A Substack blog, “Keep Track,” has arisen to give a full accounting of the threat Elon Musk poses to our country. It is well — and legitimately — sourced.
I have my own list, articulated here, of the 4 main threats and why we can’t trust Musk.
#1 – Musk lies about DOGE’s savings to Americans
These claims are then amplified at right-wing media outlets. Check in with Keep Track’s new DOGE Tracker here: https://doge.muskwatch.com/.
The problem: When these lies are amplified, opposition to government programs increases—which then justifies Doge’s massive cuts to these programs.
#2 – Musk spreads massive disinformation on X
In other words, HE LIES. But because he owns X/Twitter, his lies get a huge boost. In fact, Wired noted that he amplifies his posts by a factor of 1,000!
The problem: His reach is so vast that he has the ability to sway public opinion any way he chooses. This is dangerous when the richest man in the world, who doesn’t have your best interests at heart, LIES.
Case in point: In early February, Elon Musk, who seldom posted anything about USAID, posted a flurry of scathing attacks with language like: “a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America ... money laundering ... evil ... a criminal organization ... a ball of worms ... etc.” The posts were viewed hundreds of millions of times and amplified by Musk’s more than 216 million followers. Days later came Trump’s Executive Order dismantling and defunding USAID and firing all employees.
Musk was not the catalyst; the target on USAID had already been set by others, including the architects of Project 2025. But Musk single-handedly created mass public opposition toward the agency.
USAID’s closure has meant the deaths of countless global recipients.
#3 – Musk and Trump are carrying out a plan, years in the making, to privatize government services.
Why do they want to do this? So that these services may be divvied up and bought up by oligarchs, who then will control these public services. The quest for profits over service delivery leads to corruption. (Think Enron, Bernie Madoff, subprime mortgage lenders, etc.) This is the one explanation for dismantling federal agencies!
From the Keep Track Substack, comparing Trump to Hungary’s Orban: “As David Pressman, former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, explained to NPR, the corruption of Orban’s system is ‘designed to enrich a clique of elites to take public assets and put them in private pockets while talking about standing up for conservative values.’ This is the crux of Trump’s plan to privatize the USPS, one of the oldest public institutions in America, or Musk’s proposal to privatize Amtrak, which transported nearly 33 million people across America last year. Executives of a privatized version of these public services, who would certainly be friends and allies of Trump, would stand to make millions every year. For example, the CEO of FedEx raked in $12.38 million in compensation last year; the CEO of UPS made $23.4 million; and the CEO of Amazon (Andy Jassy, not Bezos, who is the executive chairman) made $29.2 million. In one year.”
#4 – Musk has countless conflicts of interest as well as evidence of corruption and misconduct.
And thus he shouldn’t have his hands anywhere near our government. Wired’s video creates a visual representation of Musk’s vast reach, so it’s easier to grasp why, for example, putting Starlink in the White House might not be such a great idea.
Musk has also tried to buy election influence, not just by spending gobs of cash in support of Trump and other GOP people and issues, but also spending $20 million on April’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
More unseemly is the report by Public Citizen that a PAC was launched before the November 2024 election with Elon Musk as its SOLE FUNDER. Yes, you heard that right. More nefarious was that it was named the RBG PAC, without the endorsement of the Ginsburg family. The organization proceeded to run anti-abortion ads using RBG’s likeness! Talk about snakey! Musk’s election interference illustrates the importance of overturning the Citizens United decision and getting big money out of our elections.
More about Musk’s corruption and conflicts of interest
From the Keep Track Substack:
- “Musk spent more than $290 million in support of Trump in last year’s election, the most of any single donor by far, and arguably used his $44 billion purchase of Twitter/X as an in-kind contribution to the campaign. In return, Musk gets to be the shadow president, freed from oversight of any of his companies, and gifted lucrative government contracts.
- “Nearly every aspect of Musk’s empire is partly funded by the government. Over the years, his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits, with an additional $11.8 billion dedicated to be paid out over the next few years.
- “Elon Musk’s satellite business Starlink may not have officially taken over Verizon’s $2.4 billion contract with the Federal Aviation Administration to upgrade the systems it uses to manage America’s airspace. However, on Friday, FAA officials ordered staff to begin finding tens of millions of dollars for a Starlink deal. As should be obvious, this is not how a constitutional republic is supposed to work. The kind of corruption on display in Musk’s takeover of the FAA is what creates and entrenches a kleptocratic oligarchy that operates independently outside the law. Consider Musk’s threat to turn off Starlink services to Ukraine in order to force the besieged nation to capitulate to Trump’s and Putin’s demands. What is to stop Musk from extorting the U.S. government in the same way?”
And, in return for Musk’s support, Trump has systematically removed all sources of oversight of Musk’s companies:
- Trump fired CFPB Director Rohit Chopra last month, replacing him with Project 2025 architect Russ Vought, who immediately ordered the agency to stop work and closed the D.C. headquarters. The CFPB would have regulated Musk’s planned Twitter/X payment system.
- Trump fired the Department of Agriculture Inspector General, who was investigating Neuralink, Elon Musk’s medical device company, for violations of the Animal Welfare Act in its animal testing programs.
- The Department of Justice, led by Trump appointee Pam Bondi, dropped a lawsuit against SpaceX for discriminating against asylees and refugees in hiring.
- Trump fired the Department of Transportation Inspector General while the agency was in the middle of investigating Tesla over reports that its Full Self-Driving program caused numerous crashes, including one incident that killed a pedestrian.
- Trump illegally fired National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox. The Board was involved in litigation with SpaceX for firing eight employees that spoke out against Musk’s ‘harmful’ behavior on social media in 2022.
- Trump removed two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members and fired its general counsel. The agency filed a lawsuit against Tesla for workplace discrimination and ‘ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees.’
- Trump dissolved the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which was investigating Tesla over claims of workplace discrimination and racial abuse.
- Trump fired the Environmental Protection Agency inspector general and reportedly plans on cutting the agency’s budget by 65%. The EPA has fined SpaceX for violating the Clean Water Act.
- Trump and Musk have dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, whose inspector general was investigating SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service and its use in Ukraine.
- Trump fired the Defense Department’s inspector general, who was investigating SpaceX and Musk for violating federal reporting protocols aimed at protecting state secrets, including by not providing some details of his meetings with foreign leaders.
- And finally, Musk forced out the FAA Director who was in charge when the agency issued $633,000 in fines against SpaceX related to violations during previous Starship launches.
In conclusion – Fight back!
As you can see, Elon Musk is not only the world’s richest man, but also possibly the world’s greatest threat to democracy. So please, do the following:
- Call your reps!
- Protest!
- Share this information!
Every one of us must do everything we can to spread the word about the dangers of Elon Musk!
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