Elon Musk Has Wanted the Government Shutdown

...Elon Musk has wanted a #government shutdown in part because it would potentially make it easier to eliminate the jobs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-has-wanted-the-government-shut-down/

“You know none of this is about saving #money, right?” says a 3rd #Republican familiar with the behind-the-scenes push from #Musk. “It’s all about destroying a liberal power base.”

#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #News #Press #US #USA

The DOGE Helpline

Comms from Armageddon
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-doge-helpline

"The scene: an office in the #WestWing ... with a "DOGE Helpline" sign on the door. Four consumer relations specialists take phone calls.

Rep 1 "...The point is to create the conditions for the survival of the fittest. That's #American, right?"

Rep 2 "We... create an #environment of desperation and hatred of Americans. #Americans will show their best side in these situations"

#Satire #Humor #Musk #Doge #Coup #Cruelty #US #USA

"Rep. 1 "...such a competition is rigged from the beginning, since it is organized by an #oligarch who controls the govt. He is fit. You are not. That is natural."
...

"Rep. 1. “...yes, the point is to make the #government entirely dysfunctional for the rest of you. But, right, we will keep the govt functional for us..."

Rep. 4 "Of course we lie. Lying is good. Let #science & the #humanities compete with other opinions in a free market of ideas."
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-doge-helpline

#Satire #Musk #USA

Are Trump and Musk Breaking Up?

A conversation with Politico's Jonathan Martin
https://charliesykes.substack.com/p/are-trump-and-musk-breaking-up

"Nota Bene four things: (1) #Trump World is rattled and in CYA-mode about Musk’s cuts; (2) Trump gave a green light to cabinet members to go after #Musk, blame him for reckless cuts, and call him a liar; (3) Trump may have clipped his fellow megalomaniac’s wings; and (4) the whole story leaked out."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #DonaldTrump #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #News #Podcast #USA

The Fascist Tech Bro Takeover Is Here
https://www.theindex.media/the-fascist-tech-bro-takeover-is-here-2/

"Musk's $277 million campaign contribution secured him unprecedented access to the levers of #Government & cemented his grip on the #political machine... Musk's influence has infected every arm of Govt. And he is using his #wealth, his control of Twitter's husk, & his presence in the #Trump orbit to steer the country away from #democratic principles & toward oligarchic rule."

#Musk #Coup #Corruption #Fascism #Tech #USPol #News #USA

"At the core of this "movement" lurks #CurtisYarvin, whose political ideology... has provided the intellectual framework for dismantling #democracy. His #DarkEnlightenment philosophy promotes a #world where governments serve only the Superior (defined, of course, by Yarvin), a select few inherit #power, and the #public exists to obey...

his masturbatory notions of hyper-fascism now resonate among maladjusted, incellionaire #tech executives"
https://www.theindex.media/the-fascist-tech-bro-takeover-is-here-2/

#Musk #Coup #USPol #News #US

The Road from ‘Citizens United’ to Trump, Musk & Corruption

A ‘naïve’ #SupremeCourt delivered lawless #greed & #cruelty. We’ll have to save ourselves, if we can.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-road-from-citizens-united-to-trump-musk-and-corruption-campaign-finance-supreme-court

"The court’s 5–4 #CitizensUnited decision, allowing unlimited corporate, interest-group, & individual spending on elections, did trigger dire predictions... But even the most pessimistic among them fell short of imagining #American reality today."

#Musk #Trump #Coup #GOP #Corruption #USPol #Politics #News #US

Musk Seeks to Put $100 Million Directly Into Trump Political Operation

#ElonMusk has signaled he wants to make some donations not just to his own #superPAC, which is called America PAC and has spent heavily on Trump in the past...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-donation.html

"Elon Musk has signaled to Trump’s advisers in recent days that he wants to put $100 million into groups controlled by the #Trump political operation."

