CLAIM: Sen. Chuck Schumer and Bloomberg News claimed that Elon Musk called for eliminating or cutting Social Security and Medicare.
VERDICT: FALSE.
Musk did not call for eliminating Social Security or Medicare. He also did not call for benefit cuts.
Musk’s comments referenced waste and fraud in entitlement spending, not the abolition of these programs or the reduction of the benefits they provide. Schumer and Bloomberg deliberately misrepresented his remarks for political purposes.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) seized on a recent comment from Elon Musk, made during an interview with Fox Business’s Larry Kudlow, to push the familiar Democratic attack line that falsely accuses Republicans of wanting to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. Schumer falsely claimed that Musk had said “the quiet part out loud” by advocating for ending these programs, a distortion designed to stoke fear among seniors.
On Wednesday, Schumer spoke from the floor of the U.S. Senate:
This week, Elon Musk said the quiet part out loud, and every single American should be alarmed.
He said, “Most of the federal spending is entitlements…so that’s the big one to eliminate,” of course referring to Social Security.
Elon Musk is saying it plainly: Republicans’ big goal is to “eliminate,” his words, Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Bloomberg News also framed Musk’s comments misleadingly, claiming he “called entitlement spending — benefits including Social Security and Medicare — key targets for cuts.”
In reality, Musk never called for cutting benefits but instead referred to waste in entitlement spending as a major fiscal issue.
“The waste report in entitlement spending, which is most of the federal spending, is entitlements. So that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half-trillion, maybe $600, $700 billion a year,” Musk said in the interview with Kudlow.
Schumer and Bloomberg took the phrase “the big one to eliminate” out of context. Musk was not calling for eliminating Social Security and Medicare—he was referencing waste and inefficiencies within entitlement programs, a distinction they chose to ignore.
Additionally, Schumer falsely claimed that Musk’s remarks represent the Republican position. In reality, President Donald Trump has explicitly opposed cutting Social Security and Medicare, making Schumer’s accusation baseless. Musk, a businessman who is an unpaid advisor to the Trump administration, does not set Republican policy.
This is a clear example of Democratic fear-mongering and media spin. Rather than addressing legitimate concerns about the long-term sustainability of entitlement programs, Schumer and Bloomberg chose to mischaracterize Musk’s words to score political points.
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