In his first post-presidency speech, former President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned that President Donald Trump has “taken a hatchet” to Social Security.
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00:00Fewer than 100 days, this new administration has made so much, done so much damage and so much destruction.
00:16It's kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon.
00:18They've taken a hatch into the Social Security Administration, pushing an additional 7,000 employees, 7,000, out the door in that time, including the most seasoned career officials.
00:34Now they're getting ready to push thousands more out the door.
00:39Already we can see the effects.
00:40For example, thousands of people use the Social Security website every single day to check on their benefits and submit their claims.
00:49But now the technology division of Social Security Administration has been cut in half.
00:56And so the website is crashing.
00:59People can't sign on to their accounts.
01:02Why are these guys taking aim in Social Security now?
01:06Well, they're following that old line from tech startups.
01:12The quote is, move fast, break things.
01:15Well, they're certainly breaking things.
01:20They're shooting first and aiming later.
01:23As a result, the result is a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights.
01:28My friend, Governor O'Malley, knows what they're really up to.
01:32He says, and I love his quote, they want to wreck it so they can rob it.
01:39They want to wreck it so they can rob it.
01:41And why do they want to rob it?
01:46In order to deliver huge tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations and keep it going.
01:51They want to make permanent the 2017 tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations.
01:59Who are we?
02:00What makes us distinct from the rest of the world?
02:04It comes down to basic, in my view, fundamental American values.
02:12Nobody's king.
02:15Nobody's the boss.
02:16Everybody has a shot.
02:17All people are asking for is a shot.
02:24Honesty.
02:26Decency.
02:27Where hard work is rewarded.
02:30Have some faith in each other.
02:33Fairness.
02:34Simple fairness.
02:38We can't go on like this as a divided nation, as divided as we are.
02:43Like I said, I've been doing this a long time.
02:45It's never been this divided.
02:51Granted, it's roughly 30%, but it's a 30% that has no heart.