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Protests Erupt Against Musk’s Influence in Government
Recently, unprecedented protests have emerged at various government agencies, including the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Rather than focusing their ire on President Donald Trump himself, demonstrators are targeting his billionaire associate, Elon Musk, who remains unelected and unconfirmed.
The protests have drawn support from Democratic lawmakers who are particularly concerned about a notable trend in the Trump administration: the replacement of established career civil servants with a clandestine group of young engineers and programmers from Silicon Valley. This shift, highlighted in reports about Musk’s influence within the administration, has raised alarms about the traditional mechanisms of government being supplanted by untrained personnel.
Such scenes are unprecedented in Washington, D.C.
At the core of this upheaval is Musk’s strategic understanding of technology and its power to disrupt government operations. By leveraging technology, he is effectively undermining the customary functions of the executive branch, creating a crisis of governance.
Timothy Snyder, a historian at Yale specializing in authoritarian movements, has pointed out that traditional coups are often marked by armed forces overtaking government structures. In this instance, a more subtle and nonviolent infiltration is occurring, spearheaded by a limited number of former employees of Musk’s ventures who possess sensitive access to digital systems, obeying directives from a corporate leader who, according to Snyder, recognizes that contemporary power dynamics are increasingly digital rather than reliant on brute strength.
Adding another layer of complexity, Musk’s aggressive modifications to government operations appear to have the tacit approval of a democratically elected president. This collaboration seems to further a chaotic agenda designed to consolidate power rather than restore order, pushing aside experienced civil servants who are struggling to uphold traditional governance methods in the face of these changes.
To illustrate these disruptions, consider the case of David Lebryk, a Treasury official who resisted giving Musk’s team from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive data within the Bureau of Fiscal Service. This bureau manages approximately 90% of the nearly $7 trillion disbursed by the federal government annually. Despite Lebryk’s refusal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ultimately permitted the access, which led to Lebryk’s resignation. Questions linger about the intentions of Musk’s team, who now have potential access to personal information, including Social Security numbers and banking details, which could threaten the integrity of federal benefit programs.
Government employees find themselves in a precarious position, grappling with the implications of this tech-driven intrusion and lacking effective strategies to counter these modern tactics. However, worker unions within the federal government are beginning to mobilize, filing lawsuits aimed at confronting what many perceive as an assault on long-standing democratic principles and legal norms.
The emergence of litigation opens up additional discussions about the potential adherence of Trump and Musk to judicial rulings, should courts decide against their actions.
Paul Barrett, deputy director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University’s Stern School of Business, frequently contributes to discussions on the intersection of technology and democracy.
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