DL Open Thread: Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Another Day In The Life Of A Fascist State. 

President Musk Claims To Have Uncovered Massive Federal Fraud.  Provides no proof:

The billionaire Elon Musk said in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance on Tuesday that he was providing maximum transparency in his government cost-cutting initiative, but offered no evidence for his sweeping claims that the federal bureaucracy had been corrupted by cheats and officials who had approved money for “fraudsters.”

Answering questions from the media for the first time since his arrival in Washington to run the Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. Musk stood next to the Resolute Desk and asserted that his work was in the interest of the public and democracy. President Trump sat behind the desk, chiming in with approval as he let the world’s richest man expound for roughly 30 minutes on the rationale for the drastic overhaul of the federal bureaucracy.

I could seriously quote the entire article.  But finally some journalism that places Musk’s takeover of the government in perspective.  Read the whole thing.  Then try to unsee that photo.

Speaking of the Muskovite, investigations/regulatory inquiries into his companies are among those likely to go away as he purges the federal workforce:

Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man who has been given enormous power by the president, have been dismantling federal agencies across the government. Mr. Trump has fired top officials and pushed out career employees. Many of them were leading investigations, enforcement matters or lawsuits pending against Mr. Musk’s companies.

Mr. Musk has also reaped the benefit of resignations by Biden-era regulators that flipped control of major regulatory agencies, leaving more sympathetic Republican appointees overseeing those lawsuits.

At least 11 federal agencies that have been affected by those moves have more than 32 continuing investigations, pending complaints or enforcement actions into Mr. Musk’s six companies, according to a review by The New York Times.

The article has a chart.  Remember, kids, when someone accuses the government of massive corruption, the accuser is especially likely to be engaging in massive corruption.  Which is legal in a fascist state.

Josh Marshall States The Obvious.  Musk is the President:

I don’t think it’s too much to say that it puts Musk functionally in control of the U.S. government. I know that sounds pretty wild. And that may not apply to high-profile policy — two budget bills or one on Capitol Hill, plans for Gaza. But let me explain what it does.

A DOGE operative, called a “DOGE Team Lead,” will be assigned to every agency, department, etc., of the federal government. That team lead, who will presumably report to Elon Musk since Musk is the head of DOGE, will be in charge of all hiring and firing decisions at their particular department. The EO lays out a government downsizing plan in which only one new government employee can be hired for every four who leave service. It adds various new reasons for termination. And it puts the overall plan for the downsizing in the hands of DOGE, which is to say, Musk.

The Daily Petty Trump Shit Roundup. Trump fires independent US inspector general for USAID, who had the temerity to write a critical report:

“Look what happens when you write a report critical of this administration: They fire you the next day,” said Michael Missal, former inspector general at the Department of Veterans Affairs, who was among those fired by Trump last month. “This chills independent oversight, and that’s exactly what we need right now.”

Martin, 65, declined to comment. He has served four decades in the federal government, including stints as a staffer at the U.S. Sentencing Commission, as counsel at the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office and as the NASA inspector general for 14 years, before spending the past 14 months at USAID.