Musk is an idiot with a Nazi axe to grind

When confronted with the lie about USAID sending $50 million worth of condoms to Gaza, Elon Musk said something worth noting. 

Musk acknowledged that "some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be corrected." 

Given that he and his DOGE minions haven't produced much (if any) evidence of fraud, it would be more accurate of him to acknowledge that "most of the things I say will be incorrect." But it's also important to notice where he is aiming his "incorrect" statements. Much like USAID, they're likely at agencies/programs, he is preparing to take down.

One of them is the child tax credit. Musk recently responded to this post on X by saying, "such a big jump in such a short time doesn't make sense."

Did you know the IRS is one of the largest providers of Welfare in the USA?

The IRS relies on US Residents (not just citizens) self-certifying their qualification for these IRS Welfare programs that are effectively a "negative income tax".

From 2011-2019, there were ~30M IRS… pic.twitter.com/HYBOF0Evsz

— ~~datahazard~~ (@fentasyl) February 15, 2025

The bar they're referring to is the light green one labelled "refundable credits" because you can get a refund even if you don't owe any tax. Musk's response makes sense only if you are ignorant of two facts:

1. 2020 was the year of the COVID pandemic, when so many people lost jobs and increased their likelihood of qualifying for the refundable child tax credit, and
2. 2021 was the year that Biden and Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan, temporarily increasing the child tax credit from $1,400 per child to $3,600. 

Equally ignorant are Musk's attacks on Social Security. During that same press conference where he admitted that he'd say things that are incorrect, the shadow president suggested that people who are 150 years old are receiving Social Security payments. He followed that up with this post on Friday.

His reference to vampires suggests that he thinks this is all some kind of joke. Which it isn't! 

But here's the thing: rather than spread lies about fraud, Musk could have checked out a report from the Social Security Inspector General (that Trump fired) published less than two years ago about this very topic. They found that "Years of birth for 18.9 million numberholders born in 1920 or earlier have no death information on their Numident [SSA's computer database file] record." 

So Musk and his minions have not uncovered anything new. But here's what the IG also reported: approximately 18.4 million (98%) of those numberholders are not currently receiving SSA payments. At the most, that means a potential 2% rate of fraud on the $1.35 trillion in Social Security payments per year.

But even those numbers overestimate the problem. Here are some actual facts about Social Security:

As a percentage of all payments, improper payments account for 0.84% of the total, the inspector general has found.

That’s "better than any private insurance company in the nation," and with a lower cost of administration, said Henry J. Aaron, a fellow with the Brookings Institution think tank and a former chair of the Social Security Advisory Board.

The fact is that Musk thinks he's some kind of genius when instead, he's just an idiot with a Nazi axe to grind. Perhaps that makes him less dangerous than an intelligent/informed person with a Nazi axe to grind. But that's debatable. 

A second essential safeguard of democracy is now at risk

On February 6th, Senator Angus King (I-ME) gave an important speech as he and his colleagues debated the confirmation of Russell Vought to be the Director of OMB (emphasis mine). 

Here's a paradox at the heart of the creation of any government, whether it's here or anywhere else on Earth, and anywhere else in history. There's a paradox built in, because the essence of creating government is to give it power, give it our power,...in order to provide for the common defense, to ensure domestic tranquility, to provide justice to our people.

In other words, we're giving our power to this separate entity. But we have to do so with the realization that the power that's being given has the potential to be abused. In other words, how do we give power to this entity, this government, and ensure that the government itself doesn't use that power to abuse us as citizens? This is a question at the heart of all political discussion throughout history...

Our framers understood this. They were deep students of history and also human nature. And they had just won a lengthy and brutal war against the abuses inherent in concentrated governmental power...

So how did they answer the question? How did they answer the question who will guard the guardians? They answered it by building into the basic structure of our government two essential safeguards. One was regular elections. In other words, returning the control of the government to the people on regular scheduled elections...But the other piece that's built into our system that's the other essential safeguard is the deliberate division of power between the branches and levels of government.

As we are bombarded with the chaos and corruption emanating from the Trump/Musk administration on a daily basis, it is important to recognize that our democracy rests on two essential safeguards: (1) regular elections, and (2) the separation of powers. 

Much of what we're witnessing from Trump/Musk is the neutering of number two. Ignoring laws passed by Congress and threatening to disobey the courts is at the heart of destroying the separation of powers in order to establish the president as dictator. 

But recent news suggests that Trump/Musk might be going after elections as well. At this point, they're not threatening to stop them from happening. But here's what they ARE doing:

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has frozen all of its election security work and is reviewing everything it has done to help state and local officials secure their elections for the past eight years, WIRED has learned...

