Did You Vote for this Man?
I did NOT vote for Elon Musk … not for President; not for Vice President; not for either chamber of Congress … and not for the special position of “Executioner of the Constitution of the United States”. Did you?
Interest Conflicts as Far as the Eye Can See
Federal employees, from the President, members of Congress and the Courts through the newest recruit in the military, take an oath promising to support and defend the Constitution. Elon Musk and his team have taken no such oath. The only thing he had to do was donate over a quarter of a billion dollars to the President’s election campaign.
For President Trump, that was enough to give Musk free rein to override Congress, threaten government employees, shut down government agencies, and read the Treasury databases that contain the private information … tax records, Social Security information, health records, etc. … of hundreds of millions of the people living in this country. You no longer have to worry about data breaches. Elon Musk and his minions[1] have committed the biggest data breach in U.S. history. I wonder what payments or concessions China might offer Elon Musk for such data. His minions will probably be content with using bank routing information to divert income tax refunds and steal from individual bank accounts.
Waste, Fraud and Government Efficiency
I am in favor of reducing waste in the government and eliminating fraud.[2] The definition of efficiency is the “ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task”. Is it efficient to make blanket cuts or complete shutdowns of agencies with little or no knowledge of what those agencies really do.[3] I don’t think so.
Here’s a list of what they’ve been messing with. I’ve taken the items from a February 13, 2025 article published by ABC News.[4] In addition to buyout offers to over 2 million federal workers … including employees in the CIA … the administration, at the recommendation of Elon Musk, has investigated, tampered with, and/or shutdown the following federal agencies … usually with some vague statements about waste and corruption and/or unsubstantiated anecdotes about some person or persons cheating the government.
- The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
The CMS administers Medicare and, in cooperation with the states, Medicaid and related programs. Are you retired and covered by Medicare? Are you a disabled person who needs the assistance of Medicaid? Do you want the richest man in the world interfering with these programs? Do you think he can even conceive of the idea of anyone actually needing financial help? - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
Do you believe, even for a moment, that people like Trump and Musk for whom everything is a “what can you do for me” transaction give a damn about protecting consumers? That sort of thing could interfere with their efforts to gain wealth and power by whatever means is needed. - The Department of Education (ED)
It doesn’t take much imagination to know why our co-presidents and their followers are opposed to education. Schools teach such subversive things as history and science. The less “The People” know; the better for them. - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
In addition to having authority over civil and military aircraft and flight, the FAA is responsible for protecting U.S. assets during the launch and re-entry of commercial space craft. Elon Musk owns SpaceX. ‘Nuff said? - The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA’s job is to coordinate and aid in the response to disasters … hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc. … that occur within the United States and are beyond the ability of those within the effected area to handle alone. It’s us helping each other. It’s not supposed to be political … no matter how much President Trump tries to make it so. - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
I think we all know what the IRS does. It’s biggest problem is dealing with an excessively cumbersome and lopsided tax code. This agency would be much more efficient if Congress did it’s job and cleaned up and simplified the law.
(This morning, February 17, 2025, I heard that Musk and his minions are trying to get access to the IRS database … in the middle of tax season. What’s wrong? Wasn’t there enough of our personal data in the database of the Treasury Payment System? Maybe they’re making sure the records they’re collecting are as up-to-date as possible. It’s highly unlikely that they’re looking for tax cheaters. You need to be a corporation or a multi-billionaire to afford to hire people who have the ability to manipulate the loopholes in our convoluted tax code.) - The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The NIH is responsible for biomedical and public health research. President Trump showed us what he thinks of that … and science in general … during the COVID-19 pandemic that started in his first term. He doesn’t need Musk to destroy the NIH. I feel relatively certain that his Secretary of HHS will handle that. - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
In this case, NOAA is not in in charge of gathering pairs of animals into an enormous boat. It is the agency in charge of forecasting the weather and monitoring the atmosphere and oceans. Considering how our co-presidents and many conservatives feel about climate change, I’m surprised that they haven’t eliminated this one already. - The Social Security Administration (SSA)
On the evening of February 17, 2025, on “The Last Word“, the show’s host, Lawrence O’Donnell, reported that Michelle King, acting head of the Social Security Administration, resigned over the weekend because of a dispute with Elon Musk and his not-so-merry-men who demanded access to the Social Security Administration’s database.[5] Presumably, her replacement or somebody down the line will grant them access. Who knows what they’re planning to do with the SSA data. Given their penchant for speed and finding fraud where it doesn’t exist, they could “blow up” the whole agency. Those of us who get Social Security benefits could see them stop at any time. (My Social Security deposit showed up in my bank account on Friday, February 21st as scheduled. 😮💨 So far, so good.) - The Treasury Department (USDT)
I’ve discussed what Elon Musk and his little hoard have been doing with the Treasury Payment System. It occurs to me that what they’ve done (are doing?) violates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
I would think our personal information is covered by that statement. - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
USAID is what it’s acronym implies … assistance we give to other countries around the world that need help. The agency supports global health needs, helps provide disaster relief, and promotes social and economic development, democracy, education, and environmental concerns in other countries.
