Musk "replaces" Trump? Times Magazine's cover is full of gunpowder

Author: BitpushNews Mary Liu

The stalemate at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue did not attract much attention. On February 1, Elon Musk's team came to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), just a few blocks from the White House, and demanded full access to its headquarters. USAID staff rejected their request. There was no gun drawn, no physical conflict occurred, and the police did not intervene. But in these early days of the Trump administration, perhaps no other scenario could reveal more clearly the powers that are reshaping the U.S. government.

On one side is an institution with a 64-year history, $35 billion budget and a mission loaded into federal law. On the other side is Musk's political "sabotage team" - they claim to be members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE is a temporary team without a charter, without a website, and without clear legal authorization. Its power comes from Musk, the world's richest man, who is authorized to rectify the federal government's vast bureaucracy - cutting budgets, laying off civil servants, and depriving independent institutions of their ability to hinder the president's goals.

USAID’s leadership acquiesced the Musk team — a young and passionate follower — to enter its headquarters within a few days in the end of January. Some USAID officials privately called them "DOGE boy". These young men hold clipboards, patrol the corridors, check their desks and question management. However, with the weekend approaching, their requirements—including access to sensitive facilities used to store confidential information—beyond the tolerance of the USAID security chief. DOGE members threatened to call U.S. bailiffs to clear the building. They also reported the issue to Musk. Musk then posted to 215 million followers on his social media platform X, saying, “USAID is a criminal organization, it’s time to let it go.”

The reason why Musk initiated this "crime" is not clear. But anyway, by the next morning, the agency, which allocated billions of dollars a year worldwide to fight famine, disease and provide clean water to millions of people, was almost shut down. Within a week, almost all employees were forced to take leave and their global offices were closed.

Other government agencies have also received clear information. No ordinary citizen, especially those whose wealth and business networks are directly supervised by federal authorities, can have such great power over U.S. government agencies.

So far, Musk appears to be only responsible for President Trump, who has given his campaign patron a full mandate to bring the administration into his agenda. DOGE turned on all the questions Time magazine had about its work to the White House, but the White House declined to comment.

Musk's team has taken control of the U.S. Department of Digital Services and has established a stronghold within the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal human resources department. The Ministry of Education is worried about the upcoming "self-castration" order. Few institutions seem to be safe. Musk has shown that he will never tolerate objections, no matter how justified. Just a few days before the "dramatic incident" at the U.S. Agency for International Development, a Treasury official refused to give Musk's team access to the U.S. federal payment system. The official was forced to retire and newly appointed Finance Minister Scott Besent satisfies Musk's team's request. The government agreed on February 5 to limit the access, at least temporarily, after a group of current and former employees filed a lawsuit.

These are just the initial ripples in the massive anti-government wave. Budgets will be cut, valuable projects will be cancelled, civil servants with professional pursuits will be fired, replaced by political appointees whose primary qualification is to show loyalty to the president, which is the path chosen by voters. For many, one of the world's most accomplished entrepreneurs, with the speed and determination he had when he started a car company or rocket company, was worth celebrating, not Worrying. "The federal government is so large that there must be significant opportunities for saving and efficiency," said Robert Doer, director of the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank. "It's a good thing that the president and his team pay a lot of attention to it."

But strong public opposition may be brewing, and, more than the size of the federal balance sheet, the number of employees at various agencies in Washington, D.C., or the power that an unelected person has so unrestrained The danger coming. Americans will soon discover that the way they interact with the federal government is something they do not realize or take for granted.

Companies that export technology products to China may no longer have employees from the State Council or the Ministry of Commerce to explain freely how to avoid violations of criminal law. Farmers in the Midwest may soon find that USDA-funded buyers no longer pay for flour sent to refugee camps. Around the world, millions of people who rely on the United States to provide food, medicine and shelter suddenly have to rely on themselves.

Currently, millions of government workers find themselves at the mercy of Musk. A Department of Homeland Security employee described her team posing a "defensive posture" while waiting for Musk's team to come. To understand their fate, she added that her colleagues turned to a book called Character Limit, which documented the way Musk took over Twitter two years ago and fired 80% of his employees, causing Chaotic and lasting consequences.

His rectification of the bureaucracy has striking similarities with the above situation. On January 28, millions of government civil servants received an email asking for eight months’ salary to be exchanged for their resignation. Musk proposed a similar deal to Twitter employees two years ago, and he even used the same subject line: "Fork Road".

Russell Watt, director of the Trump-nominated Office of Management and Budget, attended the Jan. 15 confirmation hearing. Andrew Harnik—Getty Images

Everything has traces to follow. Among Musk’s friends in Silicon Valley, many understand that he acquired Twitter in preparation for a greater cause. "The atmosphere is now that I hope Musk can do the same thing to the U.S. government," a person familiar with the matter told Time in November. Seniors in Trump’s first administration also formulated their plans long before the election and published a 900-page report called Project 2025. Russell Watt, one of the project's lead authors, said in a speech two years ago that he wanted civil servants to be "traumatically affected" by the cleaning he envisioned, "we want their funds to be cut off," he said. "We want to put them in trauma."

