Summary
Elon Musk vowed to cancel government grants after allegedly gaining access to the US Treasury’s payments system, triggering the abrupt resignation of a senior official.
Musk, who leads Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claimed his team found Treasury officials approving payments without scrutiny.
Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden, raised alarms over Musk’s influence on federal funds. Treasury access concerns intensified after Trump ally Michael Flynn posted grant payments online.
Musk’s authority to halt payments remains unclear, and the Treasury has not responded to inquiries.
Who the fuck even is this guy? No vetting process, no confirmation hearings, nothing.
And he’s just given this kind of power?
This country is so very, very fucked. Thanks to donvict’s base and a huge assist from the apathetic and the “bothsides” idiots.
Reminder that he’s not even American. He’s a South African billionaire with no allegiance to any one country. He’s a carpet bagger
Would you say the same thing about a naturalized immigrant doing things you agree with?
He’s a citizen whose status allow him to take pretty much any government related position except for being president, leave the immigration bit out of it as it’s the same rhetoric being used by the far right to justify what they’re doing to some naturalized citizens right now and it’s a very dangerous slippery slope you’re on.
Funny enough he’s an illegal immigrant :)
Was, but yes, that’s an issue on its own, but he ended up becoming a US citizen in the end, attacking him on his migrant background is very touchy.
It‘s Fine. He‘s Rich and allowed to lie on his citizenship application. Everyone else would still lose it in retrospect. But he’s just a poor white cisguy, give him a break
I think it’s fair considering they’re stating Elon has no allegiance to any country. He’s a billionaire. He’s the billionaire. He’s beyond borders. This is a game for him.
I think it’s also important to highlight his South African origins. South Africa is a famously racist country which his family was/is part of the elite of. His Nazism and white supremacist views didn’t materialise from nowhere.
They’re on a slippery slope, yes, but they’ve not slid down it. Their words were reasonable.
It’s the first phrase that’s problematic.
“He’s not even American.”
By this logic they should be saying the same thing about anyone who’s a naturalized citizen and should be against them being involved in the government, only those born in the USA should be able to hold higher positions in the government based on that.
He wasn’t “given it”. He stole it and nobody with the power to stop him is trying to stop him.
he was given it by the elected president. which i think is so much worse
Except the president doesn’t have that authority. Congress could push back, but it’s currently populated by sycophants.
no one has stopped him so far
2 people tried.
It’s exactly how Hitler got power.
And a lot of people’s reactions to Trump/Elon getting power were also remarkably similar to a lot of people’s reactions to Hitler getting power back then, especially people who were already in positions of power
Only on a very superficial level. Very different situation under a very different constitution.
‘Both got appointed by the president’ is comparing apples and oranges. That is in no way meant as a defense for Musk, but the argument is very weak and I’d prefer if we criticized him from a more solid basis.
While the nuance is appreciated, I think it’s a trajectory worth considering.
When Trump is no longer able to even pretend to lead, in his circle there are not any obvious successors that seem likely to have the same capacity to steamroll the GOP into whatever the hell they like while also being a legal candidate for president. However if he uses his transient status to overly enable Musk to lead in ways he is legally forbidden to do so, then it elevates the risk of Musk as the heir apparent to the Trump problem.
I’d prefer if we criticized him from a more solid basis.
The other side wouldn’t care to pick nits. Personally, I’d say just allow it and perhaps try to come up with better, juicier stuff.
Most Americans are sleepwalking. As much as they’re going to hurt other countries they’re going to hurt Americans the most.
Well, so there’s some justice
I think as long as Americans have something to lose, they will not revolt 😞🤙
I think a lot of people still, even now, believe that the statement “this country is fucked” is a bit overboard.
They don’t grasp that the writing is on the wall. America literally is fucked. The point of no return has already been passed. What you’re witnessing is the wholesale sellout of America to the wealthy, who will remain in power indefinitely, and a system way too far gone to do anything about it.
It’s over.
