In the middle of Donald Trump causing a market crash and burning 401(k) savings for millions of Americans, the Washington Post reports that Trump is still gutting the social safety net and plans to lay off potentially thousands more Social Security Administration (SSA) employees as soon as this week.
The cuts come after Trump issued the largest tax hike since 1982, sparking a massive market sell-off and stunning millions of American retirees watching their accounts circle the drain, like the retiree in Georgia who lost $58,000 in two days.
The self-inflicted economic turmoil twists the knife for seniors after weeks of Trump and Republicans stabbing them in the back by making deep cuts to SSA staffing, restricting phone-based services for beneficiaries and applicants, and taking efforts to financially devastate Americans by clawing back payments already issued to them.
“Trump is lighting the economy on fire while gutting the social safety net millions rely on. His chaotic policy is devastating financial lifelines for seniors, disabled Americans, and working families. This month, millions will have to make hard economic choices because they’ve been laid off, seen their retirement savings diminish, or had their Social Security benefits lost in limbo with an agency cut down to the bone. If you’re not rich, Republicans expect you to suffer, shut up, and die waiting in line for benefits that may never come,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Brandon Weathersby.
With the blessing of Republicans like Tom Tillis, Trump is set to close dozens of SSA offices across the country in the coming months. Data on the Social Security website shows cuts in in-person services at offices in rural areas like Cody, Wyoming, already force seniors and Americans with disabilities to travel hours to visit their nearest SSA location.
The SSA website has crashed several times in the last month, and according to recent reporting from WIRED, the Trump administration wants to make drastic changes to Social Security data in the next few months, which could cause a system-wide collapse and devastating outages.
A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report underscores that Trump and Republicans’ attacks on SSA are putting the operational reliability of the agency’s systems at an unprecedented risk. According to experts, Trump’s actions create “a risk that Americans will see disruptions in their benefits and applications.”
Published: Apr 7, 2025