Billionaire Trump Official Says Missing Social Security Checks Are No Big Deal – TGbtc

Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, suggested on a podcast this week that missing Social Security checks aren’t a big deal, and that only a “fraudster” would actually complain if their monthly benefit didn’t come in the mail.

“Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month,” Lutnick said on the All-In podcast. “My mother-in-law is 94. She wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She would think something got messed up and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining.”

“The easiest way to find a fraudster is to stop payments and listen,” he continued. “Whoever screamed is the one stealing.”

Lutnick’s comments come as Elon Musk and his minions from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have invaded the Social Security Administration, implementing big changes and leading Americans to worry that their benefits could be in danger.

DOGE has pushed to close dozens of Social Security offices and limit phone services. The Social Security Administration (SSA), which has plans to slash its workforce, announced earlier this week that it will no longer allow people to verify their identities by phone, forcing them to come into brick-and-mortar field offices. The changes could overwhelm the agency’s staff and delay access to benefits.

The AARP, a powerful advocacy group for seniors, was livid about the latest proposed change. “The Social Security Administration’s move to force people to visit offices in-person for services that they have sought by phone will result in more headaches and longer wait times to resolve routine customer service needs,” the AARP wrote in a statement. “Requiring rural Americans to go into an office can mean having to take a day off of work and drive for hours merely to fill out paperwork.” The AARP continued to stress the change could result in “real economic hardship” for older Americans.

Lutnick — a billionaire whose in-laws are also affluent — doesn’t seem to understand this, to say the least.

The federal judiciary has been thwarting some of the ostensibly illegal moves the Trump administration has made to take over Social Security, including by blocking the Social Security Administration from allowing Musk and DOGE to access the sensitive private data of hundreds of millions of Americans. Lee Dudek, whom Trump named acting administrator of the SSA, was so miffed by the ruling that he threatened to shut down Social Security entirely. “Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency,” he said on Thursday, per Bloomberg.

Social Security going dark would endanger the welfare of millions upon millions of older and disabled Americans who rely on the benefit program to live.

Lutnick seems more concerned with the welfare of the world’s richest man.

Earlier his week, he went on Fox News and begged viewers to buy Tesla stock, which has been tanking as Musk continues to fire federal employees and dismantle essential government services. The Campaign Legal Center called for an investigation into the plea on Friday, calling Lutnick’s remarks an “apparently flagrant violation of federal law” barring public officials from using their offices for private gain.

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