WEBVTT - How the Federal Government Fell 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:02.880 As media. 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:14.720 The government of two weeks ago no longer exists. We 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.200 are now in a fundamentally different country. Under the authority 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.560 President Trump. Elon Musk is leading a de facto cyber 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.560 coup of the United States. Using the intentionally vague and 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:30.600 unaccountable department of a government efficiency, Musk is seizing control 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:34.720 of the United states critical digital infrastructure, literally rewriting the 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.600 code that runs our country, and culling the federal workforce. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.880 Using the justification of removing government bureaucracy, Musk and the 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.479 Trump administration have installed their own batch of bureaucratic tech oligarchs, 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.400 made up of former Tesla and SpaceX interns and engineers, 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:59.920 teal fellowship researchers, pallenteer employees, eugenics enthusiasts, and literal nick fuentes, 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.880 pilled groypers. Career employees have been locked out of their 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:08.319 respective agencies, both digitally and physically, as the DOGE team 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:13.520 ransacks various departments and accesses wide swaths of sensitive government data. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.520 Agency officials who have tried to resist Musk's seizure of 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.240 classified materials have been fired, and more federal employees have 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.520 been put on leave, including the entirety of USAIDE. This 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.919 effectively amounts to Musk abolishing the whole department, all without 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:34.360 congressional authorization or oversight, not even in executive order from 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.720 Trump that extends presidential authority on a whim. The unelected 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.560 Elon Musk decided to carry out to the closure of 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:45.720 an entire government agency, and he is far from finished. 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.400 Doge has hijacked the Treasury to withhold authorized payments to 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:53.360 multiple agencies, resulting in an ongoing battle of lawsuits and 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:58.840 court orders. This is it could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis, 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.680 and this episode is an audio companion to an article 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.400 I published on the shatter Zone substack linked below in 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.640 the description. You can follow along online at shatterzone dot 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.639 substack dot com and click the hyperlinks for more information 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:18.880 and sources. Elon Musk has personally directed the General Services 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:24.200 Administration to terminate leases on quote unquote mostly empty federal buildings. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.480 The GSA, essentially the landlord of the federal government, was 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.560 one of the first agencies to receive Musks quote unquote 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:35.839 fork in the road deferred resignation letter offering to buy 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.600 out the entire workforce. The legality of the letter is 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.839 still uncertain as it promises to pay out currently unappropriated 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.720 funds IRS. Workers who accepted the resignation offer have already 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.320 been asked to return to work until May. The newly 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.760 appointed GSA Commissioner, Michael Peters, a private equity executive that 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.840 specializes in downsizing corporate real estate, has decided that quote 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.960 non DoD federal building space should be reduced fifty percent, 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.720 according to a GSA employee who requested to remain anonymous, 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.360 on top of planning to cut the entire federal portfolio 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.560 by half, DOGE is seeking to cut GSA's own budget 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.080 by as much as fifty percent, with talk of consolidating 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.600 GSA offices into a few major cities using a quote 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:28.160 unquote hub model. Wired reports that DOGE staff may be 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.280 trying to use White House IT credentials to access GSA 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:37.120 computers remotely. An anonymous GSA employee claims that few people 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.160 at the agency have elected to take up the voluntary 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.920 paid resignation offer, with those who have mostly being of 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:48.600 retirement age. High level Trump appointees used quote unquote scare 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:53.080 tactics in agency emails pressuring career employees to accept the 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.280 deferred resignation offer, warning that cost cutting measures will eventually 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:01.640 lead to a further reduction in force. Employees are concerned 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.880 that a reduced federal workforce would result in federal buildings 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:09.800 losing their operations and maintenance contracts, with disastrous consequences for 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:14.200 the functionality of government buildings. Quote the brain drain is 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.640 going to cripple our ability to maintain the buildings even 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:22.080 more than it already was. We aren't overstaffed unquote for 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:26.960 a GSA employee, they continued, quote, I think this process 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.919 is already too far along to stop. I'm hoping we 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.760 just need to get to the mid terms unquote. What 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.840 is happening across the federal government right now is unprecedented. 