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Posted
6 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Trump Official Warns NY Times ‘Almost No One Can Control’ Elon Musk

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-official-warns-ny-times-almost-no-one-can-control-elon-musk/

No fucking shit, geniuses.

Anybody have a NYT sub that can cut-and-paste the article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/us/politics/musk-federal-government.html

 

Spoiler

In Elon Musk’s first two weeks in government, his lieutenants gained access to closely held financial and data systems, casting aside career officials who warned that they were defying protocols. They moved swiftly to shutter specific programs — and even an entire agency that had come into Mr. Musk’s cross hairs. They bombarded federal employees with messages suggesting they were lazy and encouraging them to leave their jobs.

Empowered by President Trump, Mr. Musk is waging a largely unchecked war against the federal bureaucracy — one that has already had far-reaching consequences.

Mr. Musk’s aggressive incursions into at least half a dozen government agencies have challenged congressional authority and potentially breached civil service protections.

Top officials at the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development who objected to the actions of his representatives were swiftly pushed aside. And Mr. Musk’s efforts to shut down U.S.A.I.D., a key source of foreign assistance, have reverberated around the globe.

Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, is sweeping through the federal government as a singular force, creating major upheaval as he looks to put an ideological stamp on the bureaucracy and rid the system of those who he and the president deride as “the deep state.”

The rapid moves by Mr. Musk, who has a multitude of financial interests before the government, have represented an extraordinary flexing of power by a private individual.

The speed and scale have shocked civil servants, who have been frantically exchanging information on encrypted chats, trying to discern what is unfolding.

Senior White House staff members have at times also found themselves in the dark, according to two officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. One Trump official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Musk was widely seen as operating with a level of autonomy that almost no one can control.

Mr. Musk, the leader of SpaceX, Tesla and X, is working with a frantic, around-the-clock energy familiar to the employees at his various companies, flanked by a cadre of young engineers, drawn in part from Silicon Valley. He has moved beds into the headquarters of the federal personnel office a few blocks from the White House, according to a person familiar with the situation, so he and his staff, working late into the night, could sleep there, reprising a tactic he has deployed at Twitter and Tesla.

This time, however, he carries the authority of the president, who has bristled at some of Mr. Musk’s ready-fire-aim impulses but has praised him publicly.

“He’s a big cost-cutter,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday. “Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job. He’s a smart guy.

Mr. Musk, who leads a cost-cutting initiative the administration calls the Department of Government Efficiency, boasted on Saturday that his willingness to work weekends was a “superpower” that gave him an advantage over his adversary. The adversary he was referring to was the federal work force.

“Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days!” Mr. Musk posted on X.

There is no precedent for a government official to have Mr. Musk’s scale of conflicts of interest, which include domestic holdings and foreign connections such as business relationships in China. And there is no precedent for someone who is not a full-time employee to have such ability to reshape the federal work force.

The historian Douglas Brinkley described Mr. Musk as a “lone ranger” with limitless running room. He noted that the billionaire was operating “beyond scrutiny,” saying: “There is not one single entity holding Musk accountable. It’s a harbinger of the destruction of our basic institutions.”

Several former and current senior government officials — even those who like what he is doing — expressed a sense of helplessness about how to handle Mr. Musk’s level of unaccountability. At one point after another, Trump officials have generally relented rather than try to slow him down. Some hoped Congress would choose to reassert itself.

Mr. Trump himself sounded a notably cautionary note on Monday, telling reporters: “Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval. And we’ll give him the approval where appropriate, where not appropriate, we won’t.”

“If there’s a conflict,” he added, “then we won’t let him get near it.”

However, the president has given Mr. Musk vast power over the bureaucracy that regulates his companies and awards them contracts. He is shaping not just policy but personnel decisions, including successfully pushing for Mr. Trump to pick Troy Meink as the Air Force secretary, according to three people with direct knowledge of his role.

Mr. Meink previously ran the Pentagon’s National Reconnaissance Office, which helped Mr. Musk secure a multibillion-dollar contract for SpaceX to help build and deploy a spy satellite network for the federal government.

At least four lawsuits have been filed in federal court to challenge his authority and the moves by the new administration, but it remains to be seen if judicial review can keep up with Mr. Musk.

