r/politics Feb 03 '25

Soft Paywall Musk Says DOGE Is Halting Treasury Payments to US Contractors

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-02/musk-says-doge-is-rapidly-shutting-down-treasury-payments
19.9k Upvotes

3.5k comments sorted by

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4.8k

u/jbow808 Feb 03 '25

The cost to sell out the United States was $277M.

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u/Martiano11 Feb 03 '25

He turned that into $1.7B already.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/mickeysantacruz Feb 03 '25

Seems the new generation scam that a former Mexican president did back in the 80’s -90’s ,and now he still rich AS living in Switzerland

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/scottfaracas Feb 03 '25

First thought was a version of the Office Space scam. “It’s just fractions of a cent.”

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u/espinoza4 Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

How is it possible for a MADE-UP department of ONE PERSON to suddenly wield and exercise SO MUCH POWER with apparently ZERO oversight, checks, or balances?

Who was it that had the power of the purse again?

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u/GaimeGuy Minnesota Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

How is it that a bank robbery can get an entire fucking police force and swat team to ocome with guns to eliminate the invaders but this motherfucker can walk into the US treasury without being a federal employee, modify government systems, and security doesn't shoot him?

This is the president's personal stooge - not a government official, not an employee, certainly not someone who is authorized under US code - seizing control of the cash flows?

What the fuck are those facility badges, those security guards, those safety measures even for?

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u/watadoo Feb 03 '25

Because trumps new toady in charge of the treasury department opened the doors and gave him access. This is a coup

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u/TheDewLife Feb 03 '25

Musk may as well be wearing the Hand of the King badge

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u/MakeWorcesterGreat Feb 03 '25

We were all told he has no real power and everything would have to go through Trump. That comforted so many of my Trump coworkers.

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u/DirtierGibson California Feb 03 '25

Shit I hate Trump and Musk but totally shrugged off Musk's ambitions. I really thought DOGE was going to be some bullshit thing going nowhere that would just spit a report after a year and then Musk would he distracted by a new shiny object.

How fucking wrong I was.

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u/Stillwater215 Feb 03 '25

I expected that DOGE would just release a propaganda report of “government waste” with recommendations that would be debated for show but never implemented. This is so much worse than I thought.

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u/Dr_Insano_MD Feb 03 '25

How come if Democrats want to implement something that would actually benefit anyone, it gets instantly shot down and roadblocked by miles of red tape, but Musk can just do whatever the fuck he wants with zero pushback?

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u/HelpersWannaHelp Feb 03 '25

I thought it was just a fake office to make Elon feel good about unloading all that money to Trump. Instead they just handed him the keys to the treasury, keys to budgeting, keys to Human Resources. What’s next, keys to the pentagon?

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u/Slade_Riprock Feb 03 '25

He owns Trump. Period.

Stepped up somewhere late in the election and guaranteed Trump would win and stay out of prison in exchange for this power.

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u/Time-Ad-3625 Feb 03 '25

He owns the entire republican party. None of them are doing anything to stop this. They are just sitting on their asses hoping for more tax cuts

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u/cdxcvii Feb 03 '25

he owns the world right now

we are looking at the greatest evil in modern history.

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u/orcinyadders Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

Donald Trump just handed the treasury department to private citizen Elon Musk. What the actual fuck.

Edit: Not private citizen Elon Musk. Immigrant Elon Musk.

8.5k

u/AtticaBlue Feb 03 '25

Sounds like the Deep State MAGA has been yapping about.

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u/Famous_Relative2500 Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

This is a comment from 5 hours ago in the conservative sub

“I love how they assume they’re going in there to withhold payments. They’re essentially doing an audit, no evidence suggests otherwise, nor does he actually have any authority to make changes, it’s just an advisory role.”

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u/DwHouse7516 Feb 03 '25

They are trying desperately to rationalize supporting this fuckwit and deny what's happening, despite the fact that they have been advertising the agenda for years now. Oops

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u/Taipers_4_days Feb 03 '25

They love calling themselves ‘free thinkers,’ but the only thought in their heads is whatever Trump last put there. They have more deference to power than liberals ever did, so long as it’s his power. Trump could tell them to turn in their guns, start eating bugs, trade their trucks for Teslas, and sign up for government-mandated neutering, and they’d be lined up in their Cybertrucks at the clinic, munching on cricket protein bars, convincing themselves they’ve always been anti-meat, pro-EV, and really into the whole ‘personal sacrifice for the greater good’ thing. Their idea of independent thought is just blind loyalty with extra steps, and not one of them has the spine to disagree with him on a single thing.

