The Trump White House ordered the Social Security Administration (SSA) to speed up its coming cuts to phone services, Axios reports.

Pres. Donald Trump promised he “won’t touch” Social Security, but has a long legal history of touching things he’s not supposed to. And the White House told the Washington Post that Trump’s promise only extended to Social Security benefit levels that Congress sets and that he therefore can’t legally touch. (Which hasn’t stopped him from bad-touching before.)

What Trump can touch/violate is the agency itself. And Axios reports that’s going more-than-full-steam ahead.

Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek said yesterday in a meeting — with people he will never talk to again now that he knows they blab to the Washington Post — that Trump’s request will make things worse, increasing the opportunities for crooks to rip off Social Security beneficiaries. (The chaos means that beneficiaries will be unsure of what’s going on, and scammers can exploit that uncertainty.)

Most importantly, the changes will make it harder for new beneficiaries to receive their benefits, according to an internal SSA memo.

One Social Security advocate at yesterday’s meeting said the changes will make enrollment especially hard for hospitalized people, kids in foster homes, and rural residents.

The White House didn’t deny any of this, it just claimed no one will be denied legitimate benefits (because they’re redefining “legitimate” to eliminate beneficiaries in the name of fighting waste, fraud, and abuse™). The crusade against waste, fraud, and abuse is, of course, a waste, fraud, and abuse. And it’s already taking a toll.

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABLED The Washington Post has a new report this morning (gift link because TFN isn’t cutting benefits) inventorying some of the damage Trump has already done to the SSA.

• The SSA website crashed four times in ten days.

• Office managers are answering phones due to lack of receptionists.

• Elon Musk ended quality control for customer service.

• Some beneficiaries have been unable to get Social Security cards.

• Officials have acknowledged service will get suckier.

• Callers are told wait times will be 120 or 180 minutes.

• Hold times have doubled after the Biden administration got them down to “just” 50 minutes.

All of this is before the new phone changes cuts take effect next week. Trump’s nominee to serve as “permanent” SSA commissioner, Frank Bisignano, has a confirmation hearing today. We’ll see how long the wait time is for senators to get answers from him.

Republished with permission from The Fucking News.