Posted on 06/16/2025 10:28:53 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The drama offers a case study in how Elon Musk’s team sought to run a critical government agency through misinformation and social media blasts — and how longtime employees responded.
Elon Musk stood before a giant American flag at a Wisconsin political rally in March and rolled out an eye-popping allegation of rampant fraud at the Social Security Administration. Scammers, he said, were making 40 percent of all calls to the agency’s customer service line.
Social Security employees knew the billionaire’s claim had no basis in fact. After journalists followed up, staff members began drafting a response correcting the record.
That’s when Leland Dudek — plucked from a midlevel job only six weeks earlier to run Social Security because of his willingness to cooperate with Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — got an angry call from the White House, according to several people familiar with the exchange.
“The number is 40 percent,” insisted Katie Miller, a top administration aide who was working closely with Mr. Musk, according to one of the people familiar with the April 1 call. President Trump believed Mr. Musk, she said. “Do not contradict the president.”
Throughout the early months of this Trump presidency, Mr. Musk and his allies systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the Social Security Administration based on misinterpreted data, using their claims to justify an aggressive effort to gain access to personal information on millions of Americans, a New York Times investigation has found.
Their work has led to the departures of thousands of employees, thinning an already overstretched work force and setting off a wave of public anxiety over the state of an agency administering politically sacrosanct retirement benefits that Mr. Trump has vowed to protect.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Can you say "Russiagate?"
A lie. Pure propaganda. As you said, DOGE just investigates and exposes. They don't run anything. And the people who staff DOGE are incredibly brilliant. Some are wealthy people who think it is their patriotic duty to fight waste and prevent the federal government from going bankrupt - without pay. But to the NYT, anyone who even dares question the bloated liberal administrative state, including its handouts to Dem / liberal NGOs, must be smeared and destroyed.
| Good perspective, Opinionated. My wife (former Japanese national) and I became resident aliens in Japan 2.5 years ago and we have been receiving Social Security checks direct to our Japanese bank, a very convenient service. And two weeks ago, we got a letter from Social Security asking us to provide copies of key U.S. records to prove who we are (driver's license, passport, social security card, etc.). I choosed to make digital copies of these documents which I sent to an on-line collection point. And assume that DOGE prompted Social Security to send this request. It was a relatively painless procedure. And I hope DOGE gets a wide enough sample of data to analyze and identity fraud/abuse in the system. Supposed to hear back from the SSA in a couple month's time. Last year, when my wife processed her paperwork to get Social Security for the first time, she was informed by the US Embassy here to expect the first payment to be received six months after her scheduled date. I was curious about this procedure till I learned about that limestone cave where Social Security is processing its records. DOGE bring this to light explained things. |
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