Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

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I suspect there is some truth to this.

Trump, Musk say media trying to drive them apart

President Trump and Elon Musk, one of his top allies, argued that the mainstream media is trying to drive a wedge between them and stymie the president’s agenda.

“That’s true,” Trump responded when Fox News host Sean Hannity told the president that leading outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post “threw everything they had at you.”


“They want a divorce,” Hannity said during the joint interview with Trump and Musk, which will air Tuesday evening on Fox. “They want you to start hating each other.”

“Oh, I see it all the time. They tried it, then they stopped. That was — they have many different things, hatred,” Trump agreed.

Musk during the interview mentioned that he “used to be adored by the left,” but after he voiced his support for Trump at a party with friends before the election, it was like he “got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained methamphetamine and rabies.”

Musk called Trump recently, the president said, after seeing news coverage of his efforts to reform the federal government.

 
www.theatlantic.com

DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data

The president’s special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data​

The president’s special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies.

"...Among the federal agencies we reported on, USAID is the only one where we could confirm that DOGE has acquired God-mode access across the entire digital system. (The Trump administration has sought to effectively shut down USAID since the inauguration.) But as Musk and his acolytes enter a growing number of federal databases and IT systems, their unfettered access at USAID offers a sense of what they might be able to do elsewhere. At NASA, for example, it could mean access to knowledge about sensitive government technologies used for defense. At the CDC, such ability could expose millions of Americans’ health data and allow DOGE to access labs that store deadly pathogens. At Treasury, such access would allow Musk’s employees to view Americans’ names, Social Security numbers, and financial information. “It is not ridiculous to think they’d have bank-account and routing numbers for every single person in the United States,” the senior USAID source said. “What do you do with this information? I had to ask myself, Do I file my taxes this year or not? I had to sit and debate that.”

The federal government does not typically grant such wide-ranging access to a single entity, let alone one that is effectively under the control of an unelected, erratic, and politically extreme actor such as Musk. The group is working on behalf of Donald Trump, but sources we spoke with emphasized that the level of access DOGE possesses means that the organization may already be able to siphon data that Musk or his agents could hold on to forever, long after his time as a government liaison, or even after a potential falling-out with the president. ..."

​

 
Probably should have put this here instead of the Musk thread:

www.theatlantic.com

DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data

The president’s special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data​

The president’s special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies.

"...Among the federal agencies we reported on, USAID is the only one where we could confirm that DOGE has acquired God-mode access across the entire digital system. (The Trump administration has sought to effectively shut down USAID since the inauguration.) But as Musk and his acolytes enter a growing number of federal databases and IT systems, their unfettered access at USAID offers a sense of what they might be able to do elsewhere. At NASA, for example, it could mean access to knowledge about sensitive government technologies used for defense. At the CDC, such ability could expose millions of Americans’ health data and allow DOGE to access labs that store deadly pathogens. At Treasury, such access would allow Musk’s employees to view Americans’ names, Social Security numbers, and financial information. “It is not ridiculous to think they’d have bank-account and routing numbers for every single person in the United States,” the senior USAID source said. “What do you do with this information? I had to ask myself, Do I file my taxes this year or not? I had to sit and debate that.”

The federal government does not typically grant such wide-ranging access to a single entity, let alone one that is effectively under the control of an unelected, erratic, and politically extreme actor such as Musk. The group is working on behalf of Donald Trump, but sources we spoke with emphasized that the level of access DOGE possesses means that the organization may already be able to siphon data that Musk or his agents could hold on to forever, long after his time as a government liaison, or even after a potential falling-out with the president. ..."
 

Trump administration orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping budget cuts​

The directive, detailed in a memo dated Tuesday, exempts a handful of programs, including the president’s expanded military mission along the U.S.-Mexico border.


"
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered senior leaders at the Pentagon and throughout the U.S. military to develop plans for cutting 8 percent from the defense budget in each of the next five years, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post and officials familiar with the matter — a striking proposal certain to face internal resistance and strident bipartisan opposition in Congress.

Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be drawn up by Feb. 24, according to the memo, which is dated Tuesday and includes a list of 17 categories that the Trump administration wants exempted. Among them: operations at the southern U.S. border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, and acquisition of submarines, one-way attack drones and other munitions.

The Pentagon budget for 2025 is about $850 billion, with broad consensus on Capitol Hill that extensive spending is necessary to deter threats posed by China and Russia, in particular. If adopted in full, the proposed cuts would include tens of billions of dollars in each of the next five years.

Hegseth’s budget directive follows a separate order from the Trump administration seeking lists of thousands of probationary Defense Department employees expected to be fired this week. That effort is being overseen by billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service as part of his broader dismantling of the federal bureaucracy. ..."
 
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So Hegseth has a budget cut order (that seems more in keeping with a historic approach to having departments make recommendations about it), while DOGE has a different cost-cutting program in process.

Either way, it will be interested to see how this plays out since DoD has a lot of interested parties in preventing budget cuts -- a more difficult task that going after USAID or the various domestic departments that have been targeted to date.
 
