This increasingly looks like a pretext to fire some people and later hire new ones, but with the right ideological mindset. As someone born and raised in Eastern Europe, I have seen this going on for more than 30 years, and you folks start looking increasingly like us (and that is not a compliment).
I expect a few months down the line, they will say that they actually need more people, and then argue that the new hires will be much better than the old one. Everything else is a circus to divert attention, and it appears to be working.
This dude - I recognize him from my days reading NY MAG comments, he's a notorious troll who uses multiple identities (at least there he did) and was - if I recall correctly - blocked or removed multiple times but kept reappearing like a pustulent boil that just won't go away. The 4th grade repeating what you say back to you are his trademark, as well as one word replies like "gibberish." I'm sure I'll get some pithy reply to this.
That musical Coda this morning? They look like dudes but they aren’t. Which brings to mind which are fake ladies and which are real ladies. Same with Musk. And he brings to mind that someone needs to take Elon out to dinner — if ya know what I mean.
Another observation: it seems that Paul attracts a majority of men while Joyce Vance and Heather Cox attracts mostly women. Interesting isn’t it.
Do you have any data to back up your observation? Fox news also uses wiggle words to plant a suggestion while saying nothing: "Observation" "Seems" "Interesting isn’t it"
Inference from imputed gender of commenter avatars is shaky logic, to be polite. Let alone that those who comment are a self-selected group, maybe not a statistically valid representation of the columns readership.
I still can't help but wonder what hold Musk has on The Orange One? tRump is brash and obnoxious - a noisy con man, so what is keeping him sitting at the desk while a 3 year old picks his nose next to him... after all, he worries how he appears on TV and about his ratings. I remember a similar image of him in Helsinki with Vlad gloating next to him...
Trump is for sale to the highest bidder. In 2016 it was Putin. Now it's Musk. Having been bought and paid for Trump has to show complete deference to his owners.
I feel a bit creepy myself (maybe all the Trumpmusk slime has rubbed off on me) but I find myself wishing the same. However, unlike them, I wouldn't take pleasure in anyone's suffering, or use that to prove to myself how clever and special I am. I just want them gone.
Trump and Musk could disappear immediately but the problem would remain because 77 million Americans share their world view, and another 90 million aren’t offended enough to vote.
Well see, I'm the opposite. I don't want them dead. I want them to understand things from my point of view, to really feel how much suffering they're causing, and to care about it. Is that so much to ask?
Putin doesn't go in much for bribery as a means to control people, as a bribed person is always free to turn on their paymaster (either out of conscience or out of greed).
He prefers blackmail, and the fact that former girls from Jeffrey Epstein's island have accused Trump of raping them may well be key (along the fact that most of Putin's male fifth columnists in the West have form for sexual harassment).
Do you think there are really salacious facts from Trump's youth that could derail him and his agenda now? Suppose it came out that he had had a long affair with Ivanka and that he's the father of her two oldest kids. That's about the worst revelation I can imagine, from Trump's perspective. Would that knowledge make a dent in his base's adulation?
Musk and Trump have a symbiotic relationship. Musk and other oligarchs paid to put him in office and are now flooding their social media platforms with disinformation that is justifying his implementation of more-and-more autocratic policies. We are already at the point where he is testing the waters to see if he can get away with ignoring court orders. As a political expert recently said, when the Executive can decide which court orders to obey and can decide that the Executive's orders are lawful, we are in a dictatorship.
It’s trumps only real business model, licensee deals. He has licensed out his demagoguery and MAGA to Musk to run the show. Trump is there to be cruel and perform Continous firehouse of outrageous stupidity, a distraction while they rob the country blind.
That kid is very big into the schnoz, but apparently was caught on a hot mic saying “You’re not the president and I want you to go away” and “I want you to shut your fucking mouth up” to Trump in the Oval Office during whatever we’re calling that pressconferencedebacle. Priceless.
Musk is using Russel Voight to do the purge while Trump distracts with false, outrageous, crazy talk. Musk is quietly arranging the installation of AI to take over each department as he sees fit, for his advantage in everything.
There are some very smart and caring people at the Tech Policy Press. Everyone should give the link below a read and figure it out, and soon.
It is worse than that. The people who already accepted this offer have no official guarantee of their buyouts, and there is reporting that some accounts and payments were already canceled outright without Congressional authority.
I'm really surprised that Krugman hasn't pointed out the 4 Medicare/Medicaid fraudsters that Trump pardoned on 1/20/2021. They bilked us out of a combined $2 billion and change.
