Trump Eliminates Own Job

Presidential job-slashing spree claims the office of the nation's chief executive

Feb. 12: Trump hands over executive powers to DOGE … Even House Republicans pushing back on DOGE … Congressional Democrats rise up against voters who want them to rise up against Trump … Ford warns Trump may cause layoffs …

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DOGE chief Elon Musk, center, discusses national policy in his remarks to the nation, as his son and a friend keep themselves entertained. (Screengrab / White House video.)

Pres. Donald Trump’s drive to cut down on the federal workforce took a stunning turn yesterday, as he appeared to slash away much of his own job.

Trump announced that many of his previous responsibilities will now be assumed by Elon Musk, a temporary contractor and unelected bureaucrat.

This is not the first time Trump has exploited the labor of overworked immigrants. But thanks to a new executive order, Musk now has new presidential responsibilities as head of the made-up Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Among them, DOGE must now be included in the hiring plans of most federal agencies and career appointments must be made “in consultation” with DOGE. Only agency heads can fill vacant positions without DOGE approval.

Seated at his old desk, Trump introduced Musk and listened respectfully as Musk delivered his first Oval Office address to the nation, an unscripted, sprawling, discursive, 30-minute piece of barely coherent poopies. Literally, here’s how it started:

Trump: Elon, go ahead.

Musk: Ask not what your nation can do for you… Four scores and seven bros ago… I pray thee wish not one man more… Sure. So, the — at a high level, you say what is the goal of DOGE or — and I think a significant part of the presidency is to restore democracy. This may seem like, well, aren't we in a democracy? Well, if you don't have a feedback loop — OK, it's all right, I'll tell you, gravitas can be difficult sometimes.

“Sometimes.”

Musk’s absolute ignorance of how government functions didn’t stop him from revealing said ignorance. Here’s what he said out loud with his wealth-addled brain instead of at least trying to pretend he did the assigned reading:

“We have this unelected fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has, in a lot of ways, currently, more power than any elected representative.”

In case Musk is reading this — just kidding, keep Tweeting, you’re doing great — the reason the bureaucracy has more power than any elected representative is that elected representatives have no power.

They have “votes.” Which means they have collective power.

And this concept may be confusing to someone whose entire experience with power is unitary — and who never had to learn to lead because they can just boss — but try to keep up.

Bureaucracies, in fact, answer to the collective power of representatives. Senators approve the bureaucratic leaders. Congress can impeach bureaucratic leaders.

Congress can hold oversight hearings, compel testimony and documents, determine funding or lack thereof. This is considered quite a bit of power by people who understand that power isn’t only a thing held by individual rich dudes.

And our corporate media are so focused on “fact-checks” or marveling in awe at assertions of power, that they virtually never respond to these profound, fundamental, un-American, “Great Man” canards about government by pushing back with the fact that America’s meant to be a collective in order to best serve we the people.

Hey, Here’s an Elected Representative!

Those elected representatives so cherished by DOGE Whatever-in-Chief Elon Musk are so emboldened by Musk’s fierce protection that they’ve begun to emerge from their hidey-holes and speak their minds about these unelected bureaucrats.

Specifically: Elon Musk.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) was elected by the people, it turns out, to defend foreign aid! Bacon told CNN he doesn’t want the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) cut indiscriminately. He wants a line-by-line study of its spending. Y’know, doing the actual work.

“Let’s look at it selectively,” Bacon said. “Don’t throw the [HIV] baby out with the [polluted] bath water.”

Bacon added, like a traitor who hates America, that “Congress has to catch up to the plan or the president’s plan has to be revised. Because the law is law.” (Italics added for treason emphasis.)

Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) said he’s actually managed to find good federal workers, which happen to be the ones in his state.

And congressional Republicans are telling voters that they are on this whole Musk situation, including how Musk is targeting officials at agencies investigating his companies and violating taxpayer privacy by handing records over to unelected broreaucrats.

Here’s the treasonous letter that Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) reportedly is sending his constituents:

“I share your concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest and overreach. Protecting the personal information of Americans is a fundamental responsibility, and any breach of privacy is alarming. The prospect of private individuals or companies having unfettered access to sensitive data raises critical questions about accountability, oversight, and the safeguarding of our citizens’ rights.”

Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) reportedly is addressing constituent concerns about Musk in a much more traditional and efficient way, lying with his face:

“...the DOGE task force … are being vetted [sic] to ensure qualifications are met [sic] and then monitored [sic] by Treasury officials throughout their work… [But] They do not have access to Americans’ sensitive details or information, and they cannot stop payments.”

Of course, it was reported literally the same day that the Trump Treasury now admits a 25-year-old DOGE author of racist posts actually did get not just read-only access, but write-whatever access to a federal payments database. Trump’s team had an entirely plausible explanation, however: It was a mistake.

And Musk last night helpfully advised the nation that he will make mistakes and even say shit that’s not true, because it’s not as if there’s some sort of method for checking whether things are true before face-spouting them.

Musk Advises People Listening To Him Not To

In his first Oval Office address, Elon Musk told those listening to him that they should not. That’s because some of the stuff he says his bullshit, he explained, suggesting to the Musk House press corps that it’s probably best to give it some time so other people can figure out how badly he was lying.

Q: How can we make sure that all the statements that you said were correct, so we can trust what you're saying?

Musk: Well, first of all, some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So nobody's going to bat a thousand. I mean, any -- you know, we will make mistakes, but we'll act quickly to correct any mistakes.

TFN has notes.

Typically what government officials do before speaking publicly is, well, their job. Understandably, Musk may not understand his job because he’s a noob, but traditionally in government one checks one’s facts before one’s larynx sends vocal vibrations out of the gaping hole between nose and chin.

But also, TFN really wants to flag the question posed to Musk by a member of the Musk House Press Corps: “How can we make sure that all the statements that you said were correct, so we can trust what you're saying?”

Historically, the arcane process of making sure that public statements are correct has been known by its eldritch practitioners as “Fucking Journalism.”

And one thing the wizened wizards known collectively as “Fucking Journalists” do not ever do is “trust what you’re saying.”

The Musk House Press Corps was calling Musk out for his lie about spending $50 million on Hamas condoms or some other beyond-cartoonish stupidity. But they let him skate on new lies and bullshit in the same Muskidential news conference where they asked how they can trust him.

The debunking only came afterward. From Fucking Journalists.

Musk Supplies Increasingly Hungry Nation with Fresh Supply of Bullshit

The New York Times did a pretty solid fact-check of Elon Musk’s first Oval Office address.

For instance, Musk claimed that the Social Security office has people “150 years old” on its rolls. How does he know this? Because DOGE did a “cursory examination.” The phrase “cursory” is often used to signal that the findings ought not be shared with the public in one’s first Oval Office address.

As the Times points out, Social Security does have — and even sends payments to — some dead people. Raise your hand if you think cutting Social Security staff will improve that. Now raise your hand if you think DOGE is gonna take a year to figure out what Social Security bureaucrats already know: That they need more funding to improve.

Also, when we talk about Social Security fraud, that tends to get heard as fraud by Social Security. It’s fraud against Social Security. And the solution for that would, surprise, be more funding, for more federal enforcement against white-collar crime.

Musk was also asked about — Jesus take me — a meme he responded to on Twitter (ha ha still not calling it X). Former USAID Administrator Samantha Power was alleged by — Jesus take me — “ImMeme0” to be worth $30 million.

That was followed up by a Tweet from a credible source akafaceUS asking how Power’s alleged wealth allegedly rose $23 million while she was at USAID.

The obvious answer, of course, is the Bidenconomy and soaring Wall Street stock values (which, yes, should be its own scandal).

Anyway, Musk responded with that stupid thinking-but-actually-not-thinking-just-implying-guilt emoji: 🤔. And he was asked about it yesterday:

Trump: Could you mention [give oxygen to] some of the things that your team [allegedly] has found [cursorily]? Some of the crazy numbers, including the woman that walked away with about $30 million, etc.?

Musk: Well, we do find it sort of rather odd that there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position, which is — you know what happened at USAID. We're just curious as to where it came from. Maybe they're very good at investing in which case we should take their investment advice, perhaps. But just, there seems to be mysteriously — they get wealthy. We don't know why, where does it come from? And I think [sic] the reality [sic] is that they're getting wealthy at the taxpayer expense, that's the honest [sic] truth [sic] of it.