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.000 But this is not Germany in the nineteen thirties. It's 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.560 not the fall of the Soviet Union. We grasp at 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:48.400 analogies to help contextualize current events that escape understanding. There 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:53.480 are similarities, but what's happening is new, very American, very 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:57.120 twenty first century. Think of the growth of the Internet, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:02.240 social media tech startups in fifty years. What's happening right 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.120 now could be talked about in the vein of what 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.640 happened to the United States in the mid twenty twenties. Now, 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.839 rhetoric of cutting red tape and breaking federal bureaucracy has 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:18.240 been common political clap trap for decades, and previous efforts 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:22.080 have been largely all bark and no bite. But now 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:26.480 there's been a huge chomp. So why now? What happened? 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:31.360 Trump has blamed entrenched federal bureaucracy or the quote unquote 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:35.680 deep state, for preventing him from enacting sweeping change during 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:39.640 his first term. The obstacles Trump encountered didn't just come 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.919 from Congress and the courts, but rank and file government 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.960 workers who run day to day operations. Last month, the 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:51.000 far right America First Policy Institute published a report titled 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.800 Tales from the Swamp, How federal bureaucrats resisted President Trump. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:00.320 The author, James Shrek, a former Heritage fellow, credits quote 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:06.760 unquote hostile career employees for quote unquote refusing to implement policies. 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:12.560 Shrek says, quote many career employees refused or defied directives 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:17.840 withheld information, slow walked projects that they opposed, performed unacceptably, 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:23.040 and used strategic leaking to undermine the President's agenda unquote. 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.359 Trump himself realized this late into his first term and 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:30.000 sought to remedy the situation by revoking civil protections for 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:34.360 tens of thousands of federal career employees, reclassifying them as 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.480 at will employees under an executive order called Schedule F. 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.320 This allowed Trump to treat large swaths of government employees 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:46.000 as political appointments. In his article for the America First 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.920 Policy Institute, Shrek refers to career removal protections as a 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.480 quote modern invention that protects entrenched bureaucracy. 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:54.080 Quote. 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.640 Though Biden repealed Schedule F, Trump effectively reinstated the order 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.800 on the first day of his second term. Trump promised 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.960 to restore his authority to quote remove rogue bureaucrats back 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.520 in early twenty twenty three under his Agenda forty seven plan, 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:15.520 vowing to quote wield that power very aggressively unquote. When 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.960 Trump first ran on Drain the Swamp in twenty fifteen, 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:24.000 he was referring to corporate lobbyists special interests in Washington corruption, 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.280 but now the term is used to deride the so 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:33.120 called administrative state, federal agencies, regulatory boards, and bureaucratic career 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.200 employees that maintain the basic functionality of our government. Both 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.480 Schedule F and DOGE are part of a too pronged 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:44.600 assault on the administrative state, all in service of consolidating 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:50.800 then amplifying executive power. Trump has fully embraced the unitary 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.680 executive theory proposed by the likes of Russell Vaught, Project 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.480 twenty twenty five co author and the newly confirmed director 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:02.280 of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Although 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.800 it's understood that Congress has quote unquote power of the purse, 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.800 under unitary executive theory, Trump now believes that funding appropriated 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.160 by Congress does not need to be spent. Rather, the 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.160 executive branch controls the flow of federal spending, and Congress 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.760 merely sets a ceiling on spending that the executive must 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.960 not exceed. Under this interpretation of the Constitution, the president 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:29.840 has sole and complete control of the executive Branch, including 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.440 all of its agencies and departments. But people in Trump's 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.800 circle like JD. Vance and Elon Musk could be pushing 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.559 Trump to go even further to where the president considers 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:46.120 both the judicial and legislative branches as purely ceremonial and advisory. 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:51.000 In the words of New Right philosopher Curtis Jarvin, and 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.520 arguably we are already well on our way to that point. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.440 This centralized executive power allows the executive branch to achieve 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.080 goals I would have previous considered to be quite lofty. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.240 And I'll outlined two of those examples, pulling from the 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:09.200 aspirations of the modern conservative movement. After this ad break, 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:22.800 welcome back to it could happen here, and get ready 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.280 to say bye bye to the FBI. Though the right 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.080 has typically been thought to be firmly in the back 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.040 the blue camp, this isn't always the case, especially on 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.120 the more extreme end. The far right militia movement has 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.080 long clashed with federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:44.120 and ATF. In the aftermath of January sixth, many Mega 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.880 supporters found themselves at odds with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:52.320 Republican politicians began to feed into right wing uproar surrounding 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:56.360 the FBI, as Trump himself became a target for investigations 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.640 after the mar Lago raid. In August of twenty twenty two, 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:05.760 Marjorie Taylor Green tweeted defund the FBI. Arizona Representative Paul 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.960 Gosar joined in attacks on the Bureau, hosting we must 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:15.080 destroy the FBI, we must save America. That same month, 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.640 right wing columnist and podcaster Liz Wheeler published in op 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.839 ed titled Abolish the FBI, which called to quote farm 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.920 out the vital functions of the FBI and raise the 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:30.560 rest unquote. The new right publication Compact magazine featured a 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:34.640 slightly better written article by the same title, Abolish the 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:39.040 FBI at SAPAC. In March of twenty twenty three, Matt Gates, 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.040 noted pedophile advocated to get rid of the FBI among 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:44.439 other federal agencies. 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.200 Either get this government back on our side, or we 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:55.559 defund and get rid of Abolish the FBI, CDC, ATFDJ, 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.560 every last one of them if they do not come 0:10:58.640 --> 0:10:59.080 to heal. 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.320 In a April of twenty twenty three, Trump joined in 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:06.440 in calls to defund the FBI after being charged with 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:10.320 thirty four felon accounts of falsipying business records. Next month, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:14.520 two former FBI employees testified in a congressional hearing accusing 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:18.600 the bureau of weaponization against conservatives in regards to the 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:23.360 January sixth investigations. The same two former FBI employees who 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.600 had their security clearance revoked after espousing J six conspiracy theories. 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:32.319 Later called to quote abolish the FBI at a Heritage 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.680 Foundation symposium on the quote weaponization of the US Government 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:39.400 in April of twenty twenty four. 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:44.360 You're given that magic wand that ability to be Jim Jordan, 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:44.960 what would you do? 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.720 I think you have to abolish the FBI. That's where 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:48.520 I'm at at this point. 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:53.920 What now, some people are going to say, Okay, yeah, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.079 we're gonna have to do you just abolish a What 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.120 would do you Is there a replacement? I mean, you 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:02.000 can't just not have federal law enforcement, right. I think 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.520 in large part you could just not have federal enforces. 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.200 During a live episode of Donald Trump Junior's podcast on 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.000 July eighth, twenty twenty four, he called to abolish several 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.520 federal agencies, starting with the FBI, as well as the 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.239 CIA and the IRS. 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:24.320 Ballish the DEA. You know, I imagine of all the 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.120 places to abolish, and I don't know if that's the 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.360 best one. I'd start with the FBI, I'd start with 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:33.160 the CIA, I'd start with the IRS. There's a lot 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.079 of you know, the DA. Now maybe I know agent 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.319 level guys. So if they're going after narcos and stuff 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:40.400 like that, perhaps a little bit more forgiving. They don't 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.560 seem to be setting up or in trapping people like 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:43.240 the FBI. 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.280 The Trump administration has already begun the process to dismantle 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:51.080 large swaths of the FBI before Cash Mattel has even 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.800 been confirmed by the Senate. Eight top FBI officials have 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.400 been fired or forced resign by order of Acting Deputy 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:03.160 Attorney General a meal, despite resistance from Acting FBI Director 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.960 Brian driscoll, a questionnaire was distributed to FBI supervisors requesting 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.959 agents provide information pertaining to their own involvement in the 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.640 January sixth investigations. This was believed to be used for 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.880 the targeted removal of agency personnel. Last week, the FBI 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.360 handed over a list containing the information of five thousand 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.240 employees and agents who worked on the January sixth investigations. 