And then there's also the Medicare/Medicaid Senator from Florida - Rick Scott. The records are sealed but rumor has it that he stole several hundred million from Medicare/Medicaid. And Matt Gaetz's daddy did the same thing.
Musk is trying to buy OpenAI. AI depends on having data. Connect these dots. The danger is plain to see, but we’re treating things as if they’re not connected.
Some people still call them clowns. So many are ignoring our own warnings that if trump won it will have been the last election.
People still have a wait and see attitude instead of getting a head of the problem.
I think musk wants OpenAI in order to eliminate a competitor. And do what he did to Twitter control the information that people can consume through his filters essentially making it closed AI for all of us this way, the political technologist, the posters and alternative facts campaign, a pretty picture while the house is burning down. And the masses will believe it.
If only Trump and Musk’s fathers used condoms. My civil service colleagues and I have been collecting evidence of the muskrat’s criminal fraud activity. He is falling for our traps and will end up in jail with the orange felon, where they belong. We are all FBI agents now: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/we-are-all-fbi-agents-now
Trump and project 2025 IS following the Russia and Hungary PLAYBOOK...but...he didn't factor in the Patriotic American PEOPLE ...... fatal mistake ..... not going to work. It will likely be a fight even if they feign co-operation at some point for a bit.....it is their power and $$$ money vs us...and they will choose themselves - they MUST and we MUST...but we have 341, 145, 670 against 1 - last count
I think it's a serious mistake to assume DJT stands alone. He certainly does have company, allies, and hangers-on who will support the Trump admin. At this point our best hope is that the Trump admin gets drowned in a bathtub.
I don't believe it ..... I KNOW it...I feel it. Trump/Putin tried this out in the wrong Country....And we are only getting started...Yes...it's a huge mountain of deceit. But what is the alternative for us now ? The American People will rise... and cue Pauls music lol "Oh What a Day " nothing worth doing ...well, is usually easy. Our Freedoms since the 1940's were on the backs of the Hero's who died for that Freedom for us. Seems we now need to pick up the baton ... or we could google how bad things really are in Russia or Hungary ?? hint..having Freedom and then have Autocracy ..... will hurt like hell .... I would always bet on the People :) I feel it :)
Oh...and we will NEED to back up the FBI prior to an attempted roll over to the NEW "KGB or SS" is the plan...a sinister mandate for the notorious Kash Patel....Will we be SHOCKED, surprised ??? Not any longer...LOCK HIM UP ..is where we have to get to...albeit..sounds good over my coffee..they have all the advantages ...for today
Musk couldn't possibly get a security clearance, with his publicly acknowledged history of ketamine use. Also, Elon, I worked for the DOJ for over 39 years. Our work desktops ( later laptops) were configured to deny access to certain types of websites, and video games were off limits.
So, Elon, you're on a work improvement plan, and if you don't shape up, you're gone- and your booger picking tot is too.
Having worked in the Social Security Administration for the years 1973-2008, I can tell you unequivocally we don't have 150 years olds collecting benefit! Decades ago my colleagues were involved with the Centenarian project. This meant personally interviewing 100 years old by sending a field representative to the house, nursing home etc. to determine if the person was alive, and where they were living. We also had another project that matched Medicare rolls with SSA benefit rolls, and Medicaid rolls with the SSI rolls. If there was no activity on one of those records for a period of time, a face to face interview was required. Musk is trolling us. It's shameful we have to waste any time answering trolls.
Apparently the super genius and his team of elite coders are so clueless and inexperienced that they don't realize all the birth years showing as "1875" in the SSA data is a commonly used placeholder COBOL programmers use when the birth year is unknown.
I've read in other Substacks that Musk is going after government agencies that are or have been investigating him or his companies. Once he fires agency staff, the investigations -and possible fines - disappear.
With Trump-Musk, follow the grievance, follow the money. All the rest is largely theater to distract us.
I've read that too. Specifically about Starlink and how USAID, which paid for the receivers in Ukraine, found that some had made their way into Russia and were investigating. Not only do we need to be our own FBI, we need to be our own CIA as well.
I worked for 25 years at a town hall in Norway, there were 16 000 inhabitants. Of course there was waste, but we worked with auditors and local politicians to find improvements. Nobody could have walked in the door and found any fraud in two days.
I doubt Musk and his band of elves could even describe in a sentence or two what these agencies do and what American interests they were created to meet.
