Trump is using his Presidency to punish people he doesn’t care about, including the elderly. Trump’s Social Security Strategy, with the implementation of new identification policies, will make their lives more difficult. He has already allowed others to search the massive databases of Government Agencies that his chosen appointees oversee, for any reason he sees fit. The Trump Administration is using supercomputer databases, not just to stop government fraud, but to identify people he opposes.
An article written by Sean Williams for The Motley Fool on November 30, 2025, caught my attention. The article is titled “4 Ways President Donald Trump and His Administration Changed Social Security Forever in 2025.” Those “changes,” according to Williams, are: (1) “The Trump Administration ended the Biden-era overpayment and recovery garnishment rate,” (2) “President Trump put an end to Social Security paper checks,” (3) “The Trump Administration beefed up personal identification measures for Social Security,” and (4) “The president’s tariff and trade policy provided beneficiaries with a ‘Trump bump.'”
The Overpayment Clawback Rate for Social Security
Under Project 2025, wealthy conservatives are enabling the President to restructure our government, and Social Security is a prime target. The long-term goal of the GOP has always been to eliminate two very important Socialist programs, Health Care and Social Security. These democratically developed programs are essential for the well-being of the majority of us living in our great country.
As I detailed in chapter one of my book on Trump’s Impeachment Problems, Obama’s Affordable (Health) Care Act (ACA) is a well-developed legislative enactment. The act largely retains the existing structure of two other socialistic programs, Medicare and Medicaid, which are essential to all of us who are not billionaires. As I explained, the GOP has no plan for Health Care. However, they do have a plan to eliminate Social Security.
The Biden-era overpayment and recovery garnishment rate, termed the clawback rate, on Social Security overpayments will go up from just 10% during Joe Biden’s presidency to 50% will officially kick in on January 1, 2025. This could be a good thing because it helps the Federal Government recover overpayments from fraudulent claims.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, former President Joe Biden lowered the overpayment recovery rate to 10% from 100%. In other words, 10% of an individual’s Social Security payout would be garnished, rather than 100%, until the debt is fully repaid. Trump rightfully brought that repayment deduction back up to 50% in order to replenish Social Security funding.
This means that individuals who have collected overpayments, whether deliberate or mistaken, will still receive half of what they would normally receive each month. This loss of pay continues until total repayment is received. However, this is better than when the Social Security Administration was taking away 100% of every future monthly check.
The Biden and Trump Administrations have changed the law so that we now have a more fair-minded regulation. However, we need to make sure our future Legislative body is comprised of people who are willing to work together. This will help ensure that future annual changes to Social Security remain a lifetime benefit that provides stability for those in greatest need. As for now, Trump’s Social Security administrative team has quietly rolled out a major change: it’s moving to a digital-first system.
Ending Social Security paper checks
Today, America’s Banking system demands that we modernize payments to and from accounts using increasingly sophisticated technology. When used properly, it is the best way to transfer funds. This is what Trump did with an Executive Order in March 2025, which has a special purpose. More than 500,000 Social Security beneficiaries were required to set up direct deposit or a Direct Express Card to continue receiving their monthly payouts.
This E.O. titled “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account” set a date of Sept. 30 as the compliance date to end the mailing of federal benefit checks. This means all Federal Agencies will have to coordinate with the Department of the Treasury to transition to digital payments. This means that even greater numbers of people without a bank account will have to use direct deposit or a prepaid debit card that accepts direct deposits.
While this change improves security and speeds up payments, it creates challenges for older adults who rely on paper checks, in-person services, or have limited online access. This will require those eligible for SS benefits to create a “my Social Security” account. Although this allows you access to payment history, benefit amounts and personal information updates online, seniors become easy targets for scammers.
What worries me is that with this change, the SSA database of personal information is now subject to scrutiny by other government officials whom President Trump personally appointed. The MAGA audience will believe that this is a great accomplishment. This is seen as being great because it will enable these other department officials, such as the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and Immigration & Naturalization, to search for information that suits their needs.
Data-collecting Supercomputers and Artificial Intelligence enable Trump’s ability to have his Artificial Intelligence search engines find information on anyone in just a matter of minutes. This is what I spoke about as part of my Postings on Trump’s Golden Age of America, which can be found with the above link on supercomputers and AI. Don’t Let Technology Control Us. I fear Donald Trump’s intentions, which we all need to better understand and evaluate. This is what my two books on Trump’s first Presidency are all about.