#Musk #Trump #Corruption #Coup #GOP #CitizensUnited #USPol #USPolitics #News #US #USA

Trump & Musk's Power-Sharing Agreement Innovates the #Authoritarian Playbook

The Novel Power-Partition Opens New Horizons of #Corruption
https://lucid.substack.com/p/trump-and-musks-power-sharing-agreement

" #Trump has a novel power-sharing arrangement w/an unelected private citizen who is essentially executing a #HostileTakeover of the US #government to capture #data... & use our country as a laboratory for a new form of #authoritarian techno-governance that requires the wrecking of #Democracy"

#Musk #Tech #Coup #USPol #News #USA #US

Trump, an E.V. Naysayer, Gives Tesla and Musk a White House Exhibition

#Trump has spent years bashing electric vehicles. But with #ElonMusk by his side, he said he would buy a bright red one.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/us/politics/trump-buy-tesla-elon-musk.html

"Trump hosted an exclusive #car show at the #WhiteHouse on Tues afternoon.

The only company represented: #Tesla. The only purpose: helping Elon #Musk...

a president using the backdrop of the White House to boost sales for a... top donor."

#Coup #Corruption #GOP #USPol #News #US

USDA cancels $1B in local food purchasing for schools, food banks

States have been notified that they will not receive 2025 funding for #schools to buy food from nearby #farms.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/10/usda-cancels-local-food-purchasing-for-schools-food-banks-00222796

"State officials were notified Friday of USDA’s decision to end the LFS program for this year...

“Donald Trump and #ElonMusk have declared that feeding #children and supporting local #farmers are no longer ‘priorities,’""

#Musk #Trump #Corruption #Coup #GOP #USPol #Agriculture #News #US #USA

Musk Has Triggered A Corporate Deregulation Bomb

A #Delaware bill would award #ElonMusk $56 billion, shield corporate executives from liability, and strip away voting #power from shareholders.
https://www.levernews.com/musk-has-triggered-a-corporate-deregulation-bomb/

"If lawmakers don’t enact the #law, which was written by Musk’s own lawyers, the billionaire mogul and his allies are threatening a mass exodus of companies out of the state."

#Musk #Corruption #Coup #Business #Deregulation #Politics #Money #USPol #News #US #USA

Veteran Chains Himself Outside White House to Protest Trump and Musk

The 80-yr-old veteran said #DonaldTrump and #ElonMusk are “killing veterans.”
https://newrepublic.com/post/192559/veteran-chains-white-house-protest-trump-musk

"locked himself to a metal post... a pipe around his hands reading “King #Trump and Pres #Musk are killing #veterans”...

he & his fellow veterans “are marshaling on [March] 14th at noon & marching all over the country to say one simple thing: Veterans will not stand for this any longer.”"

#Resist #Resistance #News #USA #US

DOGE Has Become What It Claimed To Destroy
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/10/doge-has-become-what-it-claimed-to-destroy/

"DOGE is the #DeepState. Wired’s Brian Barrett made this crucial observation last week & I can’t get it out of my mind. For all the talk during the last decade of the supposed “deep state” of #unelected bureaucrats controlling the #government, which was never actually true, #DOGE has become the very deep state they falsely claimed existed previously."

#ElonMusk #Musk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #News #USA

"the people who spent years warning us about an imaginary #DeepState have built an actual one. The people who claimed to fear unaccountable bureaucrats have installed literally unaccountable bureaucrats. The people who insisted they would drain the swamp have filled it with their own particularly toxic sludge.

Their accusations weren’t warnings — they were spoilers."
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/10/doge-has-become-what-it-claimed-to-destroy/

#ElonMusk #Musk #Doge #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #Politics #Tech #News #US #USA

From US Rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD)
https://jamieraskin.com/doge-privacy-act-requests/

"The US District Court for the District of Columbia has issued an injunction commanding #DOGE to comply with citizen requests under the Freedom of Information Act. This #law encompasses the Federal #Privacy Act of 1974, which entitles any citizen to access personal #information held in any US #government records system."

Privacy Act request form link:
https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ak-raskin/images/Raskin_DOGE_Privacy_Request.pdf

Fill it out. Send it in.

