Summary

Elon Musk suggested cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in a Fox News interview, citing debunked claims about fraud and linking benefits to illegal immigration.

He falsely claimed millions of deceased individuals remain in the Social Security system, a statement previously refuted by officials.

While Trump has promised not to cut entitlement programs, Musk’s remarks indicate they are under threat, potentially impacting millions of Americans.

His rhetoric echoes far-right conspiracy theories, raising concerns about his influence on policy discussions regarding social safety nets.

    • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
      100·
      22 hours ago

      If it gets out of hand Elmo will be left holding the bag and likely forced out. The Trump admin will continue on like nothing happened, they won’t lose an ounce of support, and DOGE will just be a short footnote on our decline to fascism.

        • 9point6@lemmy.world
          40·
          22 hours ago

          That’s not optimism, it’s the very real conclusion that Elon is the (miraculously unwitting) fall guy for all the bad shit they need done early on to facilitate everything else. They’ll get to do the whole “we got rid of the bad eggs, we’ve tuned over a new leaf” thing that conservative politicians love to do when they kick out a fall guy.

          This time next year he’s going to be shouting on some fuckhead podcast about how he was used. I practically guarantee it.

          Well that or Elon successfully manages to do what he thinks will happen and manages to take full control

          • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            34·
            21 hours ago

            Counterpoint: There’s a significant chance that Musk has dirt on Trump. He literally has access to Trump’s old DM’s from Twitter. There’s a good chance that when he was forced to buy Twitter he needed to find something he could leverage out of the forced buy. Trump’s DMs are easy pickings at that point, they were never encrypted. That’s why they’re called “Direct Messages” and not “Private Messages.”

            Further, there’s rampant speculation that Musk helped him steal the election, but that’s a lot more loose and may not be a real thing. Musk having access to Trump’s past DMs on Twitter is basically a fact.

            • Generic_Idiot@lemm.eeEnglish
              11·
              19 hours ago

              Yeah but even if he had DM that said he raped and ate women and children none of his supporters would care

              Having dirt on him does nothing when his supporters eat dirt.

            • jaybone@lemmy.world
              4·
              16 hours ago

              It’s just like I have said about Putin having the underaged piss tapes. I don ‘t get it. Why should Trump lick his boots? Trump never suffers any consequences. No legal repercussions. His cult followers don’t drop him. Those supposed piss tapes could come out and no one would give a shit. So I’m not sure what his Twitter DMs could possibly have either.

        • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
          11·
          22 hours ago

          In the grand scheme of things Leon is just one of many douchebags. One that has been publicly grating to deal with for the rest of the gang. They’ve probably been planning an ouster against him for a minute, it’s just a matter of squeezing what use they can out of him in the meantime.

      • NeonNight@lemm.eeEnglish
        23·
        21 hours ago

        I 100% expect him to throw Elmo under the bus like he has with every other person that’s been on his side. He won’t really even need to try, his supporters will do it for him because they can’t handle a reality where they were wrong about the Orange One

    • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
      261·
      22 hours ago

      They’ll just cut it for anybody under 60 or whatever, and their base will cheer them on.