As David R. Lurie lays out in his excellent Public Notice column, Republicans have been dreaming of doing away with Social Security ever since FDR enacted it, even though it successfully reduced poverty among the elderly. Ditto for Medicare, enacted under LBJ.

The most infuriating part for me is they’ve managed to corral Democrats into going along with the messaging that these anti-poverty programs that people pay into are “entitlements” that “good government” types only want to “reform” and put on a “stronger” fiscal footing. It’s a nauseating way of framing deserving recipients as elite moochers and messaging the truly elite moochers as “sensible” minders of everybody else’s money.

Thank goodness Lurie called this out:

Reagan did succeed in enacting far more modest, but still substantial, cutbacks in Social Security with the support of Democrats — under the cover of a commission led by the then highly respected Alan Greenspan — based on the proposition they were “bolstering” it. This gave rise to an enduring view among many on the right that they could dupe Democrats to join them in cutting holes in the social safety net in the guise of trying to save it — a premise some “good government” types regrettably encouraged.

For those MSNBC fans who may not know, Alan Greenspan is the husband of MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. It just shows you how deeply this bamboozling has been embedded into “mainstream” American and Democratic politics.

With Donald Trump pretending he has a mandate, with Trump and Republicans already chomping at the bit to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the time is now for Democrats to get ready, Lurie warns. He lays out how Trump, Musk and his GOP enablers have different motives, but arrive at the same hideous desire to impoverish others while enriching the already wealthy.

Lurie predicts that when that happens, there will be a backlash and “the massive snowball Trump and his cronies sent down the hill will run them over.” But Democrats have to be ready for the game:

It is, however, up to Democrats to carefully prepare for what comes next, and — when the opportunity presents itself — to do everything they can to maximize the backlash and ensure Republicans once again pay the highest possible price for attacking a cornerstone of post-New Deal America. This will not be a time for compromise, or for sober-minded “good government” types to express agreement with the need for “reform.”

If Democrats play their cards right, the defeat of yet another GOP assault on key elements of the safety net for older Americans could be the beginning of a broader collapse of the Trump effort to “remake government” to serve his authoritarian ambitions.

I’m less optimistic that the party that twice couldn’t manage to keep a criminal grifter out of the White House will finesse this grift but hope springs eternal. If everyone who opposes the MAGA machinations starts letting their elected officials know now – and keeps letting them know - we’re not going to stand for this flimflam, I believe there’s a real chance Lurie’s scenario could play out very nicely.