Meet the “first friend” Elon Musk.
It’s deja vu all over again. Following Donald Trump’s landslide re-election, his transition team has moved to fill cabinet and adviser positions with individuals from Star Wars Cantina-some of the most dangerous and strange sideshows from all over his chaotic galaxy.
In Trump’s cinematic universe, loyalty usurps qualification. That’s why Pete Hegsethof Fox News, who wants to eliminate “woke” officials from the military, was appointed to oversee our national defense. And that’s why Matt Getz may be headed by the same Ministry of Justice that investigated him for the trade in sexual services.
But perhaps no figure epitomizes the caricatural nature of Trump’s personnel philosophy better than Elon Musk, literally the richest man on Earth who somehow grabbed the steering wheel of the presidential motorcade moving down the road ahead about the same as one of his Teslas.
From the proposal his two cents on presidential appointmentsto conversation with the Ukrainian presidentto rule on the Senate Majority Leader election through X surveythe man who hacked Twitter is now being targeted for hacking the federal government. He is ready to break the budget, ramrod his half-hearted political reasoningand push through deregulation that will inevitably benefit his fleet of companies.
As with any great rom-com, Musk and Trump got off to a rough start. Two years ago, before he put on “dark gothic MAGAMusk urged Trump to “hang up your hat,” and Trump called Musk too chicken to buy Twitter. But then Musk bought Twitter and began diligently turning it into a bastion of right-wing misinformation called X. The arc of this entanglement reached its inevitable conclusion when Musk redesigned the platform algorithm advance their own conspiracies about immigrants and election interferenceas well as giving free publicity to Trump to the extent of two billion views. Although Trump was already the first major party candidate own a social media platform at Truth Social, he now essentially rents the other one for free.
While Trump received free endorsements from Musk, his constituents received checks for millions of dollars. For all Musk twisting hands about “ballot collection”, he engaged in a brazen election interference scheme, more or less paid citizens vote for Trump. Its so called draws which the Pennsylvania court waved its handis the culmination of Big Money’s political book. Billionaires no longer need to launder their bribes through super PACs with vaguely patriotic names. They can avoid this rigging, cut out middlemen, and offer direct financial incentives for supporting the candidate they deem most favorable to their business interests.
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And now, when Musk’s questionably legal efforts paid off in the country’s elections the first president to be convicted of a crimethe true singularity—the merging of non-humans with AI—may begin allegedly predicted by Neuralink but the agenda of Musk and Trump. There is no shortage of “a catastrophic conflict of interest“, – quotes the former head of the government ethics department, Walter Schaub. Of course, Musk’s corporate empire has won $15 billion in government contractswhile facing 20 federal investigations. But it would be nothing more than a coincidence if the first number skyrocketed and the second plummeted over the next four years.
More concerning than his unofficial status as a self-proclaimed Trump.”first friend,” however, is Musk’s appointment as one of the heads of the Department of Government Efficiency, which many have pointed out leads two people. This glorified task force has a mandate to reduce government spending, regulations and employment. With his typical arrogance, Musk promised to eliminate a third of the $6.75 trillion federal budgetnot unlike him cut half of Twitter’s workforce. Fortunately, this austerity doesn’t extend to his own bank account, which has received Trump’s generous support. Tesla shares have already risen since the election brought him 70 billion dollarsand Musk’s appointment may also entitle him to receive a massive tax break. This seems appropriate given that the name of this fake department is short for DOGE, the cryptocurrency that Musk owns.a bunch.”
Still, the apparent absurdity of the Musk-Trump pact just might be good fodder for Democrats. first of all analysts and casual observers are equally skeptical about how long a honeymoon can last between two narcissists whose power exceeded only by their pettiness. Their relationship, like the Trump coalition as a whole, is dangerous and fragile.
Second, DOGE’s recommendations are just that: optional. Trump himself referred to Musk and Ramaswami as such proposal “advice and recommendations from the government”. This means that the Department for Government Efficiency is not really a department or a government, so its proposals can be effectively bypassed. It cuts both ways. A few worthy populist ideas that could broaden the appeal of a Trump administration, e.g curbing the Pentagon– It will never pass by the Republican House. And if they dared to touch rights like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicare, it wouldn’t to be The Republican House is much longer.
Musk is clearly trying to emulate Trump’s management style. But Trump has consistently proven that he is a more effective businessman than a head of state. He was a Rorschach test during the election campaign. Voters projected their grievances and aspirations onto him concepts of the plan. But the record is specific. Reality soon becomes an undeniable focus, one bad bromance after another.
We cannot retreat
We now face a second Trump presidency.
There is nothing to lose. We must use our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger to oppose the dangerous policies that Donald Trump is unleashing on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as principled and honest journalists and authors.
Today we are also preparing for the future struggle. It will require a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis and humane resistance. We are faced with the passage of Project 2025, a far-right Supreme Court, political authoritarianism, rising inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis and conflicts abroad. Nation will expose and propose, develop investigative reporting and act together as a community to preserve hope and opportunity. NationThe work will continue — as it has in good times and bad — to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and in-depth reporting, and to expand solidarity in a divided nation.
Armed with 160 years of courageous independent journalism, our mandate remains the same today as it was when the Abolitionists were founded Nation— to defend the principles of democracy and freedom, to serve as a beacon in the darkest days of resistance, and to see and fight for a bright future.
The day is dark, the forces are building tenaciously, but it’s too late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is just the time when artists go to work. No time for despair, no room for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we make language. This is how civilizations heal.”
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Katrina Vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, Nation
