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Seniors are mobilizing because our lives and the benefits we worked a lifetime to earn are under threat, and we refuse to sit by and watch.
The right-wing ecosystem has found itself a new punching bag: older Americans.
In recent days, Republican elected leadership has tried to minimize widespread anti-Trump protests as being driven by “rhythm-less boomers” and “elderly white hippies.” Vice President JD Vance previously dismissed protesters at Washington’s Union Station as “a bunch of old, primarily white people.”
Their insults have been amplified by the hyperactive right-wing media echo chamber, with a Fox News host casting this weekend’s No Kings protests that drew more than 7 million Americans into the streets as just “a boomer thing.”
Putting aside the obvious irony of MAGA Republicans trying to paint old people as feeble and out of touch, it’s easy to recognize their tactics for what they are—an attempt to delegitimize grassroots power. But as misguided and tactless as these criticisms might be, they’re not totally wrong.
When JD Vance remarked that the seniors protesting him have “never felt danger in their entire lives,” he was ignoring the terrifying reality that American seniors are facing at the hands of his administration.
From No Kings protests to Hands Off marches to Republican town halls—time and again, it’s been seniors and retirees who are showing up, speaking out, and holding the Trump administration accountable. But older Americans aren’t protesting because it’s “our thing”—we’re protesting because it is our duty: to ourselves, to our country, and to future generations of Americans.
We remember what younger generations never experienced firsthand. Together, we’ve lived through wars, political upheaval, recessions, and recoveries. We fought for and won greater civil rights for Black Americans and women, invested in public health and scientific discoveries that saved millions of lives from deadly diseases like polio and measles, and built an economy that was the envy of the world. We’ve seen how collective action can transform our communities and government for the better—and we’ve watched with horror as the Trump administration has erased decades of progress in just nine short months.
We know that change doesn’t happen, it’s made—and while we’d love to spend a little less of our time making protest signs, we’re mobilizing, organizing, and showing up because there is no other choice. When JD Vance remarked that the seniors protesting him have “never felt danger in their entire lives,” he was ignoring the terrifying reality that American seniors are facing at the hands of his administration.
Donald Trump and congressional Republicans continue to wage attacks on the vital programs that seniors rely on, peddling conspiracies about retirement benefits while letting slip their plans to privatize Social Security, gut the hard-fought law that was delivering lower drug prices for Americans with Medicare, and slashing Medicaid for millions of Americans to fund tax breaks for the rich. So while JD Vance thinks our protests are a game, we’re mobilizing because our lives and the benefits we worked a lifetime to earn are under threat, and we refuse to sit by and watch.
But we’re not just showing up for ourselves. We’re fighting for the future, standing arm-in-arm with generations of Americans rising up together against the cruelty coming out of the White House. All around us, freedom is under attack and the Constitution is being trampled. And it’s not just our democracy being jeopardized. As the Trump administration continues to reject science and cut critical research funding, our health is being put at risk too. We refuse to let our kids and grandkids inherit a country with fewer freedoms, less economic mobility, and more disease. We won’t hand them a more fragile democracy than their grandparents had, and we’ll continue to stand in solidarity with every American speaking truth to power.
But our fight isn’t limited to protesting. In North Carolina, seniors showed up at the state house to oppose maps aimed at erasing Black voting power. In California, Alliance for Retired Americans members have made more than 216,000 calls in support of Proposition 50 so far. Across the country, seniors marked the 90th anniversary of Social Security by staging Silver Sit-Ins calling on GOP lawmakers to protect it. These aren’t isolated events. They’re drops in a powerful wave building nationwide.
Instead of minimizing and mocking us, Republicans should see us for what we are: a blaring alarm signaling what’s coming in 2026 and beyond. And if history is any guide, in 2026 we will turn out to vote at higher rates than any other age group.
So let them sneer. Let them poke fun at our age, our rhythm, and our hair. While they’re busy cracking jokes, we’re going to keep on registering voters, packing town halls, and building coalitions that will outlast the chaos of this administration.
If the resistance has gray hair, so be it. The future belongs to those willing to fight for it, and seniors are the vanguard.
"Republicans have brought Social Security closer to running out of money," said Sen. Ron Wyden. "Every day that goes by makes it clear that the Republican agenda is making Americans sicker and poorer."
The Social Security Administration's chief actuary said Tuesday that the budget package President Donald Trump signed into law last month will harm Social Security's finances, bringing forward the date beyond which the program will no longer be able to pay out full benefits.
In a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who requested an analysis of the budget law's impact on Social Security's trust funds, Chief Actuary Karen Glenn wrote that the income tax provisions of the Trump-GOP measure "will have material effects on the financial status" of the program.
Glenn estimated that under the law—which includes a temporary new tax deduction for seniors—"the reserve depletion date for the [Old-Age and Survivors Insurance] Trust Fund is accelerated from the first quarter of 2033 to the fourth quarter of 2032." Glenn went on to note that the law "will decrease (worsen) the 75-year [Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance] actuarial balance by 0.16 percent of taxable payroll."
"The combined net effect of these income tax provisions results in less overall tax liability for Social Security beneficiaries," Glenn wrote. "In turn, the trust funds will receive lower levels of projected revenue from income taxation of Social Security benefits for all years beginning in 2025."
Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement responding to the actuary's analysis that "not only did Republicans give massive tax breaks to corporations and the ultra-wealthy, not only did they make the largest cut to American healthcare in history, but now it is clear Republicans have brought Social Security closer to running out of money."