Continued

"...Hegseth, in his Tuesday memo, sought to cast the proposed cuts as an extension of Trump’s “peace through strength” policies, despite a reversal from the president’s past practice of expanding military spending and touting those efforts. Republicans, including Hegseth, have spent years criticizing Democrats for not spending enough on national defense.

“The time for preparation is over — we must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth wrote in the memo. “Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit.”

...The proposed cuts, if adopted, would mark the largest effort to rein in Pentagon spending since 2013, when congressionally mandated budget reductions known as sequestration took effect. Those cuts were perceived as a crisis in the Pentagon at the time, and grew increasingly unpopular with Republicans and Democrats alike as their effects on the military’s ability to train and be ready for war became clear.

The memo, first reported on by The Washington Post, was labeled “CUI” — controlled unclassified information. It was sent to senior Pentagon officials, top military commanders, and the directors of numerous defense agencies. Bloomberg reported Friday about Hegseth’s intended cuts, before the memo was distributed to Pentagon officials. ..."
 
I'm guessing that the DoD is a bottomless pit of pork-barrel spending, but I am surprised that Republicans are ceding military hegemony (presumably) to China on top of scientific and medical technology.
 
Continued

"...The list [of 17 exceptions to budget cuts] is notable, too, for what it omits. While it explicitly endorses “support agency funding” for Indo-Pacific Command and Northern Command, which oversees homeland defense, it does not extend similar significance to several other major geographic commands. Those include European Command, which has had a major role in overseeing U.S. support for Ukraine during its three-year war with Russia; Central Command, which manages operations across the Middle East; and Africa Command, which directs a force of several thousand U.S. troops spread out across that continent. ..."
 
breepf said:
I'm guessing that the DoD is a bottomless pit of pork-barrel spending, but I am surprised that Republicans are ceding military hegemony (presumably) to China on top of scientific and medical technology.
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Conceptually, I've got no beef with a legitimate audit of DoD spending, or recalibrating spending to modernize and/or to adjust to administration priorities (even though I think the Trump priorities seem to be written by Putin and a toddler, which is something I very much object to). What Hegseth outlines seems like a more normal-ish approach than DOGE slash and burn, fire everyone now and ask questions later. Not clear how the two policies will coordinate/overlap etc. but why would it be clear when everyone is shooting from the hip?

But Hegseth toeing this line is going to piss off a LOT of GOP hawks who supported him under the understanding that he was what he purported to be on Fox on Saturday mornings, a steadfast hawk (albeit with white nationalist aspirations).
 
Seth Meyers Lol GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers

Hegseth could soon fire or remove generals and senior officers, US officials say​

The officials said a list has been circulated of generals who could be fired.

abcnews.go.com

Hegseth could soon fire or remove generals and senior officers, US officials say

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is considering firing or removing generals and senior officers as early as this week, according to multiple officials.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com

"...A list has been circulated on Capitol Hill that contains generals and senior officers who could be fired or removed, the officials said.

NBC News first reported the list Wednesday afternoon.

Hegseth, days before President Donald Trump nominated him to lead the Defense Department, said in November that "woke" officials needed to be uprooted from the DOD. ..."

abcnews.go.com

Hegseth could soon fire or remove generals and senior officers, US officials say

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is considering firing or removing generals and senior officers as early as this week, according to multiple officials.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com

"...Pentagon leadership has shared a list of generals and officers who could be fired with Republican members of the House and the Senate, the defense officials and congressional officials said. The officials said the timing for announcing the decisions could shift.

Most of those on the list have been closely associated with former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who served all four years of the Biden administration, have worked on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or have voiced opinions that Trump’s allies viewed as politically out of line with his agenda, the officials said. ..."
 
nycfan said:
Conceptually, I've got no beef with a legitimate audit of DoD spending, or recalibrating spending to modernize and/or to adjust to administration priorities (even though I think the Trump priorities seem to be written by Putin and a toddler, which is something I very much object to). What Hegseth outlines seems like a more normal-ish approach than DOGE slash and burn, fire everyone now and ask questions later. Not clear how the two policies will coordinate/overlap etc. but why would it be clear when everyone is shooting from the hip?

But Hegseth toeing this line is going to piss off a LOT of GOP hawks who supported him under the understanding that he was what he purported to be on Fox on Saturday mornings, a steadfast hawk (albeit with white nationalist aspirations).
Click to expand...
You simply can't pay for the massive tax cuts they want without cutting substantially from Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the Defense Department. They're already going after Medicaid, and laying the groundwork to go after Social Security and Medicare with their ridiculous claims of massive fraud. They will hit the Defense Department as well, although as you said they will likely face some opposition there from angry GOP hawks, although I can't imagine that most GOP Congressmen and Senators will do much to stop them.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
You simply can't pay for the massive tax cuts they want without cutting substantially from Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the Defense Department. They're already going after Medicaid, and laying the groundwork to go after Social Security and Medicare with their ridiculous claims of massive fraud. They will hit the Defense Department as well, although as you said they will likely face some opposition there from angry GOP hawks, although I can't imagine that most GOP Congressmen and Senators will do much to stop them.
Click to expand...
So the ones that screamed about defunding the police now want to defund the military?
 
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