Elon Musk: How the Executive Branch of the United States Government Has Turned into an Embarrassing Meme

The World's Richest Man and his Incredible Transformation into Perhaps the World's Most Prolific Propagandist

This is a story of a man who once was hailed as an innovator, the golden poster boy of Silicon Valley, a leader in understanding the market and where the conflux of society and technology wanted, or maybe even needed, to go. This is the story of a man who was seen as a veritable Renaissance man, one who knew just enough science in significantly diverse fields to actually know how to get things done. This is the story of a man who seemingly made a joke bid on one of the world’s largest social media platforms and then was sued into following through. This is a man whose story is not weathering time well¹.

As a Background

The first publicly noticeable crack in the varnish appeared in mid-2018, when Elon Musk accused a British diver in a Thai cave rescue of being a “pedo.” While this argument eventually was ruled in Musk’s favor in a jury trial of a defamation case, it is not unreasonable to say that this action tarnished an otherwise burnished appearance. This spat came out in the middle of other arguments that Musk was having with regulators and financial analysts.

Elon Musk, pictured here at the Bletchley Park UK AI Safety Summit, dated 2023-01-10. Photo licensed under Creative Commons 2.0, credit to Marcel Grabowski.

In early 2020, amidst COVID-19 lockdowns across the world, Elon Musk notably kept his Alameda County Tesla plant open despite a shelter-in-place order. He further repeated erroneous claims that downplayed the severity of COVID-19, calling it a strain of the cold in an internal company email. This messaging reflected conservative talking points at the time. A company representative argued that Tesla, a car manufacturer, be considered critical infrastructure.

Elon has long been particularly drawn to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. As early as 2017, he replied to a tweet possibly feigning interest in acquiring the company, but in 2022, he started buying up significant numbers of shares. By April, he was the largest shareholder of the company. He put in a takeover bid that was described as “hostile,” and spoke publicly about wanting to make Twitter a platform for “free speech,” particularly showing more interest in changing Twitter’s moderation policies. With much back-and-forth ending in Twitter suing Musk to close on the bid as he tried to back out, Elon ended up the owner of Twitter and took it private, rebranding the platform to “X.” Elon quickly took to unbanning largely right-wing accounts banned in the wake of the January 6, 2021 protest (and later those banned for COVID-19 disinformation).

Prior to the November 2024 election, Elon Musk entered swing state voters into a $1 million “giveaway” for signing a petition through his PAC (political action committee). At the time, he stressed publicly that these payouts would be awarded at random. Lawyers for the PAC in a Pennsylvania court admitted that these prizes were assigned based on who would be the best spokespeople for its pro-Trump platform. This action has been accused of being somewhere between “running an illegal lottery” as the Philadelphia District Attorney tried to outline, and “vote buying” in what is definitively a gray area of election law.

On January 20th, 2025, President Donald Trump, after his inauguration, signed an executive order legitimizing the existence of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE for short. This temporary department (more accurately called a task force²) that got its namesake from a decade-old internet meme was tasked to identify waste, fraud, and other financial abuses within the executive branch of government, as well as assist in the President’s goal of deregulation.

The purview of DOGE has ramped up in February. Elon’s team received access to the Treasury’s payments system, which sends out Congressionally-approved funds to the entire federal government. This critically could allow DOGE to halt outgoing funds on a whim, which is exactly the New York City Comptroller alleged today. The Trump administration has closed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), sending workers home and blocking new payments to continue operation. At the moment, this organization is in limbo.

Elon also called USAID a “criminal organization,” saying that it is “time for it to die,” after helping prompt the laying off of thousands of USAID workers, which a judge has partially, temporarily blocked. This is despite USAID being a Congressionally-authorized organization, codified in law. USAID has also indicated in a report that the payment stop and subsequent confusion about layoffs has put nearly $500 million worth of food at risk of spoilage, which runs contrary to the stated goal of eliminating waste in government.

What does this mean?

There is much to unpack, but let us start with the egregious inauguration. Most people ignored the inauguration itself to talk about exactly what happened during Elon Musk's speech. While I firmly and personally believe that Elon’s “my heart goes out to you motion” was in fact, a very intentional Nazi salute largely meant to “troll the libs” as one might delicately put it, it is what he said immediately following that concerns me somewhat more. “It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.” Civilization would surely continue if a non-Republican were elected as President, no? And even if the United States were to blink out of existence, the rest of the world would surely go on? He's said weird stuff before like how “[interstellar travel will] protect the light of consciousness,” but I believe that idea of “global civilization” is simply not the civilization that he's referring to.

