This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.

I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

Elon Musk is gunning for Social Security,

and the results are already looking like they could be disastrous.

The Washington Post reports that a top official at the Social Security Administration privately admitted that

Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency is in charge as the agency is downsizing itself

with cuts. The official also said that Doge will make mistakes. Cuts to Social Security, of course,

are politically deadly.

So do Trump's political team and the Republican Party really believe turning over Social Security to Musk is a good idea for them?

Do they think their disinformation powers are so formidable at this point that they can overcome this, too?

Today we're talking about all this with Tracy Gruniger, a managing director with the advocacy group Justice and Aging.

Tracy, thanks for coming on.

Thank you for having me.

So this Washington Post report is pretty extraordinary.

The acting SSA administrator said of Doja's involvement the following.

Things are currently operating in a way I have never seen in government before.

He described the Doge boys who are whooping it up inside Social Security as outsiders who are

unfamiliar with nuances of SSA programs.

This is all according to detailed notes of a meeting that were leaked to the post. Your

thoughts on all this, Tracy? Yes, I think it's really scary to imagine that we have in the

Social Security Administration people who don't understand how it works. And this is a really

popular program. Social Security is important and

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