It WASN’T an audit. It was a theft. The orange tool is just too stupid to understand that… yet. Trump will learn the hard way when his own personal information is doxxed to his enemies by Musk’s petulant little teens.
fake justifications AND to give to the RICH...where is Robin HOOD ??? I guess they are in the courts daily fighting back..but other hero's will emerge....The Art and Music community hasn't even gotten started yet with motivation and solidarity ..... but it only took Hitler 33 days to overthrow the entire Germain Government and we are day 24..time is of the essence
Let's hope there are plenty of American HEROES around, we sure need 'em! Hint: don't look to Hakeem for heroism. He can't figure out how to message better.
It's coming. The courts have already put up a few detours and a few Senate Republicans are beginning to stir. It's growing. When the time comes, it will explode.
"there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position"
Musk has a point here. Consider Chief Justice John Roberts. Despite only making a few hundred thousand dollars a year in salary, he's managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars . . . because his wife has been systematically taking bribes from companies with business before the Court. So maybe that's how they made their money.
Or consider Justice Clarence Thomas, who likewise gets a mere pittance in salary, yet has millions accrued . . . by being given "gifts" from billionaires with business before the Court.
I'm sure these are the kinds of cases Musk is talking about. Right?
Pretty sure they (the billionaires, heritage foundation, white nationalists, maga congress etc) have succeeded in their plan to break government, declare government is broken, take over said government, and destroy democracy. Whatever we are living under now, it is not democracy.
As PJ O’Rourke once wrote: “The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.” They’ve been doing it for 40+ years!
I agree with you, that we have only remnants of our treasured Democracy; although not in the Federal Government but in The Courts, in the hands of Governors, and in the spirit of Woke Democrats (the empathetic ones, not the Karen’s).
The brazenness of the Trump leading edge destruction shows that the democratic hold-outs/Resistance have a monumental fight to preserve Constitutional Democracy.
They must persist in throwing up roadblocks to harass this Trump/Oligarch scheme pending the election midterms. Then, at least Congress can join the Resistance.
Even then, the odds that an Autocracy will be defeated aren’t very good. But it’s worth the risk and effort to try.
Someone also tried to collect SS in my name a few years ago. I was contacted by the SS administration and the attempted fraud was stopped. The problem is: thanks to DOGE's attacks against the federal workforce and the loss of expertise, this sort of "catch" may not happen in the future.
"We" save nothing. "They" save trillions. That feedback noise you hear is the sound of plutocrats waging class war against the rest of us while screaming "class war" at anyone who points out the obvious fact.
Thank you for writing this. I found it remarkable that after Musk’s “comprehensive” analysis of waste, he can’t understand what use USAID has for condoms.
Yesterday Trump promised us more examples. Based on what he said I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that they will be more half-truths and lies, this time probably designed to gin up anger over the migrant “crisis”.
We are about to watch the gaslighting like a fugue reaching its crescendo.
I'd have thought that (for anyone worried about migrant influxes) that condoms for Africa would be a win-win policy, especially as (unlike in almost the entire Global North) desired fertility is considerably lower than actual fertility in many African countries.
I think you are touching on something we need to keep saying, often and everywhere: Musk is running the country, Acting President Musk, And we should refer to trump as POTUSINO (Prez ... IN NAME ONLY). It'll drive 'em all nuts.
It is quite plausible for a USAID employee to have a net worth in the 10s of millions based on a $200,000/yr salary. It's not that sinister. USAID employees typically don't pay taxes in the country where they reside, and often get housing allowances. In any case, it is a job where you can save a great deal and then invest that money in real estate and the stock market. So sure, a few canny investments 20 years ago and you might be worth $10 million today. Especially if you bought Tesla stock. Does Musk really have a problem with that? No, he's just grandstanding.
My father-in-law worked for USAID, starting circa 1959. He was no idealist, but had been born dirt poor and between ROTC and working had attended college. He loved the idea of the housing allowance and I think there were hardship bonuses for certain countries. There was nothing to spend money on in some of these countries, no shopping malls, expensive restaurants, etc. He invested 99% of his salary. You could also import things, via the embassy "big pouch", like electronic equipment and a car. When they left a country, they could sell this stuff at a profit. They were also some of the cheapest people I ever met and made every penny count. They did have a substantial net worth while he was still working, considering he and his wife had started with nothing when they married.
Examples or data would be nice to see. As a US citizen living in a foreign country I still pay US taxes and taxes in the country I live in. So I would classify your assertion another urban myth unless you can provide some verifiable data.
