In Leisure World, they are standing in arms, crying social security “Hands off”

Memo to President Trump and Elon Musk:

If you continue to play with Social Security, Seal Beach Leisure World arrives for you.

Members of two groups, seniors for Peace and the Democratic Club, met Tuesday in front of a 500 acres’ property club to plan a weekend demonstration and distribute leaflets who warned:

“Hans aside Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!”

Most of the 15 plans-groups, 60 years old in the 80s, raised my hand when I asked if their monthly budgets are based strongly on social security checks. And they are checked that Musk, a gas, qualified social security a Ponzi program and orchestrated the elimination of thousands of jobs in the agency.

But is there a real threat to preserving a 90-year-old American promise, given the majority support for rights programs through the parties of the parties?

“Yes, it’s absolutely real,” said Dan Larkin. “Right now, we have only one branch of the government, and it is the executive branch. (Trump is) capable of doing what he wants with impunity. … It’s terrifying.”

“It is our money,” said Shel Magnuson, noting that employees contribute to social security through deductions on pay during their years of work.

“I have been paying since I was a child,” added Larkin.

Ray Olsowka, who plans to demonstrate on Saturday under the Big Leisure World Globe to The Main Gate on Seal Beach Boulevard, said that he had an idea for a protest sign for Musk, the founder of Doge Doberman and Spacex.

“Please fly for March.”

As you may have imagined, each of the more than 9,000 residents of the 55-year-old community and over is not queue against Trump and Musk, although a resident sails on the field of a golf cart that has a large laminated sign that lists the “signs of early alert of fascism”.

According to William Bruce, president of the Democratic Club, a third of the registered Republicans, a third are democrats and a third have no affiliation to the party.

“There is a lot of Magi here,” said Pamela Mills-Sen, who aligns with the anti-top body and thinks that the president from the Putin game book, trying to marginalize people “financially and emotionally” and the sap of energy and resources to fight back.

But Don Horning, president of Leisure World Republican Club, has an entirely different perspective. He likes what he saw of Trump and Musk, and said that his point of view was informed by his own government service.

Horning said that he and his wife, Hope, are veterans of the American navy who worked in the health care of the veterans administration. They think that the demands of bureaucratic bloating and tax sites to poorly portray are legitimate at all levels of the government, and it noted that in California, undocumented immigrants are eligible for Medi-Cal.

Horning, who spoke to me at the clubhouse and by phone the day before, said it would be “very sad” if retirees had to see a drop in services. But he said that, as he sees mathematics, there are not enough workers who paid law programs to support the growing population of beneficiaries, and in the absence of guaranteed solvency, something must be done.

“No matter what’s going on, there will always be a problem with social security financing,” said Horning. “The Doge effort can only do help, because it fights all the waste.”

Is there waste in public spending and room for greater efficiency?

Without a doubt, but social security has worked relatively effectively for almost a century, keeping millions of people in poverty, and the claims of generalized fraud musk have not been safeguarded.

In the whole spectrum of federal programs targeted by Trump, we do not attend precision strikes for improved services and the common good. Trump, Musk and the Secretary of Health and Social Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are like children playing with dynamite. Enemies include public schools, higher emergencies, scientific research, health care, courts and anyone who has a difference in opinion.

Jeffrey Mulqueen, president of Leisure World Seniors for Peace, said that when he worked as a school superintendent in Massachusetts, he saw the need to reduce administrative costs and reduce budgets. But he said that he had acted in the interest of improving services and results rather than making blind cuts.

“What we see now is that they only take an ax of war in the federal budget,” said Mulqueen. “If the social security mission is to … protect and support the most vulnerable members of our community, such as the elderly and people with disabilities, and children … they can make it in a way that makes sense and saves money.”

But there is a ulterior motive in play, according to Bruce.

“I think the Trump administration really wants to reduce things so that they can finance their tax lounges that they implemented during his first mandate,” said Dem Club president.

Trump said that he did not intend to reduce social security benefits, but cynics in the leisure world do not believe it. They quoted thousands of layoffs on what criticisms had already called a sub-employed agency, and they also quoted Chaos newspaper acts And website accidents that have made it difficult for beneficiaries to access their online accounts.

“Trump and Musk and the GOP are … trying to fail from the inside,” said Mills-Senn.

Larkin hit his phone, trying to enter the Social Security website and showed me the answer:

“The online service is not available. We are sorry, but the online service you have requested is not available at the moment. We apologize for the disadvantages.”

This occurs at a time when fixed budgets could be reached with higher prices for consumer goods thanks to Trump prices, and can see their nest eggs threatened by market volatility.

Lily McCoy is concerned about her own social security benefits and her son’s disability checks, but she worries much more than that. It is she who tools around the leese World in a golf cart piloting an American flag and presenting the sign that lists the “signs of early alert of fascism”.

The signs include “identification of enemies as unifying cause”, “controlled mass media”, “power of protected businesses”, “deleted work power”, “disdain for intellectuals and arts”, “obsession with crime and punishment” and “crawling cronyism and corruption”.

Yes, all seem terribly familiar.

McCoy – who intends to join the demonstration on Saturday – said that she had obtained applause and beards from her resident colleagues, and that she had two advice to a neighbor who gave her a hard time:

“Continue walking.”

Steve.lopez@latimes.com