#ElonMusk #Musk #FOIA #USPol #USA

Judge Delivers Massive Blow to DOGE Quest to Keep Everything Secret

A federal judge has just ordered the release of DOGE records.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192581/judge-doge-release-records

"Elon Musk’s #Doge must open its #records to the #public under federal #law.

#US District Judge... said the DOGE office has so much #power & “unusual secrecy” that its internal documents should be urgently released under the Freedom of Information Act."

#Resist #Resistance #FOIA #ElonMusk #Musk #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #News #US #USA

DOGE axes CISA ‘red team’ staffers amid ongoing federal cuts
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/11/doge-axes-cisa-red-team-staffers-amid-ongoing-federal-cuts/

"Elon Musk’s #Doge has fired more than a hundred employees working for the #US government’s #cybersecurity agency #CISA, including “red team” staffers...

affected employees were axed immediately when their network access was revoked with no prior warning."

#ElonMusk #Musk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #Tech #Technology #Security #NationalSecurity #News #US #USA

Trump’s Crazed Midnight Tirade Over Musk’s Unpopularity Shows Weakness

#Trump hates #green energy—but he loves Teslas, which he’s now pathetically pleading with his followers to buy as a show of loyalty & devotion to #ElonMusk.
https://newrepublic.com/article/192609/trump-tesla-musk-unpopularity-shows-weakness

"Trump unleashed a wild rant endorsing Elon Musk’s signature #EV. Trump pledged to buy a #Tesla himself as a “show of confidence” in Musk’s so-called #Doge, whose actions have grown ever more... politically toxic"

#Musk #Coup #Corruption #USPol

Trump Turns White House Into an Elon Musk Marketing Gimmick

#DonaldTrump proves he’s totally subservient to #ElonMusk with his #Tesla stunt.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192586/donald-trump-subservient-elon-musk-tesla-stunt

"Elon Musk took such a massive financial hit Monday that ... #Trump is now moonlighting as a #car salesman...

It’s not clear why Trump’s spotlight would lend any help to #Musk now—the two are already publicly linked, and isn’t that part of the problem?"

#Corruption #CorruptGOP #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #Cars #Sale #News #US #USA

Elon Musk and the the Threat of the Over-Mighty Subject, Part I
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/elon-musk-and-the-the-threat-of-the-over-mighty-subject-part-i

"Trump isn’t able to manage #Musk in the way he abuses and brutalizes the other toadies who crowd around him. Musk is clearly driving this train, with #Trump perhaps excited by the pain and anguish he’s creating, but still at best only okaying things after the fact."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #DonaldTrump #GOP #Cruelty #Republicans #USPol #USPolitics #News #US #USA

Trump Holds Bizarre, Rambling Tesla Commercial at White House

WTF were #DonaldTrump and #ElonMusk doing?
https://newrepublic.com/post/192623/donald-trump-elon-musk-tesla-commercial-white-house

"Trump claimed that the #boycott was unlawful...

Fact check: Boycotts are not illegal and are protected by the #FirstAmendment...

But #US regulations do prohibit federal employees from using their public office... “for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise.”"

#Musk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #Business #Tesla #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #News #US #USA

Introducing: The Musk Watch DOGE Tracker

New tool reveals Musk has overstated verified DOGE savings by at least 92%
https://www.muskwatch.com/p/introducing-the-musk-watch-doge-tracker

"Most of these purported "savings," however, are not backed up with any details or documentation...

The #Musk Watch DOGE Tracker allows anyone to easily cut through the spin about #DOGE & see how much savings can be verified. It also allows the public to go deeper & see what is being cut & who is being impacted."