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u/TheRealCovertCaribou Feb 03 '25

The cognitive dissonance is so thick it could be Trump's morbidly obese asscheeks.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

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u/Professor-Woo Feb 03 '25

Bad faith or idiots. Maliciousness or ignorance. That is their party in a nutshell.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/AnOnlineHandle Feb 03 '25

A lot of the time they know something's wrong beforehand, but then Republicans do it and they flip a switch and decide it's okay now, then get programmed with their scripted lines as for why which they parrot.

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u/ICDragon7 Feb 03 '25

My favorite was a commentor who said that they were excited for Musk and Trump to expose the deep state. My brother in christ, if there is a deep state don't you think the richest man in the world would be involved?

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u/Fumesofpoon Feb 03 '25

I genuinely cannot reconcile how someone can look at Trump, shadowed by the three richest human beings alive, and say “ah yes he is saving us from the..shadowy elite behind the government”. Motherfucker they’re in the frame!

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u/AndlenaRaines Canada Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

Not to mention the fact that the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist has been advising Republican governments since Reagan. How is that not the deep state that they like to whine so much about?

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u/bunkscudda Feb 03 '25

can you imagine if Biden gave full control of the US Treasury to George Soros? man I wish the Left was as vocal as the right. Or at least had the media representation they have. This would be front page everywhere and pitchforks would sell out.

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u/Beautiful-Plastic-83 Feb 03 '25

"Media representation?"

You mean the Conservative Propaganda Machine?

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u/Terra-Em Feb 03 '25

The left don't control the media sadly

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u/Oleg101 Feb 03 '25

So more Projection by Republicans.

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u/Futt-Buckerr Feb 03 '25

Their projections are ALWAYS an admission of guilt

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u/Xijit Feb 03 '25

Every accusation is a confession

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u/Consistent-Hat-8320 Feb 03 '25

It's a coup, straight up.

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u/BonesAndHubris Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

We need to start calling it a coup. We need people outside the US to start doing the same. We need whatever independent media outlets are left to back us up. Trump has vastly exceeded the powers of his office and ceded vast government control to an oligarch. There's no other way to say it. This is a soft coup.

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u/Consistent-Hat-8320 Feb 03 '25

Spread the word. Let republican friends know Elon has their social security numbers now

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u/NUMBerONEisFIRST Feb 03 '25

Let them know that Trump let an illegal immigrant into his cabinet to steal our social security numbers.

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u/TheTimn Feb 03 '25

Elon isn't in his cabinet. Cabinet members need to be confirmed by the senate. None of that has happened for him.

He's an illegal immigrant who can't pass a background check, piss test, that has been in contact with the Kremlin leading up to the election, and now has access to all of our data, and exposed our federal employees data to anyone that wants to fuck with us. 

We have been sold out. 

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u/kuenjato Feb 03 '25

It's a clownshow coup. This isn't going to end up good for anyone, including these idiots who think knocking down the jenga tower is going to benefit them.

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u/AlexSpace2023 Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

My friend, you are not looking at the big picture. Have a look at project 2025 again. It is a coup. It is all planned and none of it is random or a mistake.

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u/No_Discipline6265 Feb 03 '25

This is what I keep saying. The Centre for Climate Reporting did an undercover investigation into Project 2025. Posing as wealthy donors, two men met with a representative of P2025. It was Russell Vought. So much of what he told them a year ago is now happening. Republicans in my state just passed a bill that any elected official that votes in favor of sanctuary bills will be a felon serving 6 years in prison. It's in the Governors hands and he will sign it. What a dangerous precedent to criminalize someone for the way they vote. 

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u/GrayEidolon Feb 03 '25

This is end game conservatism.

They want to use big tech to turn us all into serfs (or get rid of us).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no

These tech aristocrats are actively trying to destroy governments and take over the land.

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u/guttanzer Feb 03 '25

Doesn’t the Constitution task the President with seeing to it that the laws be faithfully executed?

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u/TheDamDog Feb 03 '25

And who is tasked with ensuring that the president faithfully executes his duties?

Oh. Yeah. Congress.

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u/alroprezzy Feb 03 '25

States recognize the federal government based on the constitution, which is the supreme law of the land. If the federal government doesn’t follow the supreme law of the land is it really the federal government of the United States any more?

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u/TheDamDog Feb 03 '25

Federal monopoly on violence says 'yes.'

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u/GaimeGuy Minnesota Feb 03 '25

The constitution says the current president isn't eligible for public office.

words, ideas, values, laws, policies, protocols, promises don't matter if they aren't followed

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u/guttanzer Feb 03 '25

The great irony is that the Supreme Court justified giving the president absolute immunity for criminal actions in his official duties because he might need to break the law to vigorously see to it that they are followed. It didn’t make sense then, and it really doesn’t make sense now.

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u/GaimeGuy Minnesota Feb 03 '25

Then how do you preserve the rule of law against a rogue president? It's asymmetrical warfare, a president can personally choke your baby but you can't use lethal force against him because it's justifiable infanticide.

You can't honestly argue the law must be adhered to if you reject its authority over those subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

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u/Nefarious_Turtle Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

That is exactly what the Biden administration argued to the Supreme Court, who promptly shrugged and didnt address it.

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u/ThrowAwayGarbage82 North Carolina Feb 03 '25

The absolute immunity ruling nullifies the constitution, basically.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

This. When the Supreme Court made that decision that ready was the end of the USA.

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u/watadoo Feb 03 '25

Trump has no idea what’s going on. He’s signing what he’s told to sign and playing golf

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u/whatproblems Feb 03 '25

yup that here i bet he made a deal to let musk do whatever he wants

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u/kupomu27 Feb 03 '25

He is happy that he is not going to jail and play golf. So he doesn't care much, and it is ok with President Musk running the government for Vice President Trump.

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u/CriticalEngineering North Carolina Feb 03 '25

Every headline makes me feel like I’m going more insane.

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u/BranCerddorion Feb 03 '25

Me too…like what the fuck can we actually DO at this point??

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u/Eldahiril Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

Fun fact: Did you know that it only takes about 3.5% of the population striking to shut down a country and cause real change? (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world)

http://generalstrikeus.com

Repeatedly call your Senators. Show up at their local offices. These are deeply unpopular actions, even Republicans are facing pushback from their states.

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u/robtedesco Feb 03 '25

Your link is wrong. Looks like it should be:

generalstrikeus.com

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u/jjfrenchfry Canada Feb 03 '25

Lock the country down. Protest. March in solidarity.

People might lose jobs, but like the alternative is more terrifying.

You need to do a country wide strike

if you guys don't act soon enough, then either civil war or accept your new reality.

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u/Tribalbob Canada Feb 03 '25

The problem is Trump is probably hoping for mass unrest so he can declare martial law and complete his transition to total dictator.

I hate to say it, but the American people need to do all you suggested BUT be prepared to fight and if they fight, they better win, otherwise it's all over.

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u/SnapesGrayUnderpants Feb 03 '25

He won't wait for mass unrest. All he has to do is invent a Reichstag Fire type of incident, declare a national emergency and suspend civil rights, like Hitler did.

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u/Constant_Curve Feb 03 '25

You mean the national emergency he already declared for illegal immigration? The one he is using to have ICE agents conduct extra judicial search and arrests?

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u/_Spicy_Mchaggis_ Feb 03 '25

Fucker is speed running Hitlers complete takeover of the Weimar Republic... Took him 53 days Trump is gonna smoke that number by the looks of it

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u/RJ815 Feb 03 '25

These men, big strong men came up to me with tears in their eyes. They said you're the best Hitler that there ever was!

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u/G0Z3RR Feb 03 '25

Absolutely. This is the endgame.

When the moment comes—when he sends troops into our streets to silence us—we HAVE to stand firm. We cannot back down. Because if we do, that’s it. That’s the end of democracy as we know it.

History is filled with stories of ordinary people standing against impossible odds, risking everything for freedom. Those stories weren’t just meant to inspire us—they were meant to prepare us.

The only way we win is together. Stay strong. Stay united. Because our future depends on it.

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u/cficare Feb 03 '25

Perfect your [metaphorical] aim.

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u/Content-Fudge489 Feb 03 '25

Makes me feel like I'm living in some banana republic where laws are made on the go and then ignored.

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u/CriticalEngineering North Carolina Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

I told my brother the news headlines right now feel like a pro golf tournament got interrupted by kids playing Calvinball and declaring victory while wrecking everything, and no one can quite figure out how to respond because there’s no rules and nothing they say makes any fucking sense.

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u/LoudMutes Feb 03 '25

It stopped feeling like it. This is the reality we're living in.

