on that deal, ask for your taxes back.

    • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      If it gets out of hand Elmo will be left holding the bag and likely forced out. The Trump admin will continue on like nothing happened, they won’t lose an ounce of support, and DOGE will just be a short footnote on our decline to fascism.

        • 9point6@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          That’s not optimism, it’s the very real conclusion that Elon is the (miraculously unwitting) fall guy for all the bad shit they need done early on to facilitate everything else. They’ll get to do the whole “we got rid of the bad eggs, we’ve tuned over a new leaf” thing that conservative politicians love to do when they kick out a fall guy.

          This time next year he’s going to be shouting on some fuckhead podcast about how he was used. I practically guarantee it.

          Well that or Elon successfully manages to do what he thinks will happen and manages to take full control

          • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 day ago

            Counterpoint: There’s a significant chance that Musk has dirt on Trump. He literally has access to Trump’s old DM’s from Twitter. There’s a good chance that when he was forced to buy Twitter he needed to find something he could leverage out of the forced buy. Trump’s DMs are easy pickings at that point, they were never encrypted. That’s why they’re called “Direct Messages” and not “Private Messages.”

            Further, there’s rampant speculation that Musk helped him steal the election, but that’s a lot more loose and may not be a real thing. Musk having access to Trump’s past DMs on Twitter is basically a fact.

            • Generic_Idiot@lemm.ee
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              1 day ago

              Yeah but even if he had DM that said he raped and ate women and children none of his supporters would care

              Having dirt on him does nothing when his supporters eat dirt.

            • jaybone@lemmy.world
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              24 hours ago

              It’s just like I have said about Putin having the underaged piss tapes. I don ‘t get it. Why should Trump lick his boots? Trump never suffers any consequences. No legal repercussions. His cult followers don’t drop him. Those supposed piss tapes could come out and no one would give a shit. So I’m not sure what his Twitter DMs could possibly have either.

            • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
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              It’s neigh impossible to fix US elections without thpusands working in secret. Musk did not fix the election. More people voted for Trump because the right has made a concerted effort to make Americans dumber and it worked.

              In addition to Trump’s DM’s Musk might have his own ties to the Kremlin which will share dirt on both men with each other so none threaten Putin.

        • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          In the grand scheme of things Leon is just one of many douchebags. One that has been publicly grating to deal with for the rest of the gang. They’ve probably been planning an ouster against him for a minute, it’s just a matter of squeezing what use they can out of him in the meantime.

      • NeonNight@lemm.ee
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        I 100% expect him to throw Elmo under the bus like he has with every other person that’s been on his side. He won’t really even need to try, his supporters will do it for him because they can’t handle a reality where they were wrong about the Orange One

      • littletoolshed@lemmy.world
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        Dude, we are talking about 12.4% of folks taxable earnings since the day they all joined the workforce. You think tears are the only things gonna happen if that got stolen?

        • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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          At the same time we’re also talking about a demographic that’s deeply steeped in fox news disinformation so who the fuck knows what they’d think the cause or actuality of the suspension of benefits would be.

          • littletoolshed@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            I’m not certain which demo you’re referring. All Americans with jobs pay into SS, and certainly not even half of them give a fuck all about some shitty cable infotainment network.

            • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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              All Americans should care - but the folks that really care are the ones dependent on it in their retirement.

              • littletoolshed@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                Agreed, totally, I just don’t think there is any evidence that all of those people (many, many Americans) are Fox News fans or would even want to be in the same room when it’s on the television.

                • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 day ago

                  I was specifically talking to that demographic that collects social security which are of retirement age (generally) and overwhelming consume fox news according to viewership demographics.

          • littletoolshed@lemmy.world
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            Also (sorry to double comment you) wanted to mention, I don’t think any American has yet had to deal with actually not having SS benefits (I mean generally, in that they still exist, I am not talking about exceptional cases and those where the benefits were taken away legally, if that exists).

            From the Gallup article you posted:

            Social Security’s future has been a topic of debate for decades. The system is expected to be able to continue to pay full benefits to recipients through 2033 if no changes are made to the system. In 2034, the system is projected to be able to pay 80% of benefits to recipients.

            So it could happen in the next decade, but we expect it based on how it’s structured.

            If it gets taken away from Americans by some ruling class, I’m pretty sure the reactions will be swift and meaningful. And I’m not even referring to any kind of violence, just normal old social and political and legal actions.