In a memo sent Friday to all CISA employees and obtained by WIRED, CISA’s acting director, Bridget Bean, said she was ordering “a review and assessment” of every position at the agency related to election security and countering mis- and disinformation, “as well as every election security and [mis-, dis-, and malinformation] product, activity, service, and program that has been carried out” since the federal government designated election systems as critical infrastructure in 2017.

“CISA will pause all elections security activities until the completion of this review,” Bean added. The agency is also cutting off funding for these activities at the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center, a group funded by the Department of Homeland Security that has served as a coordinating body for the elections community.

For a quick review of some recent history, the initial concern of the Obama administration when Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election was that they would hack into state/local election systems. Just before leaving office, then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson designated election infrastructure as a "critical infrastructure" - setting up the federal government to help state/local officials prevent cyber attacks. Those are the funds/activities/personnel that are being frozen right now by the Trump/Musk administration. 

In reporting on this freeze, the right wing website New York Post quoted a DHS official who said, "The agency has determined that federally funded work organized under the EI-ISAC [the group that coordinates activities with local election officials] no longer effectuates Department priorities."

I know there's a lot to absorb right now. But shutting these systems down is basically a nod to Russia (or Iran, China, etc)) that they have an open door to hack into state/local election systems and control them. That's democracy's second essential safeguard going down the tubes. 

Vought suggests that independent agencies are unconstitutional. How about NASA?

It can be interesting to speculate about why Elon Musk has gone after USAID so viciously, but as Nancy Pelosi said about Trump, I suspect that "all roads lead to Putin." 

There is, however, another faction of the Trump administration that has laid out their motivations. That one is led by Project 25's author, Russ Vought - who currently serves as the Director of OMB. Here's what he told Tucker Carlson not long after the 2024 election (emphasis mine):

So my belief, for anyone who wants to listen, is that you have to — the President has to move executively as fast, and as aggressively as possible, with a radical constitutional perspective to be able to dismantle that bureaucracy and their power centers. And I think there are a couple of ways to do it.

Number one is going after the whole notion of independence. There are no independent agencies. Congress may have viewed them as such — SEC, or the FCC, CFPB, the whole alphabet soup — but that is not something that the Constitution understands. So there may be different strategies with each one of them about how you dismantle them, but as an administration, the whole notion of an independent agency should be thrown out.

USAID is one of those "independent agencies" and Vought suggested that they are not constitutional. 

Here's where it gets interesting, though. Among those independent agencies is one that Musk is likely to protect at all costs - NASA. That's because, over the last 10 years, his SpaceX company has gotten $11.8 billion in contracts from the agency. All of that is despite the fact that SpaceX relies on undocumented immigrants and has a horrific record when it comes to worker safety. 

I doubt these conflicting views will ever come head-to-head. Vought is likely to find some way to carve out NASA from his campaign against independent agencies. The fact is that these guys don't feel an iota of shame when it comes to hypocrisy. But I still think it's worth noting. 

The Trump administration's attack on free speech

On Wednesday, Matt Taibbi once again testified before Jim Jordan's House Judiciary Committee, claiming to address government censorship. He specifically attacked John Kerry for expressing concern that the First Amendment restricts our ability to address disinformation. Taibbi also went after USAID for funding provided to an organization called "Internews," presumably because - in their efforts to support trustworthy news - they "tackle disinformation." 

But what I found most interesting is the actual censorship that Taibbi chose to ignore. Since January 20th, the Trump administration has done the following:

• Banned the use of words like "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based" at CDC
• Banned the use of words like "women," "disability," "bias," "status," "trauma," "Black," "Hispanic communities," as well as "socioeconomic," "ethnicity" and "systemic" at the National Science Foundation.
• Banned the use of words like "immigrant," "undocumented," "foreign assistance," "Green New Deal," "climate change," "diversity," "equity," "racism," "discrimination," "transgender," "LGBT," "abortion," "pregnant," "birth control" and "fetus" from the Commerce Department.

Senator Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy had a little chat about all of this on the Senate Floor.

Yes, it is absurd. It is also extremely dangerous when it comes to things like medical research. But...it is also the most blatant attack on free speech that I've seen in my lifetime. Unlike Taibbi's pearl clutching about government asking social media companies to abide by their own rules of conduct, this is the government banning the use of certain words that - for whatever reason - they don't like. 

Catherine Rampell identified some additional examples of government censorship.

Civil servants have been ordered to snitch on colleagues who might secretly harbor support for DEI — or diversity, equity and inclusion — initiatives. An executive order issued on Wednesday says the government will withhold funding from public schools that teach concepts such as “unconscious bias.”...