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:31.000 FBI leadership initially chose to withhold employee names. In response, 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:36.400 Bove accused the FBI leadership of insubordination. This was ultimately 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.960 a fruitless effort, as data seized by Elon Musk's DOGE 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:44.840 team could easily match employee IDs to names. Trump has 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:47.920 since agreed to not publicly release the names of agents 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:52.000 until at least late March as lawsuits continue, and is 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.520 required to give two days notice if the administration chooses 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.560 to publicly disclose names, but individual agents are still worried. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.160 An anonymous letter from an FBI agent to Warren's quote. Currently, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.600 there is an effort to cull a significant number of 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:09.400 career special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation unquote. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.000 Around one third of FBI agents were told they would 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.679 be placed on leave, according to a government source who 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.440 spoke on the condition of anonymity, FBI employees have lost 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.240 access to systems, only to later regain access, while others 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.360 were told to wait to find out about their employee status. 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.600 Agents are now trying to negotiate back into their jobs, 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.120 with sources saying FBI employees may be able to stay 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.360 on if they can prove their loyalty to Trump and 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.240 disown the January sixth prosecutions. I write all of this 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.360 not in defense of the FBI, but to demonstrate how 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.200 far Trump is willing to go to expand his executive 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:52.000 power and transfer law enforcement duties to agencies seen as 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.440 more loyal to the president. Though I doubt the FBI 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.840 will be completely abolished in the next few years, the 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:03.240 agency could become unrecognizable, a shell of its former self, 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.760 with hardline Trump loyalists replacing the existing and already largely 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:13.200 conservative workforce. Alternative agencies perceived as being more loyal to Trump, 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.960 like Homeland Security investigations, could start picking up the FBI slack. 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.280 According to a senior government source, on day two of 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:26.280 Trump's second term, HSI was instructed to reopen investigations into 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.920 the twenty twenty George Floyd protests to quote identify protesters 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:36.840 BLM rioters like they did to us after January sixth, unquote. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.440 For another once considered far fetched goal of the conservative 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.320 movement that now seems oddly within grasp, let's talk about 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:48.360 the Department of Education. Conservatives have advocated for dismantling the 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.560 Department of Education ever since Jimmy Carter signed its modern 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:55.840 incarnation into law in nineteen seventy nine. Most notably, Ronald 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.080 Reagan tried and failed to abolish the department in nineteen 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:04.480 eighty one, but Reagan's Commission ironically strengthened support for the department. 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.440 Once Reagan ran into roadblocks he instead sought to limit 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:12.800 the Department's power and influence. Since then, calls to abolish 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.400 the Department of Education have been a recurring Republican talking 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.800 point among certain think tanks and politicians, but they have 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:22.720 struggled to land sizeable blows against the department. Trump previously 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.520 fiddled around with merging the Departments of Education and Labor 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.560 during his first term, but that plan went nowhere. In 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.440 Trump's own Agenda forty seven plan, released in twenty twenty three, 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:35.720 he expressed his goal of quote closing up the Department 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.720 of Education in Washington, d c. Later, at the National 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:45.040 Religious Broadcasters twenty twenty four Christian Media Convention in February 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.960 of twenty twenty four, Donald Trump repeated this promise quote, 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.720 I will close the Federal Department of Education, and we 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.560 will move everything back to the states where it belongs, 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:59.760 where they can individualize education unquote. Project twenty twenty five 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.520 out lined how to achieve the effective dismantling of the 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:06.520 department by transferring funding and duties to other departments such 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:10.439 as Health and Human Services and the DOJ. Opposition to 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.439 the Department of Education was a frequent topic at the 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:18.359 twenty twenty four Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Robert, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.920 Sophie and I attended multiple panels and events taking aim 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.760 at the Department, hosted by groups like Moms for Liberty 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.600 and the Heritage Foundation. On the first day of the convention, 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:32.800 the party ratified their official twenty twenty four RNC platform, 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.520 which called