"I can think of no precedent in American history of such enormous power being entrusted to a private citizen"

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/opinion/musk-trump-doge-tech.html

Elon Musk Is Leading a ‘Hostile Takeover of the Federal Government’
Feb. 18, 2025, 5:02 a.m. ET
By Thomas B. Edsall

In an unparalleled delegation of executive branch authority, Trump has chosen Musk — who is at once an entrepreneur whose companies have won billions of dollars in federal contracts and an open supporter of far-right political parties in Europe — to conduct a radical reconfiguration of the American government in conformity with the ideological agendas of both Trump and Musk.

The elevation of Musk marks a major reversal of Trump ideology from the angry working class, anti-elitism of his first winning campaign, in 2016, under the guidance of Steve Bannon, to the explicit privileging, this time around, of elite tech oligarchs — rich beyond the imagination of ordinary people — to guide government policies.

It is no easy task to grasp the scale and magnitude of Trump’s appointment of Musk to run the Department of Government Efficiency, better known by its acronym, DOGE. Musk’s declared goal is to cut federal spending by $2 trillion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, government expenditures totaled $6.75 trillion in 2024.

“I can think of no precedent in American history of such enormous power being entrusted to a private citizen,” Laurence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard, wrote by email in reply to my inquiry:

To say that this delegation of unsupervised authority by President Trump to Elon Musk is an unprecedented violation of the Appointments Clause of Article II of the Constitution, which at a minimum would demand the Senate’s advice and consent to the appointment of anyone exercising the kind of power, would be an understatement.

Our Constitution rebels against the idea of empowering any individual, neither elected nor officially appointed pursuant to law, with the sweeping power to control the expenditure of public funds, the hiring and firing of public officials, the deployment of public force, and the organization of public agencies. This is brute dictatorship of the worst kind.

...

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[Blues Heron]

1. Musk is a highly evil person.

[dalton99a]

3. +1. Utterly, innately evil

just like his puppet Donald Trump

[Blues Heron]

4. One or the other of them would be bad enough, but two of them in tandem? This needs to end yesterday!

[dalton99a]

5. It is a perfectly synergistic combination for America's destruction.

[Walleye]

2. MTG and the rest of the gang have been telling us how Congress has the power of the purse

Looks like they have decided to abdicate their responsibility. We need to step in and take over somehow I can’t believe they wouldn’t defend their own institutions power but they won’t.

[dalton99a]

6. Republicans are 100% complicit.

[Walleye]

7. Yep, can't stay in that toxic party and then shirk responsibility for the results

We should really start working on a few vulnerable Republicans and try and get them to leave the party. Whatever it takes wine and dine, threats whatever

[kentuck]

8. Absolutely!

But they want to stand back as if they have nothing to do with it when they have everything to do with it. It is their job to control the purse strings of this government, not a single individual. They have abdicated their duties and their oath.

[peacebuzzard]

9. Alarming that he doesn't qualify to pass a security clearance At All.

No telling what conflict of interests and dubious actors are in this creeps file.

on edit: oh geez I forgot No one (at least 51% ) cares )