The president and his allies have also leaned on private firms to disavow politically incorrect values. For example, a group of 19 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Costco demanding the retailer drop its diversity commitments, citing a Trump executive order.

Just this week, the Trump administration punished the Associated Press for not complying with its speech rules. 

I have to admit that it's hard to keep up with all of the ways this administration is attacking free speech. So I'm sure I've missed a lot of examples. But as we've seen, despite Trump's executive orders on religious liberty and free speech, the entire First Amendment is under attack. In the Trump/Musk/Vance era, you are only allowed to believe and say what they find acceptable. 

J.D. Vance previously described a lot of what this administration is doing

I want to highlight two recent developments in the Trump/Musk/Vance administration. First of all, the National Institutes of Health dramatically slashed grants to support research institutions by putting a cap of 15% on what is allowable for so-called "indirect costs." Look behind that curtain and here's what you'll find:

It’s the Trump administration’s latest blow to the American higher education system, which Republicans for years have charged with cultivating progressive culture and churning out liberal-minded graduates.

In case you're wondering if that is an exaggeration, Stephanie Miller, who directs communications at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and is married to Stephen Miller, wrote on X that, in making these changes to NIH grants, "Trump is doing away with Liberal DEI Deans’ slush fund."

The all-out assault on higher education is underway.

Trump is calling for changes that reach every type of school and could affect almost every function of college life from financial aid and academic services for students to research funding that has long driven innovation. 

None of that is happening by accident. Three years ago the vice president gave a speech at the National Conservatism Conference that was actually titled "The Universities are the Enemy." Here's how Vance opened his remarks:

If any of us want to do the things we want to do for our country and for the people who live in it, we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country.

So yeah, that's where things are headed.

Secondly, the Trump/Musk/Vance administration is getting some push-back on their attempted coup from the courts. 

At least nine federal judges — from Washington, D.C., to Washington state — have halted aspects of Trump’s early-term blitz, from his effort to rewrite the Constitution’s birthright citizenship guarantee to his sweeping effort to freeze federal spending to his plans to break and remake the federal workforce.

So, of course, we're starting to see arguments from right-wingers suggesting that this is "judicial interference."  

Just to say the quiet part out loud, the point of having unelected judges in a democracy is so that *whether* acts of state are “legitimate” can be decided by someone other than the people who are undertaking them. Vermeule knows this, of course. So does Vance.

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— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) February 9, 2025 at 7:31 AM

In case you've never heard of Adrian Vermeule, he is a proponent of Catholic Integralism (ie, the Catholic version of Christian Nationalism).

The basic position of Catholic Integralism is that there are two areas of human life: the spiritual and the temporal, or worldly. Catholic Integralists argue that the spiritual and temporal should be integrated – with the spiritual being the dominant partner. This means that religious values, specifically Christian ones, should guide government policies.

Vermeule seems to have decided that the courts must bow to the will of our "Dear Leader" president and his unelected oligarch.  

The vice president, who embraces those views, didn't simply repost the tweet from Vermeule. He responded with his own post speculating about defying the courts. 

After a judge blocked DOGE access to Treasury system and Elon Musk promoted a post suggesting that the order should be defied, Vice President JD Vance chimes in:

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— Anna Bower (@annabower.bsky.social) February 9, 2025 at 10:03 AM

That comes as no surprise because, in 2021, he said this:

“I tend to think that we should seize the institutions of the left,” he said. “And turn them against the left. We need like a de-Baathification program, a de-woke-ification program.”...

“And when the courts stop you,” he went on, “stand before the country, and say—” he quoted Andrew Jackson, giving a challenge to the entire constitutional order—“the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.”

Whether it's about destroying our systems of higher education or denying the legitimacy of the courts, J.D. Vance previously described a lot of what this administration is doing. Perhaps some of the time the media spent chasing down Vance's lie about immigrants eating pets should have been used to unpack his actual agenda. I would simply remind you that a lot of it mirrors the radical ideas proposed by Curtis Yarvin, who thinks Americans "need to get over their dictator phobia" and welcome a monarch.

The Trump administration's attacks on religious liberty

At the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump said that "If we don't have religious liberty, then we don't have a free country." If he actually believes that (I have my doubts), then he might want to check in with his own people who are viscously attacking various religious groups - most of whom fall under the banner of being Christian.

We can start with the big one in the news lately. Our shadow president has called USAID "a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,” “evil” and “a criminal organization.” But here's how it's described by Christianity Today:

Most of USAID’s budget goes to grants for specific development projects, including at Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, World Relief, Catholic Relief Services, and many other faith-based groups...

“The total closure of USAID would cause irreparable damage to a number of Christian mission institutions across Africa, and I’m sure across the world,” said Matthew Loftus, a missionary doctor in Kenya.

