White House Teases Trump Over His First Big Speech, Biden Defends Social Security
Former President Joe Biden took a swing at Donald Trump and Elon Musk in his first major speech since leaving office. Speaking at a national event in Chicago for disability advocates, Biden called Social Security a “sacred promise” that over 70 million Americans rely on every month.
He warned that Trump’s plans could put those payments at risk for retirees and people with disabilities, saying it’s shocking this could happen so soon. Biden pointed out that since the program started 90 years ago under Franklin Roosevelt, Social Security checks have always gone out — through wars, recessions, even a pandemic. Now, for the first time, there’s a real threat of that changing.
In a lighter moment, Biden poked fun at Trump’s odd claim that people born over 100 years ago are still getting Social Security. “I’d love to meet them figure out how they lived that long,” he joked.
Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration jumped in on social media to correct some of Biden’s comments, saying the president has promised to protect the program and plans to increase take-home pay for seniors by ending taxes on Social Security benefits.
Biden also didn’t hold back on Musk, criticizing him for calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.” He slammed Trump’s former commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, too, for saying on a podcast that his 94-year-old mother-in-law wouldn’t mind missing a check now and then.
When reporters asked about Biden’s speech, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back with a jab of her own, saying, “I’m shocked… he’s speaking at night. I thought his bedtime was way earlier.”
Leavitt also mentioned that Trump plans to sign an order targeting fraud in the Social Security system. The memo would crack down on illegal and ineligible recipients and expand the program’s fraud prosecution efforts in dozens of federal offices.
Biden’s Big Speech Gets Mocked by White House: ‘Thought He’d Be Asleep by Now!’”
