{"id":1053027,"date":"2025-05-29T11:15:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1053027"},"modified":"2025-05-29T11:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:15:17","slug":"fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Elon Musk Wasn\u2019t Fighting Fraud \u2014 He Screwed Over the American People and Skyrocketed His Net Worth\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump\u2019s shadow president Elon Musk is finally leaving Washington<\/a> after promising (and failing) to fight fraud. Musk\u2019s only public record of so-called \u201csavings\u201d is riddled<\/a> with inaccurate information, mistakes, and inflated numbers. While gutting access to working families\u2019 hard-earned benefits<\/a>, Musk\u2019s net worth skyrocketed<\/a>. Make no mistake: Trump and Musk only care about lining their own pockets at the expense of the American people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FACT: Elon Musk took a \u201cwrecking ball\u201d to the Social Security Administration, threatening hard-earned benefits for millions of Americans amid a 50-year low on staffing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201c\u2018Just a Mess\u2019: Staff Cuts, Rushed Changes and Anxiety at Social Security\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Axios<\/a>: \u201cDOGE is taking its wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration, <\/strong>the agency responsible for overseeing retirement and disability benefits for 73 million Americans. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe agency announced last month it seeks to cut about 7,000 employees, or 12% of staff, through voluntary resignations and a reduction-in-force plan due Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cLong waits, waves of calls, website crashes: Social Security is breaking down\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days<\/strong> this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones in place of receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. Amid all this, the agency no longer has a system to monitor customer experience because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FACT: After Musk funneled <\/strong>millions<\/strong><\/a> into Trump\u2019s campaign, he was rewarded with billions in federal contracts and his net worth skyrocketed. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily Mail<\/a>: \u201cThe federal government awarded Elon Musk\u2019s company a $38.85 million contract on Monday as the billionaire works to slash other contracts.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cMr. Musk\u2019s companies secured $13 billion in contracts over the past five years<\/strong>, making SpaceX, which collects most of that money, one of the biggest government contractors. There is already talk during the Trump administration of expanding these deals, particularly at the Air Force.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benzinga<\/a>: \u201cBy mid-December, Musk\u2019s fortune had jumped from $262 billion before the election to a peak of $486 billion<\/strong>, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, fueled by a massive surge in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cLess than two weeks after President Donald Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on goods from the tiny African nation of Lesotho, the country\u2019s communications regulator held a meeting with representatives of Starlink. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA series of internal government messages obtained by The Post reveal how U.S. embassies and the State Department have pushed nations to clear hurdles for U.S. satellite companies, often mentioning Starlink by name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FACT: Musk repeatedly overinflated DOGE\u2019s \u201creceipts\u201d about actual savings and efficiency. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CBS<\/a>: \u201cDOGE continues to publish misleading or inaccurate claims on its \u2018Wall of Receipts\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccording to the running tally on its website, DOGE claims it has saved American taxpayers a total of $170 billion. However, only $70.9 billion is itemized, and many of those entries continue to raise serious doubts about their accuracy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cDOGE\u2019s Only Public Ledger Is Riddled With Mistakes\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[T]he math that could back up those checks is marred with accounting errors, incorrect assumptions, outdated data and other mistakes<\/strong>, according to a New York Times analysis of all the contracts listed \u2026 its slapdash accounting adds to a pattern of recklessness by the group, which has recently gained access to sensitive government payment systems.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cStruggling With Errors, DOGE Deletes Billions More From List of Savings\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cElon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency has deleted hundreds more claims from its mistake-plagued \u2018wall of receipts,\u2019 erasing $4 billion in additional savings that the group said it had made for U.S. taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLate Sunday night, the group erased or altered more than 1,000 contracts it had claimed to cancel, representing more than 40 percent of all the contracts listed on its site last week. The deleted items included five of the seven largest savings that it had claimed credit for just last week. At the same time, the group added about 1,000 additional canceled contracts, worth smaller total savings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u2019s shadow president Elon Musk is finally leaving Washington after promising (and failing) to fight fraud. Musk\u2019s only public record of so-called \u201csavings\u201d is riddled with inaccurate information, mistakes, and inflated numbers. While gutting access to working families\u2019 hard-earned benefits, Musk\u2019s net worth skyrocketed. Make no mistake: Trump and Musk only care about lining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFACT CHECK: Elon Musk Wasn\u2019t Fighting Fraud \u2014 He Screwed Over the American People and Skyrocketed His Net Worth\u00a0\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-29T15:15:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-29T15:15:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/\",\"name\":\"FACT CHECK: Elon Musk Wasn\u2019t Fighting Fraud \u2014 He Screwed Over the American People and Skyrocketed His Net Worth\u00a0\u00a0 - Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-29T15:15:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-29T15:15:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6a79beb4f30710331f5f8ad0cb779d64\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\",\"width\":1101,\"height\":483},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FACT CHECK: Elon Musk Wasn\u2019t Fighting Fraud \u2014 He Screwed Over the American People and Skyrocketed His Net Worth\u00a0\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/\",\"name\":\"Democrats\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6a79beb4f30710331f5f8ad0cb779d64\",\"name\":\"Shelby Reese\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1bcc80f34f9bfa5c0480c4230734bb5bd8755daddce48f94e96eaf9e79accfe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1bcc80f34f9bfa5c0480c4230734bb5bd8755daddce48f94e96eaf9e79accfe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shelby Reese\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/author\/reeses\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FACT CHECK: Elon Musk Wasn\u2019t Fighting Fraud \u2014 He Screwed Over the American People and Skyrocketed His Net Worth\u00a0\u00a0 - Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_site_name":"Democrats","article_published_time":"2025-05-29T15:15:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-29T15:15:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Shelby Reese","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shelby Reese","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/","name":"FACT CHECK: Elon Musk Wasn\u2019t Fighting Fraud \u2014 He Screwed Over the American People and Skyrocketed His Net Worth\u00a0\u00a0 - Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024","datePublished":"2025-05-29T15:15:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-29T15:15:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6a79beb4f30710331f5f8ad0cb779d64"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png","width":1101,"height":483},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/fact-check-elon-musk-wasnt-fighting-fraud-he-screwed-over-the-american-people-and-skyrocketed-his-net-worth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FACT CHECK: Elon Musk Wasn\u2019t Fighting Fraud \u2014 He Screwed Over the American People and Skyrocketed His Net Worth\u00a0\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/","name":"Democrats","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6a79beb4f30710331f5f8ad0cb779d64","name":"Shelby Reese","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1bcc80f34f9bfa5c0480c4230734bb5bd8755daddce48f94e96eaf9e79accfe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1bcc80f34f9bfa5c0480c4230734bb5bd8755daddce48f94e96eaf9e79accfe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shelby Reese"},"url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/author\/reeses\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1053028,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053027\/revisions\/1053028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1053027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1053027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}