"Trump’s belief that America holds all the cards, that the rest of the world needs access to our markets but we don’t need them, is all wrong. We are rapidly losing the world’s trust, and part of the cost will be financial."

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts
/5

"One way to think about this is to say that Trump is doing to America what Elon Musk is doing to Tesla, destroying a valuable brand through erratic behavior and repulsive ideology. Did I mention that Tesla sales in Europe appear to be cratering?"

~ Paul Krugman

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts
/4

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/teslafying-us-exports

"Rather than denounce the clear and present dangers to our country, many business, religious, media, and other elites continue to support Trump and Musk. Some do this by staying silent, while others follow hollowed-out GOP politicians and Christian nationalist charlatans in claiming that the smash-and-plunder operation masquerading as a government is 'saving the nation.'”

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts #media #ChristianNationalism
/3

"We are living through processes of moral deregulation and moral collapse in America today under the authoritarian government of President Donald Trump and unelected co-President Elon Musk. Their policies are wrecking a robust national economy, paralyzing government, allying with dictators, creating conditions for the spread of disease, and abandoning the rule of law."

~ Ruth Ben-Ghiat

#Musk #Trump #authoritarianism #economy #EconomicElites #billionaires #TaxCuts
/2

https://lucid.substack.com/p/we-are-living-through-moral-collapse

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 16, 2025
https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2025/03/16

#ElonMusk, #Doge & the #Trump administration are skewered in #Doonesbury #Comic strip.

"In just seven years, we shrunk the federal workforce by 426,000, consolidated 800 agencies and eliminated 640,000 pages of rules...

And you didn't notice because the process was carefully planned and responsibly executed.

It never disrupted essential public services. Compare that to now."

DOGE Cuts Reach Key Nuclear Scientists, Bomb Engineers & Safety Experts

Firings & buyouts hit the top-secret National Nuclear Safety Admn amid a major effort to upgrade America’s #nuclear arsenal. Critics say it shows the consequences of heedlessly cutting the federal work force.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/federal-job-cuts-nuclear-bomb-engineers-scientists.html

"Officials had initially expected that the nuclear agency’s #NationalSecurity mission would protect it from layoffs."

Some Federal Office Leases Restored After Pushback to Musk Team’s Cuts

The chaotic effort to reduce the govt’s real estate portfolio is another example of the setbacks the admn has faced as officials try to carry out Trump’s agenda.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/musk-doge-lease-terminations.html

"turnabout comes after [ #Doge]... released a list of... 440 fed properties that could be sold off, incl several HQs for cabinet-level depts, before removing the entire inventory the next day w/little explanation."

Top broadband official exits Commerce Dept with sharp #Musk warning

“Stranding all or part of rural #America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Evan Feinman warned.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/16/official-exits-commerce-department-musk-warning-00232278

" #Trump administration is poised to unduly enrich #ElonMusk ’s satellite #internet company w/money for #rural broadband.

The #technology offered by #Starlink, Musk’s company, is inferior"

DOGE Is Making It Harder to Track Extreme Weather. What Could Go Wrong?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/opinion/weather-service-doge-cuts.html

"These cuts threaten your budget, too. #Insurance companies rely heavily on #data gathered by #NOAA and the #US Geological Survey to assess wildfire, flood, wind and other risks. Some firms are warning that any interruption in data availability could drive insurance premiums for customers even higher."

Elon Musk Shared, Then Removed a Post Absolving Dictators for Genocide

The post falsely claimed that Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong were not responsible for the murders of millions of people, but rather public sector workers were.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/technology/elon-musk-x-post-hitler-stalin-mao.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.RW-P.VV-Qk7n8s5HK&smid=bs-share

"Musk shared the post without any other comment. He removed it soon after users on X criticized the post, saying it was #antisemitic and dismissive of #genocide."

"Necessary": Musk calls for judge who blocked Trump deportations to be impeached

The billionaire shared a post from a #Republican congressman seeking to impeach the Obama appointee
https://www.salon.com/2025/03/16/necessary-musk-calls-for-blocked-deportations-to-be-impeached/

" #Musk shared Gill's post... announcing the planned #impeachment move, calling the action "necessary."

Musk's response comes shortly after a judge ordered the #Trump administration to reinstate scores of probationary workers fired using #DOGE 's blunt methods."

"Mother Nature doesn’t care who you voted for. If there’s a #tornado headed your direction, you need access to early #warning systems. Gutting #NOAA means you won’t have that...

"NOAA is [already] down about 2,000 employees since January “as a result of the first round of the #Trump administration's cuts”..."This is not about efficiency & it's certainly not about waste, fraud & abuse. This is taking programs that people depend on to save lives & emasculating them"

Who DOGE Hurts: Gutting NOAA
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/who-doge-hurts-gutting-noaa

"the #NOAA was preparing to lay off more than 1,000 workers...

People who live in #hurricane & #tornado country keep their “NOAA #weather radios” handy...

In theory, it sounds like one more bad thing to worry about. In practice, it’s much worse. We’ve just had a demonstration of precisely how effective NOAA is & what we stand to lose without it."

Team finding kidnapped Ukrainian children scrapped by Doge

Humanitarian Research Lab based at #Yale University is latest organisation to fall victim to federal budget cuts
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/03/14/team-finding-kidnapped-ukrainian-children-cut-by-doge/

"more than 20,000 #Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by the Russians since the 2022 invasion...

The Yale team located hundreds of #children who were unlawfully brought to #Russia...

In all, around 1,240 have been repatriated."