Again, Musk’s a noob and so shouldn’t be expected to know things about government, which is why he shouldn’t have that job, so it’s no surprise he doesn’t know about Power’s money.

It’s not a mystery. It’s a website. DOGE didn’t “find” it, it’s posted by law. The site literally exists to tell you where their wealth comes from. Power filed a financial disclosure form every year, showing the accounts she and her husband owned beforehand, as well as their investments. Which grew, as investments do if they’re not invested in Twitter. Thanks, Bidenconomy!

Y’know who doesn’t have to file financial disclosures? That’d be Musk. Trump yesterday said Musk doesn’t have to file financial disclosures like the little people. This was a few hours before Musk said “transparency is what builds trust.”

(This is their trap to discredit any/all government service. You can’t get paid a lot, so most poor people can’t afford to take the jobs, and then they use any wealth of those who do as proof of corruption. Catch-$22 million.)

And Musk shoulda/coulda known all this before he was asked about it. Because Forbes had already debunked it.

And yet there were Trump and Musk, post-correction, sliming Power without having the tariffed steel to say her name.

Total coincidence that last week Power wrote an NYT op-ed exposing just some of the damage that Delonald Trmumpsk are doing to the world (including us) with their cursory “work” at USAID.

MUSK’S INCOMPETENCE UNDIMINISHED Musk seems preternaturally unfazed by his recidivist failure to understand facts. But as tempting as it is to label these people liars and bad people — which, no argument — it might be more effective to focus less on integrity and more on competence.

Fer instance, Musk shared a claim that the government paid “tens of millions” to the New York Times. Newsweek did a good debunking of this, but the important takeaway isn’t the real numbers, it’s the absolutely amateurish methodology that Musk put his faith in.

The search of government spending, looking for New York Times payments, also returned results for anything titled “New York Anything.” Not just Times. They included every “New York” result anyway, because incompetence.

And the White House lie that USAID spent $8 million on Politico? That was the entire federal government. And Politico has some very pricey subscription plans that include granular information you pretty much can’t get anywhere else.

So, what kind of steps is Musk taking to prevent future incompetences that he’ll have to correct? This kind…

Musk Corrects Mistake of Guy Who Mistakenly Corrected Musk Mistakes

USAID Inspector General Paul Martin on Monday flagged some of DOGE Whatever-in-Chief Elon Musk’s mistakes at the agency. Martin helpfully provided Musk with an entire report Monday detailing just some of the many, many mistakes Musk and DOGE were making.

Martin’s topline conclusion: Eliminating and sidelining so many staffers made it impossible to ensure that billions in humanitarian aid was being spent effectively.

Martin was fired the next day.

Which is also a mistake and not just for moral reasons or the practical reason that smart hypothetical managers promote people who surface problems. It’s also a mistake because it’s illegal.

The Trump administration has fired at least 20 inspectors general as of press time — all of whom were let go in violation of federal statute requiring congressional notice. Y’know, so that unelected bureaucrats don’t have more power than representatives.

Republicans Admit That Judges Exist

During his appearance at Elon Musk’s State of the Whatever I’m Doing speech last night, Pres. Donald Trump weighed in on the subject of whether judges are real.

Not only did Trump confirm that he believes in judges, he said sometimes he can hear them and that they tell him what to do: “I always abide by the courts.”

In fact, Trump does not always abide by the courts, as your newsfucking TFN newsfucked at length yesterday. Sometimes he just can’t abide the courts. But it’s nice to know Trump wants people to think he does!

And he does listen sometimes. For instance, instead of ignoring a judicial order unfreezing his freeze on federal funding, he filed an emergency appeal. (The appeals court said no.)

Vice President JD Vance and other Republican vice-leaders have implied that judges are mere figments of the imagination, like climate change or transgender people, and easily ignored. But other Republicans have come forward to insist that they, too, have experienced encounters that cannot be explained away except by the existence of judges.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) came out as a believer yesterday. Thune even said he believes judges take actions here in the material world. According to Thune, he’s seen judges in the branches, and believes they have an “important role” mediating differences.

Reported phenomena attributed to the existence of judges include the sudden movement of White House officials away from what Trump told them to do and the abrupt reheating of spending freezes.