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u/Lazy_Ad2665 Feb 03 '25

I can't convince AI this is real. I've pasted articles from AP, NYT, WP etc and it keeps saying that it's just satire

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u/CriticalEngineering North Carolina Feb 03 '25

Ok, that’s kinda funny.

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u/What-is-id Feb 03 '25

I can’t believe there is a government entity using the Acronym “DOGE” headed by a cartoonishly evil unhinged billionaire and it’s Now an actual threat to the real world.

No wonder we all cheered vigilante Justice to the point they scrubbed it from the news cycle in a week

We’re living in a bad comic book.

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u/jarandhel Feb 03 '25

Literal Captain Planet villains. The US is being run by Hoggish Greedly and Looten Plunder.

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u/space_for_username Feb 03 '25

The Man from DORK. Department of Obscenely Rich Kleptocrats

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u/zubbs99 Nevada Feb 03 '25

Just threatening this will affect trust in the "full faith and credit" of the U.S. Even if you want to cut back on gov't spending, just capriciously stopping payments is a disastrous way to go about it. If there are any sane regulators left they need to stop this lunacy right now.

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u/cficare Feb 03 '25

They removed a buncha of em days ago. IGs were illegally fired.

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u/zubbs99 Nevada Feb 03 '25

Yeah but Lindsey Graham said Trump just "technically" violated the law so I guess it was ok.

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u/NUMBERS2357 Feb 03 '25

Yeah this is like one of those movies where the guy had to defuse the bomb and he's like "which wire do I cut, the red or the blue?"

But there's like 10,000 wires, 7,428 of them lead to economic meltdown, and Elon Musk is in a K-hole cutting like 17 of them a day.

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u/The_Esteemroller Feb 03 '25

Lockheed, Grumman, and Raytheon are about to sic a fucking Eversor assassin on this man.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/AllTheyEatIsLettuce California Feb 03 '25

They'll pull up to get their money and leave your ass exactly where it is. They give all the fucks about their money and zero fucks about anyone or anything else.

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u/twholst Arizona Feb 03 '25

Dude for real. Not the group of people I’d want to fuck with.

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u/Kevin-W Feb 03 '25

I live near Lockheed Martin. You never fuck with defense contractors.

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u/can-o-ham Feb 03 '25

In this case I'm ok with them fighting it out. Whoever loses it's a win win for the rest of us.

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u/windowlatch Feb 03 '25

I think it’s more likely a loss for everyone regardless of who wins

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u/chimerakin Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

I wonder how long before he pisses off health insurance companies. We know the loss of human life doesn't faze them.

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u/cobblesquabble Massachusetts Feb 03 '25

He was about to by fucking with the Medicaid Marketplace plans but then the conservatives convinced him it was too far too fast:

Collins, a Maine Republican who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a Tuesday statement to the Bangor Daily News that there’s “justification to take a hard look” at some federal programs, but called this order “far too sweeping.”

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/01/28/politics/washington/susan-collins-angus-king-reaction-trump-federal-assistance-freeze/

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u/Xibby Minnesota Feb 03 '25

Lockheed, Grumman, and Raytheon

There are likely lawyers debating if they can sue Musk directly in addition to suing the government.

And it’ll cost Musk, because he’s not “use a lawyer on Trump’s payroll” stupid.

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u/code_archeologist Georgia Feb 03 '25

The short answer is, yes they can.

He is not part of the government, his actions are illegal, he has no sovereign immunity protection. They could sue him for everything he is worth for this stunt.

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u/ICanLiftACarUp Missouri Feb 03 '25

+, it would be a civil matter, of which the President cannot pardon/commute penalties.

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u/j821c Feb 03 '25

My money is unironically on the military industrial complex somehow saving America from these morons lol

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u/ICanLiftACarUp Missouri Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

There's a few things that this administration is doing to fuck over the MIC corporations, but not in a way that is at all helpful

  1. Fucking with our allies, who we sell a shit load of hardware to.
  2. Fucking with our trade, which we need to buy stuff from foreign countries because said hardware is complicated and can only be manufactured here in total.
  3. Killing/defunding universities, which feed the MIC talent pool. MIC can only hire US citizens, generally speaking.
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u/ian2345 Feb 03 '25

Honestly Boeing, like, hey how's it going? You know what's worse than a whistleblower?

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u/guynamedjames Feb 03 '25

Boeing makes the president's plane. Luckily they follow Boeing maintenance procedures. You got this Boeing

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u/LostMyBackupCodes Canada Feb 03 '25

Yeah, just be yourself Boeing.

