I was watching the PBD episode with Sam Seder and the divergence of realities was stark. Sam was pointing out their misinformation when discussing immigration issues, such as when the PBD folks conflate asylum seekers or non-citizens with protected status with undocumented immigrants. The issuance of social security cards to these people for work purposes was framed as a covert effort to get them to vote, even though the cards they are issued explicitly state they cannot be used for voting purposes.
When the conversation turned to DOGE and its claims of uncovering massive waste and fraud, Sam asked a simple question: “What fraud was actually found?” The response was exasperation, as if the answer was obvious—but no one ever gave one.
So are these guys lying? That’s trickier than it seems. The media ecosystem they live in isn’t interested in verifying claims—or correcting them. And I can’t find where they engage with any of the counter-evidence either.
Let's start with the issue that got the most attention, Social Security. Musk delighted the right media sphere when he said there were millions of extremely old people in the database and implied that these people were receiving benefits. This, of course, was quickly disputed. There are processes in place to ensure that those receiving benefits have their ID confirmed, are qualified for those benefits, and are, in fact, alive. So while there are lots of dead people on social security databases, that isn’t what’s used to send benefits, so simply being assigned a social security number doesn’t mean you are getting social security benefits. This should be common sense as there are several reasons actual citizens, who definitely have social security numbers, don’t qualify for benefits. So another process is required once a person seeks to collect.
How was this presented in the conservative media sphere? I can’t find anything on Fox News reporting that last bit. There is an op-ed from Senator Warren that explains how Elon’s social security claims are incorrect and actually cites then Trump’s acting Social Security Commissioner that the claims were false, but it’s paid content.
There is a video on Fox News about an interchange on CNN titled “Ex Social Security Official laughs at CNN Host’s questions about fraud” which is a video of Martin O-Malley saying that DOGE has no idea what they are looking at, but just as O’Malley is probably going to explain what he means, the video cuts away to a still of Musk with a message that simply says “Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) asserted that millions of people in the Social Security database were listed as over 100 years old.” So a frustrating sleight of hand–the claim is technically true, but not the fact anyone is disputing.
Now, if you find the article on this video, it explains that O’Malley goes on to ask for Elon to provide the names of people that are dead and receiving checks. He confirms there are cases where folks try to game the system to keep collecting grandma’s checks, but due to other checks, they only get one or two before that is cut off. He also states that a bigger issue was people being erroneously marked as dead and having to go and correct for that error. Unfortunately, to get that part of the story, you have to have access to their paid content.
In fact, this was a common issue I found. The free content on Fox News often had a headline or video clip that would seem supportive of Musk’s claims, but the actual story would be behind a paywall. Apparently, to get the truth at Fox News, you have to pay for it, but if you just want to get mad, well, that’s free.
There are lots of ‘vibes’ in the air now. Lots of people feel bothered, but not really sure about what’s bothering them. The problem oftentimes is people don’t really do the necessary introspection to find the source of their concerns and may latch onto something that feels good. Everyone does this, but it seems to have festered on the right.
In another Fox News article, and a highlight from the PBD podcast mentioned above, was a chart Elon presented showing the number of non-citizens that were given social security numbers during Biden’s term. He presented it as a side quest he stumbled on during his efforts to find fraud at the SSA. In the words of Antonio Gracias who was presenting with Elon, “This literally blew us away…we sent to find fraud and found this by accident.” The issue, according to them, was this was a sort of fraud or system misuse, giving all these non-citizens social security numbers. The puzzle fits very nicely in their story of immigrants being brought by Democrats for votes. The missing pieces? That these people can’t vote, don’t get social security benefits, even as they actively pay billions annually into the system they will not receive benefits from.
Elon Musk, right and Antonio Gracias speak during a town hall March 30,
2025, in Green Bay, Wis. Jeffrey Phelps / A
Other reports stated that the non-citizens were granted these social security numbers through Biden’s immigration parole program and then went on to say that the numbers were fraudulent numbers and that these people were able to vote and receive Medicare benefits (but no evidence provided to confirm it). According to Musk, getting a social security number gets you de facto registered to vote and access to a whole host of benefits. Nowhere in my Fox News website search, did I find an article explaining how to get social security benefits or why non-citizens would get issued a social security number through completely legal means.
There is also the go-to smear of calling Social Security a ponzi scheme. Based on the definition, it sort of sounds like it. Per the SEC, a ponzi scheme “operates by taking money from new investors to pay current investors.” Except that isn’t the whole definition. The central point of a ponzi scheme is that investors are being deceived into thinking their investment is being put towards opportunities that will generate high returns. No one thinks their social security is being invested and in fact, past attempts to make social security function like that have been overwhelmingly opposed by voters. Again, tidbits, left out of the Republican narrative.
Even with these half-truths, there is hesitation about DOGE’s methods. While the nuance is often left behind paywalls, even Fox captured the results of voters' concerns about DOGE. Again and again, voters have expressed support for making the government more efficient, but not in the way DOGE goes about it. At the end of the day, voters want more funding for programs like social security. One good thing about more working class voting republicans is that now those republicans have to cater to the programs that group wants, and they are much more likely to depend on things like social security. That shift is likely to lead all DOGEs efforts to ultimately being hollow and temporary because for these changes to survive the avalanche of court cases that stymie DOGE at every stop, they need legislation, and it’s not looking good.
Reports are coming in about moderate republicans in Congress who are putting the brakes on some of the ambitious cuts being pursued by DOGE and threatening Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” to extend his tax cuts and give DOGE some legislative cover. This isn’t just impacting government programs like Medicaid, but also the reduction in workforce that DOGE has been pursuing. They won’t have Democratic support, so any Republican defection is basically a deal killer, but vulnerable Republicans are putting up roadblocks.
Also, the committees meant to provide oversight for DOGE activities are AWOL or turning into a sideshow. The DOGE House Oversight Committee recently held a hearing on…Transwomen in fencing competitions?? The committee hearing devolved into an opportunity for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) to grandstand on the definitions of what a woman is and the Rep Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) to ask what this had to do with DOGE.
The House DOGE subcommittee on 05/07 held a hearing on transgender
athletes in fencing, a topic largely unrelated to cost-cutting and
government efficiency. Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images
There is also a DOGE Caucus made up of over 80 bipartisan members of congress, but it’s only had 2 meetings. There has been little interaction with administration to move anything forward. Not surprising given Trump’s tendency to think he can go it alone. The courts may have something to say about that though.
DOGE, for all its chaos, is built on a house of cards being guarded by a paper dragon. For any of the changes to survive the court challenges coming for it, Trump has to engage the rest of the government and convince his supporters to codify something–anything–into law. Like his first term, he is leaving them with nothing to build on.
It's easy to get frustrated with conservatives we know because it seems like they are denying reality, but depending on their media of choice, they likely simply don’t know what’s going on. Trump was astoundingly ineffective during his first term, but that’s not the message they get.
The right-wing media’s refusal to engage with facts isn’t just lazy, it’s strategic. They package half-truths behind paywalls and blur reality into vibes, leaving viewers angry, misinformed, and loyal. What they aren’t being told is that if Trump’s incomplete reality comes to fruition, the consequences will be stark—and we’ll all bear the cost. When it collapses under its own contradictions, the question isn’t if the PBD crew will notice. It’s whether they’ll keep editing reality mid-sentence just to avoid saying they were wrong.