{"id":1055591,"date":"2025-08-12T14:51:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1055591"},"modified":"2025-08-12T14:51:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:51:50","slug":"unearthed-audio-trumps-newest-economic-lackey-wants-to-sunset-social-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/unearthed-audio-trumps-newest-economic-lackey-wants-to-sunset-social-security\/","title":{"rendered":"UNEARTHED AUDIO: Trump\u2019s Newest Economic Lackey Wants To \u201cSunset\u201d Social Security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Donald Trump and his administration are setting their sights on ending Social Security. Trump\u2019s new nominee for Commissioner of Labor Statistics, EJ Antoni, has made it clear he wants to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/44-houstons-morning-news-on-kt-26994314\/episode\/ej-antoni-economist-heritage-foundation-251975380\/\">sunset the program<\/a>\u201d and echoed Trump\u2019s view that Social Security is a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/04\/27\/politics\/trump-desantis-social-security-ponzi-scheme\/index.html\">Ponzi scheme<\/a>.\u201d This comes mere weeks after Trump\u2019s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear that their disastrous, billionaire-first budget is a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/factpostnews\/status\/1950589542819348606\">backdoor for privatizing Social Security<\/a>.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite his promise to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/what-trump-has-promised-for-his-2nd-administration\">protect<\/a> Social Security, it\u2019s clear that Trump is working to rip away millions of Americans\u2019 hard-earned benefits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In response, <\/em><strong><em>DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement<\/em><\/strong><em>:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s clear that Trump\u2019s promise that Social Security \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/02\/28\/nx-s1-5296986\/trump-worker-cuts-social-security-administration\">won\u2019t be touched<\/a>\u2019 was just another lie he sold to the American people. The reality is that Trump is stacking his administration with advisors who are admitting they want to shut down Social Security and rip away benefits from tens of millions of people. The American people overwhelmingly oppose cuts to Social Security that would leave our seniors high and dry, and they\u2019ll remember this betrayal on election day.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Americans have made their voices heard \u2014 they overwhelmingly <a href=\"https:\/\/navigatorresearch.org\/a-majority-of-americans-oppose-cuts-to-social-security-and-medicare\/\">oppose<\/a> Trump\u2019s attempts to destroy Social Security. After nearly 90 years of successfully lifting people out of poverty, Social Security has cemented its legacy as one of the most <a href=\"https:\/\/navigatorresearch.org\/a-majority-of-americans-oppose-cuts-to-social-security-and-medicare\/\">popular<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbpp.org\/research\/social-security\/social-security-lifts-more-people-above-the-poverty-line-than-any-other\">successful<\/a> programs in America.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of protecting Social Security, Trump has:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Created a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/factpostnews\/status\/1950589542819348606\">backdoor for privatizing Social Security<\/a>\u201d;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2025\/02\/26\/doge-federal-workforce-firings-job-cuts\/\">Slashed<\/a> staff by more than half during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextgov.com\/people\/2025\/02\/top-social-security-deputies-leave-amid-rumored-staff-cuts\/403316\/?oref=ng-homepage-river\">50-year<\/a> staffing low;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/03\/17\/social-security-trump-doge\">Jeopardized<\/a> rural Americans\u2019 access to their hard-earned benefits;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2025\/03\/25\/social-security-phones-doge-cuts\/\">Cut<\/a> critical services and stranded seniors;\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-wall-street-pick-to-lead-social-security-administration-will-threaten-americans-hard-earned-benefits\/\">Installed<\/a> Frank Bisigiano \u2014 an incompetent, ultra-wealthy, Wall Street lackey \u2014 as the Social Security Administrator to help him <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/republicans-confirm-wall-street-lackey-to-help-trump-and-musk-gut-americans-social-security\/\">dismantle<\/a> the program.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump and his administration are setting their sights on ending Social Security. Trump\u2019s new nominee for Commissioner of Labor Statistics, EJ Antoni, has made it clear he wants to \u201csunset the program\u201d and echoed Trump\u2019s view that Social Security is a \u201cPonzi scheme.\u201d This comes mere weeks after Trump\u2019s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UNEARTHED AUDIO: Trump\u2019s Newest Economic Lackey Wants To \u201cSunset\u201d Social Security - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/unearthed-audio-trumps-newest-economic-lackey-wants-to-sunset-social-security\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-12T18:51:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-12T18:51:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/unearthed-audio-trumps-newest-economic-lackey-wants-to-sunset-social-security\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/unearthed-audio-trumps-newest-economic-lackey-wants-to-sunset-social-security\/\",\"name\":\"UNEARTHED AUDIO: Trump\u2019s Newest Economic Lackey Wants To \u201cSunset\u201d Social Security - 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