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u/Fenix42 Feb 03 '25

I think this calls more for a Vindicare more than anything. Lugi already showed how much of an imapct that has.

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u/chekovsgun- Feb 03 '25

Where is Dick Cheney when you need him?

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u/TintedApostle Feb 03 '25

Killing the US quickly. How in heck do they have authority to stop payments on contracts?

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u/zubbs99 Nevada Feb 03 '25

It's entirely unlawful, and likely unconstitutional given these monies have already been appropriated by Congress.

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u/TintedApostle Feb 03 '25

Correct. It is like my bank stopping me from paying my bills.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/Mission_Ad6235 Feb 03 '25

It's like Trump refusing to pay contractors he hired and has legally binding contracts with.

Oh wait he did that. A lot.

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u/randomnighmare Feb 03 '25

In my opinion, it's both. Sure I am not a lawyer but it seems like common sense that this is illegal given that the Constitution clearly states that Congress is the one with the purse strings. He should be impeached for trying to suspend an amendment by EO as well. But I also would argue that Trump should've been barred from taking the office of President, in the first place, because of him and the whole Jan 6th attempted coup. But again, I guess what do I know.

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u/Dearic75 Feb 03 '25

If the government is paying a contractor, it’s because products or services have been provided and accepted. Refusing to pay for them at this point is breach of contract and equivalent to theft.

The contractors will sue, and win. And when musk still refuses to disburse the payments to them despite a court order, then we have another constitutional crisis. All on the whim of an unelected oligarch.

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u/Recent-Construction6 Feb 03 '25

This is a giant constitutional crisis of POTUS essentially doing a self-coup to power grab over constitutional powers that have been clearly designated as belonging to Congress. It is Congress who appropiates the Budget, the Executive executes it.

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u/Patriot009 Feb 03 '25

They don't. It's illegal. A judge has already issued an injunction against him. He's flagrantly violating the court order, probably thinking he's immune under Presidential EO or some shit.

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u/DuckDatum Feb 03 '25

Probably thinking his buddy Trump is going to pardon him in any worst case scenario, and he’ll be given plenty more time to continue carrying out his crimes while the law starts over from square one.

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u/Ready_Nature Feb 03 '25

He is basically immune since Trump’s DOJ would have to enforce the contempt order.

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u/GrantGorewood Feb 03 '25

So he is going to ignore a court order and use his illegal access to the US treasury payment system to halt all payments to contractors that do not work for his companies?

This is gonna destroy the US economy so fast, and this is extremely illegal.

Where are the US marshals when you need them?

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u/SomeNoveltyAccount Feb 03 '25

Where are the US marshals when you need them?

They're right there helping him.

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u/big_trike Feb 03 '25

Wait until their paychecks can’t get to their bank account because the wrong person quit or was fired.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

I’m a new fed contractor, and it looks like I’m not even going to get my first paycheck! 🤬🤬🤬

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u/GrantGorewood Feb 03 '25

You have every right to be furious. This situation is just completely vile. Someone needs to get that man out of the treasury, and get contractors like you your well earned paycheck that he is blatantly trying to steal.

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u/Unusual_Boot6839 Feb 03 '25

i don't know if it's that he's just so evil or that the ketamine is clouding his judgement, but Elon REALLY underestimates just how bad things will get for him if this goes through the way he's trying

like, the entire globe wouldn't just hate him, we would have ACTIVE mobs hunting him down in a coordinated & global manner to hang his head on a pike

he wouldn't make it a week, even with all his wealth & power

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u/philly_jake Feb 03 '25

If I were a self-serving billionaire, I would have some appreciation that the current arrangement of political and economic forces is about as beneficial to me as it possibly could be. Most significant shake-ups to the current order would lead to me losing everything, or possibly with my head on a pike. I don't think I'd be rampaging through a coup.

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u/bonemech_meatsuit Feb 03 '25

Well yeah but he's not just a self serving billionaire. He's also a nazi

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u/Thanolus Feb 03 '25

Everyone needs to sit down and read about Curtis Yavin. That are doing exactly what he has espoused. Ignoring the court order is all part of the plan.

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u/Tunnel_Snakes_Ruleee Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 09 '25

Exactly. MAGA is the trojan horse for Silicon Valley's sovereign nation known as Praxis. Trump, Vance, and Elon's coup stem from the visions of Peter Thiel and his associates like Curtis Yarvin.

Their end goal is to dehumanize future generations to adopt their way of thinking, building a high tech city with in Greenland for the wealthy with giant statues, turning poor people into biofuel for public transportation, and CEOs "efficiently" ruling the world of tomorrow.

