President Trump Cutting Seniors $4,106 Check-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
President Trump has announced plans to cut seniors a $4,106 check to make up for higher taxes on Social Security income and cost-of-living increases vanishing during President Obama’s time in office.
The Truth:
A fake news websites started rumors about President Trump cutting retirees a $4,106 check to make up for higher taxes on Social Security under President Obama.
The story appeared at The Last Line of Defense website under the headline, “BREAKING: President Trump’s Latest Executive Order Will Make Retirees VERY Happy,” in March 2017. The story begins:
President Trump has been working diligently behind the scenes to make sure every retiree in America has the kind of security Obama worked so hard to take away. During the reign of the Kenyan tyrant, taxes on Social Security income rose 4 percent while cost of living increases virtually disappeared, leaving far too many with less than they needed to survive.
At the same time, Medicare was also torn to pieces and buried under a mountain of red tape. Retirees felt the burn of the Obama administration worse than anyone. President Trump just changed all that, ordering the US Treasury to restore the cost of living increases and issue checks to all retirees to cover their losses for the past eight years.
To be fair to all, Trump issued the order to be retroactive to anyone 65 or older as of today, meaning if you were over 57 years old in 2009 you’ll be receiving a check in the mail, courtesy of your president, for $4,106. That should go a long way towards helping to heal the pain of 8 years of a traitor.
The story was quickly shared more than 6,000 times on social media, and many believed that Trump would actually issue $4,106 checks to seniors without questioning the source of the report. Those who did question it, however, found that The Last Line of Defense states in its disclaimer: “The Resistance may include information from sources that may or may not be reliable and facts that don’t necessarily exist. All articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney. Pictures that represent actual people should be considered altered and not in any way real.”
Aside from the untrustworthy nature of publisher of this report, it’s always a good idea to check the official White House website when you see suspicious reports about the president signing executive orders. The White House lists all executive orders signed by the president, and if an executive order doesn’t appear there, it probably doesn’t exist.