The New York Times spoke to more than three dozen current and former administration officials, federal employees and people close to Mr. Musk who described his expanding influence over the federal government. Few were willing to speak on the record, for fear of retribution.

“Before Congress and the courts can respond, Elon Musk will have rolled up the whole government,” said one official who works inside an agency where representatives from Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting initiative have asserted control.

Mr. Musk says he is making long overdue reforms. So far, his team has claimed to help save the federal government more than $1 billion a day through efforts like the cancellation of federal building leases and contracts related to diversity, equity and inclusion, although they have provided few specifics.

 

 

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Posted
On 1/27/2025 at 1:44 PM, Vegas64 said:

Egg Arbitrage. Go to a diner/breakfast restuarant and order your egg plates before they jack up the prices. 

Had a week headstart:

Waffle House has imposed a temporary surcharge of 50 cents per egg due to rising prices from a nationwide shortage caused by bird flu. The chain, which serves 272 million eggs annually, says the surcharge will remain until market conditions improve. Meanwhile, Biscuit Belly, with over a dozen locations in the South, has switched to cheaper eggs to manage costs. Prices have increased sevenfold in two years and are expected to jump another 20% in 2025, per the USDA.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/food/waffle-house-egg-surcharge/index.html

Posted

Since the coup thread is taken over with grass talk, posting here. Called Cornyn's and Cruz's DC offices to register my opinion about the Musk takeover. Left a message w/Cornyn, but lo and behold a staffer actually answered Cruz's line.

Flood them with messages because why not.

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Posted
1 hour ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

Left a message w/Cornyn, but lo and behold a staffer actually answered Cruz's line

That has literally never happened to me. 

3 hours ago, wood said:

*racism. But yeah, lol.

I like it better the way it is

Posted

And in other news from Trump’s America, one of our local Jewish judges came out today to a swastika painted on her car.
This regime has made open hatred and racism great again. Not only is it not worthy of shame, it’s a badge of honor.
It’s going to get worse. Much worse.

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Posted
6 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

Volume

The're going to print money.  File it under every accusation...They're not smart, so yeah.    

Posted
Thus far, every day of the Trump presidency has been more bat shit fucking crazy than the day before.  How is such a think possible, becuase we started off pretty fucking crazy on day one.

It was the same crazy from day one last time around. Except this time, it’s with extra special crazy sauce.
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Posted

So... Who is going to take over when the old guy dies or gets knocked? 

There has to be an actual smart person for us to be concerned about, right? 

I'm concerned about the villains, but they will fuck up their own plans... I'm worried about the evil person. Who is it? 

 

And where is everyone going? I need to look into some alternate spots, just to be safe.

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Posted
41 minutes ago, 27-25 said:

What could go wrong?  Yes, let's purge the CIA too.  This apparently was Ratcliffe's idea.

At the risk of delving into Godwin's Law here, a certain dictator years ago also had a cabal of underlings who fought amongst themselves to see who could push the envelope more to impress the boss.  That did not end well.

 

We’re so cooked. I honestly don’t think this country will recover from the damage from this administration and there’s absolutely no off ramp in sight. Rule of law, fucked. Ability to fight terrorists at home and abroad, fucked. Alienate allies and destabilize the economy, double fucked. US President pledging to support genocide. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, Pig Bellmont said:

We’re so cooked. I honestly don’t think this country will recover from the damage from this administration and there’s absolutely no off ramp in sight. Rule of law, fucked. Ability to fight terrorists at home and abroad, fucked. Alienate allies and destabilize the economy, double fucked. US President pledging to support genocide. 

That'll do, Pig.

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Posted
5 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

And in other news from Trump’s America, one of our local Jewish judges came out today to a swastika painted on her car.
This regime has made open hatred and racism great again. Not only is it not worthy of shame, it’s a badge of honor.
It’s going to get worse. Much worse.

 

he must be one of the bad jews 

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Posted
4 hours ago, 27-25 said:

What could go wrong?  Yes, let's purge the CIA too.  This apparently was Ratcliffe's idea.

At the risk of delving into Godwin's Law here, a certain dictator years ago also had a cabal of underlings who fought amongst themselves to see who could push the envelope more to impress the boss.  That did not end well.

 

 

im sure putin has given muskrat a list of approved hires 

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Posted

It's pretty clear that you destroy the FBI and CIA and then wait for an event to happen and move forward with a new "security" force that reports directly to the president or Musk.  Something like the Reichsag Fire.