Elon Musk, has, on several occasions, espoused an extremist position called the Great Replacement. To very briefly address what it is, the Great Replacement is a conspiracy theory stating that white individuals are intentionally being replaced by minority groups in Western states. This line of thinking has taken off in some far-right circles, and aligns nicely with President Trump's mass deportation missive (after all, targeting non-white people and sending them away means they can no longer “replace” white people). While he has explicitly stated that he is not a believer in the Great Replacement, his stated explanation is not vastly different (he roughly outlines that it is occuring but for political, not racial, reasons). The point is, the result is the same regardless of the method, and that result puts him in lock-step with white nationalists.

He followed the inauguration up with speaking on a video call and otherwise aligning with the far-right party in Germany, Alternative for Germany, whose local chapters have been known for repeating white nationalist and Neo-Nazi slogans and talking points. All the while, Elon has been attacking center and leftist governments (e.g. Prime Minister Kier Starmer in the United Kingdom) and aligning with other far-right parties (e.g. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy or President Javier Milei in Artgentina). This is to say that we should expect that the inauguration was no fluke, accident, or misunderstanding, and we should expect more Neo-Nazi and white nationalist-aligning rhetoric from Elon Musk going forward.

This is a man who has made an “insane” pivot from standard, Silicon Valley tech-bro cyberlibertarianism to courting Neo-Nazis and white nationalists. This is a man who has a history of fighting with bureaucrats over regulations designed to protect both investors and customers. This is a man who should be viewed with a much higher level of scrutiny by both the incumbent administration and by the people. Scrutiny should include even prior forecasted bids, like the strangely-obfuscated³ State Department’s 2025 bid to purchase $400 million worth of “Armored Teslas.”

Why does this matter?

Elon Musk delivers a speech behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office to the press, Tuesday, dated 2025-02-11. Public domain photo, with credit to Daniel Torok.

This man stood behind the President on Tuesday, and delivered a speech from the Oval Office detailing how certain unelected people in the federal government, “bureaucrats,” as he called them, needed to be audited or otherwise investigated for fraud and abuse: this is at a time when nearly every one of the more than 32 investigations into companies that Elon Musk owns are actively being dropped or stalled by the various executive agencies. There is some extreme level of entitlement present, to so flagrantly violate the exact same thing that he is telling the public is happening and that only he is willing and able to fix. Elon Musk is simply no more than one of the unelected bureaucrats that he’s actively raging against right now. Despite his largely unfounded retort of a “judicial coup,” Elon Musk has been accused of orchestrating and perpetuating an “executive coup” or “hostile takeover” by Democratic lawmakers. White House attorneys have also now stated that they may be willing to go through legal procedures against current and former employees who do not allow DOGE access to requested data.

An unelected, unappointed⁴ private citizen is completely subverting the executive branch of government. How do we have any assurance that this has not been co-opted by other, even foreign, actors? None of these people in DOGE have been vetted by Congress; none of these people have been career civil servants. Almost none of them have sufficient security clearances to be handling the kinds of data that they are handling. These are largely fresh yes-men, interns or not much more, looking for a one-of-a-kind experience. If the only tangible barrier to being able to access all federal workers’ data is being a young, unquestioning supporter of the Trump/Musk coalition, then why should these people even remotely be trusted with this data? People typically need robust security clearances at minimum to be able to access this data, and I’m certain that even if there are no bad actors that have infiltrated the transition team, that there are buyers willing to pay life-changing amounts of money for access to this exact data. That temptation, especially for a fresh 20-something, is undeniable.

This means that critically, we have to treat this as a data breach of the highest order. This is not alarmist; it is realistic given it is already a data breach by way of unauthorized people accessing critical data. Have you ever anonymously whistleblown on a company? Expect that that company will have access to knowing exactly who you are. If you've ever worked in a foreign country for the federal government? Expect that foreign governments will know where you were deployed and when. And maybe most critically, if you've ever worked for the federal government in any capacity, it's very likely that Elon Musk and those working in DOGE have unlimited access to your personal information. If DOGE’s work spreads in detail to the IRS, expect that every resident in the United States will be compromised in this way. This is not an unrealistic scenario, and individuals cannot be complacent until finding out that there has been a data breach. Do people trust that this government will disclose it if they are aware of it?