Musk is likely unaware of thrle Thrift Savings Plan. It was created as part of the then new retirement system for federal employees (FERS). Employees contribute a set sum of their salary and thr government matches that sum.
Employees who chose to remain in the old CSRS system could also create TSP's, but did not receive a matching contribution as we had pensions.
If an employee is prudent and than lets their TSP grow, those accounts can provide a generous return.
Professor Krugman: this is a prime example of how important it is to learn geography, as well as reading comprehension.
and during that "press conference" in the oval office, trump looked like a sedated zoo animal, merely present for appearanes, to be seen, whilst elon muskrat ranted in front of the cameras and his spoilt brat told trump to "shut TF up" and to "just leave" already. oh, and wiped boogers on trump's desk. it was spectacularly revolting. i hope the salivating press got their cheap clicks.
And we seem to be missing the fact that now musk is above the law and that he does not need to be investigated for conflict of interest. His information will be seen by the president, but it stops there, the public will never know. I guess the Supreme Court gave him immunity to. We just didn’t know about it!
By giving the POTUS blanket immunity, the SCOTUS effectively gave the POTUS the power to extend or rescind immunity to whoever he wants, at will. Or take any other action he wants, at will. As long as it's done under the guise of his "official duties".
Brilliant! Love the “THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY…”… that got me for a minute because I noticed it (dark background) before my eyes got to reading the paragraph above. Great laugh and an even greater point. Awesome article. Thanks for writing!!
This increasingly looks like a pretext to fire some people and later hire new ones, but with the right ideological mindset. As someone born and raised in Eastern Europe, I have seen this going on for more than 30 years, and you folks start looking increasingly like us (and that is not a compliment).
I expect a few months down the line, they will say that they actually need more people, and then argue that the new hires will be much better than the old one. Everything else is a circus to divert attention, and it appears to be working.
Yes, and it's all so written in Project 2025.
Here is one more research:
https://open.substack.com/pub/valeriiterentev/p/musk-spreads-another-lie-about-fema?r=1npyai&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Tell us what we don't know.
Are your first two initials RR?
This dude - I recognize him from my days reading NY MAG comments, he's a notorious troll who uses multiple identities (at least there he did) and was - if I recall correctly - blocked or removed multiple times but kept reappearing like a pustulent boil that just won't go away. The 4th grade repeating what you say back to you are his trademark, as well as one word replies like "gibberish." I'm sure I'll get some pithy reply to this.
They were. The posts on his timeline are identical to when that was his pseudonym just a couple of days ago. He changed it in the meantime.
Are your first two initials RR?
That musical Coda this morning? They look like dudes but they aren’t. Which brings to mind which are fake ladies and which are real ladies. Same with Musk. And he brings to mind that someone needs to take Elon out to dinner — if ya know what I mean.
Another observation: it seems that Paul attracts a majority of men while Joyce Vance and Heather Cox attracts mostly women. Interesting isn’t it.
Another observation, not really true (said a woman who reads all of them).
Hear hear! Lots of women read Paul's work. Here's another one.
Me too!
Ditto, ditto. I'm a cis white male, age 69, who reads Krugman and Richardson every day, and Joyce Vance whenever she's brought to my attention.
Do you have any data to back up your observation? Fox news also uses wiggle words to plant a suggestion while saying nothing: "Observation" "Seems" "Interesting isn’t it"
"many people are saying... "
My personal favorite, it's an easy Trump tell that a lie is coming.
Just looking for attention - again.
I don't know what you mean; neither do you.
What a ridiculous uninformed observation.
Nope
Inference from imputed gender of commenter avatars is shaky logic, to be polite. Let alone that those who comment are a self-selected group, maybe not a statistically valid representation of the columns readership.
What's up with you, 'dude'? Something about your observations smells rotten to me. If I'm wrong, please explain.
I don't explain to fools.
...or anyone else, it would appear.
Yet another woman who reads two of them and others. This is tangential anyway, possibly to troll women.
The Purge Pretext. No question about it. It's right there in Project 2025.
Is obeisance an ideology? Kleptocracy might loosely be called an "ideology", but I think that's debatable.
I still can't help but wonder what hold Musk has on The Orange One? tRump is brash and obnoxious - a noisy con man, so what is keeping him sitting at the desk while a 3 year old picks his nose next to him... after all, he worries how he appears on TV and about his ratings. I remember a similar image of him in Helsinki with Vlad gloating next to him...
