What else can you call it?

"They're taking my Social Security away," she said, standing next to me in the grocery store aisle.

"Who's taking your Social Security away??" I asked with genuine concern (and a little bit of shock) in my voice and face.

"The government," she scowled. "Pretty soon, I won't be able to afford anything."

This exchange happened at our local Whole Foods store, where my wife and I were shopping for some rarer staples she needed for a new dietary regimen her doctor had prescribed for a besetting illness, things we couldn't get at our usual Kroger.

A fellow shopper, a petite, elderly, smartly dressed and coiffed lady, had been next to me, reaching up to the top shelves for a product clearly at the limit of her fingertips. Noticing her stretch, I kindly offered to grab it for her, but she quickly rebuffed me.

"I can get it for myself," she said.

"OK," I replied as pleasantly as I could, turning my head more out of courtesy than necessity to the products on the lower shelves. I didn't want to embarrass her awkward body language.

On her toes, she snagged the box she wanted with her fingertips, brought it down, and scrutinized the price tag. "These prices are going up every day! I don't know how they think we can afford it."

Drawn back into the conversation, I agreed, "I hear ya. Prices are bouncing around a lot lately."

"Not just that," she added, "between this and losing my Social Security, it scares the heck out of me."

I raised my eyebrows. She was entering my domain. Retired now, in a matter of months I'm due to begin collecting my own benefit. "What??" I asked, "What's happening with your Social Security?"

"They're taking my Social Security away," she said.

"Who's taking your Social Security away?"

"The government. Pretty soon I won't be able to afford anything."

"The government?!" I asked. "Who?"

"You know," she said scornfully.

"I don't," I replied, "I'm supposed to start my own Social Security pretty soon."

"Well, good luck with that," she said, tossing her box into her cart, turning, and walking away.

Now I don't want to sound like I'm stereotyping, but this lady didn't strike me as one of the targeted populations under the eye of DOGE who might be illegally receiving Social Security benefits. What she seemed like was someone who is clearly independent, maybe a little jaded, but genuinely in fear of losing a core benefit to which she is probably completely entitled. I felt sorry for her fearfulness. Not that I'm entirely convinced that the Social Security infrastructure can support current-level benefits for a limitless future. That's another thing altogether. But that her fear was undoubtedly kindled and is being stoked daily by political rhetoric that, as best as I can tell, is unjustified by the actions of "the government".

Given many public statements by Democrat lawmakers (which are painfully amplified by the mainstream media) and Joe Biden's very recent speech in Chicago, containing unfounded language seeking to strike a measure of abject fear in the hearts of those concerned with our retired population, I am ready to call this what it is.

Unless I have misinterpreted plain speech, Elon Musk and DOGE have publicly stated that their objective is to do what they can to preserve Social Security benefits for bona fide recipients by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the system. To take that message, and the actual work being done to that end, and falsely accuse "the government" of trying to take citizens' legitimate Social Security benefits away is a lie with only one objective: Striking terror in the hearts of a massive segment of our population.

So, is that it? Is this an actual form of "terrorism"? For my money, I don't know what word describes it better. Feel free to comment and enlighten me. It is certainly not right. It is not true. It is unjustified and shameful. But, maybe that's the degenerated state of our politics today. As a retirement-aged guy who, believe me, has seen plenty of nefarious political tactics over the decades, this is one of the most victimizing. And I think that's terrorable.