Supporters cite a prosaic DOGE announcement as evidence that a Social Security problem that never existed has been fixed.

The big lie:

“We’re also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors, and that our seniors and people that we love rely on. Believe it or not, government databases list … 3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129, 3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139. 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them.”

— President Donald Trump, in a speech to Congress, March 4

The simple explanation:

Social Security databases rely on COBOL, a nearly 70-year-old computer programming language, and COBOL doesn’t have a standardized way to store dates. So a default date, such as 1875, was chosen for people lacking birth information.

But Trump and his cronies will never let a good lie go unrepeated, every chance they can.

Analysis | Records of dead people show how the pro-Trump spin machine keeps going

Supporters cite a prosaic DOGE announcement as evidence that a Social Security problem that never existed has been fixed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/03/social-security-dead-trump-false