Trump is for sale to the highest bidder. In 2016 it was Putin. Now it's Musk. Having been bought and paid for Trump has to show complete deference to his owners.
I’m looking forward to the day that Trump’s lifestyle finally catches up to him and he has a stroke or cardiac event.
I feel a bit creepy myself (maybe all the Trumpmusk slime has rubbed off on me) but I find myself wishing the same. However, unlike them, I wouldn't take pleasure in anyone's suffering, or use that to prove to myself how clever and special I am. I just want them gone.
they don't have to suffer; it can be quick and painless (?)
Trump and Musk could disappear immediately but the problem would remain because 77 million Americans share their world view, and another 90 million aren’t offended enough to vote.
Well see, I'm the opposite. I don't want them dead. I want them to understand things from my point of view, to really feel how much suffering they're causing, and to care about it. Is that so much to ask?
I'd be happy if it were a permanent case of laryngitis, if there were such a thing.
I'm not sure about the cause of death. I hear that people with Trump's lifestyle get strangled by someone named Narcissus.
Putin doesn't go in much for bribery as a means to control people, as a bribed person is always free to turn on their paymaster (either out of conscience or out of greed).
He prefers blackmail, and the fact that former girls from Jeffrey Epstein's island have accused Trump of raping them may well be key (along the fact that most of Putin's male fifth columnists in the West have form for sexual harassment).
Do you think there are really salacious facts from Trump's youth that could derail him and his agenda now? Suppose it came out that he had had a long affair with Ivanka and that he's the father of her two oldest kids. That's about the worst revelation I can imagine, from Trump's perspective. Would that knowledge make a dent in his base's adulation?
For some it would only increase their admiration. Yeesh.
Musk and Trump have a symbiotic relationship. Musk and other oligarchs paid to put him in office and are now flooding their social media platforms with disinformation that is justifying his implementation of more-and-more autocratic policies. We are already at the point where he is testing the waters to see if he can get away with ignoring court orders. As a political expert recently said, when the Executive can decide which court orders to obey and can decide that the Executive's orders are lawful, we are in a dictatorship.
I think it's the $250 million he paid to have him elected president.
Money. Musk has more money then Trump.
It’s trumps only real business model, licensee deals. He has licensed out his demagoguery and MAGA to Musk to run the show. Trump is there to be cruel and perform Continous firehouse of outrageous stupidity, a distraction while they rob the country blind.
Maybe he just likes someone who creates all the chaos he enjoys watching while he eats burgers, dreams up weird things to add or play golf.
That kid is very big into the schnoz, but apparently was caught on a hot mic saying “You’re not the president and I want you to go away” and “I want you to shut your fucking mouth up” to Trump in the Oval Office during whatever we’re calling that pressconferencedebacle. Priceless.
What’s not in 2025?
Musk is using Russel Voight to do the purge while Trump distracts with false, outrageous, crazy talk. Musk is quietly arranging the installation of AI to take over each department as he sees fit, for his advantage in everything.
There are some very smart and caring people at the Tech Policy Press. Everyone should give the link below a read and figure it out, and soon.
https://www.techpolicy.press/anatomy-of-an-ai-coup/
Animal Farm 2.0
The Heritage swine cry, Downsize! Downsize!
Lean and mean—no fat, no ties.
Yet Musk, the stallion, sniffs the air,
Sees a prize just waiting there.
In weeks, the pigs will wire the pen,
AI shall rule instead of men.
No horse to toil, no man to scheme,
Just code to dictate every dream.
From Greenland’s ice to Panama’s sand,
One great farm, one iron hand.
All animals equal? That’s passè
Now AI rules, and none say neigh.
Muskrat is no stallion, he's a pig, as is Trumpty Dumpty. The only question is, which one is Napoleon and which is Squealer?
Four legs good, two legs better!
What isn’t debatable is that Muskrat Economics is an austerity program for us and a huge benefit for him .
That much is a certainty.
It is worse than that. The people who already accepted this offer have no official guarantee of their buyouts, and there is reporting that some accounts and payments were already canceled outright without Congressional authority.
Musk believes he can get away with making promises of severance then simply not pay it because HE ALREADY got away with it at Twitter.
Well, they should’ve known better. I bet those who resigned voted for him.
Many of those that resigned were going to quit this year anyway. Some people already have other jobs lined up, so there was no risk in quitting.
I'm really surprised that Krugman hasn't pointed out the 4 Medicare/Medicaid fraudsters that Trump pardoned on 1/20/2021. They bilked us out of a combined $2 billion and change.
