Did you hear the President's address to congress last week? Did you follow along with the fact checkers rating almost all of the claims as completely false, partially false, or needing more context?
Let's dig in on a specific false claim that's been repeated by this administration.
The claim
That SSA is paying benefits to people who are over 120 years old.
This claim was debunked way back in July 2024 by the Social Security’s inspector general audit, with the findings recirculated by the Associated Press on February 19th when the false narrative resurfaced. And, even before that, technologists and federal workers were calling out how ridiculous these DOGE claims were. Plus, the acting head of SSA, assigned to the role by President Trump, has said "these ultra-old people are not receiving payments".
And yet, we heard this false claim in the President's address, complete with the hooting and hollering from his supporters, contrasted by the defining silence from others in Congress. It was long and drawn out—an embarrassing display. Isn't it troubling that this is the best material DOGE could give the President to present?
The reality
Shouldn't DOGE have a long list to give him, considering how much waste, fraud, and abuse they say there is? Since DOGE has assembled a team that's allegedly the best of the best, shouldn't they have a detailed list of their findings? (And, by the way, they're not the best of the best. DOGE employees who applied to the U.S. Digital Service prior to Elon's takeover didn't get very far in the formal interview process).
Instead, what do we see? An ever shortening list of savings. Every time they do bad multiplication or realize they got it wrong, the wall of receipts gets shorter and the con they are playing on us all becomes more apparent.
As time goes on, the very real harm that will come to all Americans becomes more clear, we will see that even the "savings" they can document will actually cost us.
Why does it matter?
This lie-that-won't-die tells us they have nothing else. There's no scandalous story hiding under their pillaging of technical systems. The waste, fraud, and abuse they speak of doesn't exist at the scale that they claim. And now we're left asking what they are really up to?
By undermining the truth, they want us to believe the problem lies with the people serving us, not with their own actions or motives. Don't believe the loudest people in the room, instead listen for what they aren't saying.
Once you look past the bluster, you realize just how weak their position is. They aren't for transparency or efficiency, they are for something else entirely. Remember that all distractions are diversions. Get involved. And most of all don't believe them.