What The Hell America!

Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, is pushing cuts and restrictions that will disproportionately harm older women who rely on Social Security for survival.

By now we all know that President Trump’s various policies and announcements have targeted immigrants, institutions with DEI programs and several federal agencies, including ones that focus on media, libraries, museums and ending homelessness.

But one of the biggest groups caught in his crosshairs is older women. He’s going after their well-being big time by all but demolishing Social Security through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE is not an actual government agency, but a made-up advisory body created by Trump to recommend federal spending cuts and root out so-called fraud and improper payments. Billionaire business owner Elon Musk heads up the initiative.

As pointed out in The Washington Post, Social Security is hardly a prime target for finding improper payments and is “among the most scrutinized and audited agencies in government, with frequent probes by its 500-person Office of Inspector General. It pays outside auditors to examine its books. Last year, a major focus in congressional hearings led by the GOP wasn’t waste or fraud—it was about Social Security being too aggressive in clawing back accidental benefit overpayments.”

Here’s the truth: Social Security is the foundation of retirement security for most American seniors, and the damage, especially to women, is likely to be severe. Women account for more than half (56 percent) of the total beneficiary population aged 65 or older; they are the vast majority (78 percent) of widowed retirees. About 13 percent of widowed women are in poverty compared with 7 percent of widowers based on the latest figures available.

Older Americans rely heavily on Social Security, as evidenced by data from the Social Security Administration:

• Almost 90 percent of Americans over age 65 receive benefits, averaging 31 percent of their income. 
• Out of older men, 39 percent rely on Social security for over half of their income. The same goes for 44 percent of older women. 
• For 15 percent of older women and 12 percent of older men, 90 percent of their income comes from Social Security. 

It’s no mystery why older women bear the most risk. They tend to earn less over their lifetimes, outlive their spouses and have less saved for retirement. For them, Social Security is often not just the main source of income—it’s the only source.

At first, the DOGE team was obsessed by false claims that millions of deceased people were receiving benefits. When that witch hunt died from lack of evidence, the next big idea was new mandates designed to address alleged fraud: DOGE announced that operations affecting the vast majority of those receiving benefits, including direct-deposit transitions and identity authentication, will no longer be available by phone. (The mandate is redundant, since phone calls surged and wait times on hold were up to three hours before a live person answered, due to personnel cuts already made by DOGE.)

This leaves those with computers to navigate the process online, and those without will be forced to navigate to their local field office to wait in line. Never mind that many seniors not only live miles and miles from a field office, but also may no longer drive. According to The Washington Post, another change “will require legal immigrants with authorization to work in the United States and newly naturalized citizens to apply for or update their Social Security cards in person, eliminating a long-standing practice that sent the cards automatically through the mail.”

Teresa Ghilarducci senior contributor at Forbes put it this way: “What we’re witnessing is not just fiscal austerity. It’s a political, and perhaps, an ideological attack on one of the most successful social insurance programs in American history.”

“Social Security isn’t broken,” she continued. “It’s being broken—through underfunding, mismanagement, and public messaging designed to erode confidence and support.”

It goes without saying that the victims of this deliberate dismantling of our major social safety net will be mostly female, elderly and poor. The time for action is now. Our lawmakers from both sides of the aisle owe it to America’s majority—women—to stop the madness and defend a bedrock promise to protect a benefit that the they have earned.

It’s up to women to speak up, speak out, march if we can, and above all contact our members of Congress. Our future well-being depends on it.