[In answer to the above question, see below]

Elon Musk donated $288 million in 2024 election, final tally shows:
The official count of Musk’s donations further cemented him as the country’s largest — and most prominent — donor.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/31/elon-musk-trump-donor-2024-election/

"he [ #Musk] has amassed an extraordinary amount of power as a member of Trump’s inner circle — and as he is decried by critics as a de facto, unelected co-president."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Trump #Politics #Corruption #Government #US #USA #News

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DOGE Will Allow Elon Musk to Surveil the US Government From the Inside:
A former USDS employee called the repurposing of the Digital Service into DOGE an “A+ bureaucratic jiujitsu move.” It will give Musk and his associates access to unclassified data in every government agency.
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-elon-musk/

"Musk emerged as one of the president’s most important financial backers... Additionally, he used the power of his own celebrity to drum up support for #Trump both online & off"

#Corruption #US

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Who Can Stop Elon’s ‘Team’ Wilding Its Way Through the Federal Government?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/who-can-stop-elons-team-wilding-its-way-throuhg-the-federal-government

"There’s mounting evidence that even more than we know is being directed by #ElonMusk and his private-sector employees, who are now fanned out across the #government. He appears to have taken control of the federal payment system...

also taken control of some portion of the federal agency computer systems, allowing his operatives to lock federal workers out of key computer systems."

#Coup #USA

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"Government #Tech Workers Forced to Defend Projects to Random Elon Musk Bros:
A recent high school graduate & former Neuralink intern has joined meetings to review lines of code & other work history of career public servants, sparking chaos at a major #government agency.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-government-tech-workers-gsa-tts/

"The recent installation of #ElonMusk ally Thomas Shedd atop the federal #IT structure has thrown an agency in charge of servicing much of the #US govt’s technical #infrastructure into disarray"

#News

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Musk’s DOGE Brings in HR Consultant Focused on ‘Non-Woke’ DEI 'Aligned With Our Faith’:
“It’s simply just a non-woke version, offering employers an alternative approach to diversity and inclusion.”
https://www.404media.co/musks-doge-brings-in-hr-consultant-focused-on-non-woke-dei-aligned-with-our-faith/

"consultant who has spent the last few years teaching companies her “refreshing approach to diversity & inclusion” which include attempting to “redefine” #DEI in a manner that she says is more consistent with Christianity"

#ElonMusk #Fascism #Christofascism #Trump #Coup #US

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Things are going even worse than I expected:
On our unelected President Elon Musk, and mourning the loss of foreclosed potential futures.
https://davekarpf.substack.com/p/things-are-going-even-worse-than

"Elon #Musk has, for all practical purposes, seized control of the #US Administrative State. If he follows the same course of action he favored during the #Twitter takeover, he is likely to simply stop having the #government pay for things he doesn’t think it should pay for...

This is all flatly illegal."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Crime #USA

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Senior USAID security officials put on leave after refusing Musk’s DOGE access to agency systems
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/politics/usaid-officials-leave-musk-doge/index.html

"Personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the #USAID headquarters in #WashingtonDC, and were stopped.

The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access

...wanted to gain access to security systems and personnel files... classified information."

#Musk #Coup #Fascism #Trump #Politics #US #News #Press

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Musk team given access to sensitive federal payment system - reports
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77rkg5dm3vo

"The access to the payment system was granted on Friday, the same day when a longtime #Treasury official named David Lebryk was put on administrative leave and suddenly retired...

Lebryk had strongly resisted allowing Musk's lieutenants into the department's payment system...

#Musk... is not officially a government employee"

#ElonMusk #Coup #Trump #Politics #Government #News #US #USA

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The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover:
Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-government-young-engineers/

"six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 & 24... who have little to no #government experience and ...have taken control of the... #OPM and... #GSA, and have gained access to the #Treasury Department’s payment system"

#ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #Politics #US

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A New Kind of Coup: Trump and Musk are Updating the Autocratic Playbook:
The assault on our democracy seen through the lens of authoritarian practice
https://lucid.substack.com/p/a-new-kind-of-coup-trump-and-musk

"We are living through a new kind of coup in which #ElonMusk, the richest man in the world, has taken over the payment and other administration systems that allow the American #government to function, and has locked out federal employees from computer systems."

#Musk #Coup #Trump #Fascism #Politics #USPol #USA #US

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Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has ‘agreed’ USAID should be shut down
https://apnews.com/article/doge-musk-trump-classified-information-usaid-security-35101dee28a766e0d9705e0d47958611

"the administration placed two top security chiefs at #USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Musk’s government-inspection teams...

Musk’s DOGE crew lacked high enough security clearance to access that information"

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

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Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees:
The Musk-connected political hires include two recent high school graduates
https://www.muskwatch.com/p/musk-associates-given-unfettered

"OPM staffers received an email from the agency’s new leadership instructing them to give Musk’s team “access [to] the system as an admin user" and "code read and write permissions."

...which means they can make updates to anything that they want"

#Tech #ElonMusk #Coup #Musk #Trump #Politics #Government #US #News

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Federal Workers Block Doors of Admin Building Over Elon Musk Data Breach
https://dcmediagroup.us/2025/02/02/federal-workers-block-doors-of-admin-building-over-elon-musk-data-breach/

"There is no way to determine what they [ #Musk & minions] are doing w/the systems or its vast trove of databases...

A massive intrusion of this scale taken against a system of secure #government computer networks is unprecedented"

#Tech #Coup #ElonMusk #Trump #Crime #Politics #USPol #US #USA #News #USNews

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The War at Home:
Elon Musk and The Security State's Uvalde Moment:
“We have a Constitutional crisis, period," says NSA whistleblower Tom Drake, who can't help but notice how the three-letter agencies that went after him aren't stopping this
https://www.forever-wars.com/elon-musk-and-the-security-states-uvalde-moment/

"The danger to the #Constitution is running amok inside govt buildings. But the #Security State stands outside, deterred, & will present any number of rationalizations about how this isn't their job."

#ElonMusk #Musk #Coup #News #US

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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

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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"

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"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

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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

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"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

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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

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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

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Musk’s Takeover Of The Government’s Computer Systems Needs To Be Understood As A Cyberattack, Or Worse
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/02/03/musks-takeover-of-the-governments-computer-systems-needs-to-be-understood-as-a-cyberattack-or-worse/

"These systems #Musk and his “team” have accessed are among the most sensitive and critical to the running of the #USA...

Yet here is Musk, a man who regularly chats with Vladimir #Putin, with access to it all, if not also outright control."

#ElonMusk #Coup #Tech #Technology #CyberSecurity #Security #NationalSecurity #Treasury #OPM #Russia #China #Trump #News #US

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