President Donald J. Trump has given the unelected Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, the keys to the U.S. Treasury and every other agency of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Without Congressional approval, Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] and appointed Musk the executive director with the mandate to oversee all federal government policies and expenditures.
With this unconstitutional power, Elon Musk has hired legions of his techno-whiz minions, the overwhelming majority of whom are male, many of whom are young, or very young, with little to no previous experience in management or budgeting or government. None of these cyberjocks were vetted or approved by Congress or any other appropriate federal agency. None of these associates were cleared for accessing classified materials or the private data of federal employees and U.S. citizens in government files.
Let us take a good look at one of the whizkids Musk appointed: Marko Elez.
Musk appointed Elez, one of his “kids” from the X and Dallas X ventures, to oversee the U.S. Treasury. Elez is a 25-year-old software engineer with a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers. Without any vetting or confirmation hearings, Elez was given access to the data relating to all Treasury payment accounts including Social Security and Medicare, accounts totaling more than six trillion dollars annually.
Let’s consider the maturity of this paymaster who, in the name of government efficiency, had access to your social security number and your email and USPS addresses, among other important data. Numerous hateful social media posts by Elez were reported by credible media sources. According to NPR, for example, Elez wrote in December that, “I just want a [sic] eugenic immigration policy, is that too much to ask,” and “Repeal the Civil Rights Act.”
After the postings were widely publicized, Marko Elez resigned his position. Elon Musk went on X and asked his followers if he should rehire Marko, despite all these racist posts. The poll results: 78% voted to rehire the “kid.” Musk has vowed to do so.
Trump and Vance supported the decision to rehire Elez. Vice President J.D. Vance said: “I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social-media activity should ruin a kid’s life. We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him [Elez] back.” Need I point out that Vance is married to Usha Bala Chilukuri Vance, an Indian American born to Telugu Indian immigrant parents?
This attack by Vance on journalists who point out the unconstitutional or wildly inappropriate behavior of Musk and his hirelings is not unique. It is a standard device of the Musk-Trump broligarchs to attack journalists when they accurately report the facts. When Katie Drummond and Vittoria Elliott of Wired magazine, one of the premier tech journals, highlighted the facts that Musk appointments were mostly men—principally young men between ages 19-24—with little to no qualifications as the overseers of federal agencies, Musk called their reporting “a crime.” Drummond also pointedly asks: Where are the women?
A federal judge, citing a risk of “irreparable harm,” has temporarily restricted Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing a critical Treasury Department payment system, CNN reported. The White House called this temporary halt “judicial overreach.”
The Constitutional issues here are clear and urgent and yet the Republicans in Congress fall into lock step as if they were zombies following their demon masters. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, normally a conscientiously dutiful public servant, admitted that what the administration is doing “runs afoul of the Constitution in the strictest sense.” But, he said, “Nobody should bellyache about that,” New York Times reported.
Among the many unconstitutional actions to not “bellyache about:” the illegal firing of 17 inspector generals; the unconstitutional termination of the programs of the United States Agency for International Development which committed the “terrorist acts” of educating young women and girls to read and providing medical care to poor people; firing or making redundant federal employees without due process, throwing into unnecessary and destructive chaos vital agencies such as the FBI, the CIA, the National Institutes of Health, endangering our security and our health; the list grows daily …
The American public has repeatedly voted for change in our federal government system. They have repeatedly registered their frustration with the dysfunction of Congress and partisan politics. But they did not elect Donald J. Trump to destroy the Constitution. They elected Trump to bring constructive change and productive reform.
The triumph of the rich bros and their toxic macho tech culture is only one aspect of the destructive climate that currently dominates Washington D.C. The aspect that most frightens me, however, is the willingness of millions of our citizens and almost all of the elected lawmakers of the Republican party to keep silent—or cheer with vindictive glee from the sidelines—the dangerous actions that Trump and Musk take almost daily in violation of our Constitution and its hallmark system of checks and balances.
When the three co-equal branches of our federal government fail to act constitutionally and vigorously in performance of their mandates, we all lose—we lose our freedoms, our rights, our Republic.
We cannot say that we didn’t know or didn’t see it coming—it is clear, very clear …
2024 © nicholas.patricca@gmail.com
Nick Patricca is professor emeritus at Loyola University Chicago; member, PEN International, San Miguel Center; member, TOSOS theatre ensemble NYC; president of the Chicago Network for Justice and Peace.