Donald Trump’s administration is a catastrophe that’s hurting People. Whereas Democrats acquired punished on the polls for attempting to enhance folks’s lives, victorious Republicans are rewarding voters by actively arising with new and artistic methods to damage them.
Like, who the hell determined that senior residents have it too simple?
“In an effort to restrict fraudulent claims, the Social Safety Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which would require hundreds of thousands of recipients and candidates to go to company discipline workplaces reasonably than work together with the company over the cellphone,” the Related Press reported. “Starting March thirty first, folks will not have the ability to confirm their id to the SSA over the cellphone and people who can’t correctly confirm their id over the company’s ‘my Social Safety’ on-line service, will probably be required to go to an company discipline workplace in particular person to finish the verification course of, company management instructed reporters Tuesday.”
So as to add insult to damage, the Trump administration plans to slash the variety of Social Safety discipline workplaces.
Multibillionaire and Trump co-President Elon Musk, having promised trillions of {dollars} in authorities cuts by means of his so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, has lastly realized he can’t get there with out gutting enormously standard entitlement packages like Medicaid and Social Safety. After calling Social Safety “the most important Ponzi scheme of all time,” Musk has claimed this system meant to maintain senior residents out of poverty is beset by fraud.
“A lot of the federal spending is entitlements. In order that’s like the massive one to eradicate. That’s the type of half trillion, perhaps $600, $700 billion a 12 months,” Musk instructed Larry Kudlow on Fox Enterprise.
In actuality, a 2024 Inspector Normal report discovered $72 billion in “improper funds” over eight years (between 2015-2022), or simply $9 billion per 12 months. That represents lower than 1% of general funds distributed throughout that time-frame. If Trump actually cared about rooting out that abuse, maybe he shouldn’t have fired all of the inspectors common as quickly as he took workplace, as that was actually their job.
Whereas this new in-person requirement will influence all seniors and folks with disabilities who obtain Social Safety funds, it is going to disproportionately have an effect on these in rural areas. City recipients can Uber or take public transportation to their native workplace. Rural People don’t have that comfort.
Take Maine, as an example.
“The Presque Isle discipline workplace, the one Social Safety workplace in Aroostook County, is among the areas that would shut, forcing some Mainers to drive hours if they’ve bother getting their advantages,” reported native TV station WMTW. “Many workplaces are already understaffed.”
Aroostook County is on the northernmost tip of Maine and covers 6,800 sq. miles with simply 67,000 residents. It is sensible that the area was coated by an workplace in Presque Isle, inhabitants 8,800, as it’s the largest metropolis within the space. Trump received the county with 62% of the vote—nearly precisely matching Trump’s rural nationwide efficiency of 64%. Sadly, we don’t have exit polls combining age and space kind, however typically talking, older rural white folks (and this county is 94.5% white) are closely Republican.
Approach on the different finish of our nation from Maine, ginormous Alaska will probably be relegated to three Social Safety discipline workplaces. In the meantime, Musk’s DOGE has already canceled leases on 47 workplaces—16 of them in crimson states, simply two in blue states, and nearly all in rural counties. And that’s doubtless just the start. (For instance, the Presque Island workplace isn’t on that record.)
As with Medicaid, Trump’s newest insurance policies are significantly merciless towards his personal supporters. They voted for him to harm different folks, or due to the mistaken perception that Trump might decrease grocery costs—and karma is biting them within the ass.
It’s fairly exceptional that rural People voted for a candidate that promised to slash authorities waste, given how a lot they profit from closely sponsored rural broadband, nationalized mail service, federally funded well being care, and authorities discipline workplaces like these Social Safety areas. Now they’re discovering out that operating the federal authorities like a enterprise implies that they are the “waste” everybody was speaking about. It seems they aren’t as self-sufficient as they thought they have been—and that serving these rural denizens is definitely not environment friendly, so far as Trump and Musk are involved.
There have been 71.6 million People on Social Safety in 2023, and 5.8 million new additions to its rolls that 12 months. The brand new edict requires all new beneficiaries, in addition to anybody altering their direct deposit info, to go to a discipline workplace in particular person if they can’t confirm their id through an internet portal—one thing that tech-challenged seniors will disproportionately battle to perform. How precisely will the company, already understaffed earlier than the DOGE bloodbath, confirm all of them in particular person whereas concurrently going through extra staffing cuts of as much as 50%?
Lengthy wait instances, lengthy drives, huge inconveniences … it’s all good, although. They voted to personal the libs, and mission achieved! I’m positive these penalties will probably be greater than price it.
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