"Every day that goes by makes it clear that the Republican agenda is making Americans sicker and poorer," Wyden added.
The most recent Social Security Board of Trustees report, which was released ahead of the budget legislation's passage, estimated that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund would be able to pay out 100% of benefits until 2033. Past that point, the trustees found, the fund would be able to pay out 77% of total scheduled benefits.
The actuary's new estimates align with other expert assessments of the budget law, which the Trump-appointed commissioner of the Social Security Administration has openly celebrated with misleading messaging.
The conservative Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated in an analysis released in late June that "the extension and expansion of the 2017 tax cuts, the expanded senior deduction, and other [budget law] changes would reduce total taxation of benefits by roughly $30 billion per year," enough to "accelerate insolvency of the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors (OASI) trust fund from early 2033 to late 2032."
The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) echoed those findings, noting that "the new law doesn't help most low- and middle-income seniors, and it depletes the Social Security trust funds faster."
"The law creates a new $6,000 deduction through 2028 for taxpayers aged 65 and over," CBPP researchers explained. "This will reduce taxable income—including from Social Security benefits—and thus the amount of tax that eligible seniors will pay."
Like the budget measure overall, the benefits of the tax deduction for seniors will be heavily skewed toward those with higher incomes. According to a new Tax Policy Center (TPC) analysis, "fewer than half of older adults will benefit at all."
"Among seniors, the biggest beneficiaries will be those making between about $130,000 and $190,000 (the highest-income 80% to 90%). More than 95% will benefit from the higher deduction," TPC estimated. "By contrast, about 99% of those making $24,000 or less would get no benefit from the higher deduction."
Fresh scrutiny of the budget law's impact on Social Security and its beneficiaries comes days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that "Trump accounts" established by the law are "a backdoor way for privatizing Social Security."
Bessent later tried to walk back the comments, claiming on social media that the Trump administration is "committed to protecting Social Security and to making sure seniors have more money."
"Despite their repeated claims they wanted to protect Social Security, the Trump administration said the quiet part out loud," said one critic in response to the billionaire treasury secretary's candid comments.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday admitted that a provision in Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a mechanism for privatizing Social Security—something President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he won't do.
Speaking at a policy event hosted by the far-right news site Breitbart, Bessent touted the so-called "Trump accounts" available to all U.S. citizen children starting next July under the OBBBA signed by the president earlier this month.
"In a way, it is a backdoor way for privatizing Social Security," the billionaire former hedge fund manager said of the accounts. "Social Security is a defined benefit plan paid out—that to the extent that if all of a sudden these accounts grow, and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, that's a game-changer."
Responding to Bessent's admission, Tim Hogan—the Democratic National Committee senior adviser for messaging, mobilization, and strategy—said that the treasury secretary "just said the quiet part out loud: The administration is scheming to privatize Social Security."
"It wasn't enough to kick millions of people off their healthcare and take food away from hungry kids," Hogan added. "Trump is now coming after American seniors with a 'backdoor' scam to take away the benefits they earned. Democrats won't stand by as Trump screws over working families in order to give more handouts to billionaires."
House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said in a statement: "Today, the treasury secretary said the quiet part out loud: Republicans' ultimate goal is to privatize Social Security, and there isn't a backdoor they won't try to make Wall Street's dream a reality. For everyone else though, it's yet another warning sign that they cannot be trusted to safeguard the program millions rely on and have paid into over a lifetime of work."
Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works, mocked Trump's promises to preserve the key program upon which more than 70 million Americans rely—and called him out for eviscerating the Social Security Administration (SSA).
"So much for Donald Trump's campaign promise to protect Social Security," Altman said in a statement. "First, he gave Elon Musk the power to gut SSA. Now, Trump's treasury secretary has said the quiet part out loud. He is bragging about the administration's goal to privatize Social Security."
"First, they are undermining public confidence in Social Security by making false claims about fraud (which is virtually nonexistent) and wrecking the system's service to the public," Altman continued. "Then, once they have broken Social Security, they will say that Wall Street needs to come in and save it."
"That is a terrible idea," she added. "Unlike private savings, Social Security is a guaranteed earned benefit that you can't outlive. It has stood strong through wars, recessions, and pandemics. The American people have a message for Trump and Bessent: Keep Wall Street's hands off our Social Security!"
Alliance for Retired Americans executive director Richard Fiesta said that "Bessent let the cat out of the bag: This administration is coming for Social Security."
"We're not surprised—but we are alarmed because this administration has already taken multiple steps to weaken and dismantle Social Security," Fiesta added, highlighting the weakening of the SSA, false fraud claims, and "the massive tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations" under the OBBBA that experts say will hasten the Social Security Trust Fund's insolvency.
The progressive watchdog Accountable.US called Bessent's remarks "a shocking confession."
"Despite their repeated claims they wanted to protect Social Security, the Trump administration said the quiet part out loud: The Big Ugly Betrayal is a backdoor way to privatize Social Security," Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk said in a statement.
"Once again the administration is risking the financial security of millions of Americans in order to protect a system rigged in the favor of big corporations and billionaires," Carrk added.
In another blow to Social Security recipients, the Trump administration is set to implement a new policy next month that is expected to further increase wait times for basic services. As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, starting in mid-August, SSA will no longer allow seniors to use their phones for routine tasks they've been able to perform for decades.