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- By Levi Rickert
Opinion. Democratic strategist James Carville has spent years warning that Republicans win elections with simple messages, while Democrats get bogged down with complex policy details for governing.
Carville ought to know. As the mastermind behind one of the most memorable messages in modern presidential politics — “It’s the economy, stupid” — he helped Bill Clinton defeat incumbent George H.W. Bush with laser-focused messaging.
President Donald Trump’s recent campaign proved Carville’s point. Trump won a second term with sweeping promises of instant solutions to complex economic problems. He pledged to “get the prices down” on cars, groceries, insurance and, of course, eggs.
Those promises have cracked under real-world conditions. Since taking office, egg prices have risen steadily. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts egg prices will go up 41% this year, even as it spends $1 billion to try to fix the problem. Meanwhile, Trump has taken to social media to encourage Americans to “shut up” about rising egg prices.
While Trump’s election messaging was effective, his governing has been nothing short of chaotic. That hasn’t stopped him and his administration from doubling down on messaging about government waste and fraud. Unfortunately, a lot of that messaging contains distortions and outright lies.
Such was the case when Trump addressed Congress last Tuesday. In the longest presidential speech ever delivered to Congress, Trump sounded more like a candidate than a unifier for a divided country.
“We’re also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors,” he said, rattling off statistics about more than 19.2 million people between 100 and 360 years old who are still in the Social Security database. “Money is being paid to many of them, and we are searching right now,” Trump said.
The truth is far less dramatic. A report published by the Office of Audit in July 2023 revealed that 18.9 million individuals with Social Security numbers, born in 1920 or earlier, had no recorded death. Most of these records are outdated, as the Pew Research Center estimated that only 101,000 Americans were aged 100 or older in 2024. Further, the Social Security Administration began a process in 2015 that automatically designates individuals aged 115 and older as deceased — and ends payments to them.
All these fake claims play to Trump’s MAGA base, as if he and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, are identifying massive Social Security corruption by millions of centenarians. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are working to give billionaires tax breaks and cut over $800 billion from Medicaid, Medicare, and possibly Social Security.
On Joe Rogan’s podcast, Elon Musk called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” These falsehood-filled claims make it easier for Trump to gut Social Security, while claiming to fight corruption.
Who gets hurt? Not billionaires.
Native Americans already receive Social Security benefits at lower rates than the general population, with wider gaps for disabled Native Americans on SSI. Tribal elders, who hold crucial knowledge and leadership roles in their communities, are most vulnerable to these looming cuts.
The proposed closure of 47 SSA offices could harm the 72.5 million Americans depending on Social Security. Critics say staff cuts will increase wait times and force beneficiaries, including elders, to travel farther for help.
Even before these threats, Trump's executive orders have hit Indian Country hard. Tribes can't access federal funds, Haskell and Southwestern Polytechnic Institute face layoffs, and 20 BIA and 12 IHS leases are marked for termination on the DOGE website. These are facts. They are the truth.
In these challenging times, Native Americans, especially elders, deserve facts and truth, not messaging filled with misinformation and lies.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen - We are all related.
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