Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick actually said: “let’s say social security. didn’t send. out their checks this month. my mother in law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. she just wouldn’t. she thinks. something got messed up and. she’ll get. it. next month. a fraudster. always makes the loudest noise, screaming. and. yelling and complaining. anybody who’s been in the payment system and the process system knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen. yeah, because whoever screams is the one stealing.”
This is to soften people up and get them to shut up when the cuts come, because that’s what Howard Lutnick absolutely openly says they’re doing.
The New Republic – Malcolm Ferguson/ February 20, 2025 Trump’s Commerce Secretary Confirms Plan to Gut Medicare—and More Howard Lutnick has revealed Donald Trump’s true plans. “Back in October … I flew down to Texas, got Elon Musk to [set up DOGE], and here was our agreement: that Elon was gonna cut a trillion dollars of waste fraud and abuse,” Lutnick told Jesse Waters of Fox News Wednesday night. “We have almost $4 trillion of entitlements, and no one’s ever looked at it before. You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicaid and Medicare are wrong. So he’s gonna cut a trillion and we’re gonna get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America and we’re gonna raise a trillion dollars of revenue.”
Obviously most seniors will notice and will be in financial distress if Social Security payments are missed. This is not a maybe. They’re trying to scare these people into not complaining about it, but one way or another it’s going to have an effect in the world.