Elon Musk’s Presidency Is Just Getting Started

On today’s conception of Decoder, we’re discussing a very ample problem pinch highly far-reaching consequences: really dysfunctional has nan nationalist authorities successful nan United States become, and really overmuch of it has been handed to Elon Musk?

If you’ve moreover glanced astatine nan news complete nan past week, you’ve apt recreation crossed immoderate alarming headlines astir Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, aliases DOGE, and really it’s begun commandeering powerfulness of immoderate beautiful important authorities agencies. Ostensibly, Musk’s extremity is to slash spending and trim discarded crossed nan government. But what’s really happening is simply a batch overmuch destructive than that. Musk and nan DOGE squad personification gained entree to nan afloat Treasury Department costs system, they’ve stiff lifesaving overseas assistance programs, and they’re systematically locking afloat chunks of nan nationalist workforce out. And I do mean locking retired — they can’t entree nan buildings.

If you followed nan Twitter takeover, it’s a acquainted playbook — Musk moves in, breaks things faster than anyone tin support track, and mostly causes chaos and dares nan marketplace and nan ineligible strategy to extremity him. At government-scale, it aligns perfectly pinch nan Trump 2.0 strategy of daze and awe, moving truthful accelerated and truthful relentlessly that it’s intolerable to fig retired what to attraction on, what’s really changed, what’s been room forever, and what’s simply noise.

In galore cases, DOGE operates virtually erstwhile everyone different has adjacent nan building — astatine nighttime and connected nan weekends. On Monday morning, astatine 1:54AM, Musk tweeted what feels for illustration an already infamous connection astir nan value of his activity successful nan government, writing, “We spent nan play feeding USAID into nan wood chipper. Could [have] gone to immoderate awesome parties. Did that instead.”

Obviously, a ample rumor coming is transparency — DOGE is operating without immoderate meaningful oversight, and it’s actively resisting attempts to uncover accusation arsenic elemental arsenic nan names and activity histories of who’s connected staff. When Wired reported nan names of six DOGE employees, nan caller correct successful Silicon Valley called it doxxing, moreover though Musk himself has directed monolithic amounts of harassment astatine authorities workers complete nan past less months. On apical of that, efforts to enforce transparency connected DOGE personification caught nan attraction of astatine slightest 1 hardcore MAGA nationalist charismatic who now claims he’ll spell aft anyone that attempts to impede Musk’s work.

The afloat constituent of transparency is to personification accountability, which is nan different ample problem here. It seems for illustration a batch of what Musk and DOGE are doing is simply illegal. There personification already been dozens of lawsuits revenge challenging this Trump administration, including DOGE’s approaches to headcount reduction, backing freezes, and entree to delicate agency accusation and controls. But these lawsuits will return clip to activity their measurement done nan courts, and there’s nary telling really overmuch harm DOGE will do earlier that happens. As it stands, Congress does not look equipped successful immoderate measurement to cheque nan actions of nan world’s richest man.

That leaves america pinch immoderate ample — frankly scary — questions astir wherever nan powerfulness is now concentrating successful Washington and whether immoderate of nan institutions we thought of arsenic dependable and resilient to chaos are genuinely arsenic safe arsenic we thought.

For this conception of Decoder, I didn’t simply want to spell done everything that’s happened. I wanted to cognize really each these changes are affecting nan group who’ve truthful acold been nan astir precocious supportive of Trump because they personification nan astir to summation and to lose: nan money, nan billionaires. So I invited New York Times newsman Teddy Schleifer connected nan show.

Teddy has been covering Musk, DOGE, and nan caller Trump guidance arsenic information of a group of reporters astatine nan Times beautiful overmuch each hr since nan inauguration. They published a blockbuster communicative connected Musk’s first activity of DOGE actions earlier this week, and Teddy himself specializes successful nan intersection of money and authorities and really nan powerfulness that buys you has evolved beautiful dramatically successful caller years.

So I wanted to inquire Teddy what Musk and DOGE are up to, really nan authorities is responding to that, and overmuch importantly, is this what Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg and each nan different billionaires wanted? Elon Musk successful title of nan nationalist government? What are they saying astir it, and really overmuch further is it going to go? The reply mightiness astonishment you, but not successful a bully way. I think, complete time, that information of nan communicative mightiness spell nan astir analyzable of all.

If you’d for illustration to publication overmuch astir what we talked astir successful this episode, cheque retired nan links below: