Representative Dave Min (D-CA) joined MSNBC's The Weekend on Sunday and was direct and clear about what the Republicans are actually doing (and why they are doing it) in a way that struck me -- for both how straightforward it was, but also because how it was a different way than I had heard other politicians speak about it.

He didn't sound like a politician. He didn't try to sway votes or speak to one party. He just...said it. Here is a bit of what was said:

MENENDEZ: Where do you think this is headed, Congressman? I mean, there are those who will say they are breaking the system so that there is frustration with the system. It seems as though voters are a lot smarter than they realize though, and their frustration is with Elon Musk and with Doge, not with the Social Security Administration.

MIN: That's right. And again, we're hearing reports, and I just want to humanize this. We had a lot of seniors show up in my town hall. These are real people and unlike the assertions of Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, people are paying close attention, and they will notice if if they miss a paycheck. People are paycheck to paycheck in my district.

It's a very expensive area and I recently met a 77-year-old widow who was telling me that she doesn't know what she'd do. She's beside herself at the prospect of missing even one paycheck, and that mayhem right now we're seeing as they cut 12% of the workforce, they're imposing new requirements on seniors all in the name of rooting out fraud, which again, Social Security is one of the most closely watched programs in the world. Lots of analysis.

Is there some fraud, maybe a little bit, but it's always been found to be just a tiny tiny percentage, not on the scale that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are lying about here. So people are freaked out. I don't know where this is going, but again it helps to understand that this was never about efficiency.

It's always about finding $1.6 trillion in spending cuts. And look, I hate to be the Asian guy showing up here talking about math, but this is a math problem for them. The entire domestic discretionary budget is $900 billion. That is a lot less than $1.6 trillion so they can cut every program out there. They still wouldn't have the cuts they need. That is why they have to go after these mandatory spending programs, as we call them, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They've already announced massive cuts to Medicaid. Now they're looking at Social Security because even that's not enough, and we have to remember that this is all about tax cuts for the very wealthiest out there.

SANDERS: I mean, you, you mentioned that less than 1% of Social Security payments in recent years were identified as fraud, and that's according to a Washington Post report. So you make the point, they don't, they could cut all of these programs and they still wouldn't have it unless they went after Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. So why is it that your Republican colleagues are continuing to lie to the American people? Speaker Johnson goes on TV week after week and says Democrats are lying to you. We are not trying to cut Social Security.
We are not touching Medicaid, but we can again we can see for ourselves if we just listen to what they are, they are saying and watch what they are doing that is that's the only conclusion to draw.

MIN: Look, if you, if you're talking about my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, I think a lot of them right now are running scared of Donald Trump, and that's the reality they're scared of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. There apparently have been a lot of threats levied against Republicans if you step out of line. We're going to primary you and Elon Musk is going to spend tens of millions of dollars against you. They're worried about their own personal safety because of the online mobs and in-person mobs that will come to their houses if they go out of line with Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

So it's a courage problem. It's also part of this administration from top to bottom.
They're characterized by their lawlessness and the fact that they lie about everything whether it's the press secretary, whether it's Donald Trump, whether it's everyone on down and I think House Republicans just have to buy into that lie and that's the unfortunate reality we're dealing with right now.

We can clearly see they're going after Social Security, and yet they're lying about their agenda and again it helps us to remember this is not about efficiency. It's about finding a lot of spending cuts right now so they can pass their tax cuts.

EXACTLY. It's a COURAGE problem. An HONESTY problem. A SPINELESSNESS problem. Republicans have no courage. They are the party of fear and fecklessness. They cannot stand up FOR their voters or FOR themselves. They roll over out of fear of losing their jobs. Just disgusting, shameful, pathetic behavior.