“What’s in it for me?”, you may ask. USAID helps people and their countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. They see us as friends and allies. Many have resources, like the rare earth elements and other less common minerals that we need for our high-technology economy and way of life, but don’t have ourselves. Would you rather have those countries doing business with us or with China? Do you think Latin American countries will help us with our drug smuggling and immigration concerns if we turn our backs on them? Isolationism is not “America First”. Our security depends on having friends and allies.
USAID was the first agency Elon Musk and his minions told President Trump to shut down.[6] After all, it’s “giveaways” have been averaging $23 billion each year since 2001. That’s a lot of money … until you compare it the the National Budget. The average annual budget of the United States is $4 trillion. (In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the budget to $7 trillion.) $23 billion is 0.575% of $4 trillion. (For comparison, the average income in the United States is $63,795. 0.575% of that is $366.82.)
The Deep State
President Trump, Co-President Musk, Vice President Vance, the Presidents’ Cabinet, and their lackeys spend a lot of time talking about “The Deep State”, “The Bureaucrats”, and other terms intended to scare The People. They paint pictures of a secretive and powerful conspiracy within The Greater Washington, DC Area (Southern Maryland, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia) dedicated to destroying the United States. They’re talking about the U.S. Civil Service Commission … and a lot of what they say is wrong or a straight-out lie.
- Civil Service employees are not political partisans; they are public servants. Non-partisanship is a requirement of their jobs. Any civil servant who allows his or her personal political leanings to creep into his or her work would be disciplined. If the violations are egregious and/or repetitive, that employee would be dismissed.
- Civil Service employees are not concentrated in Washington, DC Only 19.8% of them live and work in The Greater Washington, DC Area. 80.2% of all federal workers live and work in other parts of the country. (Could this 80.2% be the ones that Trump and Musk have said “don’t come to work”? Do they expect over a million and a half people whose work is … of necessity and efficiency … in the states to stop by Washington, DC every day?)
Civil Servants are not a massive group of mysterious bureaucrats hiding away in catacombs deep beneath the streets and buildings of the District of Columbia. They are federal workers in your local area who are dedicated to doing a good job for the people of the United States. They are your neighbors and friends. Some of them may even be members of your family. They’re not scam artists “out to get you”. They’re goal is to assist you and support the local branches of the government agencies created to provide that help. Until January 20, 2029 (at least), the scam artists are in and around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.
- Civil Service employees are not appointed by anyone. They are hired. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act passed in 1883 required certain applicants to take the civil service exam in order to be given certain jobs. That same law prevented elected officials and political appointees from firing civil servants, removing civil servants from the influences of political patronage and partisan behavior. (Once again, Trump and Musk are ignoring … or, more likely are totally ignorant of … the law.)
If “Musk’s Marauders” want to find some possible sources of government waste, they may want to look into Tesla and SpaceX. Neither would exist without government help.
How the Government helped Tesla
When Tesla began in 2010, it got off to a rocky start. It had sold fewer than 2000 cars. A low-interest, $465 million loan from the Department of Energy helped them to survive. The company used that loan to develop the Tesla Model S, their first major success. They were able to pay off the loan early. I have no problem with that. Good for them.
At about the same time that Tesla started selling cars, the Government began providing a $7,500 tax credit on electric vehicles. This allowed Tesla and all other EV manufacturers to sell their cars at a higher price than the market might have otherwise allowed. An increase of the price by half that amount, $3,750, would have added $1.7 billion to Tesla’s coffers at the expense of the government. Still, no foul and little harm. All EV makers could do the same thing, the car buyers got a break, and we took a step in the direction of protecting the climate.
Now comes the catch. Elon Musk is encouraging Donald Trump to get rid of the $7,500 tax credit. Tesla can afford to take the hit; some of its less well established competitors may not.
