Trump, Musk and the Republican party are happily overriding parts of the constitution, and using means of questionable legality to cripple the federal governmentIt is humbling to realize, almost a decade into his tenure at the center of American politics and life, that Donald Trump still has the power to surprise us. As recently as inauguration day, the conventional wisdom on Elon Musk’s role in the administration was that he’d been given a meaningless post at a powerless agency whose name itself was a joke. From the “department of government efficiency”, or Doge, it was said, Musk would issue easily ignored recommendations the gullible would take as evidence that Trump was streamlining the federal bureaucracy – a promise reliably made and broken by countless presidents. Instead, in a turn of events magazine cover artists have delighted in, Musk as a “special government employee” has seemingly taken the reins of the executive branch – a de facto co-president or perhaps a vice, while...
Elon Musk, under the Trump administration, is exerting significant influence over the federal government through questionable legal means, targeting agencies like USAid and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Trump's approach, akin to Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things," aims to dismantle and restructure government, with support from the Republican Party. This strategy, which includes extralegal actions, raises constitutional concerns and reflects a broader push to weaken federal institutions, aligning with a conservative agenda.