During the campaign, Trump vowed that he had nothing to do with the plan, "It is inappropriate for them to come up with a document like this," he told Time in November. "There are some things I strongly object to." But once in office, he chose Watt to be in charge of the White House Office of Management and Budget, which now works closely with Musk to implement the key part of Project 2025. So far, according to Time magazine's analysis, Trump's crazy start during his presidency has almost reached its two-thirds rule.

Musk never concealed his intentions. Two weeks after the election, he co-wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal promising his team to help Trump "hire a capable team of small government crusaders" who will work to " Massive cuts to the federal bureaucracy’s staff.” The recruitment campaign began shortly after the election, recruiting from Musk’s followers in Silicon Valley, some of whom had just graduated from college and were ready to spread them all over Washington.

Musk appointed DOGE personnel director Steve Davis, an aviation engineer who previously led Musk's cost-cutting efforts on Twitter. In late December, when the presidential transition period unfolded within the White House, Davis participated in a series of meetings with members of the Biden administration. Democratic staff noticed that he was very concerned about an unknown White House branch, the US Digital Service (USDS). Davis wants to know how it works, to whom it reports it, and what it can access.

The U.S. Department of Digital Services was established in 2014 to work with federal agencies to improve computer systems and databases. It has a map of government technology infrastructure and has a point of contact with technology officials in almost every federal agency. This makes it the perfect place to host Musk’s team. By controlling USDS, Musk's team was able to access key federal government systems to implement massive layoffs and budget cuts, just as "poison" flowed through "blood vessels" to the whole body, gradually weakening the entire government's operations.

The power of the U.S. Department of Digital Services begins on the inauguration day. One of Trump's earliest executive orders renamed it "U.S. Musk Services", cleverly retaining the office's acronym. The order also ensures that new entities will report directly to the White House chief of staff. Since then, the office has established offices in the State Council and the Ministry of Finance. It begins accessing personnel computer systems, fires contractors, and blocks contracts paid to them.

Musk also sent a team to the Personnel Management Office. The office has a record of 2.1 million workers, an email address for nearly every federal employee, and tracks $59 billion in federal health care premiums per year and $88 billion in federal pension payments per year. According to a source familiar with the actions, the "massive acquisition offer" to government employees originated from Musk's team in the Personnel Management Office. (Musk’s team and the White House declined to comment.)

Next, Musk's team began to cut funds from the Personnel Management Office itself. Brian Beard, who recently served as vice president of human resources at Musk Aerospace, told the Office of Personnel Management that the goal is to cut its 70% of its staff, a move that would undermine its healthcare benefits and retirement planning team, a Current Personnel Management Office official said.

Some senior leaders of the Office of Personnel Management were locked out of critical databases, and the official said political appointees could access systems including corporate human resources integration without standard assurance procedures designed to protect the privacy of such information. The system includes information such as salary grade, years of service, social security number, date of birth and home address.

Days after Trump took office, the White House ordered a freeze of federal spending — from foreign aid to public health programs — and everything in between. The government said that the freeze will be lifted only when agencies are aligned with the president’s agenda: combat immigration, end diversity efforts, and stop investments in reducing the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Faced with court lawsuits, the White House revoked the order.

On February 4, protests outside the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, DC.

Musk's layoffs continue and Trump continues to give him blessings. "Without our approval, Musk can't do -- nor do anything," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on February 4. "We will give him approval when appropriate," he added. "We won't be in the wrong place."

Some believe Trump may restrain Musk’s actions to prevent him from being overly radical, but civil servants are not waiting for this to happen. In northern Virginia, where tens of thousands of federal government employees and military personnel live, the typical town hall meeting in the town of Lisburg, Virginia attracted dozens of people, hundreds gathered on the night Musk closed the US International Development Agency. "We heard strange stories," said Suhas Sabramaniam, a local Democratic MP, who spoke at the event. As a large number of workers poured into his office, describing Musk’s team’s takeover action, he directed staff to record the testimony and assist whistleblower. Sabramaniam insisted to Time magazine that most of the things they witnessed were "simply illegal". "We are almost going to be tested and being encouraged to prosecute or investigate."

Some lawsuits did work. The White House obeyed the court orders to prevent its attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending. A judge delayed the deadline for a takeover offer to government employees in a February 6 ruling. The union filed a lawsuit against Musk's team on behalf of federal workers. Even Musk's usual admirers warned that he had overdoed. A February 4 editorial in the Wall Street Journal stated that “the lawsuits have come in a row” and “If Mr. Musk is not careful, the court will disrupt the project before it starts.”

On Capitol Hill, Musk’s attack on the bureaucracy triggered a fight between him and the Democrats that could determine the future of the government and its internal balance of power. On the afternoon of February 3, Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin told a group of people outside USAID: "We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk." At this time, Musk's team (DOGE) was trying to force them inside USAID. plan.

Jamie Raskin is right. But the agency staff who listened to him on Pennsylvania Avenue weren’t sure if he could keep his job, could not tell how much power Musk had gained, and whether he would make other government departments succumb to his will. One staff member seemed particularly suspicious. Yes, she told Time magazine that the Constitution gives Congress fiscal power. But Musk has shown that he has deprived this power.

"The Democrats can do that," she said, not wanting to be named to avoid attracting more attention from DOGE. Her official email account has been closed and she can no longer access her desk in the agency. Like thousands of colleagues and millions of Americans, she could only watch Musk's actions unfold step by step, wondering: How far will he go? What else—if it really exists—can stop him?