Former US President Joe Biden reemerged on the public stage by denouncing his successor’s welfare policies and urging Americans to uphold “fundamental American values”.
In his first major public speech since leaving office, Biden focused on protecting welfare programs, and accused Donald Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, of “taking a hatchet” to the social security system, as they continue to dismantle key parts of the federal government.
Trump argues the cuts are intended to reduce excessive spending and seeks to trim 10 per cent of the agency’s workforce, or around 7,000 jobs.
“Fewer than 100 days, this administration has made so much, done so much damage and destruction. It’s kind of breathtaking it would happen that soon,” Biden told a conference in Chicago on Tuesday, without mentioning Trump by name.
Biden said social security is a “sacred promise” that nearly 70 million Americans rely on. “We know just how much social security matters to people’s lives.”
‘Taking a hatchet’ to US welfare
Biden, 82, said he believed the issue was of critical importance to millions of his fellow Americans, especially retirees and disabled individuals, who fear the payments they depend on each month could be delayed or possibly even stopped altogether.
“Why are these guys taking aim at social security now? Well, they are following that old line from tech startups,” Biden said while addressing the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled.
“The quote is: ‘Move fast, break things.’ They’re starting to break things. They’re shooting first and aiming later.”
“As a result, the results a lot of endless pain and sleepless nights,” Biden added.
What is the US benefits system and what has Trump cut?
The Social Security Agency (SSA) provides a base income for people in the US who are retired or cannot work because of a disability. It covers about 67 million Americans, primarily older citizens.
Democratic politicians have repeatedly accused the administration of planning sweeping social security cuts.
Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has been making cuts to the agency since February, as part of plans to cut staff by 7,000 workers – 12 per cent of the workforce.
Musk has described social security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time”.
Trump has previously said that he intends to target fraudulent claims and payments to illegal immigrants and not make wholesale cuts to benefits.
On Tuesday, he signed an order preventing illegal immigrants and “other ineligible people” from obtaining social security payments.
The former president was introduced on stage by former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who served as Social Security Commissioner during his administration.
“My friend, Governor O’Malley knows what they’re really up to. He says, and I love his quote, ‘they want to wreck it so, they can rob it’.”
Biden went on to say that in the 90 years since former president Franklin Roosevelt created the social security system, people have always received their social security checks, “during wartime, during recessions, during a pandemic. No matter what, they got them.”
“But now for the first time ever, that might change. It’d be a calamity for millions of families.”
Biden reflected on the state of American society, echoing his campaign slogan that the “soul of America” needed healing.
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“Nobody’s king,” he said, reflecting on the nation’s ongoing divisions, and pointed out that about “30 percent” of the country “lacks compassion”—a comment that Trump supporters quickly took as an insult.
“It’s what we see in America,” he went on to say. “It’s what we believe in – fairness. And that’s the America we can never forget or walk away from.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, mocked Biden’s age when asked about his upcoming speech.
“I’m shocked that he is speaking at nighttime. I thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight,” she said.
Since leaving office, Biden has largely stayed at home in Delaware, though he has reportedly travelled to an office in Washington from time to time.
In a post on X, the SSA said Biden was “lying” during his Chicago speech.
‘Sounding the alarm’ in protest
Biden’s speech was timed with a national protest over the Trump administration’s welfare policies.
Democrats across the country held a day of action to “sound the alarm” over plans for major cuts to the US’s social security system.
Since Trump took office, Democrats have faced sharp criticism from supporters for failing to do enough to counter the current administration’s drastic policies.
Republicans are also facing backlash from constituents over Trump’s overhaul of the federal government, with tempers flaring at some town hall meetings on Tuesday.
In the state of Georgia, during a town hall of far-right Trump ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, some protesters were escorted out by police and arrested for disrupting the event.
In Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley was repeatedly urged to stand up to Trump and stand against the administration’s approach.
“We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about it?” one man asked.
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