GOP wants Musk to back off Social Security Claims

Elon Musk has been going after entitlement programs pretty hard.

However, some of his latest comments were even a bit much for the GOP, and reports are now that behind the scenes, Republicans are telling Musk to quiet down about Social Security.

Ponzi Scheme

I will be the first person to say that Social Security and Medicare need to be reformed, but there is no way I would ever support ending these programs as a politician, but that is where Musk appears to be headed, or at least that is the perception.

For example, Musk likened Social Security to a Ponzi scheme. He has also claimed that illegals are abusing the system, stating, “By using entitlements fraud, the Democrats have been able to attract and retain vast numbers of illegal immigrants. And buy voters.

"Basically bring in 10, 20 million people who are beholden to the Democrats for government handouts and will vote overwhelmingly Democrat, as has been demonstrated in California.”

Those comments were made on Senator Ted Cruz’s podcast, and he should know better than to let Musk rant about something like this without absolute proof because the media is already having a field day on this, as are Democrats.

Shut Up

Republicans all know how touchy of a subject is, which is why numerous Republican senators are now trying to get Musk to dial it down a bit.

For instance, Senator Murkowski (R-AK) stated, “It doesn’t help the president when you have somebody who clearly is not worried about whether or not Social Security benefits are going to be there for him.”

Another Republican Senator also hit Musk, but did so off the record for fear of having Musk and Trump come after him. He stated, “He should zip it on that. It’s not helpful. It plays right into Democrats’ hands; they want to talk about Social Security cuts, Medicare cuts, Medicaid cuts. We don’t. The president does not want to talk about that. He’s against all those things.”

Again, this is all about how things are being framed. By all means, go after the fraud, but make sure you bring proof and frame it the proper way when you are speaking about it.

Trump Will NOT Cut Social Security or Medicare

Donald Trump’s administration is trying to stay head of this, even putting out an official White House statement on the matter to try to control the narrative.

In part, the statement said, “The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it (over and over and over again). Elon Musk didn’t say that, either. The press is lying again.

“Here is Musk’s direct quote: ‘The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year.’”

The solution to me is pretty simple… just stop Musk from making any policy statements and limit him to commenting on fraud and waste he can prove. Wild accusations do not hurt Trump, and Musk has clearly been running off at the mouth a bit too much. Again, Musk is not used to answering to anyone, so he may need a quick rap across the knuckles from Trump. But if I were Trump, I would just tell him to keep his mouth shut and continue to go through the line items to find fraud, bring it to the respective department head, and let them take it from there.