Republican confesses to 'dirty little secret' about Trump accounts

Late last year, President Donald Trump launched a new program with his One Big Beautiful Bill Act that established retirement accounts for newborns. Part of his administration’s mission to incentivize childbearing and drive up birth rates, these accounts were initially referred to as “Trump accounts,” but the name soon shifted to “530A accounts” when it was realized that the original moniker was too politically polarizing.

Now, according to Axios, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has revealed another aspect of the program that could make it politically unpopular: the ‘dirty little secret’ that it may contribute to efforts to privatize social security.

Speaking at a conference on Monday, Cruz said, “Conservatives in America, for 50 years ... have been trying to do Social Security personal accounts.” This was in reference to a proposal by former President George W. Bush, which would have had citizens put money into stocks rather than funding Social Security via a payroll tax. "Here's the dirty little secret: Trump accounts are Social Security personal accounts."

Cruz, who has been called the “chief architect” behind the Trump accounts, noted that there was too much opposition in Bush’s day, explaining, “How did we get it done this time? Because we gave the money to babies, and so the old people didn't get pissed. But you know what? Babies grow up.”

According to Cruz, kids with these accounts will end up accumulating so much money that their parents will see the upshot, and will become more amenable to diverting their payroll taxes to one of their own. After several years, "we're going to be able to go to parents and say, 'Hey, you know that Trump account your kid has? Wouldn't you like to be able to keep a portion of your tax payments, that you're paying already, and instead of sending it to Uncle Sam, wouldn't you like to have a Trump account just like your kid does?”

This isn’t the first time such an outcome has been suggested. Last year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted, “In a way, it’s a back door for privatizing Social Security.”

Proponents of Social Security have worried about precisely this intention. As the AARP explained, “Currently, a Social Security recipient — of which there are 69 million — gets a fixed amount of money each month — guaranteed — from the federal government based on their lifetime earnings and the age at which they start claiming the benefit. Privatized accounts, on the other hand, would not guarantee a payment amount and would instead be based on the whims of the market, erasing Social Security as a promise that retirees can count on.”

Others have raised concerns about the loss of inflation adjustments, the need for retirees to pay administrative costs and fees to a private institution, and reduced disability and survivor benefits. What’s more, some argue that the loss of Social Security would hit low-income recipients the hardest, as they typically have less access to savings and other forms of income.

While Trump has declared that he will “always protect Social Security,” early in his second term, DOGE was tasked with cutting the agency, which resulted in the firing of 12 percent of its staff, the closure of offices, severe service limitations, and operational strain in general. It was also later revealed that a DOGE agent had illegally taken the Social Security data of tens of millions of Americans with the intention of sharing it with a future employer.

Social Security is a wildly popular program. Polling shows that 93 percent of Americans consider it valuable, making it the highest-rated program in government, while 80 percent fear that Congress will cut benefits. It’s so widely embraced that even investor Brad Gerstner — a proponent of the Trump accounts who was alongside Cruz as he spoke — admitted that cutting Social Security was a “third rail” idea that no politician dares touch.

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