182 upvotes, 13 direct replies (showing 13)
View submission: Elon Musk can’t balance the budget
Trump has promised he will not cut 1 cent from Social Security, so that’s roughly $1.6 trillion out of the $7 trillion budget off the table.
Trump lies constantly and doesn't have to worry about getting re-elected this time. What makes Vox think that Trump can be trusted on this when he can't be trusted on anything else?
Convincing Trump to nuke Social Security entirely gets Musk most of the way to the $2 trillion target by itself.
they certainly will not get anywhere near that number without congressional action.
This is assuming that Trump is going to follow the budget that Congress sets, and not simply disband or refuse to fund federal agencies and programs that he doesn't like. That's super illegal, obviously, but a court has to enforce that, and Trump has a very friendly SCOTUS. And there's only a certain amount of putting things back together that's even possible; if Trump fires an entire department, by the time the Courts are able to countermand that and make it stick, they'll be rebuilding from scratch and the money is likely to have disappeared into the coffers of Trump's allies. Good luck clawing it back.
Edit to add: I don't think the scenarios here are particularly likely, but I think Vox is underestimating the degree to which a lot of crazy stuff is now within the realm of possibility.
Comment by Yup767 at 26/11/2024 at 02:41 UTC
44 upvotes, 19 direct replies
It's not about trusting what he says, but understanding what someone else's motivations are.
Trump destroying SS would be the end of him. That's why they know that 1.6T is off the table
Comment by grathad at 26/11/2024 at 02:51 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Even if the court actually found the balls they lost (as unlikely as you put it), it will be virtually impossible to enforce.
who is going to force his hand? Or the hands of the sycophants in charge of any department?
Comment by SirTwitchALot at 26/11/2024 at 02:23 UTC
8 upvotes, 5 direct replies
If Trump nuked social security he would have an actual riot that would make Jan 6 look like a Tupperware party.
Comment by Outaouais_Guy at 26/11/2024 at 14:46 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
A person made a chart showing all of the things that Trump isn't supposed to cut and they added up to something like 67% of the budget. That didn't factor in the fact that he would have to dramatically increase spending in a number of departments and/or create several new departments to manage his massive deportation scheme.
Comment by dpdxguy at 28/11/2024 at 14:42 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
a court has to enforce that, and Trump has a very friendly SCOTUS
It's worse than that. The closest thing the courts have to an enforcement arm is the executive branch, of which Trump will be the head.
Courts write decisions. That's not the same thing as enforcing those decisions.
Comment by PopcornDrift at 26/11/2024 at 02:34 UTC
5 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Nuking social security would be the quickest way to get the entire country to turn against you. Trump may not have to worry about re-election but other republicans do
Comment by caveatlector73 at 26/11/2024 at 02:17 UTC
3 upvotes, 2 direct replies
"What makes Vox think that Trump can be trusted on this when he can't be trusted on anything else?"
FWIW the word "trust" isn't even in the article you read. Why do you think Vox would trust Trump?
Comment by Acceptable_Taste9818 at 26/11/2024 at 18:46 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
With social security if he does touch it, I believe he would have to wait till after midterms provided he maintains control. If he entertains touching social security or actually does he will certainly get hit in the mid terms and might even go out a lame duck. If he doesn’t touch it before the mid terms he risks losing the ability to touch it all if he loses any ground. And with all the other ambitions he has, I doubt he touches it.
Comment by the_fresh_cucumber at 26/11/2024 at 19:35 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
And don't forget that Medicare and Medicaid are also mixed in there and many people equate them mentally with SSI.
Discretionary spending was $1.7 trillion in 2023. That makes it impossible to cut more than that without defaulting on mandatory spending.
Comment by moxscully at 26/11/2024 at 23:20 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Destroying social security would cause immediate civil unrest and protests.
Comment by You_meddling_kids at 27/11/2024 at 04:58 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If Trump cuts an entire department there will be a lawsuit filed the next day, nobody will be laid off until courts have their say.
I really doubt this court, for all its shittiness, would be willing to strip Congress of its power.
Comment by snatchblastersteve at 27/11/2024 at 19:06 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I don’t get how canceling social security saves $1.6 trillion. I’m looking at https://www.ssa.gov/policy/trust-funds-summary.html[1]. It says social security brings in $1.35 trillion in taxes in 2024 and paid out $1.39 trillion. So if they cut social security isn’t the savings just $40 billion? Or do they plan to cancel all the benefits and keep the taxes?
1: https://www.ssa.gov/policy/trust-funds-summary.html
Comment by AnarchyAuthority at 28/11/2024 at 04:59 UTC
-1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
If you replace every time democrats said he’s a threat to our democracy with “he’s a threat to our bureaucracy” it all makes sense.
The President is the chief executive and most 3 letter agencies absolutely can be dissolved by him.