to quote close the Department of Education in Washington, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.600 DC and send it back to the States where it 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.120 belongs and let the states run our educational system as 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.520 it should be run unquote. And now the department seems 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.600 to be next on the Trump doge chopping block. The 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.080 administration is drafting a sweeping executive order. While Trump says 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:56.040 he wants his education nominee Linda McMahon to quote unquote 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.600 put herself out of a job. The planned executive order 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.240 would not just direct the Secretary of Education to begin 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:06.800 dismantling the department, but also ask Congress for assistance in 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:11.000 formally abolishing the agency. It's unlikely that Trump would get 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:13.920 the sixty Senate votes needed to pass the quote unquote 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:18.560 necessary legislation, but even if they can't manage to technically 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.480 abolish the department, he could still try to rip it 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.600 scuts out, slash spending, and forcibly resign or fire employees, 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.639 basically make the department simply non functioning, much like what 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:34.080 Doge did to USAID. Upwards of sixteen DOGE staffers are 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:38.560 currently listed in the Education Department directory. Federal education employees 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.000 have already received the Fork in the Road resignation buyout offer, 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:46.280 while others have been fired for alleged links to DEI. 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.760 Without someone like Elon Musk and Trump's administration, there was 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.800 no clear path towards implementing some of the more lofty 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:57.200 plans proposed by conservative thought leaders, whether they be Trump's 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.880 own Agenda forty seven, the Heritage Foundation's Project twenty twenty five, 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:05.639 or Curtis Yarvin's dream of a national CEO king. Only 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:11.639 Elon Musk could do this. You need someone with his influence, connections, money, experience, 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.879 and knowledge of fringe neo reactionary Silicon Valley political theory 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:20.320 to propose and carry out something like Doge. So how 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.880 did Musk get here? Though it's common knowledge that Musk 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.280 has drifted pretty severely right word the past five years 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.639 leading into the twenty twenty four presidential campaign, he was 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.959 not an out and proud Trump supporter. As recently as 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.280 twenty twenty two, Musk deemed Trump too old to serve 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.879 as president, again, tweeting that it was time for Trump 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.600 to quote hang up his hat and sail into the 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:46.960 sunset unquote. Initially, Musk threw his support behind the doomed 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.800 presidential bid of Florida Governor Ron De Santis, but as 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.800 it became clear Trump would be the Republican nominee, Musk 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.720 fell in behind his new party line, but his implicit 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.879 support of Trump was kept on the down low. The 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:02.960 two met in Florida in March of twenty twenty four 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.879 among other wealthy Republican donors, as Trump was lobbying for 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.399 campaign funding. The New York Times reported that Musk did 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.200 not want to publicly endorse Trump as of early twenty 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.359 twenty four, telling friends the most he would do was 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:20.920 an anti Biden endorsement. Instead of public support, Musk would 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:24.080 create his own super pack to secretly help get Trump elected, 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.640 timing payments so his fiscal backing of Trump's campaign could 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.640 only go public after the election. But all that changed 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:36.680 on July thirteenth, after Trump's brush with death in Butler, Pennsylvania, 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:41.000 Musk seemingly took Trump's call of fight Fight Fight to heart, 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.800 tweeting less than an hour later, quote I fully endorse 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:48.520 President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery unquote. This 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.880 opened more frequent communication between Musk and Trump. Later that weekend, 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.800 both Musk and Peter Teel called Trump to recommend J. D. 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:01.879 Vance as vice president. Next week was the Republican National Convention, 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:06.120 during which Elon Musk was frequently name dropped, both by 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:10.600 official speakers and regular attendees talked about as almost some 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.920 kind of mythic right wing superhero. On the final day 0:21:14.920 --> 0:21:18.000 of the convention, rumors circulated that Musk himself would make 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.879 a surprise appearance on stage, Though said rumors did not 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:26.560 come to fruition. Musk's specter haunted the entirety of the RNC. 