U.S. Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA) reacts as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
During his 2024 campaign, now-President Donald Trump insisted that he had no desire to cut Social Security or Medicare. But according to ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley — who served as commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA) under former President Joe Biden — mass SSA layoffs being carried out by the Trump Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will make it much harder for the agency to function. O'Malley fears that an "interruption of benefits" will occur.
Trump officials, in response to criticism from O'Malley and others, claim that SSA downsizing is designed to protect Social Security and make the program run more efficiently — not endanger it.
In an article published on August 5, however, Salon's Heather Digby Parton warns that when it comes to "privatizing Social Security," some Trump allies are saying the quiet part out loud — including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
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"One provision of the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' was called 'Trump Accounts,' which are new retirement savings accounts for babies that supposedly will be opened with a $1000 contribution from the federal government," Parton explains. "At an event hosted by Breitbart News, Bessent suggested the accounts would be so popular that people will demand the government replace Social Security with it. 'In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,' he said."
Parton continues, "The White House quickly walked back his comments, saying that they have no intention of privatizing Social Security, yadda, yadda yadda. As Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said about Bessent's little truth bomb, 'Between Bessent's comments and the harm DOGE has already done to the agency, it's clear Trump was lying all along about protecting Social Security.' Donald Trump, lying? This should come as no surprise."
Privatizing Social Security, Parton notes, is an idea some Republicans were proposing long before Trump's 2016 campaign.
"After his reelection in 2004," Parton recalls, "President George W. Bush declared he would spend his political capital on it. After debuting his plan in the 2005 State of the Union address, he barnstormed the country in support of it — and the idea flamed out like a SpaceX rocket. Apparently, it’s time to try again."
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The Salon journalist continues, "Yes, Republicans staged a full-blown tantrum back in 2023 when President Joe Biden suggested in his State of the Union address that they wanted to cut the program. But nobody believed their denials. ... Promise or no promise, it's clear the GOP has not changed its goal one bit — and the fight to protect Social Security and the social safety net should remain the essential mission of the Democratic Party."
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Heather Digby Parton's full article for Salon is available at this link.