There are already sweet uniforms we can take reference from
WWII NAZI GERMAN NSKK COMPLETE UNIFORM ...

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Posted
4 hours ago, Slacks said:

So... Who is going to take over when the old guy dies or gets knocked? 

There has to be an actual smart person for us to be concerned about, right? 

I'm concerned about the villains, but they will fuck up their own plans... I'm worried about the evil person. Who is it? 

 

And where is everyone going? I need to look into some alternate spots, just to be safe.

Watch OMB and the Deputy COS of the White House. Their pivot will tell you I think.

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Posted
what's going to be the breaking point for congress to step up and do their job ?
 

We already passed that point. Congress has failed the test.

Thune and Johnson are who would’ve had to say “stop!” They haven’t. The longer this goes on the less likely Elmo is to be tossed. Thune and Johnson have in effect rendered themselves and Congress superfluous by their inaction.
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Posted
9 hours ago, 27-25 said:

What could go wrong?  Yes, let's purge the CIA too.  This apparently was Ratcliffe's idea.

At the risk of delving into Godwin's Law here, a certain dictator years ago also had a cabal of underlings who fought amongst themselves to see who could push the envelope more to impress the boss.  That did not end well.

 

Lol, it’s going back to its roots of fucking around in Latin America in the service of business interests.

image.thumb.png.85aa5a20ee1e756746f7eeac915668a1.png

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Posted
9 hours ago, Slacks said:

So... Who is going to take over when the old guy dies or gets knocked? 

There has to be an actual smart person for us to be concerned about, right? 

I'm concerned about the villains, but they will fuck up their own plans... I'm worried about the evil person. Who is it? 

 

And where is everyone going? I need to look into some alternate spots, just to be safe.

musk or vance.  both will run.

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

what's going to be the breaking point for congress to step up and do their job ?

 

what do you think they can do to stop this?

Posted
It's pretty clear that you destroy the FBI and CIA and then wait for an event to happen and move forward with a new "security" force that reports directly to the president or Musk.  Something like the Reichsag Fire.

There are already sweet uniforms we can take reference from
images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQd-7Dv_roof-mtwJQioE-T5oWpzmxxhiYTdQ&s

Only this time it will be designed by Ivanka and look shittier.
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Posted
It'll be a doozie seeing them throw out the natural born citizen requirement 

No way they do that. That is how they keep him inline and engaged.
Posted
It'll be a doozie seeing them throw out the natural born citizen requirement 
Why would Musk run? He just bought a presidency on the cheap. It will be clear that whoever the GQP selects will need to meet Leon's approval w/ the understanding that the only untouchable dept is DOGE.
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Posted
9 hours ago, troph said:

Judge Soifer here in Austin (Jewish) had her car tagged with a spray painted swastika. Nah no nazis here. 

I assume it wasn’t a cybertruck?

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Posted
1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

what's going to be the breaking point for congress to step up and do their job ?

 

They might stop just “being concerned” as the cattle car doors close in their faces. 

Posted
1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Lol, it’s going back to its roots of fucking around in Latin America in the service of business interests.

image.thumb.png.85aa5a20ee1e756746f7eeac915668a1.png

 

Only a Donald Trump CIA would announce its covert spying plans to get a headline.

Fucking idiot.

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Posted
9 hours ago, Pig Bellmont said:

We’re so cooked. I honestly don’t think this country will recover from the damage from this administration and there’s absolutely no off ramp in sight. Rule of law, fucked. Ability to fight terrorists at home and abroad, fucked. Alienate allies and destabilize the economy, double fucked. US President pledging to support genocide. 

At least a trans kid isn't going to be on the girls track team in some small town in Iowa.

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Posted
1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Lol, it’s going back to its roots of fucking around in Latin America in the service of business interests.

image.thumb.png.85aa5a20ee1e756746f7eeac915668a1.png

Let me guess.  They're find rampant corruption and cartel influence and then they'll act like they're the first ones to uncover it.

Posted
31 minutes ago, Nivek said:


Only this time it will be designed by Ivanka and look shittier.

Genius. Designed and produced by ivanka by her outsourcing it to a Chinese manufacturer. Then she can sell it for a 75% markup but actually do zero work. 



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