It’s not just that Trump is personally stealing his followers blind and accepting vast sums in untraceable bribes. He’s also making sure his cyberbaron buds are working on behalf of special interests and zillionaires everywhere. All the lobbyists have found a perfect end run around regulations by going directly to President Elon’s shadowy DOGE:
The Musk-run initiative, dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, is supposed to advise President-elect Donald Trump on spending cuts and regulatory reform. It doesn’t yet — and may never — have any formalized responsibilities or authority. So far, its recruits have been organizing in clandestine meetings blocks from the White House.
But already, companies and industry groups have started looking to the DOGE, above the more traditional committees of Congress and federal agencies, to advance their agendas and protect their interests.
The urgency to make inroads with Musk’s group underscores how special interests see the billionaire as a shortcut to Trump, a way to push their issues to the front of the line. It also shows how an entity ostensibly created to disrupt politics as usual is quickly becoming a target for Washington’s seasoned advocacy apparatus.
They don’t have to disclose these contacts because for all intents and purposes DOGE doesn’t really exist. How convenient. Burt some are just openly announcing their corruption:
Some are doing that work in plain sight. This week, defense contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc. sent a letter to Musk and his partner, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and posted it on the company’s website.
L3Harris urged them to endorse four technical changes to the federal contracting process “to unleash American industry and make defense acquisition more efficient.”
Why not? Who’s going to stop them?
Apropos of nothing, President Elon has a whole bunch of defense contracts himself.