The ‘Hands Off’ Ignorance
And, no surprise, this latest anti-Trump protest has things exactly backwards.
The New York Post headlines: “Anti-Trump protesters descend on DC to rally against Musk’s DOGE cuts, new tariffs: ‘Let’s keep them afraid!’”
These stories were all over the media. The NY Post version reports:
Tens of thousands of protesters descended on D.C. Saturday as part of nationwide “Hands Off!” rallies against spending cuts from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and President Trump’s new “Liberation Day” tariffs — with one speaker calling on the crowd to make the two men “afraid.”
The huge crowd assembled with homemade — and in many cases vulgar — anti-Republican signs near the Washington Monument while similar events unfolded in New York City, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
“Trump and Musk, who want to be dictators and want to be kings and lords, they are afraid of the power of love and truth and justice!” declared activist minister William Barber II, who was one of the first speakers at the D.C. event.
“They are afraid of your unity and diversity. Well, let’s keep them afraid until they change,” he roared. “This is an outright battle for civilization! We are not going to bow to power drunk neofascist extremists.”
Unsurprisingly, the “Hands Off” groups have it exactly backwards. (And they were here in my area of Harrisburg, Penn., on the steps of the State Capitol.)
Now, as has been true throughout a good bit of American history, it is the Left that is in reality “power drunk neofascist extremists.” The “activist minister” quoted in that Post is a longtime Leftist, William Barber II.
Protest, of course, is an all-American and decidedly cherished First Amendment value. So no problem there.
But to protest means that the subject of the protest should be examined, and examined closely. And in this case, the “Hands Off” crowd has it exactly backwards.
Here’s a fact. A hard fact.
Over there at the decidedly liberal AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons) is this headline: “How much longer will Social Security be around?”
The AARP story reports as follows, bold print for emphasis supplied:
According to the 2024 annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees, the surplus in the trust funds that disburse retirement, disability and other Social Security benefits will be depleted by 2035. That’s one year earlier than the trustees projected in their 2023 report.
That does not mean Social Security will no longer be around; it means the system will exhaust its cash reserves and will be able to pay out only what it takes in year-to-year in Social Security taxes. If this comes to pass, Social Security would be able to pay about 83 percent of the benefits to which recipients are entitled.
Translation?
If the “Hands Off!” Crowd got their way and Social Security were not touched, in a mere ten years Social Security recipients will be getting only 83 percent of the “benefits to which recipients are entitled.”
This being the case, what these “Hands Off!” Protestors are really doing by fighting President Trump and Elon Musk (and their efforts to save Social Security and more) are making sure that when the next 10 years run out, senior Americans will lose a full 17 percent of their Social Security benefits. (RELATED: DOGE Confirms That Social Security Is a Fine Mess.)
And why? All because these Democrat protestors are utterly ignorant that, were they to get their way, they would be doing real damage to Social Security and its recipients.
So who, exactly, are these protestors who are, in reality, trying to wreck Social Security? Again from the New York Post. They are:
A coalition of Democratic and left-wing groups organized the event, which is one of the first large D.C. rallies against Trump since he reentered the White House in January. Simultaneous protests unfolded at over 1,000 locations across the country, including the Big Apple, at Columbia University and Bryant Park.
In response, the Trump White House issued a statement that correctly said as follows:
President Trump’s position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats’ stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.
Say again, if these “Hands Off!” Democrats and the Left get their way, which includes not merely ignoring the decrease in Social Security benefits 10 years down the road but “giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens,” they “will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.” “These programs,” specifically meaning “Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.” (RELATED: Entitlement Fraud Is Now a Stated Aim of the Democrat Party)
So.
Here sits the American people, most doubtless blissfully unaware that were Democrats and the larger American Left to get their way in opposing President Trump and Elon Musk, their Social Security benefits would, in fact, be in trouble down the road.
And the response from the “Hands Off!” crowd?
Silence.
Complete and total silence.
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