Brandon Herrera, the Republican running for Congress in Texas's 23rd District, spent July 23, 2026 defending two things no candidate for office should be defending: gutting Social Security, and a podcast bit where he and his co-hosts joked about killing old people.
This isn't a Democrat putting words in his mouth. It's Herrera, in his own posts, doubling down.
What he actually said
A resurfaced clip from a December 2024 episode of the Unsubscribe Podcast got attention this week. On that episode, as MeidasTouch reported, a co-host said, "Let's abolish social security," and Herrera answered, "I'm game." He called the program a "literal Ponzi scheme."
Then it got dark. When a co-host brought up "old people," Herrera said, "Yes, we should abolish old people." What followed was an extended riff where the hosts joked about killing elderly people — including with mallets, and a reference to the horror movie Midsommar. Herrera joked about putting a rubber chicken squeak toy on the end of a mallet so it makes a noise after crushing someone's skull.
Given the chance this week to say "that was a stupid bit and I regret it," Herrera did the opposite. He posted:
"We're talking about the movie Midsommar. I didn't realize the studio A24 wanted to kill the elderly lol."
And then, the part that actually matters for the people he wants to represent:
"And yes, social security is a joke. It's something that absolutely needs to be replaced with something solvent."
So he's not walking any of it back. He's confirming it.
His own website says the opposite
Here's the hypocrisy. Herrera's campaign website tells voters he "will oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits that seniors rely on."
You can't have it both ways. You cannot tell seniors on your campaign site that you'll protect their benefits and then tell a podcast audience that you're "game" to abolish Social Security and that the whole thing is "a joke." One of those is a lie to voters. And given that he doubled down on the "joke" comment this week — not the promise — it's pretty clear which version Herrera actually believes.
Social Security isn't a Ponzi scheme. It's the money working Texans paid into their whole lives, with every paycheck, expecting it to be there when they retire. Calling it "a joke" tells you exactly how seriously Herrera takes the retirement of the people in his district.
Real people, real benefits — in his district
This matters in TX-23 specifically. Herrera has built his campaign on backing Trump's agenda — the same agenda that already triggered nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts unless Congress steps in, and that brought longer waits, website crashes, and mass layoffs at Social Security offices under DOGE, making it harder for seniors to get the benefits they earned. More than 4.7 million Texans rely on Medicare, and millions more on Social Security.
Now the man asking to represent them in Congress is on record saying the program should be abolished and calling it a joke.
Not a one-off
Herrera's whole record is built on "jokes" that keep landing on the wrong side of decency. His own report card documents a candidate who filmed troll videos in Uvalde months after 19 children and two teachers were murdered there, who was denounced by the Republican Jewish Coalition as a "goose-stepping extremist" for his Nazi-gun "jokes," and who made a "joke" about veteran suicide that drew criticism from fellow Texas Republicans.
The pattern is always the same: say something cruel, then hide behind "it was a joke." But a person's values show in what they think is funny — and in what they'll actually vote for. Herrera thinks abolishing your Social Security is both.
Source
- MeidasTouch: Brandon Herrera Doubles Down on Slashing Social Security, Defends Jokes About Killing Old People