First, read the chapters that I have written on My Conversations with Trump Supporters. They tell the story about how and why they believe he is seen as being the greatest President in history. Unfortunately, they are not seeing the picture as to why he has been so successful in changing our government from serving the needs of all of us living in America into one that serves rapidly expanding, successful corporations with the help of deregulations and court defiance through the abuse of Executive Orders.
These technological achievements have become a necessary evil. This is due to the fact that they are implemented too soon and without a thorough understanding of how they affect the less fortunate population. Here the SSA is creating a problem for many seniors with disabilities. Also, for those who lack the means or skills to retrieve and enter these codes sent to devices that have fingerprint and/or face recognition.
Any major update to Social Security often inspires a wave of phishing attempts and scam activity. Strengthening your online security is essential. This requires you to update your SSA.gov password and turn on two-factor authentication. Newer preferred methods include receiving a code via a telephone call, cell phone text message, or an authenticator App.
More sophisticated methods use a physical security key or biometrics (fingerprint or face recognition). Security keys are small, key-sized devices that uniquely identify themselves to sites and services. To use a security key, you must first enroll it with each site or service you want to protect. Using these new choices makes unauthorized logins much harder for predators.
Watch your account activity for anything suspicious. Stay skeptical of unsolicited emails, texts, or calls asking for personal information. Scammers thrive on periods of confusion. Guarding your digital identity helps protect your benefits, your finances, and your peace of mind. Contact the SSA as soon as possible whenever you suspect that your Social Security payments have been compromised. If you are unable to solve your problems, contact your Congressional representatives and even the news media if necessary.
Trump Increases Social Security Identification Measures
What Trump is doing looks a lot like the selective purging of foreigners within America, and not just those coming in from our southern border. His vision and methodology of controlling immigration have become far too widespread. Furthermore, he is obsessed with being able to identify as many immigrants as possible, with the aim of deportation.
He has issued an Executive Order to his compliant Federal Agency appointees, which will allow other individuals designated by the president or agency leadership to have complete access to unclassified records. Remember that Trump has flatly stated his belief that “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified. Even by thinking about it.”
This means that he can use the personal information of anyone for any purpose he desires. This allows his administration to search federal records to use for identifying American citizens, as well as foreign born individuals, to satisfy his thirst for retribution. This is extremely important to understand because a federal appeals court has already allowed billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to once again have access to people’s private data.
Donald Trump is determined to rid America of certain foreign nationals who come from “shit hole countries.” He made this statement in January 2018 during his first term as President. Now in his second term, he is doing everything possible to identify and deport these people he doesn’t want being part of his “Golden Age of America.” This is why he is pushing to eliminate the established boundaries that government agencies have, which protect us against the misuse of our private information.
What Trump is doing looks a lot like the selective purging of foreigners within America, and not just those coming in from our southern border. His vision and methodology of controlling immigration have become far too widespread. Furthermore, he is obsessed with being able to identify as many immigrants as possible, with the aim of deportation.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!!” As usual, he did not say what type of identification he wants to require, when he would sign the order, or why he has the authority to impose the rule.
Requiring a photo ID to vote is definitely reasonable and is already a requirement in many states. But Trump-backed Republicans want stricter rules that eliminate mostly Democratic voters. Click on this link to a FOX News video about his demanding strict identification requirements to vote. He doesn’t care that millions of Americans lack access to these proof-of-citizenship documents.
This change, which altered Social Security under the Trump administration, is the new personal identification rules, which were fully implemented on April 14, 2025. Read the last part stated in this internet article on the President’s post about his claim to put an end to the taxation of Social Security benefits.
Trump’s changes to Social Security may look good because they are designed to reduce instances of Social Security fraud. Also, see how his changes have already been affecting so many Americans. An underlying reason for this change may be related to his search for individuals who are foreign-born citizens. This feeds into his ever-growing supercomputer databases that ICE is using to find and deport any American citizen.
He has issued an Executive Order to his compliant Federal Agency appointees, which will allow other individuals designated by the president or agency leadership to have complete access to unclassified records. Remember that Trump has flatly stated his belief that “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified. Even by thinking about it.” This means that he can use the personal information of anyone for any purpose he desires.
This is allowing his administration to search federal records to identify foreign-born individuals, as well as American citizens, to find information that will be used to satisfy his thirst for retribution. This is extremely important to understand because a federal appeals court has already allowed billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to once again have access to people’s private data.
DOGE has created huge gaps in customer service and support. This began immediately during his second term as President. His government-wide Deferred Resignation Program encouraged federal employees to leave their jobs while continuing to be paid through September. This questionably legal dictate offered financial incentives to resign or retire, for what it characterized publicly as our government’s “bloated workforce”.
