In his first major public address since leaving the White House, Joe Biden delivered a scathing critique of his successor, Donald Trump, accusing the administration of a “hatchet” job that threatens the retirement benefits of millions of Americans.
“Fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage, and so much destruction — it’s kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon,” Biden told attendees at a conference of disability advocates in Chicago.
The former president specifically targeted the Social Security Administration, asserting, “They’ve taken a hatchet to the Social Security administration, pushing 7,000 employees out the door.”
Speaking for approximately 30 minutes, the 82-year-old Democrat, clad in a blue suit and tie and positioned against a backdrop of American flags, occasionally displayed signs of aging that had contributed to his decision not to seek re-election the previous year.
He experienced instances of stumbling over sentences while reading from a teleprompter and struggled to maintain coherence during extemporaneous anecdotes, often resorting to his familiar phrase, “anyways.”
President Trump responded to Biden’s address by posting a brief video clip of one of the former president’s rambling anecdotes on social media, without providing any accompanying commentary.
Biden’s focus on Social Security was a deliberate strategy to intensify pressure on Trump regarding his sweeping government overhaul efforts.
He highlighted staff reductions at the agency, which Trump and his associate Elon Musk have promoted as part of their “Department of Government Efficiency,” and asserted that the Social Security “website is crashing,” thereby impeding retirees’ access to their benefits.
The program, which provides crucial support to over 65 million Americans, is widely recognized in Washington as the “third rail of politics” due to its sensitivity among voters.
“Many Americans ‘literally count on social security to buy food, just to get by,'” Biden emphasized, adding, “and ‘many of these beneficiaries, it’s their only income. If it were cut or taken away, it would be devastating, devastating for millions of people.'”
He also criticized Trump’s commerce secretary, former hedge fund manager Howard Lutnick, for a recent remark in which he suggested that only “fraudsters” would complain about a missing check, while his mother-in-law would not.
Biden dismissed this characterization, asking, “what about the 94-year-old mother living all by herself — who doesn’t have a billionaire in the family?”.