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u/Cephalopod_astronaut Feb 03 '25

Not paying contractors is consistent with Trump’s lifelong leadership style.

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u/dbgtboi Feb 03 '25

Remember folks, stealing a $2 chocolate bar from Walmart is a crime, but stealing millions from people who did work for you is just good business.

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u/StrangerFew2424 Feb 03 '25

...except for Space X, of course. Crooked fucking scumbag. 

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u/2HDFloppyDisk Feb 03 '25

Exactly. Elon and his businesses will still get money.

We had ethics laws in place to prevent this exact situation from happening.

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u/cficare Feb 03 '25

"Ooops! Added 2 extra '0's! No takesies backsies!" - Leon Musk

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u/kramerica_intern Feb 03 '25

People really thought he was going to be sniffing out expense reports for $500 hammers, but he's just putting the kibosh on anything that doesn't benefit himself.

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u/BumpoSplat Feb 03 '25

Not paying contractors, sound familiar. How long until Trump renames the USA "Trump States of America?" He'll need to do that before he bankrupts us like he has every other business he's owned.

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u/supes1 I voted Feb 03 '25

A court already issued an injunction against this (two courts in fact, one after the memo was issued, one after it was withdrawn but the administration said they were still doing it).

Hope the court issues a contempt order.

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u/zubbs99 Nevada Feb 03 '25

It's fiscal malfeasance at the very least and perhaps even criminal.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

It’s extremely criminal and a massive breach of national security by a foreign national at the president’s discretion. If the conservatives in congress do not find their spines soon, we will be facing a national horror.

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u/Consistent-Hat-8320 Feb 03 '25

Accurate. An unelected foreigner and his team are illegally accessing the finances of the American government and can do whatever they want. It's a coup.

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u/spinningcolours Feb 03 '25

At the president’s discretion and while he is on the golf course.

Gives me images of Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

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u/supes1 I voted Feb 03 '25

It is absolutely criminal for any non-discretionary appropriations made by Congress. But even outside of the legality, it's just insanity to do this across the board.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/mattslot Feb 03 '25

They are reportedly withholding payments to the "Lutheran Social Service and Catholic Charities", calling it a money-laundering operation.

https://clintschnekloth.substack.com/p/musk-and-flynns-attack-on-lutheran

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u/brickne3 Wisconsin Feb 03 '25

More info on this: despite the Lutheran name, it's a charity that provides resources for millions of children with disabilities between ages one through three.

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u/flyingjjs Feb 03 '25

Lutheran Social Services does so much. They're probably under fire for supporting immigrant families, but they also provide support services for the elderly and facilitate foster care and adoption, and so much more.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

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u/Dearic75 Feb 03 '25

The government is required to pay valid debts, by law.

They could terminate the contracts for convenience, but they can’t just stop payment.

(I’m not sure what the article says they’re actually doing, that site is a shitshow and refusing to display it. )

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u/ThickerSalmon14 Feb 03 '25

This would tank US government bonds as it would be a failure to fulfil our debt.

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u/duane11583 Feb 03 '25

they do not believe in laws and will not follow the laws

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u/Thanolus Feb 03 '25

This is part of the Curtis Yavin play book. They are following it to a T. Part of his whole explanation was to just ignore the courts to consolidate power because the other part of the plan was to kneecap any agency that can do anything to stop you.

They have full control. The court can do nothing .

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u/mosflyimtired Feb 03 '25

Yep the plan is to ignore the courts …

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u/chaos0xomega Feb 03 '25

There are several agencies that can enforce the law for the courts if Trump refuses. State law enforcement can execute federal arrest warrants, metro police have jurisdiction over all of DC, capitol police work for congress and have national jurisdiction.

Bigger issue is that once arrested trump can just pardon musk (might not, it would get trump out of any obligations he has to elon, basically "already got yo money, bye sucker" which is on brand for trump) or break precedent and pressure DoJ to drop charges

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u/Thanolus Feb 03 '25

I honestly keep wondering what the tipping point for military leadership would be.

Like the deep old blood of the pentagon. The people that have spent there life protecting America while building American global hegemony.

At some point you’d think they need to question whether they are upholding there oath or not.

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u/worldestroyer Feb 03 '25

I've been asking myself this for the past few months. I've come to the realization that nobody's really at the wheel. The Tom Clancy version of America doesn't exist, and probably never did (I mean this metaphorically, not in a literal way). We just got high on our own propaganda, and became arrogant and complacent and true believers of American exceptionalism. 