Next stop, Russia 2.0. In the end, we really weren’t any better than them.
Can we please send this fuckwit back to where he comes from? Like, the seventh circle of Hell?
The 8th circle might be a better fit, especially in the 8th Bolgia for councellors of fraud.
We don’t want him. I propose shooting him out of a cannon into the sun
Stick him in a Cybertruck and launch that into the sun.
Hell, just roll the thing into a lake.
That was my first thought.
Too energy intensive. Just launch him into a Sun orbit so he can join his roadster.
Honesty, it would be a lot cheaper to just send him out on a billionaire submarine
Cement shoes is cheaper than that
Deport fElon.
He needs a new goal: Occupy the Sun
Is it appropriate to say something about sending him back to a continent of origin or is the whole sentence racist no matter the subject?
I would say it’s fine to use his and his ilk’s language against him, but I wouldn’t force Muskrat upon any country.
Like how they hate our freedoms?
We would need power to do that. How do we get power? Don’t expect anyone else to do it for you.
There have been two court orders requiring that payments continue normally. It looks like Musk has decided that court orders do not bind him. It hasn’t even been two weeks and already we’re at the constitutional crisis?
When you’re the wealthiest man in America the laws don’t apply to you.
The system in its infinite wisdom prevents poor and rich alike from begging on the streets…
It’s only a constitutional crisis if anyone will pursue it.
If court orders don’t apply and higher institutions do nothing, well, there is no crisis.
Exactly. And SCOTUS is on Trump’s side, so they will approve.
We’re setting up the “Mr Burns’ diseases” system. We’ll just have every constitutional crisis in existence all at once, and they’ll balance each other out! 🤦♀️
He’s not an employee of the Federal Government. This is completely illegal. And he’s a psychopathic junkie so…
Why isn’t he arrested
Arrested? This man needs to be 6 foot under by any means necessary. That’s the only way this thing ends. Nobody is going to arrest him.
Which brownshirt do you want to arrest him? The ones in Congress? The ones in the SC? The gestapo?
He IS the gestapo!
What did you think they meant by “Department of Government Efficiency”?
Hey now, just because they sent a message to everyone in the government to report on any suspicious DEI looking stuff… oh wait…
Gazpacho
Money
That’s what I’m wondering!
“Illegal” no longer means anything for the top people in the Trump administration. Including the ones who are not official employees.
Yup, they know what we all know. That the American justice system is the butt of a joke.
It’s open season for criminality if you’re a politician or rich person.
psychopathic junkie
I think you just hit on the Cabinet hiring requirements.
Gee, there is no way Musk would abuse that power…
Like canceling grant payments to rival EV manufacturers
It would be ironic if this is what ends up with him facing some consequences. It’ll be interesting how long the house allows him to usurp their authority.
I thought we were agreed: Any Musk photo in news from now on is his Nazi salute.
Hitler didn’t mean to do that. He was just excited and he had self-diagnosed autism.
Wait, who are we talking about again?
We need to accommodate the wealthy man’s self diagnosed autism when it manifests in fascist hate symbols, but we need to pull all resources from professionally diagnosed autistic adults on disability.
I’d be fine if he had the Hitler mustache as well
He ain’t a Nazi. I mean… Nazis make good cars /s
Lol Germans make good cars. South Africans and Americans make shit cars, Nazi or not.
Democrats “raised alarms”? Gee thanks, that’ll take care of it you pathetic wimps. Why haven’t they brought an immediate case to the Supreme Court for an emergency ruling? A non-elected, non-nominated or confirmed by Senate (and we should of course note) immigrant has been given access to the United States Treasury. This is insane.
RIGHT!? The treasury and HR! Why are Senators not screaming until they’re hoarse!? If this isn’t the worst Executive overreach in the history of this country I don’t know what is!
It’s pretty clear that the majority of politicians on the right and left support this. It’s always been about the rich and powerful.
