BEMIDJI 鈥� Elon Musk called Social Security the "biggest Ponzi scheme of all time" during a Joe Rogan Experience episode on Feb. 28. Musk is not the first to make such a claim, but the comment drew widespread attention because of his newfound status as head of the
This, in part, sparked the May Day Strong rally, a second national day of protest within the last month. It fell on President Donald Trump's 100th day in office, May 1, and honed in on Social Security concerns surrounding Musk and DOGE.
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facilitated the Bemidji rally, which took place in front of the Bemidji Social Security Administration building.
"We felt that May Day was a really good day to be in the streets," said Indivisible Bemidji organizer Nancy Haugen. "We wanted to support our people in the community that work for Social Security and receive it, because right now, we're very worried that there's going to be major changes."
Despite rain, the rally drew over 100 participants.
"We're very pleased with this turnout ... given the rain, given a Thursday," Haugen added. "One of the people standing out here was 98 years old. There's many people honking in support. We're getting a lot of thumbs up. We're getting a lot of waves. I think people understand that they need to speak out."
DOGE's task of eliminating governmental waste, done through contract, grant, lease and employee cuts, was the sole focus of the rally.
"We wanted to definitely say that we are not in support of Elon Musk being in our data and making cuts that are not strategic," said Haugen. "We understand that there's bloat and inefficiency in all agencies, but we strongly believe that (DOGE is) using a chainsaw approach instead of a scalpel."
While Trump and Musk have said they don't plan to cut Social Security benefits for qualifying taxpayers, they do claim that Social Security is filled with fraud, including payments to the deceased, which is being weeded out. This could be survivor benefits, but it is not made clear.
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Even if Social Security benefits are not slashed, accessing them could become much harder.
DOGE is firing federal employees en masse, including Social Security workers. According to a around 7,000 Social Security employees will be let go to comply with DOGE.
in American taxpayer dollars; however, the estimate is not fully accurate.
According to the Associated Press, more than Nearly 40% of the cut contracts are expected to yield zero savings, eating into the $160 billion figure.
And cuts to leases and grants could hurt local communities in the long term, even if they save government funds in the short term.
Bemidji has felt these cuts firsthand.
The Bemidji Indian Health Services building lease could potentially be terminated by the end of the year, interrupting health services to the regional Native American community.
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And Bemidji's large-scale State Highway 197 project is stalled due to a federal grant freeze. It could be terminated or reinstated, but a timetable has not been established. If terminated, Bemidji and the Minnesota Department of Transportation will need to find a new way to fund the project.
Unintended outcomes of the DOGE federal cuts could inadvertently hurt taxpayers, even if Social Security benefits are not touched.
Thus, Indivisible Bemidji and other organizations across the country will continue to host rallies with the hope of raising awareness and catching the eye of local representation.
"The hope is that we are going to show our representatives in the legislature that people are upset with what's happening with the status quo," Haugen said. "We want people to stand up, like (U.S. Rep. Pete) Stauber ... to stand up and take a stance against what's happening with all these cuts without any forethought."