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.000 Come August, Musk just finished overhauling leadership at his America 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.960 Super Pack and was rigorously pushing pro Trump messaging on 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:40.639 X the Everything app. On August twelfth, Musk hosted Trump 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:43.480 in a two hour live streamed phone call dubbed in 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:48.560 x Space. This conversation marked the first time Trump casually 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.600 spoke at length about the assassination attempt The pair also 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:56.879 discussed quote unquote migrant crime and the need to eliminate 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:01.840 federal bureaucracy. Trump gave a rare compliment to Musk, calling 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:05.760 him the greatest cutter, followed up by saying, quote, I 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:08.760 need an Elon Musk. I need someone that has a 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:12.000 lot of strength and courage and smarts. I want to 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:14.840 close up the Department of Education, move education back to 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:19.000 the States unquote. News outlets were more interested in reporting 0:22:19.040 --> 0:22:22.720 on the stream's technical glitches rather than Musk's idea for 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:27.919 a government efficiency commission, to which Trump responded very positively. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.800 Next month, on September fourth, Trump announced that, at the 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:35.960 suggestion of Elon Musk, if elected, he would quote create 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:40.160 a government Efficiency Commission, tasked with conducting a complete financial 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:43.639 and performance audit of the entire federal government and making 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:48.720 recommendations for drastic reforms unquote. Musk himself agreed to be 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.600 appointed head of the commission, aiming to cut trillions of dollars. 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:56.840 This announcement was not taken very seriously. The New York 0:22:56.880 --> 0:23:00.239 Times called commissions such as this quote a favor at 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:05.000 Washington's solution for delaying dealing with hard problems unquote, and 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.480 The Times later reported that the Commission quote can issue 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:12.359 recommendations around federal funding and regulations, but will be powerless 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.399 to enact them without executive actions by mister Trump or 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:20.159 funding approval by Congress unquote. Even I can admit that 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:24.200 both myself and some of my coworkers underestimated Doge's ability 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.800 to physically carry out Musk's suggestions with no Congressional oversight 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:32.680 or authority. As the election ramped up, musk super Pac 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:36.760 mobilized thousands of canvassers across key swing states and collected 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.960 data to target both enthusiastic and unlikely voters. Throughout twenty 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:44.840 twenty four, Musk spent over two hundred and ninety million 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:49.479 dollars in contributions in support of the mega campaign, mostly 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:52.840 via his own super pack. On October fifth, Musk made 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:56.200 his first appearance at an official campaign event, joining Trump 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.440 for his return to Butler, Pennsylvania. Musk continued to appear 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:02.840 at Trump rallies in the month leading up to the election. 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:07.200 By election day, Musk was firmly in Trump's inner circle, 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:10.560 spending Election night and most of the next week with 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:14.680 President elect Trump at mar A Lago. After this adbreak, 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:17.400 we will return to discuss how Elon Musk is now 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:31.280 trying to become the CEO of the United States of America. Okay, 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:34.720 we are back, and now a few months after the election, 0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:38.640 Elon Musk is doing to the United States exactly what 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:41.800 he did to Twitter. By the end, it still might 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:45.359 technically function on some level, just worse in every way, 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:49.919 prone to glitches and full of Nazis. The previous version 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:53.280 was already bad and harmful, but the new one somehow 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:56.560 sucks even more and no longer has the aspects that 0:24:56.640 --> 0:25:00.159 made it semi worth while. The fork in when the 0:25:00.240 --> 0:25:04.119 Road deferred resignation letters sent to government employees used the 0:25:04.200 --> 0:25:07.600 exact same title as a similar email sent to Twitter 0:25:07.640 --> 0:25:12.080 employees after Musk bought the company. The Doge team has 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:15.640 installed sofa beds on the fifth floor of the headquarters 0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:18.800 of the Office of Personnel Management to enable working around 0:25:18.840 --> 0:25:23.640 the clock, mirroring Musk's previous actions. During his takeover of Twitter, 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:26.639 Musk has brought on some of the same exact people 0:25:26.640 --> 0:25:29.400 who helped him take over Twitter, all of whom are 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:34.560 now special government employees with odd job titles but immense power. 0:25:35.440 --> 0:25:38.359 It was reported and Wired that a Musk stooge told 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:42.520 General Services Administration workers that the agency will now pursue 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:47.639 quote an AI first strategy unquote, and that the GSA 0:25:47.960 --> 0:25:53.440 should operate like a quote unquote startup software company. Musk 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:57.000 has ordered the General Services Administration to terminate leases for 0:25:57.160 --> 0:26:01.560 all roughly seven thousand and five hundred five offices, amidst 0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:05.320 a national call to return to in person work. This 0:26:05.480 --> 0:26:09.200 again is a classic Musk move, taken from his takeover 0:26:09.320 --> 0:26:12.359 of Twitter, in which to cut costs, he refused to 0:26:12.400 --> 0:26:15.920 pay rent for Twitter offices in London, New York City, 0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:19.240 and San Francisco while the buildings were still in use. 0:26:20.160 --> 0:26:23.960 A current GSA employee was quoted and wired as saying, quote, 0:26:24.240 --> 0:26:26.600 they are acting like this is a takeover of a 0:26:26.760 --> 0:26:31.400