This so-called “Fork in the Road” government resignation offer has created some 40 thousand federal employees to resign, taking advantage of the uncertainty and his promised full pay for the rest of the fiscal year. They now face a whole host of issues, including the loss of pension and health care benefits. By indiscriminately forcing out 7,000 workers to hit an arbitrary staffing reduction target, he will permanently eliminate these federal salaries, retirement plans, and health care benefits. This greatly increases his Treasury’s General Fund.
Facing this reality is not my greatest concern if implemented in a well-planned piece of legislation developed by Congress working in a bipartisan manner. What worries me most is how these saved government expenses are being used by the Trump Administration without the oversight of our System Checks and Balances, which is the foundation of our constitutional democracy that our forefathers created.
Read about the 46 programs Trump wants to eliminate, according to his proposed budget, as described by Lisa Desjardins for PBS News. It’s not just socialist programs like Social Security and Health Care that the GOP wants to eliminate, but also the oversight with will allow these institutions to become extinct.
Trump’s defunding of government agencies is having a noticeable impact on our lives. Click on this link and read what the Economic Policy Institute has to say about how extensive and harmful his defunding of institutions is designed to eliminate oversight of governmental control. These are organizations that were carefully developed to protect our best interests are rapidly disappearing.
Tariff Policy Provides a ‘Trump Bump’
On Oct. 24, 2025, the SSA announced that Social Security benefits would rise by 2.8% in 2026. This is the fifth straight year of at least a 2.5% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase. This began during President Biden’s four-year term. Trump attributes his 2026 COLA increase to his tariff and trade policy, which may be deceiving. He also claims that he will issue a $2,000 tariff dividend to all except high-income people. In this video, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the dividend could come in lots of forms, in lots of ways.
He then states that it could be just the tax decreases on the president’s agenda, such as no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, and deductibility of auto loans. Certainly, this would be of great benefit to a lot of people. However, the auto loan finance charges are only for certain vehicles assembled in the United States. These benefits are temporary and will expire at the end of Trump’s second term. This is his way of enticing those who benefit from these socialistic benefits to vote for him and for all those he backs in all future elections.
Tariff money collected by the U.S. goes into the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund, just like regular tax revenue, and isn’t earmarked for a specific purpose. It is combined with other funds to cover general government expenses. Although Congress decides how it’s ultimately spent, Donald Trump appears to be spending these funds whichever way he wishes. Now I can understand why Donald Trump loves flaunting tariffs, with the help of so many relenting GOP enablers in Congress.
Historical evidence and recent studies show that tariffs are taxes that raise prices and reduce available quantities of goods and services. Read about what the Tax Foundation has to say about Trump’s ever-changing Tariff Policy and the Economic impact of the Trump Trade War. Trump tariffs threaten to offset much of the economic benefits of the new tax cuts, while falling short of paying for them. The immediate payer of tariffs is the American importer, who typically passes those costs on to consumers through higher prices. This is what the American people are seeing, and the impact is spreading.
Some of the goods being imported into the country are unfinished, such as steel and copper. Taxing these parts, accessories, and unfinished goods used to complete the manufacture of a product in the U.S. is what’s known as an “input tariff.” A study by four economists from the New York Federal Reserve (“Do Import Tariffs Protect U.S. Firms?”) has shown that input tariffs can increase costs for U.S. manufacturers, leading to a higher inflation rate. Read this story by Wyatte Grantham for the LA Times, why Trump’s tariffs delivered record revenue but limited economic benefits.
Why this American Socialist Program Has Survived
Unlike Health care, Social Security has been a Federal Government benefit for nine decades. There were obviously numerous changes over all these years, some of which were historically important. Social Security was started when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935. The program was created to provide a social insurance system that would pay retirement benefits to workers.
The reason why this American Socialist program has survived is due to changes in how the program is administered. It became more detailed as to what was acceptable and reasonable qualifications for receiving this benefit. This link demonstrates how one part of this benefit has improved by bipartisan concessions on ways one’s spouse can later collect part of the deceased’s SS benefits. Thankfully, these changes have been more beneficial to an increasing number of retirees. This is mostly due to the years of bipartisan debate among our moderate representatives, whom our early American voters elected to the House and Senate.
The Republican Party is more determined than ever to eliminate government spending on Democratic welfare programs. These are the types of socialist programs that conservative GOP believers want eliminated. Or are they the type of government program that we want to receive and improve how it is overseen? Now that those of us who work for companies that no longer, or have never, provided employees with pensions, will Trump eliminate pensions for government employees? Are we already seeing this tactic as part of his punishment/retribution against federally employed individuals who are on his hit list?