And then there's also the Medicare/Medicaid Senator from Florida - Rick Scott. The records are sealed but rumor has it that he stole several hundred million from Medicare/Medicaid. And Matt Gaetz's daddy did the same thing.
It’s also very much about getting the data.
Musk is trying to buy OpenAI. AI depends on having data. Connect these dots. The danger is plain to see, but we’re treating things as if they’re not connected.
Some people still call them clowns. So many are ignoring our own warnings that if trump won it will have been the last election.
People still have a wait and see attitude instead of getting a head of the problem.
I think musk wants OpenAI in order to eliminate a competitor. And do what he did to Twitter control the information that people can consume through his filters essentially making it closed AI for all of us this way, the political technologist, the posters and alternative facts campaign, a pretty picture while the house is burning down. And the masses will believe it.
I totally agree with ths comment.
Musk and Trump’s routine is actually unbelievably transparent and worthy of trashy dictatorships like Ceauscescu of Romania.
The real tragedy here is that half of the American public, knowing what a criminal and con man Trump was in his first term, chose to reelect him.
This is what Vance advised Trump to do. Fur and then hire employees who will be loyal.
Trump does this on his own.
Yup. That's Trump's business model.
I was told Vance is pushing him.
As if Trump needs Vance to tell him what he plans to do regardless.
Fire, not fur
AI taking over your writings. I have the same problem.
Not hiring new ones. The great AI replacement has begun. No one expected it would begin with our federal government.
https://www.techpolicy.press/anatomy-of-an-ai-coup/
The new default explanation is AI.
It's easier than thinking.
If only Trump and Musk’s fathers used condoms. My civil service colleagues and I have been collecting evidence of the muskrat’s criminal fraud activity. He is falling for our traps and will end up in jail with the orange felon, where they belong. We are all FBI agents now: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/we-are-all-fbi-agents-now
Oh please make it so!
Trump and project 2025 IS following the Russia and Hungary PLAYBOOK...but...he didn't factor in the Patriotic American PEOPLE ...... fatal mistake ..... not going to work. It will likely be a fight even if they feign co-operation at some point for a bit.....it is their power and $$$ money vs us...and they will choose themselves - they MUST and we MUST...but we have 341, 145, 670 against 1 - last count
I think it's a serious mistake to assume DJT stands alone. He certainly does have company, allies, and hangers-on who will support the Trump admin. At this point our best hope is that the Trump admin gets drowned in a bathtub.
@Shauna -- sounds like you still believe in American Exceptionalism, against all evidence to the contrary
I don't believe it ..... I KNOW it...I feel it. Trump/Putin tried this out in the wrong Country....And we are only getting started...Yes...it's a huge mountain of deceit. But what is the alternative for us now ? The American People will rise... and cue Pauls music lol "Oh What a Day " nothing worth doing ...well, is usually easy. Our Freedoms since the 1940's were on the backs of the Hero's who died for that Freedom for us. Seems we now need to pick up the baton ... or we could google how bad things really are in Russia or Hungary ?? hint..having Freedom and then have Autocracy ..... will hurt like hell .... I would always bet on the People :) I feel it :)
Love this! We ARE all FBI agents now!! Great article. Thanks for sharing.
Oh...and we will NEED to back up the FBI prior to an attempted roll over to the NEW "KGB or SS" is the plan...a sinister mandate for the notorious Kash Patel....Will we be SHOCKED, surprised ??? Not any longer...LOCK HIM UP ..is where we have to get to...albeit..sounds good over my coffee..they have all the advantages ...for today
One problem with that otherwise good plan: SCOTUS already told us Trump's immune, and Trump can pardon whoever he wants.
Not sure if impeachment would even work. Something else may have to remove him from office.
Tea?
Thank you for making me laugh with that first sentence.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Probably take it to state court in NY or CA or somewhere.
Musk couldn't possibly get a security clearance, with his publicly acknowledged history of ketamine use. Also, Elon, I worked for the DOJ for over 39 years. Our work desktops ( later laptops) were configured to deny access to certain types of websites, and video games were off limits.
So, Elon, you're on a work improvement plan, and if you don't shape up, you're gone- and your booger picking tot is too.
Good work, but don't plan on them in jail. Pardons. Pardons for everyone.