#ElonMusk #Coup #News #Resist #US #USA

Elon Musk and His Doge Pals, in "Auto Graft"
- @rubenbolling

https://boingboing.net/2025/03/12/tom-the-dancing-bug-elon-musk-and-his-doge-pals-in-auto-graft.html

#Cartoon #Comic #Comics #ComicStrip #Humor #Funny #Politics #USPol #Elon #ElonMusk #Musk #Doge #US #USA

Elon Musk Finally Admits Social Security Is on the Chopping Block

The #DOGE chief has revealed his true goals in a #FoxNews interview.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192579/elon-musk-social-security-medicare-entitlements

"Trump has said he won’t touch #SocialSecurity or #Medicare, but Musk’s entitlement math makes it clear that both those programs, as well as #Medicaid, are on the chopping block. Millions of older #Americans—many of them red-state #Republicans—will lose the vital benefits"

#Musk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #Politics #News #USA

Turns out DOGE can't beat FOIA by shouting "Not an agency"
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/doge-foia

"Trump signed an EO inserting #DOGE into the skin of an existing agency... then redesignating it as part of the Executive Office...

specified that DOGE is not a federal agency, a #legal distinction which turns out to be critical in at least 3 pending #lawsuits... But only an agency can claim authority to shut down great swathes of the federal bureaucracy — something #Musk brags about doing"

#ElonMusk #News #US

$42.5 Billion Broadband Grant Program Being Rewritten To Benefit Elon Musk
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/12/42-5-billion-broadband-grant-program-being-rewritten-to-benefit-elon-musk/

"there are $42.5 billion in broadband #grants... courtesy of the 2021 #infrastructure bill. The #GOP voted against the bill, but have repeatedly... taken credit for its looming #benefits among our broadly misinformed electorate. And, as we predicted, they’re now redrafting key components of the program to the direct benefit of #ElonMusk"

#Musk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #News #USA

Trump and Musk are building a new spoils system

When ideological targeting becomes cronyism
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trump-and-musk-are-building-a-new

"Trump, via #Musk, is engaged in #impoundment, which is #illegal & #unconstitutional. It also vastly weakens #Congress. & yet, the #Trump pitch to get Congress to pass appropriations is that he will ignore what they actually pass! Impoundment is a feature, not a bug, in their model for governing."

#ElonMusk #DonaldTrump #Coup #Corruption #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #Politics #News

" #Republicans in #Congress are not being told that their appropriations will be ignored: they are being told that appropriations will be selectively ignored, and they will be protected.

#DOGE is accepting requests from Republican officials to reverse cuts in their jurisdictions. It is a form of #spoils system in reverse: your pet projects will be spared from elimination."
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trump-and-musk-are-building-a-new

#ElonMusk #DonaldTrump #Corruption #Musk #Trump #Coup #GOP #Politics #USPol #USPolitics #News #US

Donald Trump Backs His Co-President; Says Attacks On Tesla Dealerships Will Be Treated As ‘Terrorism’
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/12/donald-trump-backs-his-co-president-says-attacks-on-tesla-dealerships-will-be-treated-as-terrorism/

"Only attackers of this one company will be treated as domestic #terrorists, even as the hundreds of literal #DomesticTerrorists who raided the #Capitol building for the sole purpose of preventing a #democratic election from happening now roam free, thanks to Trump’s blanket #pardon."

#Musk #Trump #Coup #Corruption #Tesla #GOP #Jan6 #Politics #USPol #News #US #USA

The Nerd Reich podcast, episode 1: The Network State

A deep dive into how tech billionaires like #ElonMusk are trying to dismantle traditional #governance to create their own #power structures through #crypto and #ArtificialIntelligence.
https://www.thenerdreich.com/the-nerd-reich-podcast-episode-1-the-network-state-2/

"we share bold predictions about where tech #authoritarianism is heading & reveal strategies for #resisting the growing control of billionaire #tech elites."

#Musk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #Politics #USPol #Resist #News #USA #US

DOGE Makes Its Latest Errors Harder to Find

Elon Musk’s group obscured the details of some new claims on its #website, despite promises of #transparency. But The Times was still able to detect another batch of mistakes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/us/politics/doge-errors-funding-grants-claims.html

"The website is... revealing its [Doge's] struggles w/the machinery & terminology of #government.