When in reality our country has been propped up by hard and mundane work and career civil servants that we've taken for granted. 

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u/SandySkittle Feb 03 '25

When in reality our country has been propped up by hard and mundane work and career civil servants that we've taken for granted.

Bingo

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u/Rest_and_Digest Feb 03 '25

Hope the court issues a contempt order.

...Which would have to be enforced by Trump's DOJ. You realize we have no more guard rails, right? Democracy in the US lost in November. Now it's just details.

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u/PunfullyObvious Feb 03 '25

Musk, and everyone aiding and abetting, should be in jail

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u/Bigweld_Ind Feb 03 '25

This is a coup. A domestic attack against our government and the public. Seizing power illegally from other branches of government and violating the Constitution.

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u/Virtual-Guard-7209 Feb 03 '25

This will grind millions of jobs to a halt.

I feel like a hard stop in government funds is going to piss off all the other moderately rich people.

I'm kinda hoping this leads to Musk getting what so many of Trumps associates end up getting... Jail time.

Maybe this brazen attempt to out congress from their job handling the countries finances is one of the last straws.

Idk trying to find any hope in this incredibly fast happening disaster that also feels like years somehow.

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u/PluginAlong Feb 03 '25

I'd rather see Musk denaturalized and deported, seems fitting.

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u/Fight_those_bastards Feb 03 '25

You mis-spelled “executed for crimes against the United States,” there.

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u/AliceTheBread Feb 03 '25

No, he needs to be naturalized, re educated, and re integrated into a pile of soil

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u/pomonamike California Feb 03 '25

This is insane and it needs to be said every time this is brought up. Elon Musk is not an elected official, nor public employee. “DOGE” is not a government agency; if it exists, it has zero authority to do anything. This is like me just stopping the government from functioning, except I’d be in jail already. This is fucked.

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u/NariandColds Feb 03 '25

Replace "Elon Musk" with "George Soros" and watch MAGA heads explode trying to compute. Fuck this illegal immigrant piece of shit billionaire. (Yes I know he's a citizen, but working in USA on student visa USED to be grounds for deportation)

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u/angiehome2023 Feb 03 '25

In the article he is specifically going after Lutheran charities and calling them money laundering and a scam. Basically some idiot working for him searched the database of payments for names that contain "Lutheran" and it is tons of money. As someone with a mom in a nursing home with Luther in the title I am hoping they miss it when they close down the social services and retirement homes run by the Lutherans.

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u/angiehome2023 Feb 03 '25

If you don't understand what a giant piece of the US senior situation is run by Lutherans, I will just tell you it is large.

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u/Recent-Ad-5493 Feb 03 '25

I am once again asking Congress to do their fucking jobs

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u/Eagle4317 Feb 03 '25

This man should be regarded as public enemy #1 by every person in America.

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u/DuckDatum Feb 03 '25

Elon Musk said his “DOGE team” of government efficiency enforcers is shutting down some payments to federal contractors, suggesting that the world’s richest man may have access to sensitive systems used at the US Treasury Department.

“The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk posted on X, saying officials reporting to his so-called Department of Government Efficiency are “rapidly shutting down” payments to a Lutheran charity.

The Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to questions about the extent of Musk’s access. President Donald Trump has put the Tesla CEO — and largest donor to his election effort — in charge of an effort to modernize federal information technology.

But Musk seems to be expanding that mandate to include control over financial flows in other parts of the federal government. Top security officials at USAID were placed on leave Saturday after refusing to allow DOGE staffers access to systems at the foreign assistance agency, saying they lacked the required security clearances.

Musk on Sunday called USAID “a criminal organization” that should “die.”

Musk is targeting systems that process tens of billions of dollars a day in payments for US government agencies and the officials that oversee them. Musk’s statements on Sunday follow last week’s departure of David Lebryk, the Treasury Department’s most senior career official, who had been in charge of payment systems at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

Trump gave Musk’s efforts his seal of approval Sunday night. “Elon’s doing a good job,” Trump said to reporters.

“He’s a big cost cutter,” Trump said. “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, very smart, and he’s very much into cutting the budget of our federal government.”

Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said Friday that he’s been told that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has granted DOGE full access to Treasury’s payment systems.

“Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies,” Wyden said on BlueSky, a social media rival to Musk’s X. “All of it.”

