Summary
Michelle King, the top Social Security official, resigned after refusing Elon Musk’s request for sensitive records, including Social Security numbers and bank data.
Trump appointed Leland Dudek as acting commissioner and nominated Frank Bisignano for the role.
Nancy Altman of Social Security Works condemned DOGE’s request, warning, “I don’t think you can overstate how serious this breach is.”
DOGE’s similar attempts at the IRS and Treasury have sparked legal challenges over privacy concerns.
Honestly, I don’t think that the current administration’s tactics would work without social media. Social media allows people to feel the outrage and feel like they’re making an impact, all without doing a damned thing to actually stop the current admin. Social media allows you to post online and feel satisfied with the engagement it got, because “maybe someone else will step up because of my post.” But it doesn’t actually spur any action on the poster’s part.
I’d argue that posting about it is the best case scenario for fascism, because as long as people are allowed to post they won’t be motivated to actually start fires.