Having worked in the Social Security Administration for the years 1973-2008, I can tell you unequivocally we don't have 150 years olds collecting benefit! Decades ago my colleagues were involved with the Centenarian project. This meant personally interviewing 100 years old by sending a field representative to the house, nursing home etc. to determine if the person was alive, and where they were living. We also had another project that matched Medicare rolls with SSA benefit rolls, and Medicaid rolls with the SSI rolls. If there was no activity on one of those records for a period of time, a face to face interview was required. Musk is trolling us. It's shameful we have to waste any time answering trolls.
Apparently the super genius and his team of elite coders are so clueless and inexperienced that they don't realize all the birth years showing as "1875" in the SSA data is a commonly used placeholder COBOL programmers use when the birth year is unknown.
I'm sure Musk's kiddies are allergic to COBOL...
Thank you for “factually” enlightening us and for your years selfless service!
Yup. Techno-faux genius Musk never heard of data entry errors or computer bugs.
It's so very disappointing how easy the trolling can be....
I've read in other Substacks that Musk is going after government agencies that are or have been investigating him or his companies. Once he fires agency staff, the investigations -and possible fines - disappear.
With Trump-Musk, follow the grievance, follow the money. All the rest is largely theater to distract us.
I've read that too. Specifically about Starlink and how USAID, which paid for the receivers in Ukraine, found that some had made their way into Russia and were investigating. Not only do we need to be our own FBI, we need to be our own CIA as well.
Merry, I'm glad you had details.
Plus a dose of messianic narcissism.
I worked for 25 years at a town hall in Norway, there were 16 000 inhabitants. Of course there was waste, but we worked with auditors and local politicians to find improvements. Nobody could have walked in the door and found any fraud in two days.
I doubt Musk and his band of elves could even describe in a sentence or two what these agencies do and what American interests they were created to meet.
It WASN’T an audit. It was a theft. The orange tool is just too stupid to understand that… yet. Trump will learn the hard way when his own personal information is doxxed to his enemies by Musk’s petulant little teens.
Thr Inspector General positions were created ro provide an avenue for reporting fraud and waste. The U.S. also has the GAO.
They could - if they themselves were acting fraudulently.
fake justifications AND to give to the RICH...where is Robin HOOD ??? I guess they are in the courts daily fighting back..but other hero's will emerge....The Art and Music community hasn't even gotten started yet with motivation and solidarity ..... but it only took Hitler 33 days to overthrow the entire Germain Government and we are day 24..time is of the essence
Let's hope there are plenty of American HEROES around, we sure need 'em! Hint: don't look to Hakeem for heroism. He can't figure out how to message better.
It's coming. The courts have already put up a few detours and a few Senate Republicans are beginning to stir. It's growing. When the time comes, it will explode.
"there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position"
Musk has a point here. Consider Chief Justice John Roberts. Despite only making a few hundred thousand dollars a year in salary, he's managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars . . . because his wife has been systematically taking bribes from companies with business before the Court. So maybe that's how they made their money.
Or consider Justice Clarence Thomas, who likewise gets a mere pittance in salary, yet has millions accrued . . . by being given "gifts" from billionaires with business before the Court.
I'm sure these are the kinds of cases Musk is talking about. Right?
Ha - my exact comment but with better examples. Thomas is the poster child for what Musk claims to have found and yet...
I wish!
Pretty sure they (the billionaires, heritage foundation, white nationalists, maga congress etc) have succeeded in their plan to break government, declare government is broken, take over said government, and destroy democracy. Whatever we are living under now, it is not democracy.
As PJ O’Rourke once wrote: “The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.” They’ve been doing it for 40+ years!
Wow, there's a name I haven't seen a long while! Thanks for jogging my memory.
Becky,
I agree with you, that we have only remnants of our treasured Democracy; although not in the Federal Government but in The Courts, in the hands of Governors, and in the spirit of Woke Democrats (the empathetic ones, not the Karen’s).
The brazenness of the Trump leading edge destruction shows that the democratic hold-outs/Resistance have a monumental fight to preserve Constitutional Democracy.
They must persist in throwing up roadblocks to harass this Trump/Oligarch scheme pending the election midterms. Then, at least Congress can join the Resistance.
Even then, the odds that an Autocracy will be defeated aren’t very good. But it’s worth the risk and effort to try.
It depends on what happens with the courts.
Someone also tried to collect SS in my name a few years ago. I was contacted by the SS administration and the attempted fraud was stopped. The problem is: thanks to DOGE's attacks against the federal workforce and the loss of expertise, this sort of "catch" may not happen in the future.