        • nesc@lemmy.cafe
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          Yes. What do you think will happen? Do you think there were no dictators or tyrannical regimes before or that they were universally liked? Most of the people that were at the helm end up fine, after decade or more of being in power. Don’t delude yourself that there will be some kind of revolution, people will just take it and move on.

  • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    I sincerely hope these cuts do not happen, but if they do, I hope we see a massive “grey wave” of large scale protests from older folks who rely on these programs. They worked and paid into Social Security their whole lives and deserve that money.

    • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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      The thing is, the elders have all bought in to this idea that there’s no money for social security and medicare not because it’s been whittled away and underfunded and means tested to death for forty years, but rather there’s just massive, massive fraud, and everybody’s stealing from social security before it gets to them. So, they’re probably all cheering this push to cut entitlements because they think that all these fraudsters will be kicked off, and surely they won’t be kicked off, surely their social security benefits will actually be a good amount once all those mooches are kicked off. When it does happen to them, and it will, they won’t realize that it was by design, they’ll all be stunned that Trump and Musk made this “mistake” and swept them up in the cuts.

      • jaybone@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        And if we have elections again, they’ll thumb a ride from outside of their tent by the highway to catch a ride to the polling booths where they will vote for Trump’s third term? I’m thinking some of them will have to figure it out by then.

        • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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          23 hours ago

          Imma be straight with you, dawg, my MAGA mom is still unironically, dead seriously convinced that Obama is the anti-Christ and he’s going to come back and seize control of the government and launch a nuclear apocalypse literally any moment now.

  • Tarvoz@lemmy.world
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    Where do I get a refund on my social security payments I’ve put in my entire adult life?

    • 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.org
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      24 hours ago

      (not so) fun fact: The average black male American never sees a penny from social security because the program is biased toward those who live long enough to reap the benefits of the program. So, despite paying in an entire working life, dying too young rewards you with a big fat nothing.

      • theshoeshiner@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        The average life expectancy of a black male in the US is 72 years. Are you saying they’re just choosing not to pull SS? Something doesn’t seem right with your stat.

  • My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world
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    No way, a horrible person admits they probably might do something horrible after establishing a strong track record of doing horrible things?! I am SHOCKED. Who could have seen this horrible administration known for doing horrible things doing something horrible like this?

  • futatorius@lemm.ee
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    While Trump has promised not to cut entitlement programs

    And we all know how much Trump’s word is worth.

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
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    Musk’s head is gonna be on the chopping block if he manages to make 20+ million Americans instantly homeless.

  • futatorius@lemm.ee
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    If he wants a wave of suicide bombers on mobility scooters, he’s on the right track.

      • Frozengyro@lemmy.world
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        Yup, they’ll cheer him on as they go into bankruptcy, end up living on the streets, and begging for enough change to get a meal.

    • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      “Biden should have warned us harder! Harris tricked us! Fuckin leftists(lol) used reverse psychology! Imma MAGA even harder just to get revenge!”

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    So, do I get back everything I paid into it for the past 40 years? Is that part of the plan? If not, who gets that money, let me guess.

    • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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      I just retired after 40 years at over company, plus some college jobs. I’m 62, and social security was one of the things in my plan that made me decide I could retire My company was laying people off; I was secure, but my leaving allowed one more person to keep their job.

      Now Trump is tanking my 401k and Elon is taking about cutting SS. I’ve never been more stressed about money.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    Lets see how the Trumpists react when they notice that their social security checks no longer come and the medicaid no longer pays for their vital medications.

    • TVA@thebrainbin.org
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      It’ll still be the fault of Democrats and the Trans/DEI agenda for burning all the money.

      If their supporters were capable of logical thought they wouldn’t be their supporters (not saying they’d be Dems, but they definitely wouldn’t be supporting these fucks).

      • Stern@lemmy.world
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        22 hours ago

        Can’t logic someone out of something they didn’t logic themselves into, and they deffo didn’t logic themselves into thinking that trans dei woke liberals were turning the frogs gay.

    • MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net
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      My mom when the CoL bump to her SSDI survivors benefit bumped her over the poverty line and out of Medicaid eligibility:

      “Because I got an extra $50 a month, I now have to pay $100 a month for insurance, plus copays! This is ridiculous!”

      My mom when I pointed out that those thresholds haven’t been touched in decades because that would be helping people and helping people is bad:

      “Well, I guess I can’t really complain, I’ve been treated well.”

      Do not underestimate the vast amounts of copium reserves harbored by the brainwashed.