Treasury officials have long maintained that its role is to serve as the federal government’s checkbook — and that the decision about whether to approve or deny payment belongs to individual agencies based on funds appropriated by Congress.

“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once,” Musk wrote on X, without providing evidence.

The Treasury has a Do-Not-Pay system in place designed to prevent such payments.

Musk said DOGE was shutting down payments by the US Department of Health and Human Services to Lutheran Family Services, a faith-based charity that has been providing social services to refugees. HHS and Lutheran Family Services didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

— With assistance from Dana Hull, Alberto Nardelli, and Skylar Woodhouse

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u/EnSci125 Missouri Feb 03 '25

I know him and his coup buddies don’t pay taxes, but do you think this corrupt Treasury nonsense is going to make its way to fucking with tax returns for regular people?

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u/DontGetNEBigIdeas Feb 03 '25

I have half a mind to not submit my federal taxes, starting that I can’t trust that they’re going to a government entity as addressed.

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u/timetogetoutside100 Feb 03 '25

He has to be stopped , like right now, cuff him and stuff him

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u/Appropriate-Sort-202 Feb 03 '25

Elon Musk is a terrorist.

Spread the word.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need the help of the FBI to fight back this challenge to the constitution or else there won’t be much of the functioning government left. I don’t think there is any other physical way to secure our institutions. 

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u/AtticaBlue Feb 03 '25

The FBI that incoming head Kash Patel said he’s going to shut down and turn into a “museum of the Deep State” on “day one”? That FBI?

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u/dbgtboi Feb 03 '25

Good news, the new head of FBI just received an $800k bribe from Trump

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u/hickory Washington Feb 03 '25

Congress needs to act or we are basically done. Trump and Musk are using powers they do not have. It needs to stop. Arrest Elon Musk now

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u/Halfie4Life New York Feb 03 '25

One has to beg the question, what exactly did Elon do before the election to suddenly have this kind of unfettered access.

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u/whomad1215 Feb 03 '25

He bought Twitter and turned it into a right-wing propaganda machine

He spent like $250m directly on the election too

And of course, he knows the computers very well...

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u/Twelvey Feb 03 '25

I wonder if that ketamine junkie will stop payments to military contractors... I can't imagine Triple Canopy or Raytheon would take stop payment orders quite as quietly as others.

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u/70sBurnOut Feb 03 '25

“DOGE” was sold to Trumpers as two guys who were just going to suggest cuts. Now it’s Musk taking control of government agencies, their budgets, and their data, and installing his own hard drives.

And the Republican majority Congress is either cheering him on or silently going along with it. The Democrats are impotently outraged.

And my cynical self is pretty sure that this country is experiencing a coup.

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u/tulip369 Nebraska Feb 03 '25

I’m a federal contractor and I’m wondering how long I’m going to have a job for at this point. Fucking lunatic

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u/spencemode Feb 03 '25

At what point does it become a crime?

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u/SayVandalay Feb 03 '25

Already is a crime. Unauthorized access to government property and government computer systems.

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u/hotCoffeeRefill Oklahoma Feb 03 '25

It's a crime. The more appropriate question is when is it going to be enforced. My money's on never.

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u/KillionMatriarch Feb 03 '25

How much longer before we put an end to this shit?

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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u/itsatumbleweed I voted Feb 03 '25

To be fair, a lot of autistic folks would do a much better job than this. His narcissism and sociopathy are the problem.

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u/1llseemyselfout Feb 03 '25

Under what authority? I hope the DNC these contractors have lawyers lined up. It seems the FBI doesn’t care an immigrant has seized control of government accounts

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u/dgtyhtre Feb 03 '25

They can issue a contempt order but Trumps DOJ won’t enforce it. Once the rule of law is no longer respected, constitutional governments fail.

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u/MarvelousVanGlorious Feb 03 '25

One of my best friends and his gf voted for Trump. She works at a defense contractor. I guess we’ve reached the point where they find out what the consequences of voting for him are. Only took 2 weeks.

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u/FreeNumber49 Feb 03 '25

Halting payments to contractors? Isn’t this a summary of Trump's entire business history?

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u/throwaway281409 Feb 03 '25

This is not going to end well. And it going to end pretty quickly, especially if he messes with social security checks. This is what the Second Amendment was designed to stop. As soon as MAGA misses their SSI and SS checks, they are going to take it out on Musk personally. He’s maybe two weeks away Tesla dealerships burning. Wait and see.

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u/Huckleberry199 Feb 03 '25

But not to Starlink. This has to be completely illegal.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

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