Summary
Elon Musk claims his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is shutting down payments to federal contractors, including a Lutheran charity, asserting it is eliminating corruption.
This suggests DOGE has access to Treasury’s payment systems, though officials have not confirmed the extent.
Senator Ron Wyden warned that DOGE may interfere with Social Security, Medicare, and government contracts.
Musk also called USAID “a criminal organization” that should “die,” amid DOGE’s growing influence over federal financial operations.
This is a coup
And for people who don’t like that word:
Regulatory capture of the entire United States government.
Yet, no one’s doing anything about it or can do anything. These people are all powerful now. The White House, the House, the Senate, SCOTUS, Fed. Everything belongs to the Republican Party and they can do whatever, whenever. No checks and balances.
Could have used the thumbnail with his famous salute
The US isnt good for their money. Creditors should demand their debts or threaten legal consequences in the form of international sanctions
Contractors handle Medicare.
Contractors run our military
I wonder at what point people are going to use force to stop this coup, at this point everyone is just watching laws and systems being broken and dimantled with no regard.
Is the media in the US that controlled that their people just don’t see what is happening?
Remember when people were posting articles on how stupid and ridiculous DOGE is because it wouldn’t have the authority to do anything?
It’s still stupid and ridiculous and it still doesn’t have any legal authority.
Unfortunately, it is being allowed to act without legal authority.
He doesn’t need the authority if he just forces his way in.
Twitter remembers.
I see lawsuits flooding the US government for not paying for things they ordered.
Sorry the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.
They would just send back a shit emoji
jod I hope the shitty military bs has DRM that prevents it from functioning on non payment.
I hate to inform you, but US corporations don’t do that shit to other corporations/ governments. Just look at TVs. All your consumer grade TVs have had smart/LLM “features” shoved into them. They don’t do that on the commercial lines though. Commercial TVs are still “dumb.” Same for computers, cars, and pretty much everything that they can shove electronics in.
Musk is himself a giant government contractor via Space X and Starlink. Odds are he’s just trying to clear the board to funnel the money to his businesses. Especially when it comes to defense money!
I sure hope this was worth it to hate on the trans and the browns. That’s the only thing dumb ass Americans voted for in 2024.
Blame the election system, not the voters. Its not a democracy
How is anyone permitting any of these people to have authority?
Because we’re all just people and at the end of the day some person is agreeing to not dispense the funds or not provide aid or to round up individuals … Until there is meaningful pushback by people who actually are carrying this bullshit out it won’t change.
Idk same as how the Nazis managed the Holocaust, at the end of the day thousands of individuals agreed and did their part to exterminate the Jews. Same as how Israel now is committing an ongoing genocide in Gaza with their military and all those individuals are carrying out their orders.
Authority, like many other things in our society, is an emphemeral concept we all agree to. Authority is given when we agree to abide by what that authority says. Same like our laws, sure we have laws against things but it’s not like those actually mean anything if they’re not obeyed by the majority. Nothing stopping you from doming Elon with the a large brick if you got one and can get close enough, you know what I mean?
Because yall wanted this by voting for it
I think many didn’t want this because we voted against it
Agreed but not enough.
MOST people were perfectly happy with voting for Trump, or not voting at all.
If you didn’t vote this election then you are the problem.
Yeah, we know, pointing fingers isn’t going to help anything right now. Get out and take action.
Be more specific.
Trump’s government is basically pay-to-play and Elon paid the most so he gets to do whatever he wants.
It started with a paid horse armor and he we are.
Does anyone know what the story is behind this charity he’s mentioning?
Edit: looks like they feed and provide shelter for asylum seekers, and obviously he’s against that.
Because Putin wants rid of it.
U.S.A.I.D. funds democracy-promotion programs around the world, including in European countries where right-wing populist movements are thriving. Mr. Musk has become an ally of those movements, some of whose leaders have specifically targeted the agency’s pro-democracy programs in recent years.
Supporters of Viktor Orban, the right-wing leader of Hungary and a darling of pro-Trump conservatives in the United States, have personally criticized Samantha Power, who led U.S.A.I.D. during the Biden administration, for trying to import American values into their country.
Great way to get sued for breach of contract. This administration is going to be tied up in court for the next four years
Do you really think this is going to play out in a court? They don’t care about the law and are actively plowing through them at will.
Unfortunately, when all this stuff is resolved, it’s still the government that’s on the hook, not Musk personally. Although the new admin should probably just impound all of his and Trump’s assets to pay for the fallout, but obviously Democrats would never do anything this based.
