In the name of innovation
The battle is between legacy government and the legal checks and balances that have held it together for generations, a system Democrats are vociferously trying to defend — including in court — and Trump’s new order, aimed at tearing down the status quo with the fast-paced, slash-and-burn tactics of venture capital and big tech, where breaking things in the name of innovation is celebrated.
Yeah clearly breaking things is always good, no matter what the things are or why they exist or how anyone will replace them. When you come to a fork in the road, break everything. It never goes wrong!
In addition to being the primary owner of X, Musk is the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla. The companies hold dozens of contracts with the federal government worth billions of dollars.
Democrats say it is impossible to untangle Musk from his conflicts, particularly if he is given sweeping spending authority across all of federal government. They say no president has the legal right to disregard budget decisions by Congress or the basic structure of government as outlined in the Constitution and other law — much less an unelected and clearly conflicted subordinate who has not been confirmed to any real government position by the Senate.
And they warned that a system that hands government control over to rich campaign donors is not a democracy at all, but an oligarchy.
Welp, this right here is an oligarchy then.
“Before our very eyes, an unelected, shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference Monday.
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Schumer took a similar message to X, attacking DOGE there as a made-up entity with zero legitimate power.
“DOGE has no authority to make spending decisions. DOGE has no authority to shut programs down or to ignore federal law,” Schumer wrote. “DOGE’s conduct cannot be allowed to stand. Congress must take action to restore the rule of law.”
Musk, reportedly operating as a “special government employee” with limited responsibilities, called Schumer’s response “hysterical” and proof that DOGE “is doing work that really matters.”
“This is the one shot the American people have to defeat BUREAUcracy, rule of the bureaucrats, and restore DEMOcracy, rule of the people,” Musk wrote on X. “We’re never going to get another chance like this. It’s now or never. Your support is crucial to the success of the revolution of the people.”
Right. Multi-billionaire Musk doing whatever he wants all the time=the revolution of the people. Two brutal greedy narcissistic self-dealing billionaires=the revolution of the people.
Hey, what’s wrong with an oligarchy. It’s worked so well in Russia. . .
Well sure, elevator maintenance is a big growth industry over there.
The Dems are being stupid about this shit again… rules and institutions are for “elites” after all.
“This fucker stole your data and has backdoors into your bank account” would be a more politically useful message. Probably also useful to point out that Trump seems to be unaware of most of the shit he’s doing. They voted for Trump, not Elon, and it’s pretty unclear how much of this stuff Lord Cheeto has signed off on.
You know whose motto is “move fast, break things?”
Bank robbers.
And house robbers. Break window, open door, grab stuff, leave.
What, exactly, are they planning to do with all the money they “save”?
Send it on a direct flight to an unmarked account in a Swiss bank, one opened specifically for the purpose by Elon Musk.
Are they doing a “scream test”? Apparently in IT this is a thing when a system gets old and complicated, and it has parts (or the whole thing, sometimes) where no one knows what value it provides anymore. And when no one knows what good it’s doing anymore, they switch it off to find out. If someone screams (hence the name of the test) that XYZ has gone wrong, they switch it back on, or find other ways to sort out XYZ. This feels like that.
I doubt they intend to turn anything back on.
Extortion is a use that makes a lot of sense. Remember that wildfire talk? PNW, unless you ban gay marriage all your federal dollars go away, that sort of thing.
Fourth Reich.
All those people who wondered how Hitler could possibly have done it, and who fancy themselves as the courageous ones who would have stood up to Hitler and stopped him, this is the sticking point, right here. Heil Elon-ald.
I know. That’s at the front of my brain all the time – this is how it’s done.
Mind you I’ve never fancied myself as one of the courageous ones who would have stood up to Hitler and stopped him. Not rushed to cheer him on, yes, but stood up to him, no.