Post by Zhi Zhu 🕸️

36d

Why Write About the Illegality of What Trump and Musk are Doing?
https://buttondown.com/sbagen/archive/why-write-about-the-illegality-of-what-trump-and/

"I know the #law won’t “save us” from #Trump. We’re going to have to save ourselves. But the law is one among many tools that will prove important in that struggle. And I think it’s important that those of us who work in the law continue to explain Trump’s violations of the law."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #DonaldTrump #Crime #GOP #Politics #US #USA

Headline:
Why Write About the Illegality of What Trump and Musk are Doing?

By Samuel Bagenstos, February 2, 2025

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36d

The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup:
As the world's richest man seizes control of government agencies, mainstream outlets are treating it like standard political news
https://www.readtpa.com/p/the-media-is-missing-the-story-elon

" #ElonMusk — a man no one elected to any office — has gained unprecedented access to... payment systems, fired federal workers, shuttered entire agencies, & installed his loyalists throughout the govt. If this were happening in any other country, we'd call it what it is: a #coup"

News headline:
The Media Is Missing the Story: Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup

As the world's richest man seizes control of government agencies, mainstream outlets are treating it like standard political news

by Parker Molloy
Feb 03, 2025

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35d

"Hitler actually had some good ideas": Musk's covert coup is guided by internet trolls:
Musk's illegal government takeover is scary on its own — but the people he's bringing along make it even worse
https://www.salon.com/2025/02/04/hitler-actually-had-some-good-ideas-musks-covert-coup-is-guided-by-internet/

"Musk seems to believe he can ignore the legal authority of #Congress to control federal spending, & instead control all decisions on how to spend taxpayer money... functionally make #Musk a #dictator using the elected official, #Trump, as his figurehead."

#Coup #News #USA

News headline:
"Hitler actually had some good ideas": Musk's covert coup is guided by internet trolls

Musk's illegal government takeover is scary on its own — but the people he's bringing along make it even worse

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published February 4, 2025 6:00AM (EST)

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35d

What the Musk is Happening?
It’s a catastrophe, but what kind of catastrophe?
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/what-the-musk-is-happening

"What if the #Musk people — Muskovites? — try to muck with systems they don’t understand, believing that they’re super smart & can master everything with the help of a little #AI? It’s not hard to imagine the whole federal payments system — including, by the way, servicing of #federal debt — crashing.

So much damage — to #US credibility, to the #Constitution and... #government"

#Coup #News

Text from article:
As Nathan Tankus, the go-to expert on these matters, says,

"I 100% believe that the primary barrier to Elon Musk gaining control of the Treasury payments system is COBOL."

For readers mystified by the reference, COBOL is a very old programming language that was once pervasive in the business world but in which hardly anyone under 60 knows how to program — yet is still widely used in government. (During Covid, the state of New Jersey put out a frantic call for people who knew COBOL to implement expanded unemployment benefits.)

But this observation raises another concern. What if the Musk people — Muskovites? — try to muck with systems they don’t understand, believing that they’re super smart and can master everything with the help of a little AI? It’s not hard to imagine the whole federal payments system — including, by the way, servicing of federal debt — crashing.

So much damage — to U.S. credibility, to the Constitution and the rule of law, and possibly even to the very functioning of the government. And Trump only took power 2 weeks ago.

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35d

"unelected billionaire #ElonMusk, whose investment of $290 million in #Trump & other #Republican candidates in the 2024 election... bought him freedom to run the #government...

The replacement of our constitutional system of government with the whims of an unelected private citizen is a #coup. The US president has no authority to cut programs created & funded by #Congress, & a private citizen... has even less standing to try anything so radical."
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-3-2025

#Musk #Trump #Politics

Text from article:
I’m going to start tonight by stating the obvious: the Republicans control both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They also control the White House and the Supreme Court. If they wanted to get rid of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, they could introduce a bill, debate it, pass it, and send it on to President Trump for his signature. And there would be very little the Democrats could do to stop that change.

But they are not doing that.

Instead, they are permitting unelected billionaire Elon Musk, whose investment of $290 million in Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election apparently has bought him freedom to run the government, to override Congress and enact whatever his own policies are by rooting around in government agencies and cancelling those programs that he, personally, dislikes.

The replacement of our constitutional system of government with the whims of an unelected private citizen is a coup. The U.S. president has no authority to cut programs created and funded by Congress, and a private citizen tapped by a president has even less standing to try anything so radical.

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35d

A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department. It’s also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, & more.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/

"Elez’s privileges include the ability not just to read but to write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the #US #government"

#Musk #Coup

News headline:
A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department. It’s also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more.

by Vittoria Elliott, Dhruv Mehrotra, Leah Feiger, Tim Marchman
Politics
Feb 4, 2025 1:02 AM

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35d

Elon Musk Suggests Getting Rid Of All Regulations In Midnight Call:
"If it's not possible now, it'll never be possible," Musk said of his proposal to simply ignore all federal regulation as a baseline.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-regulations-default-gone_n_67a12742e4b09a02376043c7

“Regulations, basically, should be default gone,” Musk said. “Not default there, default gone. And if it turns out that we missed the mark on a regulation, we can always add it back in.”

#ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #Trump #GOP #Government #Politics #US #USA #News #USNews