Donald Trump has long recognized the broad popularity of the Social Security system, so it was hardly a surprise that the president signed a proclamation this week celebrating the social insurance program on its 90th birthday. That said, as The Washington Post reported, the Republican didn’t exactly present the public with the truth.
President Donald Trump marked the 90th anniversary of Social Security on Thursday with an Oval Office signing of a proclamation that the safety net was ‘more resilient than ever before,’ thanks to him. He claimed improvements to the program’s customer service. He also misleadingly declared that he had checked off his campaign promise to eliminate taxes on benefits for seniors. But Social Security is barreling toward insolvency faster than before because of Trump’s tax bill and immigration policies, according to experts.
Early on at his Oval Office event, the president boasted, “Last month, I signed the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ and allowed no tax on Social Security for our great seniors, OK? So, how’s that?”
It was a rhetorical question, but if Trump really wants to know, he did not actually eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, even if he’s convinced himself otherwise — and repeats the falsehood on a regular basis.
But that falsehood was, alas, just the first in a series. The president claimed that his administration uncovered widespread fraud within the Social Security system, but that wasn’t true. He boasted about dramatically improving average call wait time for Social Security beneficiaries seeking assistance, but that also wasn’t true.
Just as notably, the president insisted that his administration is “strengthening Social Security for generations to come,” which also wasn’t true — since the Republicans’ domestic policy megabill is expected to hasten the system’s insolvency date.
In other words, on the 90th anniversary of the Social Security system, Trump held an official White House event and signed a celebratory proclamation, while pushing four specific claims about his record. All four were wrong.
To complicate matters, Frank Bisignano, Trump’s Social Security commissioner, sent a mass email to beneficiaries hours after the Oval Office event in which he touted “President Trump’s vision” for the system and the administration’s record of “delivering extraordinary customer service.”
Part of the problem with this is the dubious nature of the claims. As the Post reported, for example, wait times for Americans who’ve called seeking assistance has gotten worse, not better, since Trump returned to office.
But there’s also a larger context.
Last month, Bisignano sent a misleading email to Social Security beneficiaries as part of an unsolicited political message. This week, he took another step down the same path.
As we discussed the last time the Social Security commissioner played fast and loose with the facts, Americans need to be able to rely on ostensibly apolitical federal agencies for accurate information, free of partisan taint. When the public sees Trump rant online or during a conservative media interview, most probably realize it’s best to approach his nonsense with skepticism.
But when people get an unsolicited official statement from the Social Security Administration, they should be able to have some confidence that the agency isn’t trying to mislead them with deceptive political messaging.
And yet, here we are, watching the SSA join a list of politicized agencies, being used as partisan tools in the White House’s political toolbox, creating a dynamic in which Americans won’t know whether they can trust the next message they receive from the government about Social Security.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
