Trump tries to reverse Social Security, Medicare gaffe as Biden goes on the attack

Plus, the newest right-wing conspiracy involving cannibals.

Top Headlines

Former President Donald Trump is walking back comments he made last week about potentially cutting Social Security and other key federal welfare programs. In an interview with CNBC last week, Trump said that “there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements — in terms of cutting — and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements.” 

Such comments came as a surprise, as Trump had previously critiqued Republican compatriots like former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for proposing or supporting potential austerity measures to Social Security and Medicare. 

In a discussion with Breitbart yesterday, Trump tried to negate the gaffe. 

“I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare,” he said. “We’ll have to do it elsewhere. But we’re not going to do anything to hurt them.”

But that hasn’t stopped Trump’s electoral opponent, President Joe Biden, from attacking him on the issue. 

“You know, just this week Donald Trump said cuts to Social Security and Medicare are on the table … I want to assure you, I will never allow it to happen. I won’t cut Social Security. I will not cut Medicare,” Biden said at a campaign event in Milwaukee. 

“Instead of cutting Social Security and Medicare to give tax breaks to the super wealthy, I’m going to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare to make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share.”

Disinformation Watch

As the country of Haiti continues to experience a growing humanitarian crisis caused by the collapse of its government, right-wing social media influencers like Elon Musk and Daily Wire stalwart Matt Walsh are falsely claiming that cannibal gangs have risen up in major cities like Port-au-Prince. 

On ”The Matt Walsh Show” podcast, the show’s namesake asserted that “according to reports circulating all over social media, the violent gangs terrorizing Haiti have even resorted to cannibalism.” Musk proceeded to share Walsh’s post.

And, unsurprisingly, these same individuals have used this falsehood to stoke xenophobia and broader anxiety around the current immigration crisis. For example, notorious neo-fascist Nick Fuentes titled a recent podcast episode “Cannibal Savages PLOT IMMINENT Florida Invasion.” Another far-right influencer with a large following, Ian Miles Cheong, claimed that these cannibal gangs are “illegally entering the U.S. en masse.”

No evidence exists that such gangs are mounting mass migration campaigns into the United States. 

“The accusations of widespread cannibalism are based on what experts said was a likely intimidation tactic from select gang members: In some videos, the most prominent examples being at least two years old, alleged members of violent gangs in Haiti appear to bite into human flesh,” NBC News explained. “Experts said these videos are likely part of propaganda campaigns designed to scare rivals and terrorize local Haitians rather than a reflection of common or normalized behavior.” 

Such debunking was not well-received. 

“If wanting to screen immigrants for potential homicidal tendencies and cannibalism makes me ‘right wing’, then I would gladly accept such a label!” Musk wrote in response to the reporting. “Failure to do so would put innocent Americans in mortal risk. Shame on NBC. Shame, shame, shame.”