Oh please start halting payments to government contractors. This guy starts holding payments to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon he’s going to wind up real Dead real quick
Yep, mercenaries get rowdy when they don’t get paid, just ask Constantinopole.
Or Blackrock
Or Boeing. Boeing certainly seems to not have an issue with taking care of people who are causing them problems.
How much can a hitman really cost?!
1, maybe 2 bananas
There’s always bananas in the money stand, Michael.
A bag of crack and a handgun
With the way things are going, I fully expect them to make a beneficial deal that includes Elon because fuck everything
At what point do we declare this a coup? This isn’t what even the most diehard conservatives out there voted for, I don’t understand how this isn’t considered a hostile takeover.
It’s stressing me out to no end. I think the average person doesn’t even know this is currently happening.
Very rural area dweller, here, two towns over doing errands. Just spoke with an elderly Mango Mussolini voter/Faux News consumer who already regrets his choice… I commented it’s time to stop voting to hurt others and vote for taxpayer dollars to help the common people, rather than billionaires. He agreed.
I don’t follow politics. I voted for trump because it was badass when he said fight fight fight. Elon’s a genius, I’m sure he’s gonna make it better.
These are real takes I’ve heard out there in the world.
It’s being censored.
When this happens in a developing country we laugh at their politics.
When it happens in America, no one bats an eye
Americans still think their country is somehow different even though it’s still a developing country in many respects.
Disintegrating. Crumbling.
Not just country nations, reminder the regions with the strongest identities are either the oldest, important, or Mormon. We are very much kn the same state the late western Roman empire was in, where they had African Romance, Brithonic Romance, and Gaulic Romance we have Californian, Texan, and Northestern the east coast tracks to eastern Mediterranean.
USA is the new banana republic.
Oh no I am absolutely laughing at America
This isn’t even what the most diehard conservatives out there voted for
Hungarian here, whose face got eaten by the leopards.
Political illiteracy is a serious problem, and so is the access to information. They actually thought the crime rates were up, because the very few news outlets they’re exposed to likes to uplift a few cases with scary headlines, often making anniversary reports on some crimes. They actually thought, that the opposition was “too far-left”, because pundits told them so, and they learned in school the real nazis did evil things for the sole sake of evil, thus people that say they want to eliminate crime, and have crime statistics must not be far-right.
This is not for to excuse their behavior, but to explain it. Maybe can even lead to an end of this cycle.
Fucking yes.
All conservatives at the tables with all these nazis asking who voted in all the nazis.
At this point your party has folded. Keep saying “but not meeeee, I’m a real conservative!” All you want.
They’re in too deep to admit how badly they obviously fucked up. Shit is gonna have to actually reach the ugly bitter end, leaving them no other possible explanation to try to hide behind. In the meantime, this must be what it felt like for the citizens of Rome as it burned.
It is not until it affects them on a personal level they make that realization. That is how far the empathy of the average conservative voter reaches.
Well, in essence and at its purest level the difference in thinking between Leftwing and Rightwing is the difference between “I want people to have a better life” and “I want to have a better life”.
All the political complexity above that comes from the different possible ways to achieve either end and from how one end partly overlaps with the other (i.e. for many a general improvement of people’s lifes gets translated into a personal improvement).
So yeah, conservatives are just “What’s in it for me” types who believe in a different method to maximize their personal upside than the Fascists. In fact many American-style Liberals (the political version of “Liberal” in the US, not to be confused with those who believe in the actual Liberal Ideology) are also rightwingers who believe in yet another method for personal upside improvement.
Well, in essence and at its purest level the difference in thinking between Leftwing and Rightwing is the difference between “I want people to have a better life” and “I want to have a better life”.
Not even that. The difference is between “I want people to have a better life (objectively speaking).” and “I want to have a better life (as compared to those people).” As long as their lives are better when compared to those people, the conservatives are satisfied. Even if everyone’s lives, including their own, get objectively worse.
I was going to say I partly disagree and that the “those people” element depends on the Society (i.e. different in different countries) but after thinking about it, I actually agree that wanting to be “comparativelly better” rather than better in absolute is a pretty general thing for rightwingers everywhere, and what changes in the countries I lived in is mainly they way they go about doing it (i.e. in England that overwhelmingly materialises in people spending a lot of time and effort in keeping those below them in the “prosperity ladder” from climbing up, whilst in The Netherlands there’s a lot less of that).
So, yeah, thanks for pointing that out.
And here I am, too damn poor to afford a fiddle…
Now, it is happening right now: https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction
This is exactly what they voted for and they’ll fucking do it again.
