Auckland – A handmade sign outside the office of the Social Security Agency in Downtown imitated a street sign depicting the intersection of “prosecutors” and “Trump.” The chant comes from around 50 people surrounding it, holding ferocious signs aimed at President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
There were hundreds of signs in downtown Concord. “There are more protesters on the planet than there are billionaires,” and they scream, “Hey, Trump has to go.” In Santana Row, San Jose, a sign recorded on a cardboard statue of the government’s Director of Efficiency Mask read as “Chief’s Marauder.”
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Similar sights and chants appeared at the demonstration last month and May 1st. The protest against Trump and Musk has one central theme: leaving the social security system alone.
“You know,” longtime postal worker protester Ernest Johnson said he was walking around Oakland.
“I’ll tell you something else,” he said after pausing. “I worked for that for the rest of my life.”
Now, Trump and Musk are putting a 90-year-old system in their field of view in their efforts to support federal spending, provide tax cuts to the wealthy and provide massive, large deportation.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in 1935 and established the Social Security Program as a federal safety net for the elderly, the unemployed and other disadvantaged Americans. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the program has been more successful than any other program by lifting people out of poverty, but has not been revised in any major way since 1983.
Almost every wage hunter pays the system through his working life with a monthly check promise at retirement. Nearly 69 million Americans have received benefits, with a total of about $1.6 trillion this year, according to the agency.
“I share their rage,” D-Solano MP John Garamendi said of the protesters. “The complete lack of empathy, the lack of basic human care leading up to this thought process, shows a portrait of people who have no concern about the number of people who rely on social security. Many use it as their only source of income. People need it.
Galamendi co-hosted the Social Security 2100 Act and introduced fair cost-of-living adjustments for the Elderly Act to ease the rising costs facing the system. Neither is a law. Both attempt to address the long-term challenges faced by the Social Security system. There has been no change and the system will face a shortfall, equivalent to 25% of total benefits paid since 2033.
The changes Trump and Musk are already set to commence through executive orders, including allowing Doge’s free access to sensitive data for millions of Americans, have been largely challenged in court so far, through lawsuits in which “nearly unlimited access” violates privacy laws and creates a massive information security risk. On Friday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to access mask agencies with sensitive data from millions of Americans.
Doge has also announced plans to effectively terminate telephone services for the 9.5 million people who make bills over phones each year, closing 47 field offices. The Trump administration ultimately changed courses on these proposals.
Musk told conservative talk show host Joe Rogan that the social security system is “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” while Fox Business host Larry Kudrow said the system is “a big thing to eliminate” when it comes to wasted government spending.
Galamendi rebutted the story, saying, “The boys in the Doge are clearly polishing it. They tried to reduce the number of employees. They suggested an age where you could gather.
That may mean that social safety nets could ultimately be closed for many Americans. Galamendi said that the endgame of those who oppose the basic concept of the program is to create enough confusion within the system for Americans to lose faith in it.
Seniors in the area already have limited options when it comes to getting the help of their agency. In East Bay, 20 Social Security offices cover areas that run from Antioch to Richmond, Berkeley and Livermore. We serve Santa Clara County. There is one in San Mateo County.
The system is already inefficient to hear some recipients tell it.
Jose Lewis, a 71-year-old San Jose resident, said he had to make three recent visits to his downtown office because the check he received was incorrect. As a result, he couldn’t cash it out.
“The lines are sometimes long, but that’s normal,” Lewis said.
Ricardo Alexander Durum, who supported her mother in the same office, says that annual renewals are difficult and complicated as she was an immigrant from El Salvador and temporarily protected her status.
“We’re going through this all the time,” he said. “That’s every year. I wish this department had trained.”
In Antioch, where customers were standing in the heat of 80 degrees a day and waiting in their car, 67-year-old James Harris said he would wait three hours as each of the approximately 60 seats in the office was occupied.
“It’s hard to see how they can make it difficult,” he said. “I’m even wondering if Musk and Trump saw the inside of one of these places.”
Galamendi said one of the motivations behind the Social Security 2100 Act, which he and D-Connecticut Rep. John Larson were trying to lead to the law was to help Americans maintain their faith in the Social Security system, even if changes occur. Galamendi said reforms to the law would keep enough money in the system “for the next 50 years.”
“I hope it’s there,” 40-year-old Wendy Fisher said of her own social security while waiting outside her Richmond office last month. “I think that’s really the biggest concern we all have. Is it there for me?
Staff writer Caelyn Pender contributed to this report.
Original release: May 6, 2025 1:15pm EDT