How the Government continues to help SpaceX
Since 2008, SpaceX has been awarded or promised close to $21 billion by the U.S. Government. Another $76.7 million has been promised since Trump’s inauguration. Not surprisingly, the biggest contracts come from NASA ($14,564 million) and the Department of Defense ($5,581 million). Oddly enough, their Starlink division that produces and deploys communications satellites was promised $2.3 million by USAID as part of an infrastructure program for Macedonia. USAID was the first federal agency that D.O.G.E shutdown completely. Musk called it “evil” and “a criminal organization”. I guess that’s $2.3 million dollars that taxpayers get to keep. 🤔 Yeah, right! Our Co-presidents or our “silent majority” (Congress) will probably move that project to a different agency … probably DOD. … where it will mysteriously disappear.
Who’s in Charge Here?
On February, 12, 2025 Elon Musk and President Trump held what can only be called a joint Press Conference.[7] The video clip that follows is about one third of that meeting. At the 2 minute and 45 second mark President Trump interrupts “Co-president” Musk to suggest he provide some of the anecdotal evidence of inefficiency and fraud that D.O.G.E. has discovered. (I haven’t checked all of the examples that follow. The “150 year-old Social Security recipients” mistake is among them. I suspect that most of what Musk says in this part of his speech have the same level of accuracy. 🙄😏 ) After this redirect, President Trump returns to silent semi-attention for the next 6 minutes and 23 seconds.
[ 9:08 ]
Shocking isn’t it? Did you think you would ever see Donald Trump sitting quietly while someone else hogged the spotlight. Makes you wonder who’s running the show and who’s the figurehead. I wonder if Elon dictates the executive orders that Donald is so fond of signing.
The whole Press Conference lasted 27 minutes and 36 seconds. In that time, Musk spoke for a bit over 63% of the time. Trump spoke a bit over 36.6%. It makes one wonder who’s Press Conference is it? If you want to watch the whole Press Conference this footnote link[8] points to the video clip.
Do you want to be seen as the “Man in Charge”, President Trump? If you do you’d better watch your back. You have often mentioned that “Elon’s doing this for free,” then followed it up with feigned wondering about why he’d do so.
Do you really believe that “the Presidency” will have any meaning after you, Elon, and you respective lackeys have eviscerated the Constitution and it’s checks and balances along with the government it defines? Mr. Musk might keep you on as a figurehead for awhile, but it will be painfully obvious who the boss is. The answer to the question, “Who’s in charge here?” is becoming more obvious almost every day.
A Possible Crack in the Wall
On Saturday, February 22, 2025, Elon Musk posted this message on his social media platform, X.[9]
If this post was intended to create confusion and fear, it worked. There were the 29.5K replies to the post shown in the picture, but that wasn’t the end. E-mails, calls, and texts began to flood into the mailboxes, voicemail, and message applications of the employees’ supervisors … most of whom were equally confused.
Later that same day, an e-mail went out to government employees. The message came from a new address (HR@opm.gov). The subject line was, “What did you do last week?”. The message read, “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.” The e-mail was not signed. The Crack in the Administration’s Wall began to appear.
Employees received messages from high-level officials in the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the U.S. Courts System, the State Department, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice … telling their people not to respond to Musk’s request … at least, not until their agencies could determine the legitimacy of the e-mail.
Some agencies have directed their employees to respond. The Secret Service has directed its people to respond with a form letter, “This week I accomplished: 100% of the tasks and duties required of me by my position description and 100% of the work product that my manager and I have agreed to.”
Of course, President Trump praised his Co-president’s plan as “genius”. What else can he say? He doesn’t want Musk trashing him on X.
Food for Thought …
February 28, 2025 marked the first 40 days of President Trump’s second term. The Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) was created by an executive order on his first day in office. Technically. D.O.G.E. is under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) headed by acting Administrator Amy Gleason, but there is no evidence that Elon Musk is getting any direction from anyone other than his Co-president and himself. If the words and action of Donald Trump and Elon Musk seem vaguely familiar, you probably learned about men like them in history class or from a TV documentary about World War II.
In their quests for power and glory, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler led there respective countries and the people of those countries to ruin.
We cannot let Donald Trump and Elon Musk to do the same to our country and to us.
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Notes
[1]
Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E. operatives range in age from 19-25 years old. one of them resigned after social media posts like these surfaced:
- “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.”
- “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.”
- “Normalize Indian hate,”
- “I just want a eugenic immigration policy, is that too much to ask.”
Vice President J.D. Vance (whose wife is Indian) quickly recommended that the “minion” who had resigned should be brought back. Elon Musk soon agreed that he “will be brought back“.