Democrats Take Lead Against People Who Want Them to Lead

After weeks of Pres. Donald Trump disrupting and damaging the federal government and the people it benefits, House Democrats are finally gearing up to take action… against the people who want them to take action.

Axios reports that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) met with members of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee behind closed doors on Monday, and the members are pissed. At their voters. And advocacy groups.

That’s because Democrats have gotten thousands of phone calls — egged on by MoveOn and Indivisible — to get their shit together against Trump.

Referring to the lawmakers’ reactions, one senior House Democrat told Axios, “People are pissed.” And House Democrats aren’t taking these calls to stand up lying down.

That’s right, Democrats are mobilizing against the groups that want them to mobilize against Trump.

One member told Axios that, during the meeting, a lot of House Democrats “were like, 'We've got to stop the groups from doing this.'”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) confirmed to Axios that he’s had it with these Democratic voters: "I reject and resent the implication that congressional Democrats are simply standing by passively," he said, knowingly mischaracterizing the criticism, which is not that they’re standing by passively but that they’re not doing enough.

Which we know Torres knows, because one unnamed member revealed to Axios specifically that callers are “saying we're not doing enough.”

The Democratic auto-reply is that they’re in the minority, so what can they do? Which is true but also bullshit.

In reality, House Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass spending bills. Here’s Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg:

"Our supporters are asking Democrats to demand specific red lines are met before they offer their vote to House Republicans on the budget, when Republicans inevitably fail to pass a bill on their own."

There is, of course, another possible explanation for why some Democrats aren’t leading an opposition movement against Trump. They don’t oppose some of what he’s doing.

In New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial primaries, for instance, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop last week called out two rivals — Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) — for not going on record to protect immigrants. (h/t)

The House Steering and Policy Committee co-chairs are Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Robin Kelly (D-IL) and Nanette Barragán (D-CA). The full — though not necessarily current — membership list is here. In case you wanna help them steer their policy.

In the Face of Trump’s Tariffs, Ford Isn’t That Tough

Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley said yesterday that Pres. Donald Trump’s promised threatened policies — including threatened tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and Trump’s threatened policies to crush electric vehicles — will likely cause autoworkers to lose their jobs.

“A 25 percent tariff across the Mexico and Canadian border will blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we have never seen,” Farley said. That’s because many U.S. cars are built or made with at least some components imported across the northern or southern border.

But Trump’s tariffs don’t apply to auto-exporting nations Japan and South Korea and auto-exporting continents such as Europe.

And if Republicans kill Pres. Joe Biden’s vast array of electric-vehicle subsidies and incentives, “many of those [EV and battery] jobs will be at risk,” Farley said.

“President Trump has talked a lot about making our U.S. auto industry stronger, bringing more production here,” Farley reportedly said. “So far, what we’re seeing is a lot of cost, a lot of chaos.”

Four Quickies

• Y’know how MAGA is all about fighting human trafficking? Well, some human trafficking victims in Cambodia will no longer be able to find refuge with the Catholic charity Caritas. Deprived of USAID funding, Caritas has evicted some shelter residents and may have to stop accepting any more.

• Steve Bannon just admitted to swindling supporters of Pres. Donald Trump not just in the traditional way of making them think Trump’s smart or good at presiding, but in the criminal way. Bannon got Trump’s legion of suckers to send him the money that Mexico was supposed to spend to build the wall that Trump, the builder, didn’t build. Bannon pleaded guilty in a New York court yesterday because he’s guilty and also because he didn’t want to go to jail. Again.

• Military families booed and heckled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday over his diversity, equity, and inclusion purges. Hegseth was greeted by his diverse critics as he arrived at U.S. European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, which, ironically, is full of the kinds of people Hegseth would be happy to include in the military.

• Trump’s and Musk’s incompetences aren’t just delivering the American people the overdue civics lesson of a lifetime — educating the people about the essential role of government — even MAGA officials are getting an education. The American Prospect’s David Dayen has a fascinating look at an obscure function of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…which Project 2025 co-architect and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought just learned about. It’s boring number-crunching…which could prevent another mortgage crisis. Vought just rescued it. Welcome to the resistance.

TCB

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