I wonder how much money we'll "save" by not investigating tax cheaters too...
"We" save nothing. "They" save trillions. That feedback noise you hear is the sound of plutocrats waging class war against the rest of us while screaming "class war" at anyone who points out the obvious fact.
They better hope that scream can't be heard by those who are 2nd Amendment Rights nuts.
👍
Thank you for writing this. I found it remarkable that after Musk’s “comprehensive” analysis of waste, he can’t understand what use USAID has for condoms.
Yesterday Trump promised us more examples. Based on what he said I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that they will be more half-truths and lies, this time probably designed to gin up anger over the migrant “crisis”.
We are about to watch the gaslighting like a fugue reaching its crescendo.
I'd have thought that (for anyone worried about migrant influxes) that condoms for Africa would be a win-win policy, especially as (unlike in almost the entire Global North) desired fertility is considerably lower than actual fertility in many African countries.
“This space intentionally left blank” is the most hilarious use of the phrase I’ve ever seen! I need to use it to this effect in my legal memos. 🤣 👏
I found an actual massive waste that could fill the void. get the DOGE kids on it! https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/g-s1-48571/trump-administration-order-400-million-worth-of-armored-teslas
To con the American people is easy. We learned that with Joe McCarthy, Nixon, and Reagan.
I think you are touching on something we need to keep saying, often and everywhere: Musk is running the country, Acting President Musk, And we should refer to trump as POTUSINO (Prez ... IN NAME ONLY). It'll drive 'em all nuts.
It is quite plausible for a USAID employee to have a net worth in the 10s of millions based on a $200,000/yr salary. It's not that sinister. USAID employees typically don't pay taxes in the country where they reside, and often get housing allowances. In any case, it is a job where you can save a great deal and then invest that money in real estate and the stock market. So sure, a few canny investments 20 years ago and you might be worth $10 million today. Especially if you bought Tesla stock. Does Musk really have a problem with that? No, he's just grandstanding.
My father-in-law worked for USAID, starting circa 1959. He was no idealist, but had been born dirt poor and between ROTC and working had attended college. He loved the idea of the housing allowance and I think there were hardship bonuses for certain countries. There was nothing to spend money on in some of these countries, no shopping malls, expensive restaurants, etc. He invested 99% of his salary. You could also import things, via the embassy "big pouch", like electronic equipment and a car. When they left a country, they could sell this stuff at a profit. They were also some of the cheapest people I ever met and made every penny count. They did have a substantial net worth while he was still working, considering he and his wife had started with nothing when they married.
Examples or data would be nice to see. As a US citizen living in a foreign country I still pay US taxes and taxes in the country I live in. So I would classify your assertion another urban myth unless you can provide some verifiable data.
Musk is likely unaware of thrle Thrift Savings Plan. It was created as part of the then new retirement system for federal employees (FERS). Employees contribute a set sum of their salary and thr government matches that sum.
Employees who chose to remain in the old CSRS system could also create TSP's, but did not receive a matching contribution as we had pensions.
If an employee is prudent and than lets their TSP grow, those accounts can provide a generous return.
Professor Krugman: this is a prime example of how important it is to learn geography, as well as reading comprehension.
and during that "press conference" in the oval office, trump looked like a sedated zoo animal, merely present for appearanes, to be seen, whilst elon muskrat ranted in front of the cameras and his spoilt brat told trump to "shut TF up" and to "just leave" already. oh, and wiped boogers on trump's desk. it was spectacularly revolting. i hope the salivating press got their cheap clicks.
And we seem to be missing the fact that now musk is above the law and that he does not need to be investigated for conflict of interest. His information will be seen by the president, but it stops there, the public will never know. I guess the Supreme Court gave him immunity to. We just didn’t know about it!
By giving the POTUS blanket immunity, the SCOTUS effectively gave the POTUS the power to extend or rescind immunity to whoever he wants, at will. Or take any other action he wants, at will. As long as it's done under the guise of his "official duties".
In other words, they coronated the Clown Prince.
Arrest his swollen ass now! Where are the courageous people of FBI, Secret Service? "Who will rid us of this meddlesome priest?"
Brilliant! Love the “THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY…”… that got me for a minute because I noticed it (dark background) before my eyes got to reading the paragraph above. Great laugh and an even greater point. Awesome article. Thanks for writing!!
I agree, very clever. Another reason I’m pleased to be reading Paul’s column here and not in the “failing New York Times.”
"All thr 'news ' we can fit"