So how do we change this?

It’s a bit complicated on how we proceed from here. The chances are high that this administration ignores laws and court orders in proceeding to dismantle the executive branch, so the normal legal checks and balances will be limited in their scope to do much. Elon Musk insisted in the meeting Tuesday that “the people voted” and that “the people want this,” and we need to actually challenge that notion if we are to make any sort of reasonable effect. But given the scale of the potential data breach, individuals, especially if they are current or former federal workers, should probably take a few steps personally.

If you are a United States resident (and particularly as a current or former federal worker) who escaped identity theft and fraud in the wake of the 2017 Equifax breach, it may be worth the time to lock down your credit. There are numerous guides and discussions on how to do this, but “freezing your credit” with the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) is both free and quick, and prevents lines of credit from being opened in your name. Unfreezing your credit is much, much less painful than having to consult with the credit bureaus because someone else applied for a credit card using your info. There are no downsides to doing it besides the time commitment, and I think it should be standard operating procedure moving forward (at least until the federal government actually enacts sweeping data privacy laws, but our collective breaths will need to be held on that one). At the very least, monitor your credit reports a bit more carefully.

If you are a United States citizen, contact your Congresspeople and let them know that you find Elon Musk’s treatment of the executive branch unacceptable. That an unelected, Congressionally-unappointed individual cannot act of their own accord to close establishments that have their existence codified in law. That as your constituent, they have a vested interest in ensuring that the government still functions well enough to support you, the people. Even if they are Republican, do they enjoy that a man with this much leveraged power went unappointed by Congress and has little actual Congressional oversight? Do they like that executive branch is trying to close agencies and shutter departments that have a substantive basis in federal law that Congress signed into existence? These thoughts need answered, because it directly calls into question whether or not Senators and Representatives actually want their jobs to be meaningful (which should be the case on any side of the aisle).

And if you are near Washington D.C. especially, consider joining some of the organizations and protests in and around Capitol Hill. Consistent, peaceful protests are one of the few things that can actually make a difference at the national level, and rather than only bemoan on the internet or attempt to “ratio” Elon Musk on his own platform, getting feet on the ground and slowing progress with physical bodies is tangible progress that Congress or other governmental entities can (and should) use to intervene. Government is slow, but people on the ground are faster (which is one of the reasons that the DOGE task force has been so quick at getting into systems). We need to actually use this power for good, and slow or halt the shuttering of departments and organizations that do critical work in the United States and around the globe.

Interesting Bytes

As a completely random aside, Elon was found to be credibly cheating at numerous video games, violating the terms of service agreements for playing those games, and later admitted to doing so. Those companies will not comment on whether or not they’ll enforce their terms of service agreements and ban him from their service (which is a very typical punishment for this sort of behavior). This is an entire topic of its own, but I find it amusing that there seems to be a double-standard even in addressing this sort of behavior in online games. Perhaps both companies fear Elon’s current executive power.

When Donald Trump was banned from the platform in 2021 for inciting violence on January 6th, he spun off his own venture called “Truth Social.” There has also been a recent exodus of users from the Twitter platform following Elon’s takeover but especially following the November 2024 election, largely in favor of competitor BlueSky. Both of these platforms existed prior to the takeover in 2022. If right-wingers already have Truth Social and left-wingers flock to Bluesky, then Elon Musk only has himself to blame for lesser engagement on his platform.

Also, I am sorry to be the one to convey this, but the letter “x” (as featured in companies X, xAI, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s child named “X Æ A-12”, etc.) isn’t actually that cool. It’s just a letter, Elon. It’s just a letter.

1. There is far more to discuss here than what is possible in this article, but I am attempting to outline problematic trends in the behavior of the world’s richest man in light of current affairs.

2. DOGE is not a Cabinet-level department in the United States government in spite of possessing a name that implies that level of legitimacy.

3. In the linked sheet:

1. Despite being a legitimate office, it appears DS/PSP/DEAV is miscoded as DS/C/DEAV.

2. The NAICS code is listed as 311999 - All Other Miscellaneous Food Manufacturing.

It is definitely possible that these mistakes are an accident, but it is correct to ask questions.

4. It is extremely important to note that the United States public did not vote Elon Musk into any sort of office, nor has his position been approved by either branch of Congress. He is only part of the original White House transition team, being put in place as head of DOGE by executive order (and reinforced in purpose on Tuesday).