Martin O’Malley, the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration, didn’t hold back on Tuesday when he criticized ‘co-presidents’ Donald Trump and Elon Musk, along with Musk’s band of ‘19-year-old nitwits,’ who are ‘violating the law’ and posing a threat to the continued existence of the 90-year-old program that is critical to millions of Americans.
O’Malley, who ran the agency during the last year of the Biden administration, took aim at Musk for claiming that millions of people aged 100 to 159 were collecting Social Security benefits. O’Malley, appearing on CNN, called Musk’s statement “ridiculous.”
“He has no idea what he’s talking about,” O’Malley told CNN’s Boris Sanchez. “There’s no zombie apocalypse of people collecting Social Security checks from beyond the grave.”
While O’Malley acknowledged that there’s some abuse in the Social Security system, which serves 72.5 million people, he said it’s a minor problem. He noted that occasionally, some desperate people might try to hide the death of a relative to keep receiving benefits for a few more months. However, O’Malley said, errors where benefits are wrongly cut off are far more common.
He also criticized both Musk and Trump for spreading false claims on Twitter, saying they were making statements they couldn’t back up. O’Malley went further to accuse a group of young DOGE supporters of breaking the law and stealing personal information. These young tech enthusiasts, many with little experience, were involved in Musk’s claims about uncovering trillions of dollars in untraceable payments, which O’Malley called outrageous.
O’Malley warned that the real danger to Social Security comes from the actions of Musk and Trump. He said their behavior could force more workers out of the agency, which is already under strain from a staffing shortage and the increasing number of people needing Social Security as the Baby Boomer generation ages.
He also criticized Musk and DOGE for trying to access sensitive personal data about Americans, something that would be grounds for firing and criminal charges if done by an actual Social Security employee. O’Malley explained that such abuses are happening because the current administration has weakened oversight.
“The biggest threat to Social Security,” O’Malley said, “is that the co-presidents are driving out people who should be stopping fraud and abuse. And all of this is being made worse by 19-year-old nitwits empowered by Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
You can watch the full segment on CNN below.
