Kari Lake criticizes the Associated Press’ use of ‘Gulf of Mexico’ in CPAC speech
The former candidate for Arizona governor spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Feb. 21, 2025.
Kari Lake spoke at CPAC about combating misinformation with truth.Yet Lake repeated a debunked claim by Elon Musk that Social Security sends benefits to 150-year-olds.Lake also said she had ‘unfinished business’ in Arizona, despite losing two previous elections.
President Donald Trump’s designated Voice of America took to the stage at CPAC on Friday to help spread the word across the globe about the county’s newly arrived “golden age.”
“We are fighting an information war, and there’s no better weapon than the truth. And I believe the Voice of America can be that weapon,” Kari Lake said in her 15-minute speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“I told President Trump when he called me and asked me to lead the Voice of America that we will focus on accurate and honest reporting.”
This, not even three minutes after she parroted Elon Musk’s most nonsensical claim yet — the one about all the 150-year-olds collecting Social Security.
A claim that America’s paragon of journalism swallowed with gusto.
Lake repeats debunked 150-year-olds claim
“Social Security benefits to 150-year-olds? The only 150-year-old I know is Joe Biden,” Lake told the crowd, while running down a list of federal spending uncovered by Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency.
“And, apparently, there’s millions of them. There’s even people that are over 150 that are allegedly getting all these paychecks.”
Musk has suggested on social media and in press briefings that Social Security is sending checks to potentially tens of millions of people who are 120, 150, 200 years old.
“Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk said in a Sunday post on X, formerly Twitter, adding the inevitable laughing emojis.
Of course, he’s provided no actual evidence to back up his claim, other than his own misreading of the data.
A 2023 inspector general’s report noted that there are roughly 18.9 million people born in 1920 or earlier who are not marked as dead in the Social Security database. But the report said “almost none” of them are getting checks.
Even Trump’s Social Security guy doubts Musk
The agency decided not to spend the $9 million it would take to update those pre-1921 records, concluding it would be “costly to implement (and) would be of little benefit.”
Surely, an accurate and honest report would note that.
Or the fact that just 0.1% of Social Security benefits are paid to people over 100 years old.
Even Lee Dudek, the acting Social Security Administration commissioner appointed by Trump, has cast doubt on Musk’s claim.
“The reported data are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record,” he said in statement issued on Wednesday. “These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits.”
So, naturally, Lake wielded of the “weapon of truth” and railed on Friday about all those dead 150-year-olds, stealing our money.
Lake’s most horrifying words came at the end
Sorry, world, but this is what you’ve got to look forward to when Lake takes over running a federally funded media operation that reaches an estimated 354 million people across the globe every week.
Still, the most horrifying 12 words of her speech — at least, if you live in Arizona — came at the end when Lake signaled she’s not done with the “corrupt and captured” state where voters have rejected her twice.
“There is still unfinished business that I have in my beloved Arizona,” she announced.
Really, it’s the first good news Democrats have had all month.
Reach Roberts at [email protected]. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @laurieroberts.bsky.social.
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Publish date : 2025-02-21 05:17:00
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