 So the Republican Party, they've really shown that they have the tendency to always think ahead, even during this pandemic, they are currently thinking ahead. How are they planning for the future? Well, they're not necessarily trying to suspend rent and mortgage payments. They're not trying to get another stimulus to the American people to make sure that economically we'll be able to survive this pandemic. They're thinking about ways that they can undermine social security so that way, once this pandemic is over, after we didn't see what they were doing behind the scenes, then they cut social security and possibly partially or fully privatize it. Right now, that's what they're trying to do covertly behind the scenes, make moves that undermine social security under the guise of trying to give American citizens tax relief. And this is really, really nefarious, but it is exactly what we should have expected from Republicans because, you know, the thing about these types of crises is oftentimes, you know, logically speaking, you can see how maybe society would improve after tragedy, you know, but that's never the way that things work in practice. Right after 9-11, we got the Patriot Act. We saw, you know, the deterioration of our fourth and eighth amendments. And after COVID-19, we could move towards a more, I don't know, humanistic, collectivist society where we actually look out for one another and just have some general compassion. We offer healthcare to everyone. But what are Republicans doing? They're choosing to hurt people even more. So Jake Johnson of Common Dreams explains exactly how they're doing this. The 2020 Social Security Trustees report out Wednesday found that the New Deal-era program is currently in strong financial health and well-positioned to remain so in the future. But advocacy groups are warning that Social Security's long-term finances could be in trouble if President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are not stopped from exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to make deep cuts to the program's dedicated funding. In a statement, Progressive Advocacy Group Social Security Works said the annual trustees report projects that even if Congress took no action whatsoever, Social Security not only can pay all benefits and associated administrative costs until 2035, it is 91% funded for the next quarter century, 85% for the next half century, and 82% for the next three quarters of a century. Though the exact impact of today's pandemic and economic conditions will not be clear until next year's report, Social Security's strength will shine through next year as well, said Social Security Works President Nancy Altman. Social Security is built to withstand today's events. The trustees report came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a proponent of Social Security cuts, claimed Tuesday night he was concerned about the rising national debt following the Senate's passage of a $480 billion coronavirus stimulus package. Let's weigh this very carefully because the future of our country in terms of the amount of debt that we're adding up is a matter of genuine concern, said Mitch McConnell. McConnell's rediscovered deficit hawkery absent when the Senate was pushing legislation through the Senate aimed at helping the super rich and large corporations, combined with the Trump administration's continued push for a payroll tax cut, fueled fears that Republicans could be gearing up for another concerted effort to slash Social Security. So this is what they're currently doing. They're trying to lay the groundwork for future cuts to Social Security because they could never just come out and directly cut Social Security because this program, it's so popular that first what you have to do if you actually want to attack Social Security and they do, because Wall Street has been salivating over it for decades, is you have to undermine it, right? First, what you have to do is concern troll about the deficit, even if, you know, all of their tax cuts to the rich makes them look like hypocrites. That doesn't matter. First of all, you concern troll about the deficit. Second of all, you then concern about the long term health of Social Security and say, look, we've got to fix Social Security. Otherwise, it's not going to be solvent. And people are going to lose their Social Security. So if we wanted to really, you know, live on, then we have to fix it. Now, that's always a lie. Anyone who concern trolls about Social Security is not your ally. That's rule number one to know about Social Security. But then what they do is once they start to prime people to believe that some type of action has to be taken to protect Social Security, then they find ways to undermine it and make it worse. So what they're doing is they're trying to slash payroll taxes, because if they do that, which is the main way that Social Security is funded, mind you, well, then the program does in fact have less resources. And then once it actually has less resources, then people are forced to accept the fact that, well, I guess they're right. I guess when they said we have to fix Social Security, maybe we should have listened. And then what's the proposal going to be to fix Social Security? The proposal will be to privatize it either fully or partially. And my screens just went off, but that's fine. We'll keep going. So this is what they do. And you've got to understand that this isn't me just being hyperbolic. