Danger to Social Security: Elon Musk’s Intention
Trump’s task force—led by Elon Musk and his team of young engineers, known as DOGE—has set its sights on the Social Security Administration. Fully backed by Trump, they are on a mission to make budget cuts wherever possible within the important agency that provides support to many citizens. As DOGE sets out on this mission, the stakes are higher than ever before.
Musk and his team could soon make dramatic changes in how we care for our elderly and disabled population, leaving us wondering: what’s the real agenda behind DOGE’s plans for Social Security?
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency, aka D.O.G.E., through an executive order. He appointed Elon Musk to lead in eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending. The primary goal of this task force is to reduce the two-million-person workforce that is needed for the government’s continued operation. However, DOGE’s actions have already attracted strong criticism and multiple legal challenges.
Elon Musk is now preparing to take significant action against Social Security as he ignores his critics. In early February, he gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems used to distribute payments to Social Security beneficiaries. These systems contain highly sensitive information about every US citizen, including Social Security numbers. It’s a treasure trove of our personal information. Empowered by Trump, Elon has given his team the green light to make copies of this information. This access raises concerns about the future of beneficiaries’ monthly payments, which could be reduced to support the goal of lowering government spending. Given Musk’s controversial treatment of disabled individuals people in the past, it’s a possibility we cannot rule out.
In 2023, Elon Musk displayed a lack of respect for disabled people by making cruel comments about one of his disabled employees, Haraldur Thorleifsson. Thorleifsson has a form of muscular dystrophy that requires him to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In their conversation, Elon claimed, “The reality is that this guy did no actual work, claiming as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him.” He then further expressed a lack of respect for the employee’s disability by cruelly stating that he didn’t have a lot of respect for him.
Considering these comments he made to this employee, does Elon Musk seem like someone our nation should trust to make fair and sensible changes to Social Security that protect the most vulnerable of our citizens?
Even though he apologized after receiving public backlash, the undertone of Musk’s remarks towards a disabled individual urges us to think about the candidates selected to fill pivotal roles in agencies like Social Security. His disrespect towards Thorleifsson in 2023 may not have been illegal; however, it should serve as a reminder of a serious problem with our government as it is now: a man who shows blatant disrespect for the disabled is making decisions for an agency designed to protect their rights.