He’s already hoarse from the last bout https://newrepublic.com/post/190958/robert-f-kennedy-jr-bernie-sanders-big-pharma-money
Because they arent actually opposed. Theyre doing the bare minimum to uphold their public image while ensuring that capitalism rules the country.
To a point. If they are cut out of the loop, how are they supposed to reap the benefits of their position? They only want the capitalism to rule the country so long as they get to reap the benefits. If bypassing legislature and going straight to executive works, then the legislature will still get pissed, if only for their own self interest.
In fact, that was the whole design. That the branches would be eager to undermine each other to the extent they are allowed. The concept of a branch just surrendering their authority was insane.
Leave the immigrant bit out of it, he’s a naturalized citizen just like a ton of people he’s trying to hurt and your rhetoric just generates hate towards naturalized migrants and opens the door to policies against them being allowed positions in the government with support from people on both sides because even the left is now talking about someone’s migrant status as being a bad thing.
I mean, you’re aware people are pointing out the immigrant thing to highlight the hypocrisy of the people that hate immigrants that support Elon Musk, right?
Like, that’s not going over your head, right?
Sure, do that when talking to people who don’t already hate his guts and make it very clear that’s why you’re saying it, otherwise you’re just fueling hate for migrants in general.
“Oh God! No one’s doing anything about it! Let’s tell the voters so that they can… Elect us?”
Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden, raised alarms over Musk’s influence on federal funds. Treasury access concerns intensified after Trump ally Michael Flynn posted grant payments online.
That’s funny, the only thing I get when I search for “Michael Flynn grant payments” are about payments Flynn received from the Russian government
It’s time for Elon to go
We need Luigi
When this nation was strong we executed people for less than what this freak is doing.
So the country is now a dogecracy or is it still aan oligarchy? Does this count as a coup?
It’s a coup
I keep saying kleptocracy and yes.
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So if he’s acting as a government official doesn’t he need to be confirmed by Congress?
LOL, but we have Worthington’s Law here in 'merica. It overrides any of that pesky Constitutional and/or democratic norms stuff…
you would think so… but then again he could just be an independent contractor or some such legaly distinct thing.
That’s not how it works at that level.
The world’s richest man, who bankrolled Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and was tasked by the president with running the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, boasted on his social media site X that he was “rapidly shutting down . . . illegal payments” after a list of grants to Lutheran organisations was posted online.
The threat came after Musk appeared to confirm on Saturday that DOGE had access to the Treasury system, which disperses trillions of dollars each year, including social security payments.
He justified the move by claiming his team discovered “that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups”.
The system has been run by career civil servants and the Treasury already has an in-house team tasked with identifying fraudulent payments. A source with knowledge of the situation said that DOGE representatives did not have the authority to cut payments, only to read the data.
Senator Ron Wyden, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said his office had been told that Treasury secretary Scott Bessent had granted DOGE “full” access to the system.
Lutherans!! Well, I’m glad Elmo Nazi shut that shit down! Who knows how long those shady Lutherans were growing fat off the Treasury’s ample, juicy teats!
Srs tho, omfg the batshit is everywhere.
DOGE representatives did not have the authority to cut payments, only to read the data.
They shouldn’t even have that!
I’m not sure we should be giving government grants to any religious organizations, but why on earth would you target Lutherans of all groups?
Grants were for immigrant assistance.
Tim Walz, Democratic VP is a Lutheran, bigly involved in the church. This is payback for daring challenge their demented rapist puppet.
Mush is a terrorist.
Only democrats are fussing. That is why this shit gets a pass.
Oh just wait until cheques stop coming, plenty of Republicans will have quite the wake up call as tons of then thought Trump was only going after “the bad ones”.
Have seen smaller versions of that, it’s all fun and games until your constituents are homeless due to a natural disaster and the government fails in their duty to them. Those GOP reps have people that are likely to be made homeless, but certainly not gunless, and that random low level reperesentative will not have a security detail up to the task.
The assumption of the right is if only democrats are upset, he must be hurting the right people more.