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is already proposing, quote, unquote, relief in the form of a payroll tax cut. And the CARE Act had a provision that allowed the payroll tax to be delayed. So they're trying to offer relief to citizens in the form of tax cuts. And what they're doing is they're targeting the payroll tax very conspicuously. Why? Because if they cut into the funding of Social Security, and they actually can undermine the program, then once the program itself is undermined, then the public trust in the program is undermined, and then that paves the way for privatization. This is exactly what they do. They've used the same playbook now for decades. The same exact playbook. So how do you know if Republicans want to cut Social Security if there's any type of crisis, or even if we're not in the middle of a pandemic or crisis? Well, the answer is they always want to cut Social Security. That's their secret. They always want to cut Social Security. Now, the way that they're doing this, like this, I think is smart politics, right? Because they're trying to position themselves as the good guys. They're saying, look, Americans are hurting. So we've got to offer them some relief. So what we're going to do is we're going to cut payroll taxes. But how does that actually help Americans who are losing their jobs? Think this through a little bit. How does that help people? Well, if they truly want to help people, don't you think there's better solutions like rent suspension, more money, a universal basic income for the duration of this pandemic? There are a number of things they can do if they genuinely were interested in helping Americans. But for them, they serve their donors, and that is their only goal. That's it. They don't care about Americans. So anything that they do is going to be, you know, all in service of their donors, even if it seems like they're helping you. Understand they're doing it to serve their donors at $1,200 that you got. Well, that was some crumbs thrown to use so they can give trillions of dollars to their donors, multi-billion-dollar companies who don't need to be bailed out. Do you think the cruise ship industry needs a bailout? They're not even American companies. Their addresses are not registered here. So every single thing this party does, this is a hypercapitalistic party, is to serve their donors, not help you. So whenever they start talking about the deficit, that is code for, hey, guys, let's look at entitlement programs, social security, Medicare, Medicaid. Anytime they talk about relief to the working class, there's always some type of catch-22 because the Republican Party isn't interested in actually helping anyone in America. Again, they only want to serve their donors. So what we have to do is continue to shine the light on them and shame them because one thing that has been really successful at protecting social security is just nonstop shame because the minute any party proposes cuts in any way, shape, or form, we have these types of organizations like Social Security Works just on them, like, stay gone, shit. And it works so well. So what we have to do is keep an eye on them, don't let them cut Social Security, call your representative, call your sender, tell him or her this is not going to fly, it's not acceptable. This program is something that you paid into and you want to keep paying into it, but you do need relief. So that relief doesn't have to come in the form of a payroll tax cut. That doesn't even really make sense in the context of a pandemic where 22 million people are unemployed, probably larger now. What makes sense now is universal basic income and increase in food stamps, things that will actually help you get through this pandemic. And also, if we're being serious, a jobs program after this pandemic is through. So we will constantly have to deal with this forever. Social Security is a program that will always be under siege by the capitalist forces in our government. And if we're ever able to make progress in the future, imagine we get Medicare for all. That will be another program that will always be under siege. Like hypothetically speaking, let's imagine we passed Medicare for all 10 years down the line. Once everyone has it, that program is going to be very, very popular with a higher approval rating. So nobody will be able to directly attack it. So what we're going to see is Republicans and possibly Democrats do exactly what they're doing in the UK, right? Boris Johnson can't just come out and say, I don't like the national health system. I want to dismantle it and privatize healthcare. He can't say that. So what does he have to do? He has to covertly undermine the system, underfund it. So people get less services offered to them. They start to grow dissatisfied and they start to actually open up their minds to thinking maybe privatization is a little bit better. This is the way that these types of politics works. These are the way bad actors operate in our government when it comes to programs like this that are too popular to touch directly. So just don't let them do it. Don't let them do it. Demand that they leave Social Security alone. Keep their disgusting hands off of it. Wall Street doesn't get a say. This is what we paid into. This is our program. We love it. Leave it alone.