In other words, the organization that provides funding to Christian mission institutions is, according to Musk, "a viper's nest of radical-left marxists who hate America." And he's bragging about putting it through a wood chipper. Got it!

Trump's demonization of refugees (except white South Africans) is also leading to attacks on religious groups. Those have focused on organizations providing food, shelter, and other necessities to those awaiting court dates for their asylum hearings. 

When Catholic Bishops called for the humane treatment of refugees, the vice-president basically accused them of being greedy.

As a practicing Catholic, I was heartbroken by that statement. And I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?

Trump's BFF Michael Flynn joined the chorus, accusing Catholic Charities of "ripping off American taxpayers." He went on to suggest that they were "likely supporting child sex and slave trafficking." Here's what Catholic Charities actually does:

Last year, 92 percent of the services provided by the 168 independent Catholic Charities agencies around the country covered basic needs — access to food, housing, health care and other necessities — for families and individuals struggling to get by. These vital services include food pantries for those who can’t afford groceries, childcare programs for low-income families, meal deliveries for homebound seniors, job training resources for veterans, temporary and permanent housing, mental health services and much more.

Flynn then went after Lutheran Social Services - with an "attaboy" from Musk - calling it a "money laundering operation."

All of this comes on the heels of Trump's response to Bishop Mariann Budde's plea for mercy. The president called her “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” “ungracious” and “nasty in tone and not compelling or smart.” Lining up to attack the whole concept of mercy were court evangelicals like Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas and Rob Pacienza, senior pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale.

This points to a dilemma for those who are determined to make this country a so-called "Christian nation." To paraphrase Barack Obama, "Even if we only had Christians in our midst - if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America - whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would it be Robert Jeffress's or Mariann Budde's?"

During Trump's first term, most of his attacks on religious liberty were leveled at Muslims. This time around, it looks like they're going after anyone who actually pays attention to what Jesus taught.

The old "Twitter files" gang has gotten back together to attack USAID

Here's a headline from Newsmax that you might have missed if you haven't been paying attention to right wing news: "USAID Paid for Trump Impeachment Effort." The author of that piece is quoting Michael Shellenberger, of "Twitter files" fame. 

The claim is that USAID provides funding to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which, in 2019, published a report on Rudy Giuliani's work with Lev Parnas and Igor Furman to fabricate dirt on Joe Biden. The whistleblower's complaint that spurred Trump's first impeachment cited that report four times. Nevermind that pretty much everything reported by OCCRP and the whistleblower turned out to be true, somehow USAID funding is to blame, not a president who engaged in lies and extortion. 

Apparently our shadow president thinks these accusations raise good questions.

As Brandy Zadrozny and Lora Kolodny explain, the lies being perpetrated about USAID reveal a "pattern [that] is similar to one that played out with the so-called Twitter Files in 2022, when selectively framed narratives and out-of-context internal documents were weaponized to fuel allegations of a grand government censorship conspiracy." But it's not only the methods that are the same. The players are also the ones who were involved in the whole Twitter Files affair: Elon Musk, Mike Benz, Michael Shellenberger, and (to a smaller extent) Matt Taibbi.

While you may not have heard of Mike Benz (the guy Musk responded to in the post above), he is the one behind both the attacks on Twitter and USAID. 

Benz, 39, has positioned himself as a leading voice for many conservatives by tapping into a broader right-wing wave of disaffection with perceived social media and government censorship...

Benz also amplified the “Twitter Files,” documents released by Musk that revealed internal debates about content moderation and communications with outside organizations, governments, journalists and researchers. For months, in videos and threads posted to Twitter, Benz has framed those internal debates as grand conspiracies and maligned the academic researchers and institutions involved as government spies and plants.

When it comes to USAID, Benz has been spreading lies about the organization since 2022.

Over the next two years, he posted waves of tweets and dozens of hours of video presentations marked with highlighted texts and red notes, scribbles, circles and arrows, flicking at a sprawling narrative of USAID as a covert operations division of the CIA in which staff members sought to enrich themselves, spread leftist ideology at home and abroad and harm Trump. The theory alleged that USAID was behind the mass censorship of Americans, as well as global efforts to manipulate social media, rig elections and quash dissent.

Oh...and Benz is also (surprise, surprise) a white supremacist.

Benz appears to have been a pseudonymous alt-right content creator who courted and interacted with white nationalists and posted videos espousing racist conspiracy theories, according to recordings, livestreams and blog posts reviewed by NBC News.

Perhaps now you see why our shadow president is so fond of Benz that he's interacted with him on X over 40 times in the last week. Either Musk buys into all of the conspiracy theories about USAID, or he finds them useful for his own nefarious purposes.