Leaked Audio Exposes MAGA Candidate Laughing Over Social Security Cuts

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton was hit with another brutal audio leak in which he is caught with a group of lobbyists laughing as they discuss mandatory spending cuts.

Mandatory spending in the federal government is overwhelmingly driven by the benefit programs Social Security and Medicare.

Attempts to reform such programs are politically toxic with voters, as efforts have often meant slashing funds.

“Making some reasonable cuts in mandatory spending, you’re gonna have to do it, or there is no solution,” Paxton said in the audio leaked to the Texas Tribune .

“That’s just the reality.

We have to suck it up.” “From Republican presidents to Democratic, we’ve been spending like crazy, and no one seems to care.

And it’s going to bankrupt us,” Paxton added.

A lobbyist then chimed in, saying she wants to pay her fair share of taxes, “which is less than I pay now.” The group can be heard laughing.

While the group argued for mandatory spending cuts behind closed doors, the Texas attorney general insisted in a statement to the Daily Beast that he opposed slashing Social Security.

“I will protect Social Security,” he said, referring to recent public comments.

“Social Security represents a sacred promise that seniors paid into, and they have earned every single dollar.” The statement did not address the Daily Beast’s question over whether he supported cutting Medicare.

The statement instead pointed to Vice President JD Vance’s efforts to combat fraud as a way to go about cutting spending.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid made up about three-quarters of all mandatory federal spending in 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Paxton can also be heard in the clip telling the room, “We’ve got to get the maximum incentive by getting taxes to a better place, which I think will generate more income.