Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to President Donald Trump, insists that Elon Musk will not cut Social Security in his pursuit to limit government because Musk is “not president” and therefore “doesn’t get to make those decisions.

Elon Musk said he wants to cut "waste and fraud" from the federal benefits program — but his efforts to do so may lead to delayed payments.

When Democrats enjoyed a major blue wave in the 2006 midterms and recaptured both chambers of Congress — an outcome then-President George W. Bush famously acknowledged as a "thumpin'" — pundits cited two main factors for voters' anger at Republicans: the Iraq War and Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security.