Old Obama-era letter edited to take aim at Biden

A long letter critical of AARP, the nonpartisan organization that lobbies on behalf of Americans who are 50 and older, is circulating on social media and takes aim at President Joe Biden. 

It’s addressed to Barry Rand, who is described as the executive director of AARP. But Rand retired in 2014, and he died in 2018. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

A version of this letter, signed by Walt and Cyndy Miller in South Carolina, has been online since 2009, when Rand was the CEO of AARP.

Snopes investigated its origins back then and confirmed with Cyndy Miller that she did write the letter to Rand. It was in response to a letter they had received encouraging them to renew their lapsed membership. According to the letter that appears in the Snopes fact-check, the Millers said that "AARP gave us a sense of belonging which we no longer enjoy." 

Featured Fact-check

Threads posts

stated on October 26, 2024 in a Threads post

Four Florida counties had “zero results” Oct. 26, and “something underhanded might be happening.”

"The Socialist politics practiced by the Obama administration and empowered by AARP serves only to raise the blood pressure my medical insurance strives to contain," the original letter went on to say.

But the version that is being shared on Facebook now has been edited and embellished. It criticizes the "Socialist politics practiced by the Biden Regime" and  refers to "illegal perpetrators" and "amnesty (aka-make voters out of the foreign lawbreakers so they can vote to continue the government’s free handouts)."  

While much of this letter is the same as the Millers’ version, it is being shared as if it’s a new attack on Biden’s policies. In reality, it was written more than a decade ago, when its authors were frustrated with then-President Barack Obama’s administration. 

Biden, of course, served in that administration as vice president, but this message has been edited and altered in the years since to mislead readers into believing it is current. It’s not. We rate this post Mostly False.