In his first public comments since leaving office in January, former President Joe Biden criticised the Trump administration’s Social Security policy, claiming that millions of worthy Americans were already at risk due to the program’s changes.
Biden, who frequently speaks in a quiet, muted voice, avoided using President Donald Trump by name during his about 30-minute speech to disability advocates on Tuesday. Instead, he referred to him as “this guy” and refrained from harshly criticising the government.
Biden more generally criticised Trump’s leadership thus far, claiming that “this new administration has made so much… damage and so much destruction in less than 100 days.” It is somewhat amazing.
“We can’t go on like this as a divided nation, as divided as we are. Like I said, I’ve been doing this a long time. It’s never been this divided,” Biden stated. “Granted, it’s roughly 30%, but it’s a 30% that has no heart.”
It’s unclear to what demographic the 30% comment was directed.
Steven Cheung, the White House spokesperson, blasted Biden harshly, claiming that his “incoherent speech” demonstrated a “feeble mind” in a “rapid decline to new lows.”
“President Trump has repeatedly promised to protect Social Security and ensure higher take-home pay for seniors by ending the taxation of Social Security benefits. Anybody saying otherwise is either stupid or an all-out liar, or both in Biden’s case,” Cheung stated.
Trump stated following his election that “we’re not touching Social Security,” aside from making it more effective. But entrepreneur Elon Musk has reduced the agency’s workforce since Trump took office. Musk’s description of Social Security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” has caused a rift among Trump supporters.
Biden made reference to the remark on Tuesday.
“We heard others, empowered and emboldened by this administration, talk about Social Security; one of them called it a Ponzi scheme,” Biden stated. “A Ponzi scheme — what the hell are they talking about? People earn these benefits. They paid into that benefit. They rely on that benefit. And no one, no one, no one should take it away.”
Additionally, without mentioning him by name, Biden described Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as being disconnected from the typical American. Lutnick’s remarks that his mother-in-law wouldn’t be upset if she didn’t receive her next Social Security cheque were mentioned by Biden.
“The current secretary of commerce doesn’t seem to get it, or based on his comments, he doesn’t seem to even care,” Biden stated. “He said his 94-year-old mother-in-law wouldn’t complain. Wouldn’t bother her. She’s probably a lovely woman. No kidding. Her-son-in-law is a billionaire. What about that 94-year-old mother living all by herself? Don’t have a billionaire in the family. All the retirees who depend on that monthly check to feed themselves. All those people with disabilities have no other source. What about all those?”
It was Biden’s first public speech since leaving the White House on January 20, despite Trump’s frequent barrage of verbal abuse. He did not, however, defend himself or his administration on Tuesday.
Biden was sometimes hard to hear, to the point where others in the room sat motionless and silent to listen to him talk.
“I had never seen, I’d never seen hardly any Black people in Scranton at the time, and I was only going on fourth grade,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social shortly after the speech, which included a clipped video of Biden speaking. And I recall seeing the children on a bus passing by; they were known as “coloured kids” at the time.
Biden continued, adding in context Trump omitted, that the bus’s route to a different school “sparked his outrage” as a child and motivated him to enter politics.
Trump has referred to Biden as “the worst president in American history” and frequently chastises him. He regularly describes Biden’s term as a mess that needs to be cleaned up by his administration, especially in relation to border security.
Early in his second administration, Trump frequently accused Biden of being responsible for the economy’s slow growth. Soon, though, the stock market was in chaos due to Trump’s own erratic tariff measures.
At the Sofitel Hotel on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, Biden addressed a meeting for advocates, counsellors, and representatives for the disabled.
The meeting’s main goal was to fortify Social Security at a time when the Trump administration is aiming to restructure the program in a way that recipients worry will endanger them.