[2]
President Trump and “Co-President” Musk imply that the government is overrun by fraud and blame the civil servants in various agencies. This is highly unlikely. Civil servants are selected based on their merit and ability to carry out the work of the agency for which they are hired. They are the “worker bees” of the government. They have little or no ability to make policy unilaterally. Therefore, they have little or no ability to initiate fraud. If you want to find fraud, look no lower than upper management. Eliminating whole agencies and painting everyone … including the civil service “worker bees” … with the stain of FRAUD creates waste, reduces efficiency and demonstrates the ignorance of the “painter”.
President Trump chooses to be ignorant. To me, choosing ignorance is stupid. Wanton ignorance demonstrates a distorted view of reality. Making decisions that hurt those you have chosen to serve shows a nearly incredible level of arrogance and narcissism.
Co-President Musk believes in the high tech industry concept “Move fast and break things” … coined by Mark Zuckerberg as the motto for Facebook. (Don’t be concerned about Musk “borrowing” the phrase. After all, Trump “borrowed” the motto “Make America Great Again” from President Ronald Reagan.) “Move fast and break things” may work in social media, but it doesn’t work when you’re meddling with things you know nothing about … especially agencies that touch most, if not all, of the people in your country. (It’s not even cleat that the motto works in social media … especially in the hands of Elon Musk. His transformation of Twitter into X demonstrates that.)
[3]
Whether we like it or not, the names of many agencies within the federal government are at least partially obscured by Congressional “politi-speak” and/or a fondness for acronyms. For example, the Department of Defence started as the Department of War. Why was it changed? Political Correctness? Nah, couldn’t be. A more recent example is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Even politicians seldom mention the “Patient Protection” part. The nickname Obamacare was originally an insult contrived by its detractors. Its supporters and President Obama himself took it up as a handy shortcut.
The most obvious confusing name related to “Musk’s Marauders” is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It’s name and particularly its acronym make it sound like nothing but a give away program. It does provide needed aid to under-developed countries, but in doing so it makes a lot of friends for us. It’s the carrot that eliminates the need for a stick. (Shutting down USAID leaves an open door for China, Russia, Iran, etc. to move in and gain allies.) Its health care and monitoring helps to protect us … and the rest of the world … from another pandemic.
[4]
I found articles from other sources as well. The one from ABC News was laid out in a way that I found easiest to read. I cannot keep up by myself. The Trump/Musk co-presidency is coming at us too fast for any one person to keep up. That’s their plan … hit us with a firehose of lies and illegal behavior in the hope that we’ll give up. I won’t, but I can’t do it alone. I have to depend on my internet research skills to even come close to following every self-serving thing they’re doing.
[5]
This video clip is from the first time I heard that Musk, et.al. had demanded access to the Social Security database. (I heard it live, of course.) In addition to the announcement of Michelle King’s resignation, Lawrence O’Donnell shows how Elon Musk makes public statements based on wrong assumptions, but fails to publicly correct his error when someone corrects him in private.
In a Press conference in the Oval office on February 12, 2025, Musk mentioned that there are 150 year-old people collecting Social Security checks. He came to this conclusion because some records (or coding to process such records) have 1875 as the year of birth. In fact, a birth year of 1875 was used by the system’s original coders as a flag for records that had missing or invalid data. That flag told the system, “don’t send a check to this one”. This was later explained to Musk, but the original statement has never been retracted by Musk or the Trump Administration. To me, an error that has been found but left uncorrected is one notch away from an out-right lie.
Here’s the video:
[ 8:52 ]
[6]
At least, I think they told the President to shutdown USAID. Trump may have given Musk free reign to shutdown agencies without “bothering” him with the details.
[7]
The little kid is Elon’s 4 year-old son, X. That’s right. Elon named his son X … the same letter he used to rebrand his social media company that used to be called Twitter. Well, at least little X shouldn’t have much trouble learning to sign his name.
[8]
Here’s the video of the whole Press Conference. It gives me the impression of a follow-up after President Trump … as a visiting dignitary … has traveled from another country to meet with President Musk,
[ 27:36 ]
[9]
In case you’ve been “living off the grid” for several years, Elon Musk bought Twitter on April 14, 2022, fired a bunch of people, changed the rules, tore the company structure apart, rebuilt it the way he thought it should be, and renamed the application X. (Sound familiar?) The little blue bird became a stylized capital X.
Just in case you’ve been living in a cave or under a rock, we’re in the 25th year of the 21st Century. 😂
My Less Than Humble Opinion 