If the group is now going to fill its site with uncheckable claims, then it loses its value."

#Musk #Doge #Trump #GOP #USPol #Politics #News #US #USA

They fly into hurricanes for NOAA – and still got caught in Doge's purge
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj679kyj6geo

"this week, the #Trump administration could consider axing more than 1,000 additional staffers at # NOAA...

"People take for granted how accurate the #weather forecasts are," said Andy Hazelton, a NOAA #climate scientist who modelled #hurricane paths & was fired... "Forecasts are going to get worse because offices are understaffed"

#Musk #Doge #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #News #US #USA

Elon Musk: The accidental sovereign?

#History shows us what happens when private industry becomes so deeply embedded in war that it starts shaping its outcomes.
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/elon-musk-the-accidental-sovereign

" #Musk is not the first businessman to dictate the course of #war. A century ago, the Krupp family of #Germany played the same role, supplying the steel, artillery, & tanks that fueled Prussia’s wars, rearmed #Germany after #WWI, & built #Hitler ’s war machine."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #News #USA

Democrats Demand Answers on DOGE's Use of AI

Members of the #House Oversight Committee sent dozens of requests to federal agencies... about their use of #AI software—& how #ElonMusk could benefit.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-federal-agencies-ai/

“The #American people entrust the federal #government with sensitive personal info... on the basis that this #information will not be disclosed or improperly used... including through the use of an unapproved & unaccountable 3rd-party AI #software.”

#Musk #USPol #News #USA

Elon Musk Made Secret Visit to U.S. Spy Agency

Meeting between #Musk & the National Security Agency’s leadership was ‘positive’ but comes after he called for its overhaul
https://archive.is/42Id5#selection-5689.0-5693.124

"meeting with leadership a week after saying the #intelligence and #cybersecurity outfit needed an overhaul.

The discussion with the #NSA, which hadn’t been previously disclosed, centered on staff reductions & operations"

#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #Politics #USPol #Security #News #USA

Fire sale
A cartoon by RJ Matson
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/fire-sale

"RJ Matson is the editorial cartoonist at Roll Call, a newspaper covering Congress and Capitol Hill"

#Cartoon #EditorialCartoon #ElonMusk #Musk #DonaldTrump #Trump #Coup #Corruption #Tesla #WhiteHouse #GOP #Politics #USPol #USPolitics #Humor #Funny #US #USA

Elon Musk’s DOGE Quietly Kills Affordable Housing Program

#Trump is making a massive cut to affordable #housing, as fears over the #economy grow.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192653/musk-doge-trump-cut-affordable-housing

" #DOGE has cut funds & programs across the federal #government without regard to the purposes they serve or the lives that depend on them. Many of the people who depend on this #HUD program are low-income #seniors or destitute #families who have little or no other options."

#Musk #Coup #Cruelty #Trump #GOP #USPol #News #US

DOGE Is Pressuring Social Security to Make Another Massive Cut

#DonaldTrump & #ElonMusk want to make it harder for people to access their Social Security benefits.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192667/doge-pressures-social-security-cut-phones

"The #SocialSecurity Admn might slash the telephone service that millions of retired & disabled #Americans use to apply for & access their **earned** benefits...

#Doge is pressuring the agency... and in response, the #SSA is considering ending its #phone service"

#Musk #Coup #Trump #GOP #USPol #News #USA

"I am the alpha in this relationship": What Musk's romantic history reveals about his hold on Trump

How #Elon love-bombed Trump's #MAGA cult
https://www.salon.com/2025/03/12/i-am-the-alpha-in-this-relationship-what-musks-romantic-history-reveals-about-his-hold-on/

"Musk's crashing brand reputation is just the free market in action, something #Republicans used to claim they supported. But... [ #Trump] talks about #Musk not like a valued colleague... Trump's plea resembles that of a lovesick woman angrily defending her worthless boyfriend"

#Musk #Trump #Corruption #Tesla #GOP #USPol #News